1. Daniel Jones' ability to handle the Broncos' pressure, while throwing into tight windows, was key in earning the Colts a win.

Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph consistently tried to scheme up ways to put heat on Daniel Jones and disrupt the Colts' passing game: Of Jones' 40 dropbacks, 28 came with Denver sending five or more pass rushers, per Pro Football Focus.

On those 28 dropbacks, Jones completed 17 of 26 passes for 269 yards with a touchdown and a passer rating of 112.5; he was sacked once and scrambled another time. That was Jones' lone sack taken against a Broncos defense that led the NFL with 63 sacks in 2024.

Jones didn't just beat those pressure looks; he, the Colts' offensive line and running back Jonathan Taylor (more on him in a second) consistently prevented those from creating pressure in the first place. Jones was pressured on just half of those dropbacks against five or more pass rushers, and on those plays completed seven of 12 passes for 97 yards (8.1 yards/attempt).

For some context, in 2024 opposing quarterbacks averaged 5.6 yards per attempt when Denver generated pressure with five or more pass rushers, per Pro Football Focus. This is a defense that has consistently married its rush and coverage better than most; the Colts on Sunday still found ways to win through the air against it.

Jones' success began right off the bat – Denver sent five pass rushers on the second snap of the game; Jones side-stepped pressure to his right and, with 2024 second-team All-Pro defensive tackle Zach Allen then in his face to his left, he delivered an on-target throw about 25 yards downfield to wide receiver Josh Downs for a chunk gain.

On Jones' final pass attempt of the game, he again hung in the pocket with edge rusher Nik Bonitto closing in from behind, buying just enough time to find wide receiver Alec Pierce on a crossing route to pick up a critical third-and-six from midfield.

"When you are actually in the battle and in the midst of it with someone, you can kind of see the grit that he has," running back Jonathan Taylor said of Jones. "It's awesome to see. ... When you have a quarterback that'll sit in there and make those tough throws, that just gives you a sense of pride — hey, let's just give him time."

Jones, too, consistently completed passes into tight windows, with his pass-catchers not backing down from the challenge of going against cornerback and 2024 AP Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II. Per Pro Football Focus, Jones completed six of 10 passes into contested windows, with five of those completions resulting in a first down.

Again, this is what the Broncos' defense is built upon: Generating pressure and playing tight coverage behind it. The Colts were able to manage both the pressure and the tight coverage – and that's how you put up 473 yards of offense against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

2. Jonathan Taylor played a complete game – and that's not about how many snaps he played.

Taylor was on the field for 66 of the Colts' 71 offensive snaps against Denver, and that's not just because he's a workhorse running back who ripped off 165 yards on 25 carries (6.6 yards/attempt). Taylor's impact on the Colts' passing game was significant against the Broncos on Sunday, both when he was thrown the ball and when he had to stay home in pass protection.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen and his offensive coaching staff clearly picked up something with Denver's defense having issues covering running back targets out of the backfield, and those were exploited twice in big spots on Sunday. The first was a third-and-two swing pass, where Taylor motioned from the field (to the left of Jones) to the boundary; as Taylor jetted toward the sideline, Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton got briefly tangled up with safety Brandon Jones, leaving Taylor wide open for a catch-and-run gain of 43 yards.

Then, on first-and-goal on the seven-yard line late in the second quarter, all 11 Broncos defenders were between the near-side hashmarks and far-side numbers when Jones released a pass to Taylor, who caught it wide open by the near-side numbers for a walk-in touchdown.

"A lot of times they would leave the backs out in the flat, but also (we were) able to capitalize on things they wanted to give us," Taylor said. "A lot of times with some defenses, if there's something they want to leave as not as important or say hey, that's our last point of emphasis or concern, you gotta make them pay."

Taylor, too, shined in pass protection for the second consecutive week against an aggressive, blitz-heavy defense.

He hung back in pass protection six times, per Pro Football Focus, and his vision and toughness led to him being in the right spot on those plays – on which Jones completed five of six attempts. One big-time play: Taylor worked to his left to pick up Singleton, who was blitzing into the B-gap (between guard Quenton Nelson and left tackle Bernhard Raimann), and give Jones a clean pocket to launch a one-on-one deep ball to Pierce, who hauled it in through pass interference for a gain of 44 yards.

"I thought he did some really good things," Steichen said. "They brought a lot of pressure there. I thought he stepped up, fit up his blocks pretty darn good. So that was good to see from that standpoint. Obviously, ran the ball hard, but the pass protection was pretty solid when he had to make his one-on-one blocks there."

Taylor's 79.4 Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade through two weeks is 10th-highest among running backs; among running backs with 10 or more pass pro snaps, it's second-highest. After Sunday's game, though, Taylor credited Jones with consistently getting him in the right positions – he said Jones has done a good job echoing the offensive line's protection calls, which has kept him and the line on the same page against the blitz-happy Dolphins and Broncos.

