The NFL had to beg fans to go see the Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts square off in last week’s wild card round. And those who decided against going are probably kicking themselves right about now.
The crowning achievement of the NFL’s most gripping weekend of the 2013 season was the Colts’ 45-44 victory over the Chiefs, but for a brief window days before the game there were serious questions as to whether the game would even sell out.
The fortunate 63,000 and change who were present witnessed one of the great comebacks in NFL history and the precise moment when Andrew Luck’s career went supernova on the national stage.
I was there that day.
I wasn’t there that day the way some 300,000 people in Indiana will misremember that they were there 30 years from now. I was physically present for the ups and downs of the record-breaking performances, stunning turnaround and inexorable rise of the next NFL superstar.
I’ve written elsewhere about what Colts’ win meant to me personally and why it was significant. It took days just to process the emotion and elation of everyone around me. Walking up Capitol Avenue after the game, the church bells rang as random strangers high-fived and shouted, “Andrew Luck is TRUTH!” as best they could with already over-taxed voices stretching beyond their limits in the ice cold Hoosier night.
The din and the dying of the blue and red speckled throng has faded, and for Colts fans, the thrill of victory was soon replaced with the agony of another postseason clash with the New England Patriots. Still those who were in the stadium that night can take away special insights to the advantages and obstacles the Colts will face as they travel to Foxboro to take on Tom Brady and friends in the divisional round.
Here are some takeaways from one of the most exciting games I’ve been lucky enough to attend:
Andy Reid Broke Greg Manusky’s Defense
The popular narrative during and after the Chiefs ripped through the Colts in the first half was that Alex Smith lit up the Colts. It was his spectacular play that helped but big points on the board.
Those in the stadium could see there was far more to it than that.
Throughout the Chiefs’ scoring binge, the Indianapolis faithful were never completely demoralized in part because in person, it was evident that Smith was not beating the Colts as much as the Indy lacked any coherent response to Andy Reid’s zone-read play calls.
When Smith did hit the Colts for big yardage with his arm, it was because Greg Toler was involved. Toler had battled a groin injury for most of the season, and Indianapolis was optimistic he could return to have an impact in the post season. Ultimately he did, though not for the reasons they had hoped.
Toler was responsible for 141 of the 378 yards passing for Smith with just two plays. He allowed a simple slant to Dwayne Bowe to break for 63 yards to set up a Kansas City field goal. Then he let Donnie Avery blast past him for a 79-yard touchdown.
Fans at home saw Smith hit a long touchdown pass. Those in the stadium saw the safety break to cover the wrong receiver and a one-legged corner get torched by five yards. The throw Smith made to Avery was one every starting quarterback in football could have made. At the time of release, Avery already has two steps on Toler. By the time the ball arrived, the gap was five yards.
While the Indy secondary is still vulnerable, the Patriots won’t be able to exploit Toler. He was placed on injured reserve after the game.
The real back-breaker for the Colts defense was the zone read runs by Smith. Unless New England plans on getting Brady one-on-one with a linebacker, it’s not likely to be a factor in the next matchup. While Brady is capable of exploiting any defense, it’s unlikely the Pats will be able to take advantage of Indianapolis in the same manner the Chiefs did.
Luck’s Pace of Play
The worst of the post-game narratives was that Reid botched the second-half play calling for the Chiefs by not calling enough runs to move the clock. The longest of the six touchdown drives the Colts had only lasted 4:02.
Luck engineered four touchdown drives of less than two minutes in the second half, and his team only held the ball for 22:27 total. The issue wasn’t that the Chiefs left too much time for the Colts to score, it was that the Colts were scoring too quickly.
The pace with which Luck brought his team to the line of scrimmage was exhausting. Even in the first half, Luck was pushing the tempo on Kansas City, and the defense was unprepared for the ensuing track meet.
It gets missed on television too often, because announcers are talking and replays are occupying attention, but the fans at Lucas Oil Stadium fed off of the urgency with which Luck operated the Indianapolis offense. The frenetic pace helped not only wear out the Chiefs defenders, but also elevated the tension level in the building.
Luck was able to exploit big gaps in the Kansas City secondary in part because he rarely allowed them enough time to set and substitute.
It will be a far greater challenge to confuse a New England defense overseen by Bill Belichick, but Luck has shown the ability to get his team to the line and get plays off in dizzying succession. The matchup of minds between Offensive Coordinator Pep Hamilton and Belichick will feel more like speed chess in the park than Fischer-Spassky.
Body Language
Despite trailing by more than two touchdowns for the bulk of the game, Indianapolis players were rarely discouraged. In fact, the only moment of when the team was on the verge of breaking was just after the Chiefs scored to go up 38-10.
It took Luck just four plays to move the Colts to the Kansas City 10-yard line, and the moment he hit Da’Rick Rogers for a one-handed 46-yard pass play, the players on the sidelines and the fans were re-engaged.
Most often when a team scores a cosmetic touchdown in a losing effort, the home crowd will let out a healthy round of clapping or even a Bronx cheer. Indianapolis fans responded with a full-throated yell, however, and the players on the sidelines were fist pumping and jumping up and down.
No franchise has become more accustomed to ridiculous comeback wins than the Indianapolis Colts. Luck, like Peyton Manning before him, has already been responsible for some of the most improbable wins in recent memory. Even trailing by 28 points, his teammates believed he could bring them back.
The difference between the come-from-behind victory over the Chiefs and the tail whipping the Colts received at the hands of the Saint Louis Rams earlier in the season came down to the play of Luck. The atmosphere in Indianapolis at halftime of the Rams game was grim, in part because Luck was off that day. He was missing open targets high and wide. He simply didn’t have it that given afternoon.
Against the Chiefs, Luck was playing well despite the turnovers. For the most part, the offense was moving the ball with alacrity. Whether it was institutional memory or foolish optimism, the coaches, players and fans of the Indianapolis Colts expected the game was going to come down to one possession.
Once Robert Mathis forced a Smith fumble, the vibe in the building swelled. There was a palpable sense that the Colts were still in the game. Call it momentum. Call it hope. Call it naivety. The team and the fans alike spent the rest of the second half on edge.
New England is a superior team to the Chiefs, and the Colts won’t be able to feed off of the energy of a raucous home crowd. What they will take with them to Foxboro is the confidence that their quarterback is capable of taking over and winning the game.
If the Colts and Chiefs taught us anything about the next round of the playoffs, it’s this: the Patriots will have to kill the Colts. This is not a team that will fold if they get behind early. At this point in the season they are already used to trailing big and coming back.
For now, let’s just watch this Luck-to-Hilton TD video over and over (thanks to NFL.com), and enjoy the maturation of a young franchise QB before our very eyes.
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