Colts 23, Raiders 20
Q. Can you take us through that shot play to Pierce?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Yeah, we kind of knew they had a certain look in their third and shorts where we would have an opportunity to get a shot up and man, Shane made the call, put a lot of tremendous in us on a big spot. AP comes up big. Man, that was awesome. It was huge at the time. Really needed it.
Q. What do you guys think back to August, now you're here, one game away from winning, did you think that was possible or were you going to wait and see how the season went?
GARDNER MINSHEW: No, absolutely. I think that's one thing in this league, everybody's got a chance. I think there's a lot of parity. And then I think even when you're struggling a little bit there at 3-5, I think everybody pulled together instead of growing apart. We were able to get us in this position.
So I think everybody is fired up for the opportunity. You know, ready to go next week.
Q. How big was Aidan today, getting him back and everything, run game, pass game?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Yeah, he's huge, man. We're definitely happy to have him out there. He's a really good player, like you said, on the run and the pass. Entire offensive line today did a great job running the ball, protecting as a group against a really good front. So I think that was awesome.
Q. What showed up today that wasn't there in the past?
GARDNER MINSHEW: I don't know, we were able to hit a couple explosives. I think that really helped. Touchdown to AP was big. We ran the ball well. Protected really well. I think we were able to just kind of stay on schedule a little bit more. I think when we do that, we are, you know, pretty good as an offense.
Q. Good to have Pittman (ph) back, too?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Absolutely. Can't overstate how much he means to our offense. We do a lot of our passing game through him, and man, it's awesome to have him out there.
Q. The Raiders defense was not allowing a lot of touchdowns recently, and you come out and get a touchdown your first drive. What do you think that did -- I know it wasn't easy all day long, but what do you think it did on the first drive to go out and score immediately?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Yeah, it was huge. I think there was a lot of confidence coming off 245 first drive. I think we have to capitalize on that a little better. The challenge today we knew we were going to have to take care of the ball. They do a really great job of that. Did that. Protected well. Ran the ball. Really executed our game plan to a T. So I think that felt good.
Q. You didn't mince words after the lost last week. How did you see your team respond to what you told them?
GARDNER MINSHEW: I don't know if they responded to what I said at all but they responded. We had some adversity and everybody came back. I thought the practices this week was there, how we stepped out there with energy and a lot of effort, man, couldn't be prouder of this group, and I think everybody is fired up for what we have from us.
Q. After everything this team has been through, how big was this win today?
GARDNER MINSHEW: It was huge. We all understand how much we needed it, the realistic ramifications if we lost. It's just been, I mean, kind of like since the bye week, it's been, hey, we've just got to won one at a time and we'll get there, you know, eventually. We're here now, so it's time to go do it.
Q. What's allowed you to be, I guess, better than you were the first half of the year? What's changed?
GARDNER MINSHEW: I don't know, I think we are playing complementary ball a little better. I think some of those early games, the offense played well and the defense struggled, vice versa, special teams here and there.
Like today, we needed all four phases, all four quarters to win that game, and I think that was really big for us.
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