After snow game, Colts have short week

Dec 12, 2017 - 12:36 AM INDIANAPOLIS -- It will be a short week for the Indianapolis Colts as they prepare for Thursday night's nationally televised home game against the Denver Broncos.

The Colts have lost four in a row and seven of their last eight games. They also are a tired football team after their game with Buffalo Sunday that was played in blizzard-like weather conditions.

"It's hard to get ready in a short week; depends on how old you are," head coach Chuck Pagano admitted after Monday's abbreviated walk-through practice.

"Sunday to Sunday is hard much less Sunday to Thursday. It's a challenge. But we don't have any control over that."

The overtime loss to the Bills took a lot out of Pagano's players, both physically and mentally.

"That game took a lot out of players. It was like running in quicksand or on a beach,'" the coach said, referring to the heavy snow that covered the playing field. "Guys are tired after running through seven to nine inches of snow."

With only three games remaining in the regular season and Indianapolis now officially out of the post-season hunt, the spotlight will now be on the future of Pagano and his coaching staff.

But the veteran coach isn't going to let those questions interfere with the planning for the Denver game.

"What do you think? It's all perspective. I'm on this side of the dirt. We're not guaranteed anything. We're all on one-day contracts," Pagano said. "We get today. We're gonna get after it. You know what you got into. Shelf life (for NFL head coaches is) not long."

Despite the tough season, the Colts head coach has retained his sense of humor.

"Can't worry about it. I'm good," he said. "I'm the grandfather of the AFC South (among head coaches)."

--Running back Frank Gore has 762 yards rushing through 13 games this season. Gore needs to average 80 yards over the final three games to reach 1,000 for the season. He also needs 275 yards to pass LaDainian Tomlinson for No. 4 all-time (91.6 per game).

--Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton has 811 receiving yards this season. Hilton needs to average 63 receiving yards over last three games for his fifth straight 1,000-yard season.

--With a 3-10 record, the Colts are in position for the third overall pick in next spring's NFL Draft.

--Head coach Chuck Pagano shouldered the blame for kicker Adam Vinatieri missing a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds in snowy Buffalo Sunday.

"I screwed that up," Pagano said after the game. "The goal was to get on the right hash, and we didn't accomplish that. That's not on Vinny, that's on me."

NOTES: WR Donte Moncrief (ankle/foot) did not practice Monday and is listed as week-to-week. His availability for Thursday night's home game with Denver remains undecided. ... CB Rashaan Melvin (hand) had limited work in Monday's walk-through practice. He wore a large wrap/bandage on his injured hand. Melvin will probably be a game-time decision Thursday night. ... TE Darrell Daniels (hamstring) did not practice Monday and is not expected to play against the Broncos Thursday night. ... C Ryan Kelly (concussion) practiced Monday, but is scheduled to meet with a neurologist on Wednesday. Kelly practiced last week. He was not cleared to play against the Bills. ... DT Hassan Ridgeway (shoulder) saw limited work in Monday's walk-through practice. He remains listed as week-to-week. Ridgeway is not expected to play against the Broncos Thursday night. He may be a game-time decision, however.



REPORT CARD VS. BILLS

--PASSING OFFENSE: C-minus - QB Jacoby Brissett struggled in the blizzard-like conditions in Buffalo. He wound up completing 11-of-22 passes for 69 yards. Five different Indianapolis players caught at least two passes. Brissett was sacked once and did not throw an interception. He ended the day with a 72.0 passer rating.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: A - RB Frank Gore was outstanding. Probably the best game that he has had since coming to Indianapolis. Gore wound up with a career-best 36 carries for a team-high 130 yards. His rushing total was the most for a Colts player since Donald Brown had 161 vs. Tennessee on Dec. 18, 2011. His 36 carries tied for the third most in franchise history behind Lydell Mitchell's 40 in 1974 vs. the Jets and Edgerrin James' 38 vs. Seattle in 2000. Indianapolis wound up with 163 yards rushing as a team.

--PASS DEFENSE: C-plus - The Colts defense did an OK job against two Buffalo quarterbacks. As a team, the Bills completed 7-of-16 passes for 92 yards. Starter Nate Peterman left the game in the second half with a concussion and did not return. Backup Joe Webb had his most success in the overtime period, connecting with WR Deonte Thompson on a 34-yard pass that set up the eventual game-winning touchdown.

--RUSH DEFENSE: D - Bills RB LeSean McCoy was a beast in the snow, running over and around Indianapolis defenders. McCoy wound up with a whopping 156 yards on 32 carries and scored the game-winner with a 21-yard sprint with 1:33 remaining in overtime. He put on a show against the Colts, averaging 4.9 yards per carry on a snow-covered playing surface. The Bills had 277 yards on 51 total rushing attempts in the game.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: B-plus - K Adam Vinatieri battled rugged conditions with heavy snow and strong winds that made kicking difficult. He missed field-goal attempts from 33 and 43 yards out, the last attempt coming in the final seconds of regulation. He did, however, punch through a somewhat miraculous extra point kick from 43 yards out that appeared to be going wide. It hooked back through the goal posts. Rookie P Rigoberto Sanchez, who attended college in Hawaii and had no experience playing in snowy conditions, averaged 35.6 yards on seven punts and had two kicks downed inside the Bills' 20-yard line.

--COACHING: C-minus - Clock management and use of timeouts hurt Chuck Pagano in the Buffalo game. An ill-timed timeout, when the Bills were out of timeouts, allowed the home team enough time to go down and score the first touchdown of the game. And not being able to get K Adam Vinatieri in position to make a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds of regulation came back to haunt his team. But give Pagano and his coaching staff credit for getting Indianapolis in position to win the game with a late touchdown drive and subsequent decision to go for the win with a two-point conversion. The two-point play worked to perfection but a questionable offensive pass interference penalty on the attempt wiped out the play and set up Vinatieri's long PAT attempt that just hooked inside the uprights.