INDIANAPOLIS – As much as they wanted to credit New England for its comeback win yesterday, the Colts couldn’t help blaming themselves more.
The general feeling in their locker room wasn’t hard to discern after a heart-wrenching, 24-20 loss to the Patriots.
“We didn’t play 60 minutes,” linebacker Gary Brackett said. “We had them, but we let it get away because we didn’t play 60 minutes.”
Brackett nearly was the hero after his see-it-to-believe-it interception of Tom Brady on the second play of the fourth quarter set up a touchdown that gave the Colts a 20-10 lead.
That also was New England’s biggest deficit of the season after eight consecutive whippings of lesser opponents this season, but the Colts couldn’t handle that unexpected prosperity.
Indianapolis immediately allowed Tom Brady to direct touchdown drives on his next two possessions, helped along by a sudden burst of Colt miscues.
As well as being unable to stop wideouts Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker after taking that 10-point lead, the Colts mixed in three key penalties and two Peyton Manning fumbles during New England’s rally.
Manning’s second fumble, which he lost, cost the Colts the game. Down by four points with three minutes left, Manning was sacked by Jarvis Green on a third-down play near midfield and fumbled into the arms of the Rosevelt Colvin.
“They played with championship effort, championship big plays down the stretch and we didn’t,” coach Tony Dungy said. “We didn’t play maybe as well as we would have liked.”
The Colts’ loss could prove costly down the road, too. Assuming the 9-0 Pats continue their magnificent roll, Indianapolis (7-1) can expect any playoff rematch to be in Foxborough.
Considering the Colts’ history of postseason misery on the Patriots’ home field this decade, Indy’s hopes of a Super Bowl repeat might have taken a serious hit yesterday.
And if you listened to the Colts, they knew it was their own fault.
“We had some chances that we didn’t take advantage of,” Manning said. “We let it get away, and that hurts.”