Colts rally in the 4th quarter to beat the Falcons 24-21

The Indianapolis Colts rallied in the second half after trailing 21-7 in the third quarter to beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-21. The game was sealed with 0:54 remaining when Adam Vinatieri knocked in a 43-yard game-winning field goal.

Colts quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and kicker Adam Vinatieri continue to defy father time with their late game heroics. The victory was not all their doing. As cliche as it sounds it truly was a team effort on offense, defense, and special teams. Case in point, Indianapolis was trailing 21-14 in the fourth quarter, the Colts pinned the Falcons on their own one-yard line.

The cause of that field position was none other than Pat “Boomstick” McAfee and Donte Moncrief. McAfee boomed the punt and Moncrief raced down the field and downed it on the one. On the next play, Matt Ryan dropped back on 1st-and-10 with a play action to Tevin Coleman, Ryan then attempted to flick the ball to Coleman from his back foot and floated it directly into the hands of D’Qwell Jackson who ran it in for the game-tying pick-six. The Jackson score accounted for seven of the Colts 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

This was a game where the veterans truly made an impact. Matt Hasselbeck, not to be outdone by the other units, went 23-of-32 for 213 yards and  two passing touchdowns. Both of those TDs were to Ahmad Bradshaw who caught four balls for 2o yards. Hasselbeck did throw two early interceptions but rebounded from it as a veteran should.

Hasselbeck led game-winning drive chewing four minutes of clock on a nine play 56-yard drive that was capped by the 43-yard game-winning field goal by Adam Vinatieri. This game was Vinatieri’s 300th game. No that’s not a typo. His field goal was also his 26th game-winning field goal of his career.

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It was ugly and even downright awful at times, but as they say, “a W is a W”. Colts head coach Chuck Pagano handed out four game balls for the team performance. Those balls went to Hasselbeck, Vinatieri, Jackson and the last was to Erik Walden who played one of the best games of his career. In his locker room speech seen below, Pagano reiterated several times, “”You just play hard. The play doesn’t care who makes it, you just play hard.”

The Colts played hard despite an ugly start and their struggle to contain Julio Jones. When it comes to Jones, the Colts are not alone the rest of the NFL is trying to solve the same problem. But, they will need to make sure that they solve their early woes if they want to continue their win streak. They take on the surging Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-5) led by #1 Draft pick Jameis Winston. The Bucs are currently on the outside looking in as the 7th seed in the NFC but  now only trail the Atlanta Falcons by one game thanks to the Colts.

Next: Pacers win in style, 123-86, over Bucks

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