Thursday, March 5, 2015

2016 Colts - Week 17

1:00PM ET - December 27th, 2016
Paul Brown Stadium - Cincinnati, OH

Indianapolis Colts at Cincinnati Bengals
Oct 30, 20161ST2ND3RD4THSCORE
Indianapolis Colts (15-1, 8-0 Away)14771442
Cincinnati Bengals (6-10, 3-5 Home)070714

Top Performers

Passing : A. Luck (IND) - 342YDS, 4TD
Rushing : J. Forsett (IND) - 19CAR, 116YDS, TD
Receiving : C. Shorts III (IND) - 5REC, 138YDS, TD

CINCINNATI - The final week of the regular season is finally here and the AFC playoffs race is coming down to the wire for just about every team involved. Thanks to the Colts opening week loss to the Broncos, they would be under pressure to win this week. Every single team, even ones that had already clinched a spot, could change seeds with a loss today. With four teams in the running for the wildcard slots, there would be an enormous amount of pressure to win today.

NFL Standings - Updated: Oct 30, 2016
AFC EASTWLT
Y-New England1230
AFC NORTHWLT
Y-Baltimore1140
AFC SOUTHWLT
Y-Indianapolis1410
AFC WESTWLT
Y-Denver1320
AFC WILD CARD RACEWLT
Cleveland960
NY Jets960
San Diego960
Houston861

The Colts don't really do second gear, and even though they just had to win they blew out the hapless Bengals. The few Colts fans that braved the trip to Cincinnati could be seen waving 'Bungles' signs in the stands, and Indianapolis certainly made them look right.

The Bengals secondary just killed them today, allowing Andrew Luck to pass for 342 yards and 4TD on a simple 20/26. Their weakness was giving up massive amounts of yards to Cecil Shorts III and T.Y. Hilton, who combined for 13 receptions and a whopping 275 yards. Indianapolis opened the scoring with a 77 yard TD to Shorts that started as a 5 yard out, and the Bengals just couldn't tackle him.

The Colts poured it on in the first half with three TD passes, one to Shorts and two to Hilton, before Cincinnati could get on the board with a 9 yard strike to TE Tyler Eifert. The Bengals went into the locker room with their heads down, and they probably should have just stayed in there for the second half.

Marcus Lattimore made it 28-7 with a 1 yard TD run, and then the Bengals really lost their motivation. Gio Bernard went down with a high ankle sprain and left the game, clearly draining the Bengals of their spirit. Things only got worse in the 4th when the Colts made it 42-7, and then Andy Dalton left the game with a chest injury. Rookie QB Kain Jackson came in and hit Eifert for his second TD of the game, but it was too little too late.


Ramsey had a short day, but he had an incredible rookie season.

It wasn't all that surprising to see Dalton get injured, Indianapolis totalled nine sacks during the game. Dalton could barely snap the ball before Vontaze Burfict and D'Qwell Jackson were in his face, both players nabbed three sacks. To add insult it injury, Hilton was swamped on the sidelines in the closing minutes as teammates and coaching staff congratulated him on a stunning record breaking season. Hilton would walk out of the game with 2107 receiving yards, crushing Calvin Johnson's record of 1964.

The win clinches the #1 seed in the playoffs, and with so many of the wildcard teams playing night games the Colts will have to sit back and see who their potential opponents will be in two weeks.

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