The Colts failed to score a touchdown on their last possession of Sunday’s game against the Dolphins and that meant they were 16-12 losers when time ran out.
The ending probably would have played out differently had Adam Vinatieri made an extra point after Jack Doyle‘s touchdown catch put Indy up 12-10 with 11:30 left to play. The Colts could have tried a field goal to tie the game instead of having Brian Hoyer trying to throw the ball into the end zone.
While a game-tying field goal attempt would have been a different twist, there’s no reason to think it would have gone in. Vinatieri missed a field goal at the buzzer in Week Nine and has missed five field goals and six extra points this season. That means Colts head coach Frank Reich got more questions about a possible kicker change after the game.
Reich said there haven’t been any discussions about a change, but that the “expectation” is for better accuracy than Vinatieri has provided this season.
“We’d been committed to him, but like everybody . . . we’re going to always evaluate,” Reich said, via Joel Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. “Everyone gets measured, everyone’s held accountable. From top to bottom, that’s always the case. Nothing meant to read into that, that’s just the reality.”
Every game the Colts have played this season has been decided by one score. Those are margins where missed kicks stand out even more and Vinatieri has missed at least one kick in each of the team’s four losses. We’ll see if the Colts continue to bet on Vinatieri being able to help them more than hurt them in the future.