INDIANAPOLIS — The boxscore will show a 13-play, 75-yard drive taking 5:56 off the clock that culminated in a three-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Luck to T.Y. Hilton.
But let's take a closer look at the Indianapolis Colts' Week 2 Drive of the Game, presented by Hays + Sons:
———————————
After getting off to a fast start in Sunday's Week 2 matchup against the Washington Redskins, the Colts' offense started to get stale heading into the second half.
Most of their drives in the third quarter through the start of the fourth ended in punts — and one ended with an avoidable interception. It wasn't exactly an ideal way to start changing the narrative for a team that has had trouble closing out games with second-half leads the a past couple seasons.
With the defense holding up its end of the bargain, however, the Colts' offense finally came alive midway through the fourth quarter, providing the final nail in the coffin to earn the team's first win of the season.
Starting at the 25-yard line at the 13:28 mark, the Colts would find the end zone 13 plays and 5:56 later, as Luck connected with a wide-open Hilton on a well-designed, and well-executed, play to put the Colts up 21-9, and, really, dash hopes of the host Redskins.
Hilton said after the game it was clear the offense needed to make some plays at that juncture of the ballgame — and it did.
"We wanted to score," Hilton said. "[The] momentum started to shift, and we needed a drive. We told them, 'We can't go out here, we can't go three-and-out. We got to put points on the board.' They started to get momentum, so we needed to shift it back and we made plays. All through the drive, guys stepped up and made plays and that's what we needed."
There were a few key plays on this drive. First, facing a 3rd and 1 just three plays in, Luck found wide receiver Chester Rogers for a five-yard completion and the first down, moving the chains. The Colts faced another 3rd and 1 three plays later, but Luck got two yards on a quarterback sneak. On the very next play, Ryan Grant went up against cornerback Quinton Dunbar and brought down a 21-yard pass from Luck, and now Indy was cookin'.
That was followed by a nine-yard pass to Hilton. Then a 12-yard completion to tight end Jack Doyle. Then Luck got to the 3-yard line on a scramble.
Again facing third down — this time 3rd and Goal — Luck, lined up in the shotgun, brought running back Nyheim Hines in motion, who was out wide to the right, across to his left. On the snap, Luck faked the handoff to Hines, dropped back and looked to his left, where Grant was running a crossing route.
The Redskins kept in stride with Grant going to his left — but completely forgot about Hilton running across the middle to his right.
Luck delivered the pass to Hilton at the 2-yard line, and The Ghost jogged in from there for his second touchdown of the season.
"That was a big call, big-time call and a big-time situation," Luck said after the game. "We didn't hesitate. We talked all week about, 'Hey this is the call we're going to get to.' We got it in quick, anticipated it and the guys did a great job of getting T.Y. open."
