Spencer Shrader kicked a 45-yard field goal with no time left, his fifth of the game, and the host Indianapolis Colts rallied to beat the Denver Broncos 29-28 on Sunday.
Shrader missed his initial kick from 60 yards but a 15-yard leverage penalty on Denver’s Dondrea Tillman moved the ball to the Broncos’ 27-yard line and gave him another chance.
He split the uprights to give Indianapolis the win, lifting the team to its first 2-0 start since 2009.
Denver led 28-26 late in the fourth quarter when Will Lutz missed a 42-yard field goal with 3:19 remaining. The Colts drove to the Broncos’ 42-yard line with three seconds left to set up the dramatic finish.
Jonathan Taylor rushed 25 times for 165 yards and had 50 more receiving yards, including a touchdown catch. Daniel Jones was 23-of-34 passing for 316 yards and a touchdown and rushed for a score for Indianapolis.
Bo Nix threw touchdown passes to Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims Jr. and Adam Trautman and finished 22-for-30 passing for 206 yards and an interception, and J.K. Dobbins ran for 76 yards and a score for Denver (1-1).
Franklin finished with eight catches for 89 yards for the Broncos.
Denver countered two field goals by Shrader with Nix’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Mims to take a 7-6 lead after the first quarter, and both offenses clicked in the second.
Jones capped an 85-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run to put Indianapolis ahead 13-7, but Nix put the Broncos ahead with touchdown passes to Franklin for 3 yards and a 2-yard toss to Trautman.
Taylor cut the deficit to 21-20 with a 7-yard TD catch from Jones heading into halftime.
Dobbins stretched the lead to 28-20 with a 5-yard scamper on the first drive of the third quarter, and Shrader’s third field goal, from 36 yards out, made it 28-23 heading into the fourth.
Denver had a chance to make it a two-score game early in the final quarter, but Nix was intercepted at the Colts’ 9-yard line by Cam Bynum. Taylor’s 68-yard run gave Indianapolis a first down at the Broncos’ 12, but Indianapolis had to settle for a 28-yard Shrader field goal.
