The Colts did exactly what they had to do early in the game: complete the short plays consistently. The Bucs defense is playing with some discipline, though they've already picked up two offside penalties, but Lovie Smith allows opposing quarterbacks to march down the field if they can consistently pick up all the short plays. That's hard to do for a full game, though, and gets especially tough once the field gets shorter as they approach the goal-line. That's what happened on the Colts' first, time-consuming drive where they finally settled for a 49-yard field goal after taking seven minutes off the clock.
Sluggish game in Indianapolis between Colts and Buccaneers
