Indianapolis Colts cornerback Xavien Howard sits down in front of the cameras and hugs himself involuntarily. Now he’s shivering. This is a mid-September afternoon in Indiana, and it’s close to 90 degrees outside, but the air-conditioning must be blaring at the Colts’ Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center on 56th Street because it sure looks uncomfor–
“Boy,” Howard mutters as he gets ready for a media interview on Zoom. “It’s cold in here.”
It’s cold everywhere, Xavien.
Imagine if the Colts hadn’t beaten the Denver Broncos on the final play of that NFL game a few days earlier. Imagine if Broncos linebacker Deondrea Tillman hadn’t committed a leverage penalty – since when was “leverage” in “football” a “bad” thing? – on Spencer Shrader’s missed field goal attempt of 60 yards. Imagine if Shrader hadn’t gotten one more chance, 15 yards closer thanks to the 15-yard penalty, and drilled it to beat the Broncos 29-28.
Imagine if the Colts weren’t 2-0.
Have you heard the discourse this week, nationally and even locally? Even with the win? Even with the undefeated record? Even with the Colts off to one of their most pleasantly surprising starts in decades?
Says one Colts fan you’ll hear from below: I was at the game… they’re good (and lucky)! They overcame their coach today and that’s a fact.
Says another: Colts fans are pissed at (Shane) Steichen.
Says another: Thankfully the zebras saved Steichen from himself.
Boy. It’s cold in here.
Doyel: Colts are good, they’re fun, and they’re undefeated! Wheeee!
Colts beat Broncos despite Shane Steichen
It’s the way Steichen called those final plays.
The Colts had the ball near the Denver 40 with 1:44 left. They had all three timeouts. They had plenty of time to get closer to the goalposts, a lot closer, than their current range of about 60 yards. But Steichen is playing it conservatively – think: Federalist Party – and running Jonathan Taylor into the teeth of the defense, again and again, and the clock is running and the Colts are going to get their wish.
Their wish?
“Yeah, well, we were in field goal range there,” Steichen said afterward. “Felt good about it. … We didn’t want any time left on that clock.”
(Emphasis mine)
No time left on the clock? What?
“Yeah, just – I guess I’ll get into it, whatever,” Steichen said. “It’s the kickoff there at the end. We don’t want to let them get a return there. That’s why.”
A last-second kickoff return TD by Denver wasn’t going to happen to Steichen’s Colts. He wasn’t going to risk a pass play, not if it meant an incompletion that would stop the clock and potentially give Denver enough time to field a kickoff. If all of that meant a 60-yard field goal for Spencer Shrader, so be it.
So be it.
Shrader missed from 60, but you know the rest of the story. The penalty by Denver. The second attempt from 45 yards for Shrader. The victory. The amazing quote afterward from Shrader, when someone asks the deeply religious Colts kicker how he had managed his emotions in those final seconds.
“Yeah, so I was obviously trying to stay as calm as I could on the sideline,” he said, “and just thinking about: ‘Listen, God loves you no matter what. Just go out there and do your best for the team.'”
That was Shrader having his say, and it was beautiful.
Here comes yours, and it was … not?
But it was a lot. It was readers from all over the place, on my IndyStar text message group. It’s free to join, and close to 3,000 have signed up. Join us on the link at the end of any of my online columns, and help me do this weekly Mailbagg!
You get only a handful of texts each week: Mainly the first look at my latest column, and an occasional peek under the hood into my writing process. I never text before 9 a.m., or after 9 p.m. My texting etiquette is flawless!
Anyway, here’s what I sent the group after the game
From: Gregg to the group, 8:58 p.m.
It’s not 9 pm!!!
Good heavens, do we have a fun football team on our hands. That wasn’t a question, by the way. That’s a fact. The Colts? They’re fun. They’re good.
Related story: They’re undefeated.
My latest:
Here comes the link, and the response.
Doyel: Colts are fun, good and undefeated. Beating Denver proves all of it.
What’s Colts coach Shane Steichen doing?!?
From: Ron G.
I was at the game… They’re good (and lucky)! They overcame their coach today, and that’s a fact. Two missed fourth-down conversions at midfield that luckily only led to one score, a missed Denver doink that could’ve realistically salted the game away for the Broncos, and then not trying to get closer for a game-winning FG…. And then THE FLAG that bailed out the Colts after by anyone’s reckoning they’d frittered a reasonable chance away? Steichen literally gifted the game away. He was lucky Denver re-gifted it right back.
