The Indianapolis Colts (2-1) came away with a gritty win over the Baltimore Ravens (2-1) that nearly took a complete overtime period to get the job done.
Shane Steichen’s offense was led by Zack Moss. They leaned into the rushing attack and Moss’ physical running ability slowly wore down the Ravens’ defense as the game went on. Gus Bradley’s defense played outstanding throughout the afternoon. There were moments where they couldn’t keep Lamar Jackson in check but they limited the explosive plays and held Baltimore to two touchdowns on 15 drives.
Buy Colts TicketsYou have to hand it to Steichen, who was able to guide his team to a victory despite having spots in the fourth quarter and overtime where it looked like the Ravens were going to be able to sneak away with a win.
Let’s take a look at the five biggest takeaways from Indy’s road win in Baltimore:
1
Zack Moss leads the offense
Shane Steichen’s offense was able to build off their strong performance in the ground game against the Houston Texans and continued that success against the Ravens. They finished with 139 rushing yards, which was dominated by Zack Moss.
He ran the ball a total of 30 times and turned it into 122 yards. This was the second 100-rushing yard game in his career. But he didn’t do it all just on the ground. Moss caught two balls for 23 yards and a touchdown.
He had a nifty catch on a wheel route to give the Colts their first score of the game.
Heck of a grab by Zack Moss over Patrick Queen for the #Colts first touchdown of the gamepic.twitter.com/usR28jAVo6
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) September 24, 2023
Steichen went to Moss when it came time to close out the game in overtime. Moss started the final drive with a 13-yard run to get Indy to the Baltimore 40-yard line. He would go on for three straight runs to set up the game-winning field goal for Matt Gay.
Moss was responsible for 44.3% of the offense’s production. He’s set to make his third start in a row next week against the Los Angeles Rams. It will be interesting to see what his role is if and when Jonathan Taylor returns to the lineup. JT is eligible to play as soon as Week 5.
2
Gus Bradley's defense battled
It’s not an easy task to limit the impact from Lamar Jackson but Gus Bradley’s defense did a nice job keeping Jackson in check for most of the game. Jackson did finish the game with 303 total yards and two touchdowns but the bend but don’t break style of defense worked out for the Colts today.
Indy forced five three-and-outs, including one in overtime that was crucial since the Ravens started with the ball at the Indianapolis 48-yard line. That led to a punt.
Their last stand ended in a turnover on downs after Baltimore took over at their own 46-yard line. The Colts defense held the Ravens to 6-of-16 on third downs and 0-of-1 on fourth downs.
Today’s effort was led by Zaire Franklin, Samson Ebukam, and Kwity Paye. Franklin led the team with 15 tackles (11 solo) while also adding a tackle, QB hit, and a sack.
Ebukam and Paye combined for seven tackles (seven solo), three TFLs, two QB hits, and two sacks. The pass-rushing tandem has started to form a force over the last two games.
Samson Ebukam has been on fire for the last two weeks. Gets the sack to force the three-and-out for the #Coltspic.twitter.com/vhlHC2rtbP
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) September 24, 2023
Bradley’s defense has steadily gotten better over the last three weeks and is looking like the anchor for this Colts team as the offense continues to develop under Steichen.
3
Shaky day for Gardner Minshew
Today wasn’t the efficient performance from Gardner Minshew that was expected but he still was able to guide the offense to six scoring drives out of the 16 times the unit was on the field today.
It got off to a rough start with Kyle Hamilton ending the first two drives on third-down sacks. Minshew and the offensive line failed to identify Hamilton on the blitz off the right side of the line and he was able to come freely to the quarterback.
Minshew finally got settled in and got into a rhythm on the fourth drive of the game. He went 6-of-6 for 63 yards in that series and connected with Zack Moss for a 17-yard touchdown. He would go on to follow up with a drive that ended in a field goal.
Then it almost got ugly to end the first half. After getting to the Baltimore 42-yard line, Hamilton once again came free to light up Minshew to force a fumble, but luckily for Indianapolis, they recovered it. The Ravens would’ve been in field goal position, and those potential three points could’ve prevented this game going into overtime.
