Mercedes-Benz Superdome - New Orleans, LA
| Indianapolis Colts at New Orleans Saints | |||||
| Dec 6, 2015 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Indianapolis Colts (13-1, 6-1 Away) | 7 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 41 |
| New Orleans Saints (9-4-1, 4-2 Home) | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 16 |
Top Performers
Passing : A. Luck (IND) - 339YDS, 3TD
Rushing : V. Ballard (IND) - 20CAR, 115YDS, 2TD
Receiving : C. Shorts III (IND) - 17REC, 168YDS, TD
NEW ORLEANS - Indianapolis headed into today's game with a solid shot at locking up the AFC South and getting one step closer to a 1st round bye. It would also be a test of their offensive depth with Trent Richardson sitting out with hamstring soreness. Vick Ballard has been good in mop up duty so far, but today would be his first start.
As it turned out the Colts offense wouldn't need to do all that much against a porous Saints defense because their offense was not firing at all. The Saints came into this game looking like a solid playoff team, but walked out looking shaken. Offensively they couldn't run the ball against an aggressive Colts front, and defensively they couldn't do anything about Cecil Shorts III.
The Colts came out fast and basically put the Saints away early, going up 24-6 by halftime, and stomping them out late. The only bit of drama came during the 4th quarter after an Alex Henery FG made it 38-16 and Sean Payton dialed up an onside kick. The kick dribbled 10 yards and a Saints player touched the ball but a Colts player scooped it up, yet the refs called it New Orleans' ball. Chuck Pagano went ballistic on the officiating crew, in fact he just kept going until he drew a penalty. It didn't really matter as Drew Brees threw his first of two INT to FS Branch Daniels to give Indianapolis the ball back.
Shorts is having a huge second half to 2015.
The story of the day, aside from clinching the AFC South, was Cecil Shorts III abusing Saints CB Corey White. White just could not cover Shorts, and the Colts knew it, which led to Shorts catching 17 passes for a whopping 168 yards. Fantasy Football players with Shorts in a PPR league were very happy.
Indianapolis heads into the final two games of the season looking at two opponents gunning for a Top 5 draft pick. The Atlanta Falcons (4-8-1) are terrible on the road (1-6) and the New York Jets (4-9-1) are terrible at home (2-5), so finishing 15-1 is a reality. A win next week would put the Broncos (12-2) and Patriots (11-3) out of #1 seed contention, so it's possible Indianapolis rests their starters for the final week.
No comments:
Post a Comment