INDIANAPOLIS -- Lost amid the turnovers, Andrew Luck’s continued struggles throwing the ball and coach Chuck Pagano’s obvious frustration was the play of the Indianapolis Colts defense in their loss to the New York Jets on Monday.
It was the defense that kept the Colts in the game through the middle of the fourth quarter. But it turned out to be a waste, because the offense couldn’t do its part by putting points on the scoreboard.
“Not winning,” safety Mike Adams said. “If we didn't have all those turnovers, if we didn’t have all those penalties and we won the game. It’s something we can fix but we lost the game. At the end of the day that is the only thing that matters is that left hand column, whether you win or lose, and we lost the game. That is the most frustrating part.”
The Colts had one of their more impressive defensive performances despite not having Greg Toler and Darius, two of their top three cornerbacks. Then they lost their best cornerback, Vontae Davis, to a concussion late in the first half. The Colts played the final 30 minutes of the game with Sheldon Price, Jalil Brown and Eric Patterson as their only three cornerbacks.
The scored remained 10-7 until there was about 10 minutes left in the game when quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick led the Jets on an 80-yard drive that included three pass plays of at least 12 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall.
The Colts gave up only 227 yards through the first three quarters when it was a three-point game. The Jets gained 117 of their 344 yards in the final quarter.
“We just control what we can,” linebacker Robert Mathis said. “Be more disciplined, and just control the ball. And that’s basically all we can do is just play stout defense. Basically the blueprint of how we’re built.”
