Flacco comes off bench to lead Indy

COLTS 27, STEELERS 24

Steelers_Colts_Football_31347--b984f#2_1084594100.jpg

Indianapolis quarterback Joe Flacco is forced out of the pocket while looking to pass during the second half Sunday against Pittsburgh. MICHAEL CONROY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Image

By Michael Marot

The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS >> Joe Flacco threw two touchdown passes in relief of the injured Anthony Richardson, and the Indianapolis Colts came up with a stop in the final minute to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-24 on Sunday.

Indy (2-2) has won two straight since opening the season with back-to-back losses — and two straight against Pittsburgh.

The Steelers (3-1) fought back from a 17-0 deficit but fell just short of extending their six-game regular-season winning streak. Pittsburgh’s top-ranked defense allowed a season-high point total.

Justin Fields ran for two second-half scores and threw for another to cut the deficit to 27-24 with 3:40 to go. But the Steelers turned the ball over on downs when they couldn’t recover from a botched snap that resulted in a 12-yard loss with less than two minutes to play.

Flacco, the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year with Cleveland, played just well enough to preserve the victory after Richardson left for the second time in four plays late in the first quarter with the Colts leading 7-0. Flacco finished 19 of 30 for 166 yards against a team he knew well from his 11 seasons with Baltimore.

Fields was 22 of 34 for 312 yards and ran 10 times for 55 yards but was but was sacked four times and lost a fumble — one of two Pittsburgh turnovers.

Richardson started fast with a 32-yard completion on the game’s first play, and Jonathan Taylor capped the eight-play drive with a 2-yard TD run just three minutes into the game.

For the fourth time in his career, though, Richardson couldn’t finish a game.

He left initially after taking a big hit to his right hip, returned two plays later, took a hard hit to his head and then headed to the locker room. By the time he returned to the sideline, he had been ruled out because of the bad hip.

Flacco had kept Indy’s momentum going. He threw a 4-yard TD pass to Josh Downs and set up a 33-yard field goal to give the Colts a 17-3 halftime lead.

When the Colts needed Flacco to make plays late, he mostly succeeded.

After Fields scored on a 5-yard run late in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 17-10, Flacco hooked up with Kylen Granson for a 15-yard TD pass. After Fields again scored, this time on a 2-yard run, to get the Steelers within 24-17 with 11:23 to play, Flacco led the Colts on a 10-play, 54-yard drive that took nearly 5 1/2 minutes and resulted in a 33-yard field goal for 27-17 cushion.