Loss Might Help Colts... But They're Still Irked
IRVING, Tex.--The Indianapolis Colts had won tight, tense games all season, with four victories by three points or fewer in their 9-0 start.
But they didn't come through in crunch time here Sunday, squandering a 14-7 lead entering the fourth quarter to lose to the Dallas Cowboys, 21-14, at Texas Stadium.
"We've had some of this show up in the past and we've been able to dodge bullets," Colts Coach Tony Dungy said. "Today we couldn't dodge a bullet. We played a good team. You make mistakes, it's going to cost you. And we did today.... We have to go back and try to get another streak started."
Before this loss, the Colts had won 30 straight regular season games in which they had not yet clinched playoff seeding.
They became the first team in NFL history to have 9-0 starts in consecutive seasons. They learned from last season--the hard way--that it's not about chasing an unbeaten season. It's about reaching the Super Bowl, and the burden of a sustained run at an undefeated regular season perhaps can detract from that.
So losing a game at this point probably was not the worst thing for these Colts. But that didn't mean they took it in stride. Dungy seemed annoyed by the way his team unraveled when it mattered Sunday.
"Fundamental football still wins in this league," Dungy said. "You can't do the things we did today and win. You're playing with fire, and today the fire caught us.... We played well at the beginning. But then when it got to14-14, we got into a panic mode. We started doing things that are hard to explain instead of just doing our technique and doing what we should do. That was a disappointing part. I thought we played pretty well until the fourth quarter."
By Mark Maske |
November 19, 2006; 9:37 PM ET
| Category:
Colts
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Posted by: P. Manning | November 20, 2006 12:23 PM
Dungy was right. They (or was it just Payton Manning) panicked when late in the fourth quarter on 3rd and 2 and 4th and 2, they only needed to make the conversion, Manning chose to try for the end zone on both occasions and failed. Even though his receiver was interfered with on the last try, the referees failed to call it. I'm sure he felt that he was still going to get the ball back in the last two minutes. But you did not need an Astrologer of great credentials to know that there was no way the Colts' defense was going to stop the Dallas' offense led by the mobile Tony Romo. By the second half, the momentum had shifted towards Dallas, Indianapolis' defense had become so tired and Dallas was chewing away the time that there was no way Manning and his offensive crew were going to get the ball back. That's exactly what happened. They were just not themselves at the Texas' Stadium. Whereas the Cowboys recovered from their own turnovers, Indy did not.
Posted by: Olu | November 20, 2006 5:22 PM
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Can't anybody have a four man line anymore?
Why do you keep throwing a 3-4 defense at me?
Can't we all just get along?