The Indianapolis Colts lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-17 on Monday Night Football, and interim head coach Jeff Saturday’s confusing clock management skills were in the spotlight.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts were both coming off of Week 11 losses to the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles respectively. Both faced off on the Week 12 edition of Monday Night Football in what may have not been the most enticing game on paper. But it definitely over-delivered.
Despite blowing a 16-3 lead in the second half, the Steelers were able to pick up the 24-17 victory over the Colts on Monday. Benny Snell’s two-yard touchdown run by running back Benny Snell in the fourth quarter and a successful two-point conversion pass from quarterback Kenny Pickett to wide receiver George Pickens proved to be the difference.
But everyone is talking about Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday’s confusing clock management on the final drive.
Steelers win, as Jeff Saturday bungles clock management on MNF: Best tweets, memes
On the final drive, the Colts were threatening to get into the red zone. But on second-and-17, Indianapolis quarterback Matt Ryan scrambled for a 14-yard gain before getting tackled inbounds. The Colts had three timeouts at their disposal, but Saturday didn’t use one at the time. Instead, Indianapolis hurried to get a Jonathan Taylor run off, which went for no gain. Then, Saturday finally used a timeout.
Indianapolis went for it on fourth-and-three, resulting in an incomplete pass from Ryan to wide receiver Parris Campbell to clinch the win for the Steelers.
After the game, Saturday expressed no regrets about not using a timeout after the Ryan scramble.
“I didn’t think that time was of the essence at the moment,” said Saturday. “I thought we had a good play…I felt good about the call before, felt like we had time, we would have timeouts afterwards. We were in striking distance…”
This certainly won’t play over well with the Colts fanbase. Team owner Jim Irsay’s comments about Saturday not being experienced as an NFL head coach actually being a benefit are not aging too well.