INDIANAPOLIS — The boxscore will show a six-play, 55-yard drive taking just 1:52 off the clock that culminated in a five-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Luck to Ryan Grant.
But let's take a closer look at the Indianapolis Colts' Week 3 Drive of the Game, presented by Hays + Sons:
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The Colts didn't have an ideal start in Sunday's road matchup against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, who won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half.
So the opening kickoff went to Indianapolis — which promptly went three-and-out on its opening drive.
The Eagles, meanwhile, had an inspired opening drive of their own. With quarterback Carson Wentz making his 2018 debut after tearing his ACL last December, Philadelphia promptly bullied the Indy defense to the tune of a 12-play, 79-yard opening drive that took 5:11 off the clock and ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to rookie tight end Dallas Goedert.
Things got clamped down pretty well after that point for the Colts (at least defensively), and the offense's most successful drive came later in the first quarter.
After Eagles kicker Jake Elliott missed a 55-yard field goal attempt wide left, Indianapolis was set up with great field position, 1st and 10 from its own 45-yard line. Luck got things going with a simple seven-yard pass play to T.Y. Hilton, but the next play was perhaps the most important part of the whole sequence.
Lined up under center, Luck dropped back and launched a pass deep down the right sideline towards Hilton once again, who tried to rise up to go get the ball at its highest point. But Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby clearly got in Hilton's way, and the ensuing flag for pass interference set up the Colts at the Philadelphia 15-yard line.
Indianapolis had trouble converting trips to the red zone into touchdowns on Sunday, but that wouldn't be the case on this particular drive. After a two-yard pass to Nyheim Hines and an eight-yard completion to Grant, the Colts faced a 2nd and Goal from the 5-yard line.
Luck, lined up in the shotgun, saw Grant had one-on-one coverage to the left side. He used some playaction to Hines to get the other defenders flowing to the right, and threw a perfectly-placed pass to Grant, who made a tough catch in the back corner of the end zone for his first touchdown reception of the season.
The play tied the game at 7 and really helped settle down the Colts for the remainder of the ballgame.
Unfortunately, that would be the only time Indianapolis would score a touchdown from the red zone, however, as the team went 1-for-5 in those opportunities on the day.
"That's how you lose, Hilton said. "We had our chances, we just have to finish. If we get another touchdown then it changes the whole game. We just didn't finish down there, so we have to get better."
