Colts Stumble over Officiating, Coaching in Loss to Philadelphia Eagles

Despite some rough patches, this one was all but sealed for the Indianapolis Colts. Up 27-20 with six minutes remaining, the Colts had the Philadelphia Eagles right where they wanted. 

The offense had a first down on the Eagles' 23-yard line. All they had to do was take care of the ball, get a score, and not fall apart completely on defense. 

First down: Run. A gain of two.

That's fine, you can waste some clock and you still have two downs to go for the first. 

Second down: Run. A loss of one.

A bit predictable, but again, not a big deal. Still in field-goal range and another chance at going for the first.

This is when things got dicey. 

On 3rd-and-9 with just over five minutes remaining, there were two choices the Colts coaches could make. 

A. They could run the ball. It's a conservative choice, to take the field goal and go up by two scores. 

B. Put the ball in Andrew Luck's hands to get the first down. A more risky call, but not if you call a fairly safe play. 

I can't fault the coaches for going with B. It's the choice I would have gone with, with a 40-yard field goal not being automatic, Trent Richardson's previous two fumbles in the game and the Eagles offense scoring quickly throughout the second half. Remember, from this point on, the Eagles did score 10 points, which would have meant overtime had the Colts kicked the field goal.

But disaster struck when Andrew Luck's pass to T.Y. Hilton was picked off by Eagles safety Michael Jenkins. But, wait, Hilton was grabbed by the Eagles' defensive back, a penalty flag must be coming!

"

pic.twitter.com/UBsQzQ1obC

— Cian Fahey (@Cianaf) September 16, 2014"

Alas, it was not, and the "emphasis" on defensive holding and illegal contact penalties went without impacting the sole play in this game that it should have impacted. 

There was no question that Hilton was held on the play, and if he is not, the pass is not intercepted. In fact, Hilton likely has the catch for a first down, the Colts can chew more clock, potentially score and win the game 95 percent of the time. Blaming the officiating is a bad practice to get into, but on a play in which the defender should unquestionably have been called for pass interference, it's difficult to swallow.

But the flag was not thrown, and the game went on. 

After another questionable (read, bad) decision by the referees on a horse-collar penalty on LaRon Landry, some questionable (read, bad) angles taken by the same Landry and Darren Sproles' trickery in the open field, the Eagles scored again and tied the game. 

Now, with 3:25 left, the Colts had a chance for a 12th game-winning drive from Andrew Luck. You would think that they were in more-than-adequate hands, considering his history. 

Instead, Pep Hamilton dialed up two consecutive runs by Trent Richardson to start the drive, leading to a 3rd-and-5 that would inevitably decide the game. Luck was pressured, did not have time to get the throw off to Reggie Wayne, and that was the game. 

There is zero reason why a team should give the premier young quarterback in the league just one chance on the game-deciding drive. It was a mind-boggling set of plays, and one that cost the Colts in the end. 

It's maddening, really, to watch Nick Foles throw for over 300 yards in a scheme that does a phenomenal job of scheming open receivers and yards after the catch. Foles had a poor day, but came out with the big numbers and the win. Meanwhile, the Colts did what they wanted to do, run the ball, and then didn't put the ball in their best player's hand when it mattered most.

It's like watching Jeff Gordon drive a 1993 Dodge Caravan with bad brakes while my mom struggles to shift gears in a Nascar stock car.

All is not lost. Unlike Week 1, the Colts should have won this game. There were promising signs from the offensive line and run defense for the second-straight week. But in the end, the Colts simply couldn't get out of their own way, whether it was forcing the run at inopportune times, Trent Richardson fumbles or repetitive defensive issues (zero pass rush, poor angles from Landry). 

The Colts should have won this game. Certainly, a no-excuse missed call put the gun to the Colts' head. But it was the cowardly play-calling that pulled the trigger.

All statistics and snap counts come from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) and Pro Football Reference unless otherwise noted. All training camp observations were obtained firsthand by the reporter unless otherwise noted.

Kyle is an NFL and Indianapolis Colts analyst for Bleacher Report and the editor-in-chief of Colts Authority. Follow Kyle on Twitter for more stats, analysis and general NFL analysis.