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Chuck Pagano: Colts had 'some personnel issues' that caused timeout

INDIANAPOLIS -- The timeout Chuck Pagano called on the Indianapolis Colts' go-ahead drive likely contributed to their inability to stop the Detroit Lions on their final possession.

Colts quarterback Andrew Luck completed a pass to receiver T.Y. Hilton that went for no gain at the Lions' 12-yard line when Pagano called a timeout with 75 seconds remaining.

The Colts scored two plays later to take 35-34 lead, but ended up leaving 37 seconds on the clock.

“We wanted to get the guys in the huddle and get a play called," Pagano said. "Yeah, we can look back and say it would’ve been nice to bleed a lot more time off the clock."

The 37 seconds were more than enough for Matthew Stafford and the Lions. He drove the Lions to the Colts' 25-yard line before kicker Matt Prater made the game-winning 43-yard field goal with 8 seconds left in the game.

Calling the timeout to leave extra time on the clock meant Pagano was putting the game in the hands of his defense. That was a bad decision because they struggled tackling and getting pressure on the quarterback all game. The Colts gave up three straight completions, including ones of 19 and 22 yards, to put Detroit in position to win.

Pagano said he was more worried about having the right personnel on the field than leaving time on the clock.

"We had some personnel issues," he said. "We wanted to get a few other guys, a different personnel group in there, whatever it was, and decided to call a timeout there and regroup and get back to the line of scrimmage. We felt like it was more important at that time to get back, get gathered, get a call in and get settled because we still needed the touchdown. We felt like they still had to go however far they had to go to get in field-goal range and we can close it out.”