Colts’ gusty call, unlikely hero, star RB help put playoffs in sight: ‘Did you get the memo?’
INDIANAPOLIS — The ball felt like it hung in the air forever.
Indianapolis Colts tight end Mo Alie-Cox knew this was his moment and all eyes, including those of the 64,407 fans at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday, were glued on him. Indianapolis hoped to catch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers off guard by running a play it installed just last week. It had to work to keep the drive alive and maybe even the season, too.
Up 20-17 and facing a fourth-and-1 from Tampa Bay’s 49-yard line with just over nine minutes left in the game, Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew faked a handoff to Jonathan Taylor , who had been gashing the Bucs’ defense all game long, and Tampa Bay fell for it. As all of the Bucs’ defenders crashed down into the box to stop Taylor, Alie-Cox slipped through the cracks into the secondary.
While Alie-Cox ran wide open down the field, he had just two thoughts going through his mind: Don’t drop the ball and don’t fall on your face.
Minshew tossed it, Alie-Cox corralled it, and the stadium erupted as Alie-Cox’s clutch 30-yard reception kept Indianapolis’ TD drive going en route to a 27-20 victory.
Welcome to Mo's.
CBS pic.twitter.com/s1eeobQG2I
— Indianapolis Colts November 26, 2023
“We didn’t rep it live all week in practice. We just did a walkthrough rep, and they were like, ‘We’ll just call it from the 30 and in,’” Alie-Cox said. “We called it at the 50, somewhere around there, but we threw in goal line personnel. We knew they were in a certain look when we go goal line, so we got the perfect look for the play.”
Perhaps Tampa Bay should’ve known something was up when Zaire Franklin lined up in the backfield as a fullback. The Colts’ top linebacker and leading tackler hadn’t played on offense since starring at La Salle College High School in Philadelphia. Colts head coach Shane Steichen said the unconventional play, and the idea to briefly make Franklin a two-way player, came from tight end coach Tom Manning. Franklin said he thought it was a joke since he’s always asking to be featured on offense, until he realized Manning and Steichen weren’t kidding.
“Shane was like, ‘Did you get the memo?’ And I’m thinking Shane is just late to the joke,’” Franklin said, laughing. “So, I’m messing with Shane like, ‘Yeah, I need a pass, too!’ And he’s like, ‘No, seriously, did you get the memo?’”
The message finally became crystal clear when Manning pulled Franklin aside after a defensive meeting and explained to him his role, at least for one play, on offense. It wasn’t the pass play Franklin envisioned, with him recording the reception, but he filled in as a blocker and helped free Alie-Cox up on the backend. Steichen, through a wide smile, said he was thankful Franklin stuck to the script.
“I said, ‘Hey, you’re coming in on power. You’re going to block inside out on power,’” Steichen said, laughing. “He goes, ‘Well, no, I’m fast in the flat.’ So, I’m like, ‘Hold on now, power first and then maybe something down the road.’ But no, it was awesome to see. It was a huge play.”
Alie-Cox’s lone reception was the Colts’ longest play of the game, and they capitalized on it with a 1-yard touchdown run by Taylor three plays later that gave Indianapolis a 27-17 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
The Colts are now 6-5 after their third consecutive win and continue to inch closer to their first playoff berth since 2020. They currently hold tiebreakers over AFC South rival Houston , as well as other wild-card hopefuls, and the most formidable QB they’ll face over their final six games is Texans star rookie C.J. Stroud .
The list of QBs the 5-5 Colts need to beat down the stretch as they try to make the playoffs:— Baker Mayfield
— Will Levis
— Jake Browning
— Kenny Pickett
— Desmond Ridder/Taylor Heinicke
— Aidan O'Connell
— C.J. Stroud
— Jim Ayello November 20, 2023
There’s a real belief inside the Colts’ locker room that even after losing No. 4 pick Anthony Richardson to season-ending shoulder surgery, they still have the players to do something special this season. Among those players is Ronnie Harrison Jr. , who six days ago was on the practice squad and a few months ago was out of the NFL .
