NFL News: Second-Half Woes Continue For Colts In Loss To Titans
Intro: Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans represented the fifth time this season the Indianapolis Colts were unsuccessfully able to protect a fourth-quarter lead. What was the talk in the locker room after Indy's 20-16 loss?
INDIANAPOLIS — "Any given Sunday" is typically used to explain the ebbs and flows of a team's schedule with the expectation that the seesaw of an NFL season will tip a team's way a few times over the course of 16 regular season games. Sometimes it's a favorable call, a crazy bounce or just an exemplary performance by an individual or group that pushes a certain team over the top.
But for one reason or another, that phrase doesn't seem to apply to the 2017 Indianapolis Colts in terms of winning close games, no matter how well the team plays, individually or collectively, for large stretches within each 60-minute set. Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans at Lucas Oil Stadium was yet another trip down frustration lane, as the home team held a 13-6 lead at halftime, saw that lead extend to 10 points, 16-6, and was up 16-13 with just over six minutes remaining in the ballgame. Gore, whose rushing touchdown on Sunday tied Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett for 22nd on the NFL's all-time list (77), wasn't celebrating yet another career milestone after the game; he was already focusing on what the Colts need to do for the remainder of the season.
"The thing is it's the little things. We've got the guys in here to compete, but then again, we lost." Gore said. "I'm still going to play my behind off for my teammates and try to finish these last five (games). I think as a group, me and all the guys in here are going to do the same and that's what it is." Even rookies like Hairston, who has seen action in 10 games so far his first NFL season, are battle tested and on the same page as the veterans. "At the end of the day we lost," Hairston said. "And that's the only thing that's important. We didn't get the bounces. I didn't get the bounces. We've got five games left and we've got to figure it out."