IndyStar's Nate Atkins reviews the Indianapolis Colts' last-minute defeat with a new starting quarterback.
added something to the tension Sunday morning, when he told ESPN's Chris Mortensen that the offensive line let Ryan down and that he wanted to make the move earlier this season but couldn't bench the quarterback after a win. It would have been uplifting to end this kind of a week with a win, but this truly is a league of inches. The Colts came up an inch short of a touchdown from Michael Pittman Jr.
Grover Stewart is on a new level right now. One week after he racked up 12 tackles as a nose tackle, Stewart was blowing up screens, batting down passes, eating guards and chasing down quarterbacks. The Commanders were foolish enough to run a fourth-down play into the belly of the beast, and it ended predictably with a stop. Stewart is a monster living his best life in the trenches this year, and it'll get lost in the mess that is the Colts offense, but he deserves his first Pro Bowl nod.
This was Frank Reich and Marcus Brady's most creative game plan of the season, perhaps only behind the hurry-up passing that beat the Jaguars two weeks ago. With just three practices to prepare Ehlinger, the Colts employed a diverse run game that got two of their fastest players, Campbell and Nyheim Hines, running to the wide side of the field.
The conservative game plan could not eliminate the turnovers, though. Ehlinger fumbled as he was hit in a collapsing pocket and was too loose with the ball. Taylor fumbled on a first-down run, too, and it's surprising to write that that's already his second on the season. This is who the Colts are right now, working too hard on offense to launch long drives that too often seem destined to end in a turnover.