Colts quarterback Sam Ehlinger made his first NFL start on Sunday and he played well enough to stake the team to a 16-7 lead in the fourth quarter, but neither he nor the Colts were able to finish the deal.
The Commanders scored the final 10 points of the game to snag a 17-16 win and leave Ehlinger to lament what could have been. Among the things that he wanted to go differently were two turnovers in Commanders territory and settling for field goals on two other trips deep into scoring position.
“I thought as an offense we had a lot of opportunities,” Ehlinger said, via the team’s website. “We just shot ourselves in the foot. We got down on the other side of the 50 multiple times and didn’t come away with points — two turnovers. We came down to the inch-yard line and came away with three points. That’s not good enough in this league.”
Ehlinger finished the day 17-of-23 for 201 yards and he was able to avoid pressure behind an offensive line that continues to allow too much pressure, so there were things for the Colts to try to build on in the weeks to come even as a winnable game slipped through their fingers.
