Follow Us
The Indianapolis Colts made waves when they hired former Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday as their new head coach in an attempt to, perhaps, start a new era of winning that has eluded the franchise since Andrew Luckâs retirement. For his part, Saturday took on the challenge with his head held high despite it being his first coaching gig apart from a short stint as a high school head coach in Georgia.
However, Saturdayâs glaring inexperience may have reared its ugly head during the Coltsâ 24-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.
In the dying embers of the game, with Matt Ryan and the Colts desperately pushing for an opportunity to tie or perhaps even take the game entirely, Jeff Saturday refused to use two of his final three timeouts. Consequently, Indianapolis ended up falling short as the clock dwindled with the Colts in disarray, as they were stopped short by the Steelersâ defense at Pittsburghâs 26-yard line on downs.
When asked about his decision to let the clock run out, Saturday had a response thatâs sure to perplex.
âI thought we had plenty of time, I wasnât really concerned. We still had timeouts. I wasnât too concerned,â Saturday said, per NBC Sports. âI didnât feel like time was of the essence at that moment. I thought we had a good play, I felt like we would get to it. I felt good about the call before, I felt like weâd have time, we would have timeouts afterwards. We were in striking distance, so I never felt like the pressure of needing the timeout.â
Time was, indeed, of the essence, although all the Colts could do now is rue the missed chance they had to claim a much-needed victory. Nevertheless, this should be one memorable learning experience for Jeff Saturday to maximize all the tools he has in his disposal to influence his team in a positive manner.