Carson Wentz threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another while Jimmy Garoppolo was intercepted twice as well as losing a fumble as the Indianapolis Colts moved to 3-4 with a win over the San Francisco 49ers, who fall to 2-4 at the bottom of the NFC West.
Monday 25 October 2021 07:23, UK
Carson Wentz channelled some of his best days in a Philadelphia Eagles jersey as he embraced wet and windy conditions to help the Indianapolis Colts to a 30-18 road victory over the disappointing San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.
The Colts quarterback finished 17 of 26 passing for 150 yards and two touchdowns as well as running in for a score to lead his team to a third win in their last four games.
Jimmy Garoppolo meanwhile struggled with 181 passing yards for one touchdown and two interceptions alongside a lost fumble as the 49ers suffered their fourth straight defeat to slip to 2-4.
Indianapolis erased a nine-point deficit early in the first quarter to lead 13-12 by half-time following Mo Alie-Cox's 11-yard touchdown catch and Wentz's rushing score on the read-option play at the goalline after Darius Leonard's forced fumble.
Jonathan Taylor, who starred with 107 yards on the ground, then gave the visitors an eight-point cushion at 20-12 with his five-yard run to reward a forced fumble from Al-Quadin Muhammad in the third, before Michael Pittman Jr. rounded off his own 100-yard night with a 28-yard touchdown catch to seal it after the 49ers had failed to convert a game-tying two-point conversion attempt on the back of Deebo Samuel's touchdown.
Colts
49ers
Elijah Mitchell put the 49ers in front with a 14-yard touchdown run to ice a 78-yard opening drive that had seen the rookie running back account for 57 yards on the ground.
Wentz replied with an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Alie-Cox on third-and-two having converted a third-and-11 with a 57-yard completion to Pittman Jr. earlier in the drive.
The former Eagles quarterback was fortunate to avoid being intercepted by Josh Norman as the cornerback read his intended pass to Zach Pascal, before he was picked off by Azeez Al-Shaair at San Francisco's six-yard line later in the series when an improvised shovel pass under pressure slipped out his hands after Taylor's 33-yard burst had put the visitors deep into 49ers territory.
Nyheim Hines dropped a simple catch down the sideline to cost the Colts a third-and-seven conversion two drives later, but Leonard was on hand to earn his offense another opportunity when he punched the ball from the hands of Samuel. Anthony Chesley subsequently came up with the recovery at the 49ers' 28 to kickstart a five-play drive ending in Wentz's one-yard touchdown run, followed by failed two-point conversion.
Kwity Paye won possession for the Colts early in the second half when he recovered the ball at the 49ers' 33 from Muhammad's strip-sack on Garoppolo on third-and-five, Wentz then drawing a 38-yard defensive pass interference penalty against Jaquiski Tartt on a deep-ball intended for Pittman to set up Taylor's five-yard rushing touchdown two plays later.
The 49ers needed just 71 seconds with which to issue a response as Garoppolo linked up with Samuel for a 14-yard touchdown, only to fail with the two-point conversion attempt to leave themselves trailing 20-18.
Michael Badgley's 42-yard field goal put the Colts up 23-18 with 7.03 to play, before Xavier Rhodes snagged an interception on a pass into traffic meant for Samuel at the sideline. The Colts cornerback thought he had returned it for a touchdown but was pegged back after replays showed he had stepped out of bounds at the 39.
It merely delayed the outcome, Indianapolis turning it into a 28-yard contested touchdown catch from the excellent Pittman to bury any hopes of a late turnaround from the hosts.
The Colts face an enormous AFC South contest against the Tennessee Titans in Week Eight, with Mike Vrabel's side coming off an impressive 27-3 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
As for the 49ers, they visit a Chicago Bears recovering from a 38-3 loss to Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, during which Justin Fields threw three interceptions and fumbled on three occasions.
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