What Frank Reich said after Colts’ 30-18 win over 49ers
The Indianapolis Colts (3-4) used their opportunistic defense and stout rushing attack to lead them to a 30-18 victory over the San Francisco 49ers (2-4) on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium.
The prime-time game was played through a torrential downpour and heavy winds. However, the Colts prevailed thanks to some key turnovers and explosive plays on the offensive side of the ball.
Here’s what head coach Frank Reich had to say after the Week 7 win:
A Team Win
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Reich: “Great team win. Great team win in all three phases. Great defensive effort causing the four turnovers. Did a great job the whole game. Just felt the confidence from the guys really throughout. Even the times when we had struggles. When you play good teams, it’s not always going to go smooth on every series. But even when we had struggles in any phase, I still felt the confidence in guys making plays at key times.”
Michael Pittman Jr.'s Tough Mentality
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Reich: “Yeah, he’s a big-play guy. He just has a mentality. We talk about it a lot, this mentality he has, the toughness, the play making, how hard he works, how hard he competes. You want to throw him the ball. Carson has developed a ton of confidence in him. You saw that last week just throwing it up to him. I mean, just throwing it up to him.”
Staying Aggressive To Put The Game Away
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Reich: “Yeah, well there is no doubt. For me, I felt like something about learning a lesson from the Ravens game. We had a third-and-eight and I called a run, and I’m like, ‘I’m not doing that again.’ I told the guys. I’m not doing that again. I’m calling the pass.
“Yeah, I said, I’m calling the pass, I don’t care what anybody says. Really comes to trusting your quarterback and trusting your receivers. So, I didn’t envision that play being made like that, honestly. I thought it was going to be we were kind of running a little trick play. Not trick play, but a little double move play. They were playing zone and they didn’t jump on it like we thought, and Carson just threw it up and gave him a chance and Pitt made an unbelievable play.”
Poor Weather Conditions
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Reich: “They were pretty bad. It wasn’t as windy as I thought it was going to be, but the rain, there were times when each quarterback had a fumbled snap. I was trying to keep us in gun as much as we could because, believe it or not, you’re probably better off in gun in these conditions just from taking snaps under center. But Carson did a job with it and the skill guys did a good job with it, but it was difficult conditions.”
Xavier Rhodes Almost Didn't Play
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Reich: “Yeah, really gave Xavier — I’m glad you asked that, because Xavier, didn’t look like he was going to play. I don’t know how he fought through it. He was limping around out there pretty bad. I’m not even sure how he was playing, and then he comes up with a big interception at the end. So real credit to him for his toughness and hanging in in a tough moment.”
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