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- Mar 19, 2019
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Brissett's never-say-die attitude on the play elicited a loud roar from the home crowd.
“I honestly didn’t care. I was just like, ‘There’s no way I’m going down,’” Brissett told reporters after the game about his ability to get away from Miller. “Just knowing, 'What’s the worst that’s gonna happen to me? They sack me and get the safety?' They would still gotta go down and score anyways, so just playing free and laying it all out there.”
The other key on that play was Hilton's ability to know his quarterback was scrambling, get open and make such a tough catch along the sideline.
“It was just so funny, he just makes those plays and it’s just like effortlessly,” Brissett said of Hilton. “I just know when we came back and we’re on the sideline when we’re getting ready for the field goal and I’m just like, ‘T.Y., please tell me, how did you do that?’ And he just does it. He’s like, ‘That’s just me,’ and I was like, ‘You’re right. That is you.’”
Needing just a couple more quality gains to get into Vinatieri’s field goal range, the Colts’ options opened up as they sat near midfield.
Two plays after Brissett and Hilton’s connection, a modest, five-yard reception by running back Nyheim Hines turned into a 20-yard gain after Broncos linebacker Alexander Johnson was flagged for a horse collar tackle on the running back, grabbing him between the shoulders and driving him out of bounds.
The Colts then held the ball at Denver’s 34-yard line with 1:29 left on the clock. With the ball relatively deep in Broncos’ territory, it became time to just focus on picking up positive yardage, not making any mistakes and then letting Vinatieri do what he does best.
But Colts head coach Frank Reich felt he may have one more ace up his sleeve before totally melting the clock.
"Yeah, I had all the confidence Adam was gonna make it. Didn’t want to take a chance — we threw it on first down, we called a naked (boot leg), and they covered it up pretty well. I thought we could sneak one in there and get some big yards on it,” Reich said about possibly having a big play on deck. “Once we didn’t get that, I wasn’t gonna take a chance on a sack or a holding penalty that would put us out of field goal range, so I just run it twice and let Adam win the game."
After a timeout by the Broncos with 1:13 left in the game, the Colts ran Marlon Mack up the middle twice to try and get the clock down as far as possible before it was time for Vinatieri to take center stage.
As the ball sat at Denver’s 33-yard line, Vinatieri jogged onto the field having missed a field goal and an extra point earlier in the game, but with a clean slate in front of him and an opportunity to let the Colts leave Lucas Oil Stadium as winners.
He absolutely drilled it.
With just 22 seconds remaining in the game, Vinatieri’s 51-yard field goal gave the Colts their first lead of the game, putting them up 15-13.