MINNEAPOLIS — There was absolutely no quit in the Indianapolis Colts offence on Sunday afternoon.
After trailing for the entire game, the Colts put up 18 unanswered points in the second half, 11 in the fourth quarter, as the Colts came from behind to defeat the Minnesota Vikings 18-15.
The Vikings had built a 15-0 lead in the third quarter on a five Ryan Longwell field goals (of 45, 27, 53, 46 and 28 yards) but without any touchdowns, the Vikes simply didn’t get far enough ahead of Peyton Manning and the Colts,
“I’m very proud of our effort today,” said Colts head coach Tony Dungy in a strangely quiet Colts locker room after the game. “We never got discouraged even though we were down 15-0 and I think a lot of that had to do with the fact we didn’t give up a touchdown. We had this feeling that if we hold them to field goals, then we can still catch them. It was great to see us win that game even though we continued to make a lot of mistakes.”
This was a huge win for Indy. As Dungy pointed out, “It’s important to get to 1-1 with Jacksonville next week.”
“That’s a big inter-divisional game for us and being 0-2 and facing those guys (the Jaguars) would have been really tough,” Dungy added. “What we take out of this victory is that we kept it close enough to win.”
Not surprisingly, the Colts comeback was led by quarterback Peyton Manning who played almost flawlessly in the final quarter to give the Colts their first win two starts this season.
On the final Indianapolis drive — right after the Colts defence stopped the Vikings inside their own five — Manning got Indy into position for Adam Vinatieri to kick a 39-yard field goal with three seconds left on the clock to win it.
On a third-and-nine, Manning threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne in the fourth quarter to tie the game, after Joseph Addai had run a yard for a disputed touchdown in the third quarter (not one replay showed clearly that the football ever got near the plane of the goal-line let alone crossed it).
With the win, Manning avoided the first 0-2 start since his rookie season in 1998. Yesterday Manning completed 26-of-42 passes for 311 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
“It just took a long time for us to get going,” Manning said afterward. “That’s two games in a row that we just didn’t come out firing on all cylinders. We’ll have to work on that.”
The Vikings, meanwhile, wasted an outstanding defensive effort and a particularly solid bit of work from tailback Adrian Peterson. Peterson rushed for 160 yards while Jared Allen, the multi-million dollar free-agent defensive end, who was acquired in a trade with Mansas City in the off-season, had three tackles and his first sack as a Viking.
But as the Colts’ Canadian offensive lineman, Calgary’s Dan Federkeil pointed out, the Vikings tired in the fourth quarter.
“I’m really tired, but I don’t think I’m as tired as those guys (the Vikings defence),” said Federkeil, the University of Calgary grad who starts at right guard for the Colts. “That was a tough game today, but if you look at the way their defence played in the first quarter, compared to the fourth quarter, there was just no comparison. They tired and we were able to hang in there long enough to get the offence going.”
Vikings fans, in a loud, sold out Metrodome, really wanted to blame quarterback Tarvaris Jackson for the loss, but it was hardly his fault. Bernard Berrian, who was paid $16 million as a free-agent this past off-season, dropped three passes right in his hands. Visanthe Shiancoe dropped a perfect pass in the end zone. With any kind of help, Jackson could have been the hero.
The Vikings, now 0-2, face Carolina at the Metrodome next Sunday.