Hamilton’s three sacks not only came from the Colts not recognizing him in the pre-snap, but also because Minshew held the ball way too long on those plays.
Minshew and the passing attack didn’t get much going throughout the second half and it almost cost the Colts the win. The game was set to end on a sour note for Minshew.
After a highly questionable decision by Isaiah McKenzie not to field the punt, Indy started the drive to potentially take the lead at their own two-yard line. Minshew would end up stepping out of bounds to give Baltimore a safety.
The @danorlovsky7 legacy lives on.
📺: #INDvsBAL on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05gT8f pic.twitter.com/txav9K0j5w— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
At that point, it looked like the game was going to end in a Ravens win but three-and-out forced by the Colts defense combined with the two-minute warning and a timeout helped give the offense the ball back with 1:41 left in the game.
Minshew stepped up after the safety. On the game-tieing drive, he went 4/5 for 33 yards to help set up Matt Gay’s 53-yard field goal attempt.
Minshew finished the game 27-of-44 for 227 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t perfect but he was able to manage the game and help find a way to walk away with a victory.
4
Strong debut for JuJu Brents
The Colts needed more out of their boundary cornerbacks entering this matchup and they were able to get that after a lineup change in Week 3. After struggling against the Houston Texans, Darrell Baker Jr. was a healthy scratch.
This set up JuJu Brents to make his first career start in his season debut for the Colts. It didn’t take that long for him to make an impact. On the Ravens’ second drive of the game, Lamar Jackson connected with Kenyan Drake for a 20+ yard gain that would’ve put them in scoring position.
But the great effort by Brents to chase down Drake and punch the ball out to not only force the fumble but also the awareness to recover it helped prevent Baltimore from getting points on the board.
JuJu Brents forces and recovers a fumble in his first career start for the #Coltspic.twitter.com/K8U2xwQyFU
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) September 24, 2023
A 10-0 or 14-0 lead for the Ravens would’ve put the Colts down two scores, something that they avoided all afternoon. Brents also brought a physical presence for the Colts secondary.
He delivered some hits on his four tackles (four solo) and even though he didn’t get credited with a pass defense, his physicality was on display in third-down coverage against Mark Andrews. Brents caused the incompletion with him blanketing Andrews, which led to a three-and-out for the Colts.
It was a strong debut for the second-round rookie and now Brents will look to build off his performance in Week 4 against the Rams.
5
Record breaking day for Matt Gay
There were some raised eyebrows when Chris Ballard signed Matt Gay to a record contract this offseason and today was the prime example of why the front office gave him that contract. After the signing, Ballard gave a big vote of confidence in his kicker.
“Getting Matt Gay, we think he can be a real weapon,” Ballard said.
Safe to say that he’s pretty happy with his offseason signing right now. Gay had a record-breaking day going 5-of-5 on his field goal attempts and making his only PAT.
In the @Colts OT victory, Matt Gay (@MGtweetymonster) became the 1st kicker in @NFL history to convert 4 FGs of 50+ yards in a single game.
He became the 5th kicker ever with a game-tying 50+ yard FG in the final 2 minutes of regulation and a game-winning 50+ yard FG in OT. pic.twitter.com/i2ZJHjUKCv
— NFL345 (@NFL345) September 24, 2023
Gay’s record-breaking kicks included a 54-yarder and three 53-yarders. Two of them were game-tying and game-winning kicks.
Matt Gay set an NFL record with 4 50+ yard field goals in the #Colts 22-19 win over the #Ravens.
– 54 yards
– 53 yards
– 53 yards
– 53 yards (game-winner)pic.twitter.com/7jj8af8i6Y— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) September 24, 2023
While Gay deserves all the praise coming his way, I also want to shout out his fellow special teamer Rigoberto Sanchez. Not only Sanchez was the holder on all of Gay’s kicks, but he also averaged 46.4 yards on his seven punts and pinned Baltimore inside the 20-yard line three times.
Indy’s kicker and punter played a big role in the upset road win over the Ravens.
