Colts Lose A Tight One Against the Green Bay Packers

The Indianapolis Colts may have turned a corner in week 3 of the preseason. They lost a tight game against the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, but simply saying that they lost didn’t tell the whole story. Week 3 of the NFL’s preseason features games where the starters get the most playing time, and the Colts were left without Peyton Manning, but still put together a strong game against the Packers. The Colts were led by a surprisingly strong performance from Curtis Painter, who was 11 for 21 with 171 yards and two touchdowns. The Colts recently signed Kerry Collins to be a potential back-up in week 1 of the NFL season if Manning can’t go, but Painter did his best to put up a fight for the back-up position.

This game was interesting for the Colts, as one of the biggest supporters of Painter was wide out Reggie Wayne, who caught 6 passes for 105 yards and 1 touchdown. Wayne publicly came out and said that he supported Painter as the back-up and that he thought he could give the Colts a strong chance to win if Peyton had to miss any time.

It was more than just the passing game for the Colts that looked good though, as Joseph Addai ran the ball 8 times for 44 yards, and rookie Delone Carter ran it 7 times for 27 yards. The Colts defense also looked much improved, as Dwight Freeney racked up two impressive sacks in limited action. The game was close throughout, with the Colts even pulling ahead 21-13 in the fourth quarter, before the Packers came up with an impressive game tying drive and two point conversion which was led by Graham Harrell. The Packers then went for an onside kick which they recovered, and kicked a game winning field goal with 3 seconds remaining.

This was one of the more exciting preseason NFL games of this season, and while the Packers decision to go for the onside kick in a tie game is not something that they would do in the regular season; it gave them the opportunity to work on a play that they typically would not get to work on. In the end, while the Packers got the win, the Colts and Curtis Painter earned a good amount of respect. Painter needed a game like this to prove that he belongs as the current back-up to the injured Manning, and even potentially become his replacement a good ways down the road.