Indianapolis Colts manhandled by Green Bay Packers - Second Half
From start to the end the Colts had been taking a beating at the hands of the Green Bay Packers. The third and the fourth quarter were only worse for the Colts. They were able to put points on the board just one in the last half of the game while the Packers continued their scoring streak.
After a Colts punt to the 1 yard line and 28 yard dash by the Packer’s wide receiver Chastin West, quarterback Matt Flynn took over for the Packers. Flynn led a dogged drive against the Colts’ defence. It took the Packers 15 plays to get from their 29 yard line to the Indianapolis 10 yard line. The Packers drive was consistent and determined but still in the end they couldn’t take it all the way and opted for a field goal, which Mason Crosby took from the 28 yard line.
Manning began the next drive from the Colts’ 27 yard line and drove it to the 42 yard line with a 12 and 3 yard pass. The Colts lost 5 yards with a false start penalty and went back to the 37 yard line thus setting up for the second disastrous play for the Indianapolis Colts. Manning was looking for someone open and was under the impression that the threat that Frank Zombo posed had passed but he was wrong. Zombo was at first pushed away from the Colts quarterback but found a way back to Manning, sacking him and forcing a fumble.
As Manning fumbled, Packers line backer, Robert Francois, recovered the ball from the Indianapolis 37 yard line and carried it left and down the field. Francois ran with the ball for 35 yards to the Colts 2 yard line where he was tackled by Joseph Addai.
The Packers offense came back with Matt Flynn to finish what Francois had started. Flynn completed a pass through the middle at the running back John Kuhn for a touchdown. Crosby’s extra point was good and the Packers advanced to 38 over the Colts’ 17 points.
Curtis Painter took over for the Colts offense at that point and considering his success, maybe he should have come on earlier. Curtis drove from the Indianapolis 20 yard line to the Green Bay one yard line with 4 of 4 successful passes including a 27 yard pass to wide receiver Taj Smith and a 30 yard pass to tight end Colin Cloherty. Running back Donald Brown rushed the final yard to score a touchdown for the Colts. The touchdown brought the Colts to 24 and was the last time the Colts would score in the game.
The Packers though were still not done. Matt Flynn started the drive for Green Bay at the 42 yard line with less than 3 minutes remaining till the end of the quarter. Flynn raced ahead to the Indianapolis 11 yard line in six plays when the third quarter ended. The very first play of the fourth quarter saw Flynn complete his 7 play, 52 yard drive with an 11 yard short left touchdown pass to Andrew Quarless.
The Colts drive, led by quarterback Painter, was bogged down behind their 28-yard by the Green Bay defence forcing the Colts to punt. That turned out to be another huge mistake. Packers’ wide receiver, Jason Chery caught the 50-yard punt at the 25 yard Packers’ line. Jason pushed through the entire breadth of the Colts’ defence line right up the middle. Once cleared, Jason had a clear line to the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown 10 minutes into the fourth quarter.
The Colts had been sloppy in their offense throughout the game. On the next drive they made yet another mistake when Curtis fumbled the ball but was recovered again by Colts’ running back Javarris James. An incomplete pass and a sack later, Curtis abandoned the drive and opted to punt the ball. With just under four minutes left in the game, neither team is able to mount a successful drive. In the final 48 seconds the Packers were in possession, quarterback Graham Harrell took a knee twice to bring the game to an end.
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