Refs, yes, and Sproles — but Colts killed selves by taking ball from Luck late

The Philadelphia Eagles gave the Indianapolis Colts a tutorial of how to handle the two-minute offense.

The Colts were crippled by two bad referee errors late in a 30-27 Eagles victory Monday night, capped by a Cody Parkey field goal as time expired, but bad luck is a part of the game.

So, too often, is bad coaching.

The Eagles know how to push the tempo and stress defenses, and the final two possessions were a clear demonstration of how games should and can be won.

After the Colts got the ball back in a 27-27 tie with 3:25 left, facing an Eagles defense that clearly was gassed, they ran it twice to Trent Richardson (who, despite a solid game otherwise, had lost one of the two fumbles he coughed up on the night) and punted after a three-and-out.

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On the flip side, the Eagles got the ball and went to work. Even though Nick Foles had been hot and cold all night, the Eagles counted on him to get the ball rolling. He hit Zack Ertz on a corner route for 24 yards and then a screen to Darren Sproles (who was insanely good in the game, with a career-high 153 yards receiving, plus a rushing touchdown) for 17 more to set up the game-winner.

Imagine if the Eagles had Luck. Heck, for that matter, imagine if the Colts had Sproles. But more probable: What if the Colts had an offensive coordinator who trusted his best player to win the game for them?

Pep Hamilton took the ball out of the Colts' best player's hands. Luck has won half of his 22 games by leading comebacks or game-winning drives. But tonight, the Eagles' best defense against him was letting Hamilton perform a vasectomy on his quarterback.

Oh, and the refs. Yes, two huge calls went against the Colts late.

Up seven with 5:15 left in the game and the Colts at the Eagles' 22-yard line, Luck was picked by Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins on a play in which corner Brandon Boykin clearly interfered with Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton, impeding him on a pivot route. Hilton fell down and Jenkins would have run it back the distance had Reggie Wayne not made a huge tackle.

Two plays later, the Colts tracked down LeSean McCoy for a loss in the backfield, but safety LaRon Landry incorrectly was called for a horse-collar tackle on the play. The 15-yard penalty put the Eagles back in business, and three plays later — with a gorgeous 51-yard screen to Sproles flipping the field — Foles found Jeremy Maclin for a game-tying touchdown.

Perhaps the pick rattled Hamilton on his play calling on the next series, but there is no excuse to go conservative there with Luck finally starting to heat up otherwise. After a first half in which Luck averaged 3.4 yards per pass attempt on 17 throws, he doubled that average in the second half as throws started opening up for him.

Hamilton's insistence on riding Richardson and Ahmad Bradshaw is puzzling. Yes, both ran the ball effectively on Monday, and they need to be a part of the offense. But complementary parts — not the engine. That's Luck and his talented group of receivers.

If you're worried about your patchwork offensive line, that's understandable. But Luck is an exceptional scrambler who doesn't need seven-step drops and four verticals to make things happen. He has two gifted tight ends, a third who caught a touchdown pass (Jack Doyle), four receivers capable of doing things, and heck, even Bradshaw — he of the three career TD catches in eight years entering Monday — managed to get in on the action with two receiving scores against the Eagles.

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It's as if the Colts are determined to let Richardson, for whom they paid so dearly in that fateful trade, work out his problems on the field. He had some nice runs Monday, and his 79 rushing yards were the highest he has totaled since coming to the Colts. Richardson even added a pretty 16-yard catch and run. But the fumbles were a game-changer and a potential game-changer, and he still can't seem to hit that second gear or find space behind this so-so line.

What Eagles head coach Chip Kelly is doing with his offense — and you can't tell me they have that many more weapons than the Colts do, although McCoy and Sproles clearly on a different planet than the Colts' backs — is that they will matchup you and scheme you to death. They'll break you down laterally, then attack you horizontally. They'll get their third-best receiver on your fifth-best defensive back and take that all day long. That's stealing to Kelly.

But conversely, in Hamilton's methodical approach, it's less about matchups as it is setting a tone. Forget that. The Colts just aren't nasty enough up front to do that. Oh sure, the unbalanced and heavy formations were wearing down the Eagles up front, and they had some success with Luck rolling out and taking advantage of Eagles defenders sucked up on play action.

It's still not good enough. The Colts run to set up the pass, when they really should be doing just the opposite. The look on Luck's face as he watched helplessly while the Eagles surgically moved down the field told it all. Sure, he wishes that call on Boykin went his way, and yeah, it would be nice to have backs such as McCoy and Sproles to catch a pass behind the line of scrimmage and take it half the football field. If that were the case, it would be Luck (172 passing yards on 38 attempts) with the impressive passing totals, not just Foles (331 on 37 throws, despite not even doing that much exceptionally well aside from the Maclin TD throw).

Instead, Luck should wish that Hamilton would let loose and let one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL do his thing. It's just not fair otherwise.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm