Vinatieri kicks another victor, Colts beat Falcons 24-21

Matt Hasselbeck can’t exactly remember when his youngest daughter, now-12-year-old Mallory, asked the question, but it was sometime before he stepped up and turned into the Colts’ saving grace.

The Colts find themselves in first after a win over Denver in Week 9 despite a losing record, while the Falcons have lost three of their last four games and are a full three games back of the undefeated Panthers for first in the NFC South. Nevertheless, the Falcons are still favored to win the game between the two.

Colts vs Falcons 2015 (live score results below) are now in the third quarter of today’s NFL Football game. Freeman leads rushing with 43 yards, 3 carries, no touchdowns.

“The guy is a rare, rare talent”, Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano said. Atlanta started 5-0, but has lost four of five.

After yesterday’s painful loss to the Indianapolis Colts, we can no longer deny that this isn’t the same Atlanta Falcons team we fell in love at the start of the season. It was the 26 game-winning kick in the final minute of regulation or overtime of his illustrious career, and came in his 300 regular-season game.

“Matt, the old seasoned vet, is doing a fantastic job just winning games for us”, Vinatieri said.

There is no simple answer, but I believe that the Colts would be wise to keep Luck on the sidelines.

WHERE’S RODDY: Atlanta spent the last two weeks looking for ways to spark the offense.

Hasselbeck completed 23 of 32 passes for 213 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. “There are not many guys winning football games with backup quarterbacks right now, but he’s a great leader, got great experience”.

“All you have is 60 minutes”, Hasselbeck said. Fullback Patrick DiMarco, known mostly as a blocker, tripled his career touchdown output by hauling in a couple of scoring throws, one from 15 yards out, the other a 1-yarder.

The Falcons entered Sunday’s game with a turnover margin at 14 and ended the game plus one with 17 takeaways total. He said he never saw Jackson on the fourth-quarter interception.

The six-yard interception return from Jackson tied the score at 21 and silenced the Georgia Dome, minus a section of blue-cladded Colts fans in the end zone where the pick six had just occurred. “We’ll learn from it. And I’m sure there will be a few moments where everybody’s pissed off. You move forward, and you try to learn from them [and] be better the next time we have those opportunities come up”.

Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes for the Falcons, but he also was picked off three times – including an bad throw from his own end zone that Jackson snatched.

Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is facing his toughest test since becoming head coach.

But hey, let’s get back to Reitz, who was walking to his locker and preparing to check his phone, where he fully expected to catch a full ration of abuse from his buddies in Fishers – and elsewhere, I’d imagine.

NOTES: Atlanta WR Julio Jones finished with 160 yards on nine catches…. Atlanta WR Leonard Hankerson returned to the lineup for the first time since mid-October.