National Football League

Colts beat Raiders, find something to build on in Jeff Saturday’s debut

Updated Nov. 14, 2022 8:31 p.m. ET

This Indianapolis Colts season has been like a movie — for all the wrong reasons.

The Colts benched their starting quarterback, fired their offensive coordinator and fired their head coach. Then they hired a franchise legend, most recently an NFL analyst for ESPN, with no coaching experience beyond the high school ranks to be the interim for the rest of the season. Then they gave offensive playcalling responsibilities to a 30-year-old pass game specialist/assistant quarterbacks coach with no previous playcalling experience.

The span of all that? Fewer than three weeks.

As a result, it was probably best not to have any expectations of the Colts entering Sunday. But they found hope. Somehow.

After weeks of dysfunction, the Colts (4-5-1) downed the Las Vegas Raiders (2-7) at Allegiant Stadium 25-20 to kick off the unlikely era of interim coach Jeff Saturday.

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In the game, Indianapolis got major contributions from all those players who must show up for the rest of the season to be a success.

"Been a hell of a week, man. A tough week on all of you," Saturday said in the postgame locker room. "I can't tell you how proud I am of each and every one of you. Coaches, players, staff."

It starts with the defense, the one part of the team that hasn't been an issue for the Colts this season. But the injury-plagued Raiders found a rhythm at the end of the first half and the start of the third period, when they scored back-to-back touchdowns on 12-play drives. Star receiver Davante Adams (nine catches, 126 yards, one touchdown) was getting hot again late in the game, too.

The Colts defense, though, clamped down to stave off a would-be, go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute remaining. On a Raiders third-and-7 at the Colts' 16 with 56 seconds left, linebacker Bobby Okereke broke up a Derek Carr pass to tight end Foster Moreau in the end zone. On the next play, with the game on the line, star cornerback Stephon Gilmore locked up Adams on the sideline, without fouling, to force the incompletion.

On the other side of the ball, the Colts offensive line — the maligned, high-priced unit that has been dreadful — had its best game of the season, working in congruence with All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor and the surprising return of Matt Ryan as the starting quarterback (Saturday had said on Monday that second-year pro Sam Ehlinger would remain QB1).

The O-line created big holes for Taylor, the engine of the offense who was back from the ankle injury that has plagued his third season. He looked like himself. He had 147 yards and a touchdown on 6.7 yards per carry. He scored on a 66-yard run in the third quarter — making a subtle cutback at the line of scrimmage, then picked up speed as he hit the second and third levels.

Indianapolis had 207 rushing yards overall, a season high.

The O-line also protected well for Ryan, who was sacked and hit just once. He had the time to operate where he has been best (and where the Colts will need him all season): in the clutch.

In the fourth quarter, on third-and-3 from the Colts' 25, Ryan scrambled for 39 yards — more rushing yards than he had had in any single game in his 14 NFL seasons and counting. Then he completed consecutive passes — to receiver Michael Pittman Jr., who picked up nine yards before losing eight of them after fumbling and recovering, and receiver Parris Campbell, who reached the end zone on a 35-yard catch and run — to cap a five-play, 82-yard drive that gave Indianapolis a 25-20 lead with 5:14 left.

That would be the game's last points, giving Ryan his fifth fourth-quarter comeback and fourth game-winning drive in just eight starts with the Colts. He completed 75% of his passes (21-of-28) for 222 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.

"Everybody stepped up, all three phases," Saturday said in the locker room.

In an almost unreal set of circumstances, the first win of the Saturday era came against Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, who more than four years ago was formally announced as the Colts' coach to replace the fired Chuck Pagano, only to back out the same day to remain as the Patriots' offensive coordinator.

That could happen only in a movie, right? For Indianapolis, only a movie can describe its present reality.

Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.