Taylor Elgersma, Sean Clifford Rally Packers Past Colts in Preseason

Last week, the Green Bay Packers’ young players couldn’t turn the tide in a preseason loss to the New York Jets. On Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, the young players rallied the Packers to a 23-19 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Undrafted rookie cornerback Tyron Herring preserved the victory. On fourth-and-10 from Green Bay’s 31 with 13 seconds remaining, young quarterback Jason Bean hit tight end Jelani Woods at the pylon? Was it a touchdown? Was he out of bounds?

Actually, neither. Herring’s hit drove Woods out of bounds before Woods got both feet down.

Sean Clifford took a knee to run out the clock.

Taylor Elgersma rallied the Packers to a 16-16 tie before Clifford entered with the Packers trailing 19-16 with 6:33 remaining.

A 13-yard pass on a bootleg to Johnny Lumpkin gave the Packers one first down, Amar Johnson moved the chains on a third-and-4 run and pass interference on a pass to Julian Hicks gave the Packers another first down. On fourth-and-7, Clifford scrambled for 9. Along with a penalty, the Packers had first-and-goal at the 9. After Johnson lost 2 on first down, Clifford booted to his left and had a runway to the end zone. Helped by Cornelius Johnson’s block in the end zone, the Packers led 23-19 with 1:31 to play.

Mostly, it was the Colts’ starters vs. the Packers’ backups to start the game. Offensively, the only starter who played for the Packers was Sean Rhyan, though that was at center rather than his customary spot at right tackle. With Rasheed Walker working his way back from a groin injury, Jordan Morgan started at left tackle.

None of the top receivers played. Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Christian Watson and Savion Williams were out due to injuries. First-round pick Matthew Golden wasn’t among the 29 players who were on the inactives list but he didn’t play, either.

Defensively, every starter was out.

So, perhaps not surprisingly, the Packers trailed 13-3 at halftime. You might say it was a comedy of errors, though coach Matt LaFleur didn’t find it funny as he hit lit into rookie right tackle Anthony Belton as the team ran into the locker room at intermission.

“We didn’t give ourselves a chance,” LaFleur told sideline reporter Ashley Washburn at halftime. “Every time we make a play, there’s a penalty. It’s hard to get excited about that.”

It was more exciting for LaFleur in the second half. The Packers tied the game at 16 with 12:07 remaining in regulation when Amar Johnson scored on a 9-yard run. The key play was Elgersma’s fourth-and-3 completion to Cornelius Johnson, who caught the high fastball for a gain of 18. On the touchdown, Belton might have got an early start but delivered a key block, and Amar Johnson bounced off a defender at the 7. The extra-point attempt by Mark McNamee was wide right.

The Colts drove down the field and took a 19-16 lead on a 32-yard field goal.

During the opening 30 minutes, the Packers were guilty of 11 penalties for 85 yards. Belton was flagged five times. In order, they were a false start, unnecessary roughness for a boneheaded two-handed shove to the back of a Colts defender after the play, a facemask after a turnover and two illegal-formation penalties on the final drive of the half. The first of those penalties eliminated a 20-yard touchdown pass to Ben Sims.

It was 222-167 in yards. Malik Willis, who started for Jordan Love, was 6-of-14 passes for 83 yards. Taylor Elgersma, who at this time last year was competing in Canadian college football, was 1-of-4 for 32 yards. The completion came just before halftime. After an illegal-formation penalty on left tackle Kadeem Telfort, Elgerma tossed it into the flat to Emanuel Wilson, who outran the angle by a Colts defender and had clear sailing up the sideline.

However, the illegal-formation penalties by Belton wiped away the touchdown to Sims and a 17-yard completion to Will Sheppard.

The Colts mostly played their No. 1 offense to give their quarterbacks a fair competition. Daniel Jones was 7-of-11 for 101 yards and Anthony Richardspon was 6-of-11 for 73 yards. Richardson led the lone touchdown drive. He was 5-of- 6 on the drive and converted a third-and-9 with a scramble when he caught linebacker Isaiah Simmons out of position. Former Packers running back Tyler Goodson ran it in from the 3.

The Packers had six first downs in the first half but six first downs on their opening possession of the second half as they pulled within 13-10. It was The Israel Abanikanda Show as he carried 11 times for 38 yards on the drive, which he punctuated with a 3-yard touchdown, which came on third down.

The Colts extended the margin to 16-10 late in the third quarter on Spencer Shrader’s 56-yard field goal.