Colts' Senior Citizens' Collective Beats Up On The Jaguars

The last time Matt Hasselbeck started an NFL game, he replaced a hurt Jake Locker in Tennessee in 2012. He wasn’t supposed to see time then, either, already in the “fossilized mentor” stage of his career, which he now occupies in Indianapolis with Andrew Luck. He’s well past his due date, I’m saying. But a shoulder injury to Luck, and somebody named Josh Johnson being the only other QB on the team, meant Hasselbeck had the keys today. He’s 40, and they won.

The qualifiers: Indy only beat the Jaguars, at home, in overtime, and were the beneficiaries of a pair of missed field goals. That being said, Matt Hasselbeck was born when the ABA existed and he threw 47 times today. Many came in overtime, but the Colts only rushed 24 times. Hell, one of those was designed run on a naked bootleg for Hasselbeck. The only time Andrew Luck threw that many times was when the Colts were chasing Buffalo for an entire half in Week 1.

Fellow quadragenarian Adam Vinatieri was also crucial, hitting all three field goals, including a 54-yarder and the game-winner from 27 yards out. Frank Gore isn’t nearly as old nor was he as effective, but he moved the chains for 88 total yards. Andre Johnson did nothing, but let’s not lose the plot here: The Jaguars lost to a bunch of old men.

Sadly, Colts coach Chuck Pagano did not send Hasselbeck out for the overtime coin toss, either because he’s a dour old man with no appreciation of comedic parallels, or because that shit happened 12 years ago and he just plain forgot.

Photo via AP

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