Colts finish with win but miss playoffs

The quarterback depleted Colts have endured issues all season, losing Andrew Luck to a lacerated kidney in November. They were able to make this final game interesting, and they had me nervous that they were going to go down and win the game for a minute there.

Pagano led Indianapolis to identical 11-5 marks in each of his first three seasons, but slipped to 8-8 this year and failed to make the playoffs.

Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine, who has received no assurances from owner Jimmy Haslam about 2016, expects changes on his staff if he survives.

According to FOX Sports coach Chuck Pagano gets to choose between newly signed Josh Freeman and Ryan Lindley or practice squad call-up Stephen Morris as Indy’s options under center. Relationships can heal. It’s possible Irsay believes he can convince the two to let “iron sharpen iron” in private, come to an agreement over boundaries and expectations and work together some more.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Pagano became a sympathetic figure in 2012, when he battled leukemia. Pagano then jogged to the tunnel, pointing to the crowd and tapping his chest several times.

Pagano, whose contract expires with this season, said he did not know what the future would hold but that he would meet with owner Jim Irsay at some point on Monday. It’s possible that we’ve misread the friction between Pagano and Grigson and that’s it’s not as untenable as been reported.

Tennessee (3-13) lost its last four to secure the top draft pick. Against a Colts defense that ranked 28th overall, Mettenberger completed just 5 of 13 passes for 38 yards.

Tanney finished the game 10-of-14 for 99 yards, with a touchdown pass. He caught nine passes for 94 yards on Sunday, finishing the season with 94 receptions for 1,088 and six touchdowns.

“Obviously, I’d like to have an opportunity to sit down and talk about it”, interim coach Mike Mularkey said when asked about his future with Tennessee. There were times he was compared to Ben Roethlisberger but the Steelers’ quarterback has two Super Bowls and is one of the most consistent quarterbacks the league has ever seen.

Josh Freeman and Coby Fleener hooked up on a sweet 57-yard TD pass a short time later, giving the Colts a 10-7 edge after one. He took the Colts right downfield, too, finding Andre Johnson, who stretched the ball across the goal line to give Indy a 20-14 halftime lead.

Denzelle Good replaced Reitz midway through the third quarter but lasted just two plays, leaving the Colts with just five healthy offensive linemen – albeit briefly.

“He’s trying to take the high road, I think of the person that he is”, said 1070 The Fan Program Director, Greg Rakestraw. Pagano’s backers largely believe general manager Ryan Grigson, who has one year remaining on his original contract, should be the one to go.

Pettine signed a four-year deal with a team option for the fifth year to be the team’s coach early in 2014.