Colts rally, top Falcons on Vinatieri FG

The Colts won 24-21 on Adam Vinatieri’s 43-yard field goal with 52 seconds to go.

As the offense has started to spin in circles, the Atlanta Falcons have dropped four of their past five games and will stumble into a big NFC showdown with the Minnesota Vikings after a troubling 24-21 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Having Indianapolis Colts veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck under center instead of the younger Andrew Luck should be more of a downgrade than it actually has been this 2015 National Football League regular season, and one can argue that the Atlanta Falcons are catching a pretty nice break. The Falcons committed three turnovers, none more costly than quarterback Matt Ryan’s interception that Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson returned for a touchdown to tie the game at 21-21 in the fourth quarter. After taking that 21-7 lead, the Falcons had three turnovers, three penalties, two first downs and zero trips into Colts territory. The Colts let their other starting cornerback, Greg Toler, try to contain Jones in the second half.

Hasselbeck finished 23 for 32 for 213 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions after throwing his first pick in 77 pass attempts on the Colts’ opening drive. The coverage didn’t affect Jones, who had nine catches for 160 yards as he again showed he can’t be stopped by one defender. And Quinn’s defensive mindset is primed to pay dividends following the bye week; prime time for a first year head coach to clean things up. “It was Chud calling the play from the box and we settled in on where Donte can do whatever he wants to do to get open on the backside, and then working with a three-receiver set on the side”.

The shame in yesterday’s loss is that the pass rush did a fine job of disrupting Matt Hasselbeck.

Indianapolis (4-5) suffered a major setback last week when quarterback Andrew Luck, who hasn’t been himself all season, was diagnosed with a lacerated kidney and partially torn abdominal muscle.

Devonta Freeman ripped out a 39-yard run, but took a helmet-to-helmet hit shortly after which ended his game with a concussion.

At the beginning of the season, the Falcons (6-4) were winning all the close games. The Falcons outgained the Colts 118 to 34 despite their leading rusher, Devonta Freeman, exiting the game after a single series.

The two senior citizens on the Colts are the two oldest players in the National Football League and are widely respected, especially in the Indianapolis locker room.

Don’t be stubborn with Gore: Hasselbeck said a quarterback’s best friend is pass protection. Vinatieri has two game-winning kicks this season, also beating Jacksonville in overtime….

The running back was forced from the game early Sunday.

“I don’t ever think you get totally used to it”, he said.

“I wish we would have won”, DiMarco said. Most of their games started off slow, but they managed to turn on the burners to really put many of those teams out of their misery at the end.

TY Hilton likes grits too, and on Sunday he’ll slice through the Falcons defense like hot butter through grits, to the tune of 8 catches and 112 yards. He has been targeted only 30 times, with 17 receptions for 230 yards and one touchdown.