[Colts And Orioles]

o


I would like to give my rat's ass of an opinion in regard to 3 key moments in the game, especially the last 2.


1) l After holding the Chiefs to a FG on their opening possession, the Colts had a 7-3 lead and possession of the ball ...... until they immediately turned the ball over deep in their own territory, after which Patrick Mahomes and company quickly punched the ball into the end-zone for a 10-7 lead.

OK, turnovers happen, and the defense has to deal with that reality ...... but a turnover deep in your own territory right after salvaging holding the opponent to a field goal at that point in the game is an early punch-in-the-mouth.


2) l Late in the 4th quarter, Patrick Mahomes and his offense had the ball right after the Colts scored a game-tying TD, knotting the score of 27-27. Patrick Mahomes and his offense got a 1st down and were near midfield, and it looked like the Colts were finished ...... all the Chiefs had to do was get another 1st down and a few extra yards to get into what would be a game-winning FG attempt from their kicker in Harrison Butker, who is capable of knocking them down from 65 yards ...... but the defense forced a punt, putting the Colts in prime position to win the game.

With possession of the ball in a tie game with the clock winding down to under a minute left to play in the 4th quarter, it looked like the Colts were in control and ready to kick a walk-off FG from Spencer Shrader ...... but the Colts came up one 1st down and about 7 or 8 yards short of giving Shrader a chance to win it, and had to punt the ball away, resulting in overtime.


3) l In overtime, the Colts deferred and elected to give the ball to Patrick Mahomes and his offensive gang. The Colts' defense bent but did not brake, and held Mahomes and company to a FG attempt, of which Harrison Butker knocked through the uprights.

If your team is playing against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and your defense holds them to a FG on the opening possession of overtime, I'll take that situation 10 times out of 10 ...... the Colts gambled by giving the Chiefs the ball 1st with the possibility of giving Mahomes 2 possessions (which is just how things worked after the 2 teams exchanged FG's) ...... and the gamble initially paid off, because the Colts' defense at least kept Mahomes and company out of the end-zone, which put the Colts in position to win the game with a TD with plenty of time still left on the overtime clock.

The Colts immediately burned the Chiefs with a 48-yard bomb to Laquon Treadwell, setting them up at the Chiefs' 16 yard-line ...... the Colts were in prime position to win the game at this point ...... but for reasons only known to himself, head coach Shane Steichen decided to call plays as if the game were tied and the Colts only needed a chip-shot FG to win ...... predictably, the Chiefs easily stopped Jonathan Taylor on 2 extremely conservative run-calls on both 1st and 2nd down, and the Colts had to settle for a FG, blowing yet another golden opportunity to beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on their homefield in western Missouri.


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So in conclusion, the Colts' defense gave up about 55 million yards of total offense to the Chiefs ...... but I wanted to point out those 3 nuances, 2 of which they did a more than reasonably good job of putting their team in position to win the game.

o