Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

The starting quarterback's harshest critic stood tall, and while the sweat dripped down his forehead, the frustration poured out. He shouldered the blame. He took the heat.

"A stupid, stupid interception in the red zone," Andrew Luck called his biggest mistake of the day, an ill-timed, uncharacteristic third-quarter gaffe that very well could have cost his Indianapolis Colts a victory Sunday afternoon.

"We obviously made it tougher than it had to be with the mistakes I made and the mistakes by the offense," he said, and rightly so. His postgame message was palpable: A loss, and this one would have been on him.

No, he was not happy with himself, his decisions, his play. Not in the least. It was readily apparent, both in the dejected manner in which spoke and the regret he repeatedly professed, that he felt he could have been better.

Should have been better.

Needs to be better.

You'd never have been able to tell that Luck's Colts had scraped out a 20-13 win over the Baltimore Ravens, and done so with Luck himself back in his familiar starring role, the third-year pro tossing aside his missteps and rallying the offense in the fourth quarter precisely the way a franchise quarterback should.

"He always puts it on himself," said teammate Dwayne Allen. "That's the type of leader we have here. That's why we follow him."

They follow him because of plays like this: Luck manufacturing a 13-yard touchdown scamper early in the fourth quarter, another red zone opportunity hanging on life support until it was saved by Luck's sturdy legs and timely improvisation.

Since he entered the league in 2012, only one quarterback — Carolina's Cam Newton — can claim more rushing touchdowns than Luck's 11.

And plays like this: Again, a drive later, Luck sidestepping a potential sack and rocketing a third-down conversion to Reggie Wayne from his own 26. Good for a gain of 28. Good enough to keep the drive alive.

It was not only his finest throw of the afternoon, it was his most necessary.

"We overcame a lot of friendly fire to get the job done," Colts coach Chuck Pagano said.

Still, Luck being Luck, it didn't seem enough. He dwelled on his mistakes and scolded his decisions. No matter the first of his two interceptions came in the second quarter after he was swallowed in the pocket by Ravens linebacker C.J. Mosley. With Luck clobbered, the football floated skyward and eventually dropped in the hands of Ravens tackle Haloti Ngata.

When he gathered his offense in the ensuing huddle, Luck took the blame. His teammates shook their head.

How is an interception a quarterback's fault when he's pummeled while throwing the ball?

"If the ball is in his hand, he feels like it's on him," offered running back Trent Richardson. "You wanna talk about a great quarterback? That's what makes him great."

Luck's second pick was especially dumbfounding for a seasoned quarterback who has been lethal in recent weeks. Late in the third quarter, and deep in Baltimore territory, he forced a throw to the goal line that was intended for Bradshaw. It ended up in Mosely's hands. The Colts were left with nothing when a field goal could have sealed it.

Asked if his decision was a case of him trying to do too much on that play, Luck was succinct.

"Yes," he said rather unhappily.

Short-term memory in tow, Luck went back to work. His response to his costly interception was an eight-play, 80-yard march down the field capped by his weaving, winding 13-yard bolt through the heart of the Baltimore D for the score. He smashed into Ravens safety Matt Elam at the goal line, then spiked the football furiously, the nose of the pigskin forced to feel the brunt of an afternoon's worth of frustration.

"We needed a drive to put some points on the board," Luck said. "Needed to give our defense some points to work with."

Luck needed it, too, after the offense continued coughing up its chance to bury Baltimore once and for all. In the end, his touchdown run would prove the difference. It wasn't pretty. But it was enough.

Nor was it his best day — Luck went 32-for-49 for 312 yards, a touchdown and those two interceptions — but it netted a win nonetheless. The Colts aren't throwing this one back, not against a team as tough as Baltimore, and not when their starting quarterback plays as inconsistently as he did Sunday.

Andrew Luck will be the first to tell you.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.