It was one of the ugliest games in recent memory, but the Indianapolis Colts (2-2-1) walked away with a 12-9 win over the Denver Broncos (2-3) on Thursday night at Empower Field.
Outside of wide receiver Alec Pierce, there wasn’t much to be excited about when it came to the offensive side of the ball. On the other hand, the defense showed up in a massive way throughout all four quarters and overtime.
Here’s what the Colts had to say Thursday night following the prime-time win:
"Really gritty win"
Frank Reich: “Great team win. Really gritty win. You come on Thursday Night Football and a short week coming off of a tough division loss, had to put that behind, got focused on Denver on a short week. Coming on the road in a tough place to play, the guys played great. Obviously, a dominant defensive performance, really dominant defensive performance. Just go on and on about plays that were made. ‘Gilly’ (CB Stephon Gilmore) making plays, [S] Rodney [Thomas II] with the interception, especially [K] Chase McLaughlin, I mean what a night. [DT] Grover [Stewart] on the blocked field goal. On offense, obviously a struggle most of the night, but had the two drives when we needed it. We knew this was a Top 5 defense, we knew it’d be a challenge, but we made it, we made the plays we needed to make to get the win and we feel great about that.”
Stephon Gilmore being a lock-down CB
Frank Reich: “That’s the definition of big-time player. A man who is making plays in the moment and he made two huge plays, massive plays. He just is a great player, just leapt into defense. They were already playing great and then those big plays obviously helped win that game.”
Eye of the tiger
Frank Reich (on Matt Ryan): “I wish you guys could have seen him up close. I love this guy in the fourth quarter. The look in his eyes, that short conversation that we have, that determination I just feel like we’re going to go down the field with score. I really do. He’s going to make it work. Credit to Matt, you see all these things that have been said about him and what he does in the fourth quarter is impressive.”
"Awesome" to win a game like this
Frank Reich: “Isn’t it awesome that you can have a game like that and still win, it really is. I’m really happy that we made the plays against a good defense. This is a really good defense, so we played well enough on offense to win the game today. It wasn’t good, we didn’t play good offense, so I’m not going to be critical of the offense right now. We know we need to get better. We won the game; these are hard to win on the road on Thursday night. Fair question, but not right now for me. This is a win. We’ll figure out how to get better on offense, but we played good enough to get the win tonight.”
On Chase McLaughin being a stud
Frank Reich: “Three long ones, massive and right down the middle, at least they seemed like they were all right down the middle, so what a night by Chase. What a night. It’s a perfect night. Game ball for sure. He was a stud tonight.”
The tone in the locker room
Frank Reich: “We’re not happy about 2-2-1, but we’re right there. That’s what we’ve been saying. It’s a better start than some of the other years that we’ve had here. We’ve got to get better. It’s nice to celebrate this on the long ride home on Thursday Night Football. The tone in the locker room is great win, gritty win, there’s a closeness to this team that I think is going to work well for us as we continue to go. We just need to continue to find ways to get better.”
"Slob of a game"
Matt Ryan: “Yeah, it was just a slob of a game. Both defenses played really well. Our defense played outstanding. They have been playing good football for us after the first five weeks. We didn’t come into it—Denver had been playing very good football and have shut down a lot of pretty good offenses too. As we prepared for them during the week, we knew it was going to be a challenge. But we found a way, with the young group that we have, particularly we had a lot of them playing tonight. There is belief that gets created, even though it is ugly, when you find a way to get the job done and that is what we have to do, right now. We have to figure out how to get better, there is no doubt about that. And try to play better and more consistent football. You have to win games. You have to find a way to win games. I’m proud of the guys.”
Ryan proud of Alec Pierce
Matt Ryan: “It confirms what I thought. I thought he was going to be a tough, resilient player. I thought he was going to be a gutting player, I knew he had great hands watching him. You just hoped he was a gamer, and he is, there is no doubt about it. He’s so leveled when he is out there, never too high, too low. He just keeps competing. I’m proud of him.”
Showing resiliency
DeForest Buckner: “It speaks about our resiliency that I talked about last week. This team has nothing but fight in them, no quit in them. No matter how grim or dark the clouds may be, you know we always see it through. I think that just speaks to the testament that how we came out today.”
Facing a former team
Phillip Lindsay: “Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of emotion going into the game. I kind of kept it intact though, so I was excited to come back be able to see my family. Being able to go knowing we have a house that was 15 minutes from the hotel, so I was able to go see my wife. My wife was at the house, my son was there so it was very exciting to come here and get the love and support from the fans, they have one of the greatest fan bases hands down. So, it was great to be back, it felt good. I missed it.”