"(Jones being) that bridge between the O-line and the running back room is definitely helpful," Taylor said.

3. Shane Steichen explained his playcalling prior to Spencer Shrader's field goal.

After Jones completed that third-and-six pass to Pierce from midfield, Denver used its final timeout with 1:44 remaining in the game. The Colts had the ball on the Broncos' 43-yard line with all three timeouts; Steichen then called for three runs to Taylor, which gained two yards and one yard before losing two yards, respectively, as the clock ticked down to 0:03.

Spencer Shrader then attempted a 60-yard field goal to win the game; more on what happened after that in Colts Thing No. 5. But on Monday, Steichen said he took a hard look at how things went leading up to Shrader's field goal.

"Probably should have been more aggressive there," Steichen said. "Got a lot of faith in Spence to make a kick, but don't want to put him in those situations from that deep. We had three timeouts, probably could have thrown the ball on second or third down there in that situation to get it closer for the field goal. So, learn from that. Obviously, don't want to do that to our guys again, but obviously we found a way to win there, thankfully."

4. When the Colts' defense needed a play, Grover Stewart and Cam Bynum stepped up again.

Cam Bynum's interception came at a critical moment of Sunday's game. With 11:33 left in the game, the Broncos leading, 28-23, and the ball on the Colts' 28-yard line for a third-and-3, Bynum's diving snag of a Bo Nix pass was a massive swing. Instead of the Broncos settling for a field goal and going up by eight, or converting the third down and ultimately getting in the end zone to go up by two scores, the Colts got the ball back and turned Bynum's interception into three points.

That's now two interceptions in two games – and home games at that – for Bynum, who the Colts aggressively targeted and brought in via free agency in March. The ebullient Bynum has made a remarkable first impression at Lucas Oil Stadium, from his interceptions to his celebrations, but those two picks have both come with an assist from one of the longest-tenured members of the Colts: Grover Stewart.

As Nix hit the back of his drop, Stewart battled with 2024 first-team AP All-Pro right guard Quinn Meinerz. Stewart was able to push Meinerz back a bit before ripping to his outside shoulder, after which he put his hand up as Nix loaded up to throw. With Stewart in his face, Nix sort of short-armed his throw – head coach Sean Payton said he thought the ball was tipped – and wasn't able to fully step into it, resulting in it sailing high and wide over wide receiver Courtland Sutton and into the arms of Bynum.

After Bynum was done celebrating, Stewart came up to him.

"Watch when you see the tape," Stewart told Bynum, "you'll see I got a good rush for you again."

In Week 1, it was Stewart's pressure that affected Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who overthrew wide receiver Tyreek Hill for Bynum's first interception with the Colts.

5. Alright, what the heck was that leverage penalty?

Let's start with the definition of "leverage," from the NFL rulebook, which reads: "A defensive player jumping or standing on a teammate or an opponent to block or attempt to block an opponent's kick."

On Spencer Shrader's 60-yard field goal attempt with three seconds to go, Broncos defensive lineman Dondrea Tillman (No. 92) put his left arm on offensive lineman Dalton Tucker's back and uses it to push himself up into the air. The side judge saw it and reached for his flag as soon as Shrader's kick left his foot, tossing it in the air as Shrader's kick fell short and wide right.

Leverage is a personal foul – it's a player safety penalty – which means it's 15 yards and, in this case, an untimed down. Shrader, of course, stepped up and drilled his 45-yard kick to deliver the Colts a win.

Here's what referee Craig Wrolstad said in a pool report after the game: "For leverage, as a defender, you're not allowed to place your hand on an opponent or a teammate sand push off to propel yourself into the air to block a kick. In this case number 92 came across the line to the right guard and he put his hands on the right guard and pushed off him to elevate himself in the air in order to try to block the kick. You're not allowed to do that. It is a personal found and a 15-yard penalty. In this case since it was the last play of the game and it was a foul on the defense, we extended the game for one untimed down. We assessed the 15-yard penalty, and they were able to run another play."

Leverage penalties are, as you might imagine, pretty rare. Per Pro Football Focus, there have been 60 leverage flags thrown since the start of the 2015 season; only three have been assessed in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, including the one thrown on Tillman Sunday. One of those came with six seconds left in a Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants game in 2023 with the Cowboys leading, 49-16; another came on a go-ahead PAT for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022 and was enforced on the ensuing kickoff with three seconds left.

Pro Football Focus' database doesn't have a leverage penalty impacting a go-ahead end-of-game missed field goal outside of what happened on Sunday. But it's not the first time the Colts have been bailed out in dramatic fashion by a penalty on a last-second missed field goal: You might remember in the 2003 "Monday Night Miracle" game, Mike Vanderjagt missed a 40-yard field goal as time expired but had it negated for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Buccaneers' Simeon Rice. He then connected from 29 yards with 3:50 left in overtime for a 38-35 Colts win.