Colts “hold” on in OT win
By CALEB LYNN
ISL Contributor
INDIANAPOLIS — In their highly-anticipated match-up with the Green Bay Packers, the Indianapolis Colts survived a wild game in Overtime, defeating Green Bay 34-31. As the schedule has become tougher, the Colts have responded- with back-to-back wins over two top teams in the NFL, and improving to 7-3.
Celebrations began as the Colts finished it out with a game-winning 39-yard field goal in overtime by Rodrigo Blankenship. After the game, Blankenship was able to dive into his perspective of how he was ready to line up the kick and his reaction to how it went through the goalposts.
“Yeah, I mean it was the exact same as every kick leading up to that point,” Blankenship said. “Nothing changed in that moment.” After missing a 50-yarder earlier in the game, Blankenship stayed confident, and nailed one when it counted the most.
Overall, the Colts continue to show how resilient they are. For QB Philip Rivers, he mentioned that this was a group that wanted to come out into the second half erasing their deficit of 14 points (28-14).
“Guys were upset at halftime, I will tell you,” Rivers said. “The defense was upset.”
That upset defense came out motivated in the second half, leaning into Head Coach Frank Reich’s season-long message of togetherness.
In the small world of Lucas Oil Stadium, it came from the Colts rookie safety Julian Blackmon. He came out with a fantastic play by stripping the ball from Green Bay wide receiver Marques-Valdez Scantling. As Blackmon continued to make plays in this game, he had a gut feeling that the Packers were going to call that screen play with 9:20 left in overtime.
“So honestly, I had a feeling that they were coming back to that screen they have been running quite a few times during the game,” Blackmon said. “So, I came down and I had to get down into the box… I just swiped at it and I happened to hit his arm.”
Blackmon also mentioned that he specifically wanted to make a point throughout his rehab to be the best player he can be. For him, the goal is to become defensive rookie of the year.
“Definitely,” Blackmon said. “Throughout my playbook I sat down and literally wrote defensive rookie of the year all over my book because that is what I want, and I truly believe that is the talent I have that I can bring to this team.”
Blackmon after the game also received praise from his star teammate Darius Leonard who has been one of the best linebackers all season. Leonard in fact, also made a point that he sees a little of himself in the rookie safety.
“Yes, bro it is so crazy,” Leonard said. “Me personally, he is the defensive rookie of the year, there is nobody doing what he is doing. We got to start giving him some credit. I am tired of nobody giving him any credit. Every time we play in a big game, he steps up.”
The final few minutes of the game were, for lack of a better term, ridiculous. A crazy amount of penalties were called, and the game went to an entirely different level. The Colts almost gave it away on a number of occasions, but the bottom line: They got the job done, and still sit atop their division at 7-3. Next up? Another showdown with the (also) 7-3 Tennessee Titans.
