INDIANAPOLIS – Sometimes the rarity of the moment plays tricks with the memory. It’s called selective amnesia.
Exhibit A: Shane Steichen’s all-or-nothing decision with 12 seconds remaining Sunday at Gillette Stadium and his Indianapolis Colts trailing the New England Patriots 24-23.
Instead of going with an almost sure thing and having Matt Gay force overtime with his 28th straight PAT – he’s 96% for his career – Steichen listened to a riskier voice.
“Yeah, that was gut there for sure,’’ he said Monday. “I think game flow is a big part of it. Where you’re at in the season, I think that’s a big part of it.
“You never know. It’s like you’re on the 2-yard line there, went with my gut there to go get it.’’
Everyone has watched the results of Steichen’s gutsy decision.
Anthony Richardson faked a handoff to Jonathan Taylor, who was headed to the right, kept the football and followed left guard Quenton Nelson through the middle of an offensive line that featured a pair of first-time plug-ins: center Danny Pinter and right guard Mark Glowinski.
Colts 25, Patriots 24.
For the first time in club history, Indy won a game when its coach rolled the dice with a 2-point conversion. There have been four occasions where a successful 2-pointer tied the game, but never what unfolded Sunday in Foxboro.
Remember Gay’s 96% success rate on routine PATs? Over the past 10 seasons, the Colts had been 20-of-38 on 2-point attempts (52.6%). That includes coming up empty on a pair of attempts three weeks ago in the 28-27 win over the New York Jets.
Had Steichen ever been involved in such a dramatic finish?
“I think that was the first,’’ he said. “Now, I probably have been part of one back in the day, but I can’t remember it.’’
Steichen’s memory was given a nudge.
When he was quarterbacks coach with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2018, head coach Anthony Lynn chose the win-or-else path in mid-December at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. Philip Rivers hit Mike Williams with a 1-yard touchdown pass with 4 seconds remaining that brought the Chargers to within 28-27. The same combo completed the comeback from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit with a successful 2-pointer.
“Oh my gosh,’’ Steichen said. “How did I forget that? Holy smokes, Geez. I just watched that play friggin’ about a month ago.
“That’s terrible. That’s terrible that I forgot that one. I remember that one. Geez Louise.’’
It was a playful exchange, but the gravity of the situation is undeniable.
The Colts had lost four of their last five and slipped to 5-7. They were essentially in playoff mode as they headed into Gillette Stadium. The next loss might be the one that snuffed out their playoff aspirations.
Steichen’s decision was understandable on several levels.
First, Richardson and the offense were coming off a defining 19-play, 80-yard drive that saw them convert three fourth downs. That included Richardson’s 3-yard TD to Alec Pierce on fourth-and-goal.
Stick with the hot hand, especially with the Patriots’ defense undoubtedly gassed from the long drive.
Secondly, there might have been some hesitancy to put Gus Bradley’s defense back on the field in overtime. It had given up 422 total yards, including 200 rushing, to the NFL’s 31st-ranked offense. Six of the Patriots’ nine drives gained at least 51 yards and reached the red zone. They didn’t punt until late in the fourth quarter.
“We have those conversations,’’ Steichen said. “Time on the clock, where it’s at in the game, the drive we had there.
“Like I said (Sunday), felt good about the call. Obviously, an opportunity to hand it to JT and read the defensive end and we had our best offensive lineman pulling around in Quenton to lead for Anthony and the play worked.’’
Players embraced the decision.
- Kenny Moore II: “I mean, at that point you just got to be like, ‘Let’s go.’ If we’re going to do it, let’s go ahead and do it big. So, at that point we wanted to win and we’re all ecstatic that we got the 2-point conversion to go up late in the game.’’
- Richardson: “If he felt comfortable with us going for 2 and getting the W, I was rockin’ with it.’’
- Michael Pittman Jr.: “It’s all or nothing, so it shows he really trusts our line, he really trusts Anthony and he ultimately put the ball in Anthony’s hands and we came away with a win.’’
- Julian Blackmon: “I was right there with him. Let’s go for it and give the ball to 5. I think he did a good job, and he’s competitive. It was awesome to see.’’
- Mo Alie-Cox: “It speaks a lot about the belief he has in us, and the belief he has that we can go out there and execute the call in critical situations. Not just that play, but that whole drive.’’
The victory sends the Colts into their bye week. It’s a long-awaited break – players have the entire week off and coaches are out of the building in a day or two – before the massive Dec. 15 road trip to Denver.
The 2-point decision was a nice sendoff.
“Yeah, I think it was huge,’’ Steichen said. “Any time you go for 2 for the win and you get it, obviously it’s great, right?
“It adds confidence to everyone going into the rest of the season. Hopefully it pays big dividends for us coming up.’’
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.