Indianapolis Colts beat Baltimore Ravens, 17-15, for 19th consecutive NFL regular-season victory

Indianapolis Colts MLB Gary Brackett celebrates critical fourth-quarter interception
against Baltimore Sunday (Nick Wass/AP Photo)

The Indianapolis Colts' 17-15 victory over the Baltimore Ravens Sunday was far from pefect.

The Colts committed too many turnovers, made critical mistakes and needed a fourth-quarter goal-line stand and two fourth-quarter turnovers. But Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell knew something else following Indianapolis' 10th consecutive victory to start the season and its19th consecutive victory overall.

In the NFL, you don't always play perfectly.

And doing so isn't as important as winning, anyway.

“The slimmest margin of victory is still a victory,” Caldwell told Colts Radio after the Colts committed three turnovers and scored three second-half points in front of 71,320 Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in downtown Baltimore.

“We certainly might not be pleased that we didn't play all the way around as well as we're capable of. We turned the ball over a few too many times. But all in all, our guys just keep finding ways to win.”

The Colts' seventh consecutive victory over Baltimore extended their franchise-record regular-season winning streak to 19 games, the second-longest in NFL history. The Colts had been tied with New England (2003-2004) for second all-time on the list.

The 2006-2008 Patriots hold the record at 21.

“We're relieved we got this win,” Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who completed 22 of 31 passes for 299 yards with a first-half touchdown and two first-half interceptions, told Colts Radio. “It was a great win, a team effort. We scored enough on offense to win.

“One game at a time since the beginning of the season – that's what it will continue to be.”

Said Colts WR Reggie Wayne, “We knew it was going to be a close one, a tight one. We hung in there.”

Following four consecutive double-digit victories, the Colts -- one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL with New Orleans -- have won the last four games by a total of 12 points.

"If it was up to us, we'd try to blow every team out," RB Joseph Addai, whose 74 yards on 19 carries were a season-high and whose 4-yard touchdown run helped Indianapolis to a 14-12 halftime lead, told Colts Radio. "That doesn't happen.

"Winning these tight games shows the character of the team.”

Addai now has 11 touchdowns on the season -- seven rushing, three receiving and one passing.

"That's typically how it goes in this league," Caldwell said ."When we have two-score games, that's the unusual ballgame."

Matt Stover, who spent 1998-2008 with the Ravens before not being re-signed this past offseason, kicked a 25-yard field with 7:02 remaining to give Indianapolis a 17-15 lead. The kick came one possession after a pivitol goal-line stand -- a great goal-line stand by our defense," Manning called it -- on which the Ravens faced 1st-and-goal at the 1 before settling for a field goal by Billy Cundiff.

“We really stepped up a the end,” Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney told Colts Radio. “It was important we kept them out of the end zone. That sounds stupid and obvious, but it's true.”

The Ravens, who finished with 354 total yards, drove inside the Colts 30 on seven of nine possessions, but the first six such possessions ended in field goal attempts.

“We scored touchdowns, they scored field goals,” Manning said. “That was kind of the difference.”

The again drove inside the Colts' 30 after Stover's game-winning field goal, but that drive ended when MLB Gary Brackett intercepted Ravens QB Joe Flacco (23-35, 253 yards, no touchdowns, one interception) on 3rd-and-7 from the Colts 14.

“It was definitely a time when we needed it,” Brackett told Colts Radio. “You wanted to do whatever you could to keep that team out of field-goal range, out of the end zone. We have to play better. We don't want teams to drive up and down the field on us.”

The Colts converted one third down on the ensuing possession, with Manning passing one yard to Wayne converted 3rd-and-1 with 2:19 remaining. The Ravens called their second timeout immediately after the play, then used their final timeout when their challenge of the first down was overruled.

“It was a close one,” Wayne said. “It was a do-or-die play. I knew where the first-down marker was. I just didn't know where the defender was.”

The Ravens forced a Colts punt with 28 seconds remaining, but after a four-yard return, Ravens S Ed Reed lateraled and Colts LB Freddy Keiaho recovered at the Ravens 40 for the second forced turnover by Indianapolis in the final three minutes.

The Colts took a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard touchdown reception by TE Dallas Clark on the game's first drive,
but the Ravens trimmed the lead to 7-6 with field goals of 46 and 44 yards by kicker Billy Cundiff, who tied Stover's franchise-record by making five of his six attempts during the game.

A 38-yard field goal by Cundiff gave Baltimore a 9-7 lead midway through the second quarter, and after a 4-yard run by Addai Cundiff's 36-yard field goal with :02 remaining in the half cut it to 14-12.

The Colts maintained a four-game lead in the AFC South over Jacksonville (6-4), which beat Buffalo, 18-15, Sunday. They also maintained a three-game lead in the AFC over Cincinnati (7-3), which squandered a late lead to lose to the Oakland Raiders, 17-10, in Oakland late Sunday afternoon.

PART ONE OF "AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE" HERE

PART TWO OF "AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE" HERE

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Bill Polian’s weekly radio show | Part One | “If we run this way . . . we’ll be perfectly fine”

Bill Polian’s weekly radio show | Part Two | Defense executed when it mattered against Patriots

Bill Polian’s weekly radio show | Part Three | Victory over New England garantees nothing

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