Inexplicably, the Indianapolis Colts pulled out the 12-9 overtime victory Thursday night in Denver despite dreadful play on offense.
Colts owner Jim Irsay knows his team needs to play better but is thrilled it was to escape with the triumph.
"There is no such thing as an ugly win. There's no such thing as a beautiful loss," he told WISH-8 after the game. "To me, I know it was tough, but this win looks like a beauty to me."
The Indy offense was a brutal watch Thursday night without Jonathan Taylor. The Colts generated 306 total yards of offense, went 4-of-16 on third downs with six three-and-outs and were 0-of-2 in the red zone.
"Isn't it awesome that you can have a game like that and still win?" coach Frank Reich said, via the team's official website. "It really is. I'm really happy that we made the plays against a good defense. This is a really good defense, so we played well enough on offense to win the game today.
"It wasn't good, we didn't play good offense, so I'm not going to be critical of the offense right now. We know we need to get better. We won the game; these are hard to win on the road on Thursday night. ... This is a win. We'll figure out how to get better on offense, but we played good enough to get the win tonight."
Matt Ryan went 26-of-41 passing for 251 yards, two interceptions and a 60.1 passer rating. The QB also fumbled twice (Indy recovered both). His 11 fumbles in 2022 are the most by a player through the first five games of a season in NFL history, per NFL Research. Ryan's seven interceptions also tie a career-high to start a season.
The protection was ugly, too, as Ryan was under heat all game. He took four first-half sacks, the most in the opening two quarters for a Colts QB since Week 12, 2017. Ryan has been sacked 21 times this season, the most in the NFL heading into Sunday's games.
Indy's 13.8 points per game are its fewest through five weeks since 1998 (finished 3-13).
Somehow, after a tie to Houston, a shutout loss to Jacksonville and a defeat against Tennessee, Indy finds itself at 2-2-1 and in the thick of the AFC South race. With division rematches against the Jaguars and Titans on deck, Irsay knows his team needs to play better.
"We have to get some consistency," the owner said. "Two division games coming. We know we have to play better offensively," he said of the offense. "We have to do things a lot better and pick it up.
"This is one of those ones you had to get, so we're fired up and excited, man."
