The Indianapolis Colts (9-6) proved they can go on the road and win a gutsy game against a playoff-caliber team in the Arizona Cardinals (10-5) on Saturday night.
With several players on the reserve/COVID-19 list and most of them happening right before the game, the Colts found a way to take advantage of their opportunities and a big fourth-quarter drive from Carson Wentz sealed it.
Here’s what Frank Reich said to the media following the big 22-16 win over the Cardinals:
Celebrating a big win
“First of all, just want to say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to everyone, especially to Colts Nation. This was a great win for Colts Nation, especially on Christmas Day. Everybody is at home celebrating with their families having a great day, and it kind of makes us happy in here to be able to deliver Colts Nation a win and kind of top off a great Christmas Day, which I hope everybody had. Speaking of Christmas, I can just tell you this, it’s a gift to be able to coach this team. It’s a gift for us as coaches to be able to coach this team. We’ve got great players. Obviously, faced a lot of adversity this week, but stepped up and stepped up in a big way. A lot of guys had to step up and take care of business, and they did. That’s a real credit to our players and the roster that we have. Players in all three phases were just dialed in.”
Dealing with COVID-19 issues
“It was pretty crazy, but as far as getting the news, we woke up this morning, got some good news. The first news I got was a text which looked like we were good, and then all of a sudden, we weren’t good. That was interesting, but we adapted, we adjusted, and there was no flinching. It was adjusting and adapting as you’re saying to personnel groups, and things like that. Coaches handled that very well.”
Working without 3 starting offensive linemen
“We were down to three starting offensive linemen to start, and then we had two more guys go down in the game, and Jonathan (Taylor) still ran for 100 yards. That’s just a credit to those guys that stepped up there. It hurt getting Jack (Doyle) hurt early. Getting Jack hurt early in that game was like losing one of your best offensive linemen. That probably dramatically changed the way we called some things more than anything at that point. The offensive line, we had confidence in all those guys, but at tight end Jack is just such a good blocker. Kylen (Granson) stepped in and did a good job, of course Mo (Mo Alie-Cox) played great. Good job by the offense as a whole.”
Carson Wentz being ‘the guy’
“We start off, have a couple of good things happen in that first drive, hit a couple of good things and kind of cooled off there. In the middle there, had a bad series or two where we missed a couple of throws that were uncharacteristic, but we just said, ‘We’re good, we’re good.’ We just kind of keep trying to find some completions. We try to move him in the pocket, stuff like that to just kind of get a rhythm. He’s our guy. He’s already proven time and time again. I’ve seen it before. We talked about it as an offensive staff. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, I said to the offensive staff, ‘Carson will make plays to win this game in the fourth quarter.’ I said, ‘Carson will make plays to win this game in the fourth quarter.’ And he makes the big play to T.Y. (Hilton) and the big one to ‘Dez’ (Dezmon Patmon).”
The dagger TD to Dezmon Patmon
“It was a great play by him, great play by ‘Dez’ (Patmon). It was an adjustment that we made on that play. We actually, on that play, it was a suggestion by Carson, I believe it was by Carson, to put ‘Dez’ on the route that he was on because we had originally all week long practiced it with him doing something else. At the last minute Carson said, ‘Hey, how about we do this with him.’ It was yesterday or today, I can’t remember when it was, but it was a last-second suggestion by him that Marcus (Brady), and I liked it. We were like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ Obviously, come up with the big play.”
Reich’s most complete team
“Yes, and I think this is one of the best team wins I’ve ever been a part of considering all of the circumstances. I’m sure there’s some good ones in there, but this is up there. It really took all three phases. The defense played so good. The defense played so good against a dynamic quarterback and a dynamic offense. Special teams made the plays that they needed to make. And then offensively it wasn’t always pretty, but we moved the ball enough to score the points we needed.”
Preparing for more COVID-19 issues
“It can be any minute for anybody. It’s a virus, so it is what it is at this point in the season. We’ll be ready for whatever we have to do. We’ll hope for the best, but every team is going through it. Every team has the same thing. That’s why nobody was making a big deal about it. Just look around the league. It’s going all over the place. We’re just going to have to deal with whatever hand we’re dealt and still find ways to win games.”
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