Doyel: Colts pound it, pound it, pound it and survive

NASHVILLE – Andrew Luck was struggling to put on his shirt. His pants weren’t going on much easier, either. Didn’t look like he could bend. Didn’t look like he could breathe. Luck was hurting and he was exhausted, and finally an Indianapolis Colts security official was at his side, helping him pack his stuff and get out of this locker room at Nissan Stadium, where it didn’t feel like a team had just won.

It felt like a team had just survived.

“I’m emotionally drained,” Luck said before inching out the door toward the team bus.

The whole locker room was drained. Normally the Colts’ locker room after a win – any NFL locker room, after any win – is a place of laughter and loud voices. But this wasn’t a normal locker room, because this 35-33 victory against the Titans on Sunday wasn’t a normal win.

“After a game like this,” Luck said, “you feel spent.”

In a far corner of the quiet visiting locker room, linebacker D’Qwell Jackson was reflecting on a game that saw the Colts go from a 14-0 lead to a 27-14 deficit to a 35-27 lead and then, finally, to defending a two-point conversion with 47 seconds left that could have sent the game into overtime. The Colts turned back bulldozing Titans back Jalston Fowler to clinch their first victory after an 0-2 start to the season.

“This is a crazy, crazy league,” Jackson was saying softly. “You never know what’s going to happen out there. This was one of those games.”

It was one of those games the Colts often lose, and lose badly. They fall down, and they respond by rolling over. After trailing 14-0 the Titans scored 27 consecutive points and it was happening again. The Titans led 27-14 and they were driving early in the fourth quarter, reaching the Colts’ 30 after gains of 4, 13, 28, 7, 10 and 5 yards. The Colts looked to be rolling over.

On the sideline, this was Colts linebacker Robert Mathis’ thought:

“Oh, bleep.”

But then, so was this:

“Keep fighting,” Mathis said. “Got to keep your head up.”

On second-and-5 from the Colts’ 30, the Titans handed the ball to Dexter McCluster and Jackson dragged him down for a 4-yard loss. Next play, linebacker Jerrell Freeman sacked Marcus Mariota for an 8-yard loss. The Titans punted. The Colts survived.

From there it was a sprint to the finish, the Colts scoring 21 points in less than 4 minutes, and the Titans answering with an 80-yard TD drive with 47 seconds left. Then came the two-point play, Fowler running into a goal-line stand spearheaded by Bjoern Werner and Billy Winn.

One thing after another, gigantic momentum swings for each side.

“If you rode the ebb and flow of this game, it would have killed you,” said Colts coach Chuck Pagano. “You’d die a thousand deaths out there if you did that.”

Instead, Pagano said, he urged his team to practice what he has preached since he arrived in 2012.

“Pound it,” Pagano said. “Pound it, pound it, pound it. Sixty minutes, one play at a time, all you’ve got. Don’t judge. Don’t look at the scoreboard.”

But they were judging. On the sideline Luck was screaming at himself and center Khaled Holmes was screaming at guard Hugh Thornton. This was a new look for the Colts’ offensive line, not just Thornton at guard but Jack Mewhort back to his natural position at left guard, Joe Reitz at right tackle, and Lance Louis and Todd Herremans out of the lineup.

It didn’t always work. Frank Gore ran for 86 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, but the pass protection was as bad as it’s been all season. Luck was sacked three times and hit four others, and the line committed six penalties – four by Thornton that had Holmes yelling at him on the sideline.

“I wasn’t yelling at Hugh,” Holmes tried to tell me.

Yeah, I said. You were.

“I was yelling, but it was all positive,” Holmes said. “We came in together, we’re good friends. I would never got down on Hugh like that in front of people.”

Whatever he said, worked. Thornton committed no penalties in the final 22 minutes, got a pep talk from Pagano – “Great opportunity for you to grow right now,” Pagano told him. “Don’t judge.” – and helped keep Luck safe the rest of the way. After going 7-of-17 for 116 yards and two interceptions through three quarters, Luck was 11-of-13 for 144 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth.

Along the way Luck found a new No. 2 receiver – Donte Moncrief – and maybe even a new No. 3: rookie Phillip Dorsett. Each caught a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, exceptional plays on decent passes that were sandwiched around Colts safety Dwight Lowery’s second interception of the game.

Veteran Andre Johnson spent most of the fourth quarter on the sideline. Luck targeted Johnson just once all game. Johnson had no catches.

Johnson’s play was a negative. There were others, by some of the team’s biggest stars. Luck’s quarterback rating after three quarters was 25.5. Left tackle Anthony Castonzo was beaten for a sack. Cornerback Vontae Davis gave up catches of 29 and 16 yards, and was manhandled by Dorial Green-Beckham on a 3-yard touchdown on a fade route. Titans rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for 367 yards. The Colts committed 11 penalties and two turnovers.

Mistakes matter, and they must be addressed by the Colts, but not today. As Pagano was saying after the game, the 24-hour rule was in effect – the team can enjoy this win for 24 hours before starting preparations for next week’s game against Jacksonville – and the process on this day worked. Keep grinding. Don’t judge. Don’t look at the scoreboard, not until it’s over.

And when it was over, Pagano was pacing the locker room and telling his players how proud he was and wiping tears from his eyes. This was a two-point win against a team the Colts have dominated forever, but this was more than that.

“I’m telling you, this was bigger than a football game,” Pagano was telling his players through his tears.

But it was a football game, and a pretty big one. A loss, and the Colts are 0-3 and the hysteria is deafening. A win, and suddenly anything seems possible.

If it is a mirage, let the Colts have their mirage. Let their coach pace the locker room, crying and shouting and behaving as if they have done more than win a regular-season game in September.

Because it feels like they have.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel