Getty Indianapolis Colts cornerback Stephon Gilmore made two huge plays late in the fourth quarter and overtime during his team's 12-9 victory in Week 5.
For much of the night on October 6, it appeared as though the Indianapolis Colts were set to fall to two games below .500 and winless in four of five games to open the season.
But the defense simply wouldn’t let the Colts fall too far behind the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football, and with the game on the line, former All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore came up with two huge plays to lead Indianapolis to a 12-9 overtime victory.
Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson twice targeted the receiver Gilmore was guarding in the end zone late in the game — once with a little more than two minutes left in the fourth quarter and then in overtime. A Wilson completion on either play gives the Broncos (2-3) a game-winning touchdown.
Those two plays, though, ended in a Gilmore interception and a Gilmore deflection, respectively, to finish the game.
Then after saving the game for the Colts — and perhaps even the team’s season — Gilmore threw shade at the Broncos quarterback for targeting him in the key moments of the contest.
“He kept trying me, so I made him pay,” Gilmore said on the Amazon Prime postgame show.
Gilmore Saves Colts Against Broncos
The first game-changing play from the two-time All-Pro came on third-and-4 with 2:13 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Colts were out of timeouts down by three points, and Denver was at the Indianapolis 13-yard line.
Had the Broncos simply run the ball, the worst case scenario would’ve had Denver kicking a field goal after the two-minute warning. If the Broncos gain 4 yards on a run, then Denver runs out the clock to end the game.
Instead, the play call was a pass, and Wilson targeted a former seventh-round pick, wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland, who came into the game with eight career catches. The throw was late, and Gilmore undercut the route for an interception in the end zone. The interception was Gilmore’s first with the Colts.
On the ensuing possession, the Colts kicked a field goal in the final seconds of regulation to send the contest into overtime.
Indianapolis added another field goal to begin overtime. Wilson responded from his interception with a couple of big gains to begin Denver’s next drive. Then on fourth-and-1 at the Indianapolis 5-yard line, the Broncos quarterback again threw in Gilmore’s direction in the end zone.
Gilmore swatted the ball away to clinch the Colts victory. His two pass defenses against the Broncos doubled his season total to four.
National Embarrassment on Thursday Night
Gilmore’s two highlights epitomized the night. Both defenses intercepted two passes and held the other team without a touchdown.
But while there was a lot of good defense in Week 5 on Thursday Night Football, there was simply a lot of terrible offense as well. The two teams combined to convert under 20% of their third-down attempts and were 0-of-6 on touchdown opportunities in the red zone. The Colts and Broncos also combined for 12 punts and 15 penalties.
It was hardly the kind of product the NFL wants its fans to see in a prime-time matchup.
“So many guys are getting hurt in this game that you have to figure half of them are faking it just to get the hell off the field and avoid more embarrassment,” tweeted Patrick Allen, co-host of the “Arrowhead Addict” podcast.
Still, the ugly fashion in which the Colts won didn’t temper the players’ excitement for Gilmore’s big plays. The Athletic’s James Boyd tweeted that when Gilmore walked through the locker room, his teammates yelled out to him “That boy him!”
Stephon Gilmore walking through the locker room, players yelling out:
“THAT BOY HIM! THAT BOY HIM!” #Colts
With the victory, the Colts improved to 2-2-1 this season. They will have the opportunity for extra rest and then host the Jacksonville Jaguars on October 16.