Bills take beating from Luck, Colts
INDIANAPOLIS — Andrew Luck kept pleading with coach Frank Reich to stick with the ground game yesterday.
Reich gladly granted his star quarterback’s wish.
After throwing 164 passes the previous three weeks, Luck watched his runners deliver the hard shots and took advantage of the openings by throwing for four touchdowns in a 37-5 rout over Buffalo.
“When you run the ball really, really well, the byproduct is throwing the ball efficiently,” Luck said.
Buffalo (2-5), which visits the Patriots next Monday night, has lost two straight and 3-of-4 despite benching turnover-prone Nathan Peterman and starting 35-year-old Derek Anderson in place of the injured Josh Allen.
Anderson went 20-of-31 with 175 yards, three interceptions and lost a fumble in his first start since December 2016.
Putting offensive coordinator Brian Daboll on the field for the first time this season didn’t help either. Buffalo has two touchdowns and 31 points in its last four games.
“I just have to be better with the ball, have better awareness,” Anderson said. “I’m not going to pout about it. I expect more from myself. I came here to help this team win football games.”
Buffalo started the game with only four active receivers before losing running back LeSean McCoy with a head injury on the second play of the game. McCoy’s replacement, Chris Ivory, left briefly in the third quarter but returned.
For the Colts, it seems as though getting healthy has helped the offense get in sync.
Running back Marlon Mack returned from an injured hamstring last week and the Colts responded with back-to-back seasonhigh rushing totals. Even Buffalo’s No. 3 ranked defense couldn’t slow down the Colts, who ran for 220 yards — the highest total in Luck’s seven seasons.
Indy hadn’t topped 200 yards since Dec. 18, 2011 against Tennessee, and Mack had a career-high 126 yards on 19 carries.
Luck, meanwhile, went 17-of-23 with 156 yards, hooked up with receiver T.Y. Hilton for two touchdown passes, another to Mack and one to Eric Swoope.
As a result, Indy (2-5) snapped a four-game losing streak, pulled off its most lopsided victory since a 37-3 victory over Jacksonville on Sept. 29, 2013 and finally celebrated the franchise’s 300th win since moving from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984.
Indy was in such command, Luck even made the wise decision to run out of bounds at the Bills 1-yard line in the fourth quarter rather than risk an unnecessary hit by reaching for the goal line.
“I was really proud on the 1 where he ran out of bounds because I told him if you get into scramble mode take care of yourself,” Reich said. “So we had the conversation on the sideline and fortunately he listened.”
The only thing that didn’t go according to script was Adam Vinatieri breaking Morten Andersen’s career scoring record.
Vinatieri scored five points to move within five of becoming the NFL’s scoring leader despite missing two extra points in one game for the first time in his career.