INDIANAPOLIS – The Colts will be ringing in the new year with a win after beating the Las Vegas Raiders 23-20 at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday in a pivotal game in the AFC playoff race.
The Colts entered the final two games of the season with the chance to still win the AFC South, earn a wild card berth or miss the postseason entirely. The victory will go a long way in helping secure the team’s first trip to the playoffs since 2020.
Rodney Thomas recovered an onside kick with under a minute to play to seal the game.
Both teams scored on their opening possessions. Gardner Minshew connected with rookie Josh Downs for 50 yards before Jonathan Taylor scored from five yards out three plays later to give the Colts an early 7-0 lead.
Former Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell then led the Raiders on a 12-play, 54-yard drive, capped off by a Daniel Carlson 40-yard field goal to cut into the Indianapolis’ lead.
The two teams exchanged punts before the Colts found the end zone again at the end of the first half. Minshew hit his second deep pass of the game, finding Alec Pierce for a 58-yard TD to make it 14-3 at halftime.
Las Vegas received the second half kickoff and marched 75-yards in 15-plays for a score as O’Connell threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams to cut the Colts’ lead to 14-10.
The Colts answered with a long drive of their own, converting on a third-and-long and a fourth down to set-up a 38-yard Matt Gay field goal to extend the lead back to a touchdown.
The teams then swapped field goals to make it 20-13 with four and half minutes to play.
The Colts took advantage of two costly Raiders’ penalties to tack on Gay’s third field goal. O’Connell hit Adams for the duo’s second touchdown to make it 23-20 with 40 seconds left before the onside recovery to end the game.
With his first catch of the game in the first quarter, Michael Pittman Jr. recorded 100 catches for the season. It’s the first time he reached that milestone in his four-year career.
The Colts improve to 9-7 and will wrap up the regular season next week by hosting division rival, Houston. The game time and broadcast network is still to be determined.