Monday Morning Awards: Week 17 @Giants

And with that disgusting act, the 24-25 season comes to a close

MVP of the Game: Alec Pierce / Michael Pittman Jr.

The wide receiver duo more than did their part for the Colts to win the game, and had their combined best game of the season by a large margin. The numbers could have been even bigger as Pierce forced a deep DPI flag. They combined for over 200 yards and two touchdowns.

Dud of the Game: Entire defense/special teams

Allowing 45 points to the 2-13 New York Giants, who had not scored that many in almost a decade, is reason enough for some heads to roll today, not even worth waiting until the offseason. The defensive front could not generate any sort of pressure to make Drew Lock uncomfortable, the linebackers were laughable, with the highlight being either Speed getting his ankles broken by Lock on the touchdown run that ended the Colts’ year, or Zaire’s lack of effort on Slayton catch-and-run touchdown, and I think I witnessed the worst game by a Colts’ safety yesterday in Julian Blackmon. On top of that, you have the allowed kickoff return to also hurt the special team’s unit. After sort of a mid-season resurgence by the unit, Bradley’s unit came crashing down once again to reality.

Best play of the Game: Alec Pierce’s 13-yard touchdown grab

Not only was this an amazing throw by Joe Flacco, a beautiful contested catch by Pierce, but it also was the last time the Colts were close to winning this game, as the Giants answered with a 59-yard touchdown pass right after that. This game was Pierce establishing himself as the Colts #2 receiver going forward, whoever is the quarterback.

Worst play of the Game: Kickoff returned for a touchdown after halftime

I am convinced that Shane Steichen’s halftime talks could not get me hyped enough to run through a paper mache wall. First of all the team comes out completely flat to start the game, then after finding their footing going into the half they come out and immediately allow a kickoff return for a touchdown to shift all the momentum right back to the Giants.

Best position group: Wide receivers

Downs and Mitchell were unspectacular, but Pierce and Pittman’s performance was more than enough to carry this unit into the top group yesterday. This has been perhaps one of the only units on the team that has consistently done their jobs this year, and that has a positive outlook going into the future.

Unsung hero: Ryan Kelly

In what could have been one of his final games as a Colt, and an NFL player, Kelly put up a more than decent performance, to finish off his career on a high note. He finished the game with the highest grade for a Colts’ offensive linemen according to PFF.com, and was the only player to grade above 70 in pass protection.

Rookie of the Week: Matt Goncalves

More of a “there was no-one else to give this one to” than merit to Goncalves, who was not good, but decent enough. Mitchell had another drop, Gould had no impact on the game, and Latu failed to create any sort of pressure on what has been a disappointing rookie season for the first defensive player selected.