Prater gets redemption with late field in 39-35 win at Indy

The Colts opened up their 2016-17 campaign today against the Detroit Lions, a team they had not faced since Andrew Luck’s rookie season when Luck orchestrated a game winning drive in Detroit.

“You definitely have to over-communicate because we’ve got some guys that haven’t even been in the building for seven days – and they’re playing”, inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. Stafford shared the wealth with his offense during the drive hitting three different receivers in Riddick, Ebron, and Jones to set up Matt Prater with a 43-yard field goal opportunity.

The Colts were penalized with a safety on their last-chance play because of a pass in the end zone.

Running Back Robert Turbin: The numbers weren’t vast for Turbin on Sunday (three touches for 19 yards), but he had some timely third-down conversions. Andrew Luck carved up the Lions defense for 385 passing yards and four touchdowns. Six of those plays were runs for just 14 yards.

In Sunday’s wild 39-35 victory, Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick combined for 108 yards rushing, 120 yards receiving and three touchdowns. 2nd and 10 from the 12 means the Colts could have run seven more plays in the final 1:15.

Indianapolis sliced its deficit to 21-18 with 8:41 left in the third quarter on Luck’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Allen and a two-point conversion pass to Allen. Timeout! Then a pass short left for nine yards.

With 1:37 left in the first half and no timeouts left, Luck took the Colts 75 yards and closed out the half with a 3-yard TD pass to Donte Moncrief that sent the Colts into the locker room with a much needed dose of momentum.

KEY NUMBERS: Detroit averaged a league-low 83.4 yards rushing per game in 2015 but had 87 at halftime and finished with 116. “This is going to be a tough one to get over but we’ve got to go on the road and play a really good (Denver) football team out west next week and they’re not going to feel sorry for us”.

“(We) do a nice job of getting those guys the ball in ways where they can utilize their talents, and it’s not always handing it to them out of the backfield”, Caldwell said. Our quarterback was exceptional, so this one is disappointing as heck. Stafford completed passes to eight players. Stafford was 31-of-39 for 340 yards and three touchdowns. Having used about 13 seconds of the clock waiting to call timeouts earlier on in the final drive, the Lions elected to kick the field goal from 44 yards out despite Prater missing his last extra point. Luck played a almost ideal game, and the Colts still lost.

-VINATIERI ON THE MARK: Including 40- and 50-yarders made on Sunday, Indianapolis kicker Vinatieri has made 57 of his 60 most recent attempts dating to the start of the 2014 season.

“The slow start, again, we have to find a way to get that fixed”. We finally found a rhythm with the pass and the run, but this just wasn’t our sure.

Tight End Jack Doyle: The NFL’s highest scoring fantasy football tight in Week One? The Colts lost the game, but showed that if they can get enough players healthy on defense, they should continue to be factors in the AFC South race this season.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The Indianapolis Colts’ secondary is becoming a primary concern.

“The tackling sucked”, veteran safety Mike Adams said after the game. Regular starting RCB Vontae Davis has been injured and was inactive Sunday.

“Got a little better, I think”, Lions coach Jim Caldwell said.