It was a rough afternoon for Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Adonai Mitchell at SoFi Stadium in the Colts’ 27-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Mitchell’s mistakes directly cost Indianapolis a pair of second-half touchdowns. In the third quarter, Mitchell wrestled a 50-50 ball down the left sideline away from Emmanuel Forbes Jr., then spun away and beat Forbes and Kam Curl in a footrace to the end zone for a touchdown.
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Except Mitchell lost control of the ball right before crossing into the end zone:
It looked like Mitchell was extending the ball to make sure it crossed the goal line as soon as possible, rather than some absent-minded celebratory drop we’ve seen hurt teams before.
Like … the Colts. Last December, star running back Jonathan Taylor let the ball go right before the goal line against the Denver Broncos. That score would have given the Colts a 13-point lead with an extra point, and they went on to lose that game.
Later on Sunday, Taylor scored what would have likely been the game-icing 53-yard touchdown … except Mitchell grabbed hold of Rams defensive back Darious Williams, and the penalty wiped out the score.
The Rams got the ball back with the score tied, and Matthew Stafford his Tutu Atwell for an 88-yard touchdown to win the game.
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Postgame, Mitchell called the touchback play “unacceptable.”
“It was a matter of losing focus. It’s just a play that, it just can’t happen,” Mitchell said, via ESPN’s Stephen Holder. “I just gotta be better for the team, for the organization.”
Mitchell added that he hoped to “move forward and learn from the previous mistakes.” Colts head coach Shane Steichen echoed that sentiment by playing down Mitchell’s struggles, calling it a “bump in the road.”
Either way, Indianapolis drops to 3-1, and Mitchell in particular had a day to forget.
