Indianapolis: Indianapolis Colts coach Frank Reich knew immediately what the problem was on Sunday.
So did quarterback Carson Wentz.
Five turnovers, four in the second half, and abandoning his run-first approach proved too much to overcome against the defending Super Bowl champions.
Ultimately, when you make so many mistakes against a good football team, it will come back and trouble you,” Reich said moments after Tampa Bay rallied for a 38–31 victory.
The effects of this damage can be permanent.
After winning five of six to climb above .500 and return to playoff contention, the Colts (6–6) failed to close the gap with division-leading Tennessee losing to New England. He also saw some other wild-card contenders marching ahead.
And that all began to change in a moment when the Colts were about to seize control.
Wentz closed the first half scoring with a 4-yard touchdown pass to TY Hilton on fourth and one, giving Indy a 24-14 lead. Wentz then began the second half by taking the Colts in a position to potentially take a three-score lead.
Just then Bux linebacker Shaquille Barrett hit the ground, loosening the ball from Wentz and taking the ball back to the Tampa Bay 35-yard line. After six plays, Leonard Fournet scored for the third time to make it 24–21.
Coach Bruce Arians quickly sensed the momentum swing.
We realized that if we were going to stop the run and throw it 40 times, we got something (takeaway) and we did,” he said. That strip-sack, I think, changed the whole ball game. Gave.”
From there, things went downhill for Indy.
The Colts essentially abandoned their run-first approach as Wentz dropped back on 26 straight snaps, making it more challenging to put the ball in the hands of his top playmaker, leaving Jonathan Taylor behind. Later, even Wentz admitted that he didn’t realize he had played so many consecutive plays.
It was all by design.
Tampa Bay (8-3) dared the Colts to pass and Wentz threw 44 times. He was picked up twice and lost a rumble.
League leader Rusher Taylor had 17 carries and one score for 83 yards and caught four passes for 14 yards. But by Indy’s final drive, Taylor only had 25 yards to run.
We didn’t get anything in the run game, just didn’t get a run to hit in the first quarter.” Then we opened it up, we started the play-action on the first down and hit Ashton (Dulin) big game. Things opened up a bit. And Carson (Wentz) was hot.”
But the one-pronged approach allowed Bux to become more aggressive and they made sure it paid off.
A deep throw from Wentz to Michael Pittman Jr. was turned away by Antoine Winfield Jr. and the Bucs converted it into a moving touchdown.
When Naiheim Hines threw a punt inside the Colts 20, Tampa Bay made for a small field goal.
And Taylor leveled the score with 3:29 on 31 and Fournet broke the tie with a 28-yard run with 20 seconds to spare, with former Colts defensive back Pierre Desir to Wentz near the goal line to close it. raised. This was the only turnover Tampa Bay did not convert to points.
I think we kind of started getting into the groove and getting the ball rolling, just the turnover killed us,” Wentz said. Against a team like this that capitalizes on turnover, you have to own it. should be.”
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