On Sunday, Harrison recorded his first interception in two years. The 26-year-old made his former Browns teammate, Baker Mayfield, pay for trying to force a pass to star receiver Mike Evans , who totaled six catches for 70 yards and two TDs on Sunday. Harrison read the play the whole way, jumped the route and snagged Indianapolis’ 12th interception of the season, two more than the team had all of last season. The heads-up play set up a 4-yard TD run from Taylor in the first quarter.
“It’s huge, like, I dreamed of it last night. I prayed about it this morning,” Harrison said of his sixth career interception. “I just wanted to help this team any way I can. Just being a leader. Just showing my talent. I feel like I did a little bit of that today, and there’s more to come.”
On the practice squad Monday.On the highlight reel Sunday.
CBS pic.twitter.com/2Zco8C3cmD
— Indianapolis Colts November 26, 2023
Harrison, a 2018 third-round pick, spent part of his summer training in Atlanta with no NFL future in sight. The extra time allowed him to go back to school at Alabama and complete his bachelor’s degree in business administration. The money he’d already made coupled with his commitment to higher education ensured that he’d still have a bright future even without football, but he yearned to get back on the field.
The career he envisioned he’d have, first with the Jaguars and then with the Browns, hadn’t unfolded like he planned. The weight of being first-team All-SEC at powerhouse Alabama and then not living up to expectations in the NFL had him questioning if he’d come to the end of the road.
“Nobody wanted to sign me,” Harrison said. “Nobody was calling me, and then the Colts called out of nowhere.”
Indianapolis’ interest cracked the door open for Harrison to make his return, yet at a different position. When Harrison joined the team over the summer, Indianapolis gradually began moving him away from safety, a position he’d previously starred at, to linebacker. Neither side could’ve ever imagined how much that decision would pay off, with Harrison replacing four-time All-Pro linebacker Shaq Leonard on the active 53-man roster after Leonard was waived.
“I got a call on Tuesday saying that they were gonna sign me to the active roster, and then Wednesday I find out that I might be playing,” Harrison said. “Then Friday or Saturday, I find out that I’m starting. It’s just been a roller coaster building up. ... I just didn’t know what to expect today coming into the game.”
But Harrison and the Colts do know what to expect coming out of it. They expect to keep finding ways to win, regardless of what’s to come.
Colts defensive end Samson Ebukam said he had to dig deep to seal the win, adding that he was “so tired” but so determined to leave Lucas Oil Stadium victorious. Despite running on fumes, he still beat Buccaneers left tackle Tristan Wirfs around the edge to strip-sack Mayfield on Tampa Bay’s potential game-tying drive in the final minutes. Fellow defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo recovered the fumble to cap off a dominant showing by the Colts’ defense, which sacked Mayfield six times.
Taylor took the reins from there with two more runs for a combined 13 yards to bleed out the clock. The 24-year-old finished the game with 15 carries for 91 yards (6.1 yards per carry) and two scores, marking his first two-TD performance since he won the league rushing title and was named first-team All-Pro in 2021.
For the first time this season, Taylor looked like a superstar, but he viewed his return to prominence from a different perspective and refused to put the spotlight on himself. Taylor noted the outing of his counterpart Zack Moss , who tallied eight carries for 55 yards (6.9 yards per carry), and tipped his cap to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. , who notched his seventh career 100-yard receiving game with 10 catches for 107 yards.
The win was a team effort, Taylor insisted, which is the type of effort that can lead Indianapolis to the postseason.
“Everyone talks about that season, but the truth is having a season like that is really, really hard,” Taylor said of his record-setting 2021 campaign. “It’s not about, ‘Am I back?’ It’s about the team. Of course, I want to have another season like that, and if you string some games together, you never know what could happen, but again, it’s hard. But that’s what you’re chasing. I’m chasing greatness.
“And right now, everybody on this team is.”
(Photo: Todd Rosenberg / )
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