NFL International Series Colts vs Patriots

Sunday, 12 November 2023

Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany

Deutsche Bank Park

Indianapolis Colts

Head Coach Shane Steichen

Postgame Press Conference


Colts 10, Patriots 6

SHANE STEICHEN: Injury report. Ryan Kelly, concussion during the game, and that's all I've got right now for you guys. With that, ready when you are.

Q. Huge field goal drives and almost 15 minutes of game time, huge possessions. How important was it to hold them to 3?

SHANE STEICHEN: It was huge. Our defense, they played awesome the entire game. To hold a team like that to 6 points -- any team in the National Football League to hold them to 6 points is phenomenal. It's always going to give your team a chance to win, but it was huge.

That's what we talked about during the week. Hey, when they get to the red zone, they've been really good in there scoring touchdowns in the red zone, so to prevent them from scoring those touchdowns and hold them to the two field goals was huge.

Q. What was it like seeing Julian? He had the one where he could have picked it and (indiscernible), and he comes back and picks a huge one.

SHANE STEICHEN: It was big. I was just talking to him in the locker room. He got the pick, and he was on the 2 yard line. I'm on the sidelines, Get up and get some yards so we ain't on the 2! He got it out to the 5, which was good.

To get those two interceptions, win the turnover battle -- shoot, we've won the turnover battle now five games, and we've won five games.

Q. When did you think of Josh Downs' catch there that third down?

SHANE STEICHEN: It was huge. It was awesome. Just his excitement that he had to create that big play. Great scramble by Gardner to get it to him. But to lay out and make that play, that's what preparation does. You prepare the right way, and you go out and make those plays on Sunday.

Q. How difficult was this week for him with practice, and it seemed like you guys kind of brought him in almost late second quarter.

SHANE STEICHEN: We used him sparingly on some third downs and stuff, but you know what, he's been in the system now. Obviously ten weeks in and going through those meetings and sitting in those meetings and understanding what we're trying to get done to go out and execute it.

Q. Do you think there were some opportunities in the passing game that you guys missed for whatever reason?

SHANE STEICHEN: I think you go into any game, there's going to be some opportunities you want back, but we'll go look at the tape. Obviously there's a few, yeah, that we would like to have back, but we found a way to get it done, and that's the name of the game is winning football games, and our defense stepped up.

We moved the ball offensively, but we didn't finish our drives like we normally do, but it was good to get the win.

Q. Dayo had three sacks in the first half and a huge performance.

SHANE STEICHEN: It's huge. It starts with the D-line. The offensive line is up front. For Dayo to get that, going out there and playing like he did, and the rest of the defensive line, it was big setting the tone early.

Q. What was the reaction on your side of seeing the Patriots make the change on the final drive at quarterback.

SHANE STEICHEN: I didn't know if Mac was hurt or what. I wasn't sure.

Q. What does it say about this team that you've been able to win games in different ways now going into the bye 5-5?

SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, that's a good question. I think you start playing your best football in November and December, and you start climbing.

You kind of find out about teams late second half of the season. So to be 2-0 and finding different ways to win and our defense has obviously stepped up the last two weeks in Carolina and then now here against the Patriots.

But the big thing is just playing that complementary football back and forth going forward so we can be at our best coming off the bye.

Q. What about Minshew? He made some great plays for you. (Indiscernible)

SHANE STEICHEN: He has some savviness to him. Some of those third downs, especially early on in that the first drive I think we had two first downs and created some big plays on some scrambles, which was huge.

Then obviously the big one to Josh Downs was huge. He has good poise. He sees it well, and it was a good team win.

Q. I know it's just one game, but the long trip over and back, hitting the bye, back to .500. How big is there one?

SHANE STEICHEN: It's huge. It's huge to get to .500 before the bye, get these guys after week off, get some rest and come back and hit the ground running. We have Tampa Bay coming back in our place a couple of weeks, so we're looking forward to it.

Q. J.T. took almost all the carries today. Was that just --

SHANE STEICHEN: Just some of the things we had up for J.T., that was just the way it went.

Q. (Indiscernible)

SHANE STEICHEN: We have to look at it. That's a good question. I'm going to study it hard obviously going forward, and we'll go from there.

Q. At the end, despite your winning, what does this do for your mental work?

SHANE STEICHEN: I think the biggest thing our guys, they found a way, and it's really just staying focused on the sideline and just keeping them juiced up and saying, like, Hey, let's go make another play.

The guys were playing awesome on defense, and then to get the turnover right there at the end to win, it was huge.

Q. What kind of message do you relay to the players now that you are 5-5, .500 on the season? You mentioned getting time off to get healthy. What message do you have?

SHANE STEICHEN: In the locker room it's, Hey, get healthy, and let's make a run at this thing. We have seven games left. We're right in the thick of it, and let's play our best football in November and December going forward.

Q. In a game where you have had to travel so far away from home, how rewarding does this win feel? Are you a fan of the International Games?

SHANE STEICHEN: It's been awesome to come over here and experience this. This is my third time doing International Games. It was great.

Obviously Frankfurt and Germany, everybody was great hosts for us, and we really enjoyed it. Yeah, it was great.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
139057-1-1878 2023-11-12 18:41:00 GMT

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