2014 Colts - Week 5

1:00PM EST - October 5th, 2014
Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis, IN

Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts
Oct 5, 2014	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Baltimore Ravens (2-3, 1-1 Away)	0	10	0	10	20
Indianapolis Colts (3-2, 1-2 Home)	7	3	0	7	17

Top Performers

Passing : A. Luck (IND) - 349YDS, TD
Rushing : T. Richardson (IND) - 12CAR, 118YDS
Receiving : O. Daniels (BAL) - 9REC, 137YDS

INDIANAPOLIS - The Colts would head into their match up with the Ravens looking like one of the better teams in the league. Two straight wins in which the Colts dominated their opponents would help build their confidence, but the Jaguars and Titans played like they may be some of the worst teams in football. Despite the winning, the Colts defense has struggled regularly.

The Ravens, even though a shadow of their Superbowl winning team, would present a number of issues for the Indy defense. The biggest issue would be the Ravens balanced attack, starting with Joe Flacco under center and the weapons at his disposal. Aside from the opening game against Denver, the Colts haven't faced a team with a running threat (Ray Rice) and a bevvy of receiving options (Torrey Smith, Steve Smith, and Owen Daniels) to complicate things.

Andrew Luck opened the scoring with a 1 yard QB sneak after TY Hilton was tackled on the 1, a disturbing theme for the game. Vinatieri would miss a 53 yard attempt near the end of the 1st, which would prove a costly mistake.

Rice would even the score with a short TD run after a long pass to Smith Sr. on an all-out blitz, and then Matt Elam would pick of Luck on a deep seam to set up a Justin Tucker FG and a 10-7 lead. Things would finally go the Colts way after two fumbles (Hilton on the kickoff and Reggie Wayne after a short pass) would be overturned after review. Vinatieri would tie the game on a 40 yard FG with time expiring.

Smith would be a constant headache.

The entire second half was all Ravens, the Colts defense could barely keep them from scoring and the defense was all over Luck's targets. Hakeem Nicks would get close to scoring, but a fumble on the 5 would kill the drive. The Colts would stone Rice on two straight rushing attempts, and it looked as though a punt from the endzone was coming, but on 3rd and 10 Rice would run for 31 yards to get them out of trouble. The drive would span the 3rd and 4th quarter and end with a Tucker 51 yarder and a 13-10 lead.

Luck, on his way to near 350 passing yards, would engineer a drive that ended with a short TD pass to TY Hilton. The Ravens, and Smith Sr. again, would torment the Colts defense thanks to a 39 yard TD bomb to take a 20-17 lead. Luck would have one more drive in him, taking the offense down the field with less than 2:00 to play in the game. The Ravens defense opened up, and with the clock ticking down Luck hit Wayne for a 37 yard gain that would win the game. Unfortunately Wayne was tackled on the 1 yard line, reaching for the endzone, but the refs did not give it to him and the Ravens walked away victorious.

Another inch would have won the game.

Despite Robert Mathis' two sacks, and the team limiting Flacco to only 250 yards, the Colts defense was burned again and again by big plays.