In a span of about six minutes, the Colts cut a 28-point deficit to 14.
Donald Brown’s three-yard TD catch narrowed the Chiefs’ lead to 38-24 midway through the third quarter in Saturday’s wild-card matchup in Indianapolis.
Brown’s touchdown came five plays after Colts outside linebacker Robert Mathis forced Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith to fumble. Colts inside linebacker Kelvin Sheppard recovered, and the Colts marched 41 yards to further chip away at Kansas City’s huge lead.
The Chiefs scored the third quarter’s first points a little more than a minute into the period on Smith’s 10-yard TD pass to tailback Knile Davis, which was set up by Husain Abdullah’s interception of Luck on Indianapolis’ first play of the second half.
However, the Colts would quickly bounce back, with Brown’s 10-yard TD run capping a five-play, 80-yard drive taking less than two minutes and highlighted by a long pass to rookie wideout Da’Rick Rogers.
Then, the Colts would move even closer, and the catalyst was Mathis, who was voted PFT’s Defensive Player of the Year on Friday.