Simply put, this was a game where the Colts did not play their best game, but they found a way to win.
Defensively, the Colts gave up 400 yards but found a way to make a stop on the Cardinals' last drive. Offensively they were very productive, moving the ball up and down the field for 355 total yards and getting multiple people involved in each of their four touchdowns.
A close win like Sunday's, especially with the depleted defense the Colts had, shows that not just the coaches but the players have confidence in one another, and they expect the guys that they put in there – regardless of how much playing time you get, or if you're first or second string – to be productive. You have to be productive when you're on the field, and the Colts were productive enough to be successful.
How the Colts responded to pregame injuries
As a player, it's very difficult to recalibrate after injuries – especially injuries like the ones that Anthony Richardson Sr. and Charvarius Ward Sr. sustained on Sunday – more so mentally than anything else. Knowing that Ward, who is such a key part of your defense, is not going to be available and knowing that another guy is going to have to step in (even though he's capable of stepping in) knowing that you'll miss one of your better players, it's a challenge.
With that, it's not so much saying as players "We have to do more than what we're really capable of doing," but rather "We just have to make sure we do our job to the best of our ability." You want to do that every time, but you really can't afford to make too many mistakes because you want to make sure you give the new person enough support out there on the field.
Players are creatures of habit and they like routine, from after the game all the way up to the next game they play. Practice, meetings, weightlifting, the whole thing. Traveling, coming to the stadium. Even when they're at the stadium, each player has their own particular routine before they have to go out for warm up drills as a team.
So, for something like those injuries to happen less than 90 minutes before the game, it's a mental obstacle you have to get over. And it takes time for guys to recalibrate their thoughts, to process the injuries that took place and how they happened, but you still have to focus on the task at hand.
In those situations, it helps when guys can come together and you have veterans on the team, like the Colts do, that can pull together and say "Hey, look, yes, these things happened but we can overcome this. We believe in the guys they'll put in, everyone has played the game of football. We know what we need to do, we just have to focus on the game right now."
And I saw the Colts do exactly that. They played the game focused, they were attentive to their details, doing their job and making the adjustments needed to play the game. You saw it throughout the game, and you definitely saw it in that last drive, the last play on fourth down when the defense prevented Cardinals tight end Trey McBride from making the catch that would have given the Cardinals the lead with under a minute to go.
Looking at one key play
One key play that stands out to me from Sunday's win was cornerback Mekhi Blackmon's interception in the second quarter.
Just before that, the Colts had the ball and Daniel Jones threw an interception, trying to hit tight end Mo Alie-Cox, trying to get up over the defenders' reach. Linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. made a nice play and intercepted the ball, and got the ball in Colts' territory – very good field position for the Cardinals.
But two plays after, Blackmon got the interception.
On the play, Cardinals receiver Zay Jones was running a slant route. The inside receiver, McBride, was running a flat route – Nick Cross had McBride, and as Cross was going to chase McBride going into the flat, he had incidental contact with Jones, bumping him off a little bit. That left Blackmon free and able to step in front of Jones and pick off the throw from Jacoby Brissett, creating a crucial moment in the game.
Just as quickly as the Cardinals were in position to score at least three points, the Colts stopped them and took the ball and drove down to score themselves to take the 14-7 lead. So that's a 14- or 10-point turnaround right there, which I think was a key moment in the game for the Colts, and which I think went unnoticed – not just because of the interception, but because of the energy it gave the offense.
Because in that moment, as a member of the offense, you know that there was a mistake made. You know there's a possibility of giving up a touchdown or a field goal. So, to see the defense, who was put in a disadvantageous position, almost immediately come through and make a play to stop the score, it gives you a lot of energy to go back out and make a play, just like the Colts did.
That's what football is about, and that's what team sports are about.
Everyone's not going to be perfect. There's going to be mistakes and units of the team are going to have to step up. You just have to play and do your job, and sometimes help pick up other units so the team can be successful – and that's exactly what the Colts showed they were capable of doing on Sunday.