I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just saying, in the aftermath of that game, I wasn’t thinking about Steichen’s Federalist tendencies or any of that. I was just thinking, as I wrote:
Wheeeeeee!!! The Colts are good again, and this is fun!
From: Jonathan T.
Loved the article don’t get me wrong…but without that leverage penalty the story is dramatically different. Steichen stubbornly running Taylor into a nine-man box and setting his kicker up for failure so the heat doesn’t land on him.
But what about: Wheeee!??!!
From: Daniel F.
Colts fans are pissed at Steichen. Terrible coaching in the red zone and clock management at the end. Blind friggin’ luck was our MVP – not Steichen.
Wheeeee?
From: Roger S.
Love the win. Love Jones and Shrader. Love the overall competence in the first two games compared to the past. But very worried about the play-calling at the end. We needed 10-15 more yards and three plunges against a nine-man front was beyond bad. Thankfully the zebras saved Steichen from himself.
Whee.
Big Ten greed hurts Friday night lights in Indiana
The Colts-Broncos game was the most memorable column – for me, anyway – of this past week. But the one I’d written two days earlier, on the big and greedy Big Ten moving into Friday night football with a vengeance? That’s the one I hope has the most impact, and I say that knowing: It won’t change a thing.
The Big Ten is too greedy.
But what the league did Friday, moving the Indiana football game against Indiana State to Friday night and putting it on the Big Ten Network, was brutal. It’s more than the blatant disrespect to the needs of high school football teams in the state and beyond, who need to sell every ticket, every candy bar, every bag of popcorn to help fund the athletic department for the rest of the season.
Here’s what the Big Ten did: Put IU football and the Sycamores on television on Friday night – the very same Friday night featuring the biggest games of the year in those two college towns: Bloomington North vs. Bloomington South, and Terre Haute North Vigo vs. Terre Haute South Vigo.
Did the Big Ten have any idea? Now that I’ve told them, do they care?
Zero chance.
From: Gregg to the group
It’s not enough that the Big Ten has scheduled IU football vs. Indiana State for its BTN game tonight, a Friday night in the heart of high school football season. Get this: Tonight’s prep schedule features the biggest rivalry HS games in Bloomington AND Terre Haute.
The Big Ten sucks.
My latest:
Here comes the link, and the response.
Doyel: Big Ten doesn’t care about your high schools, Bloomington and Terre Haute
IU football vs. Indiana State on Friday night?
From: Danny.
You cannot let Steichen off for his poor game management, or he will never learn or grow (not sure his ego will allow it anyway). He is far from being Sean Payton (understandably), and right now he is a good OC (needs red zone work), but far from being a great coach. Nothing is proven in the first eight games of the season, coaching is the difference the rest of the way. STAY CRITICAL and do not become a homer, please. Either way, we love you.
But what about the Big Ten’s greed, Danny?
(Love you Danny!!!)
From: Randy R.
Hey Gregg. Why do you think Steichen kept running Taylor up the middle on that last series when they were stacking the line with nine men?
But what about?
From: D.F.
Please call out what an AWFUL HEAD COACH WE HAVE. FIRE STEICHEN.
But what.
From: Rob K.
It’s like you have my house bugged. I went on a rant last night that FRIDAY NIGHTS ARE MEANT FOR HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL. Yeah the Big Ten is desperate for more money and exposure. Haven’t read your column yet, but I’m sure will be nodding in agreement.
But what about Shane Steichen’s play-calling?!?!
From: Rob K.
Just read the article and yep agree with every word… Even though tonight I will be watching a high school game on one TV and IU on another, I am extremely irritated that the big bad Big Ten is encroaching on these wonderful high school Friday nights.
But what about.
(Thanks Rob.)
Not printing this
From: Irving P.
You dissed Daniel Jones during training camp, and again when he won the job vs. Anthony Richardson Sr., and one more time just before the first game. I’m making you a Jones crow pie. Where should I have it delivered?
Man. It’s cold in here.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Doyel: The Colts are good, fun and undefeated. And you’re done with coach Shane Steichen?
Reporting by Gregg Doyel, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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