Steichen's risky 2-point call pays off as Colts put playoff hopes in Richardson's hands

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen took a big chance on one final play call Sunday.

He put the ball in Anthony Richardson's hands and the second-year quarterback who was benched by Steichen one month earlier made his coach's decision look smart by running through multiple defenders for the decisive 2-point conversion.

Rather than play it safe by kicking an extra point to force overtime on the road, Steichen's risk paid off and the Colts walked away with a crucial 25-24 victory on the biggest chance he's taken in two seasons as coach. He didn't even hesitate.

“That was gut there, for sure,” Steichen said Monday. “I think game flow is a big part of it, where you're at in the season. You could have kicked (it) there and tied the game and next thing you know, they get the ball, you get a stop and boom, boom, boom, it ends in a tie. You never know. It's like you're there on the 2-yard line, went with my gut to go get it.”

This was not just another gutsy play call by an NFL coach.

The Colts (6-7) trailed by one with 12 seconds left in a game they desperately needed to stay in the playoff hunt — and perhaps to bolster the team's morale after losing four of the previous five games.

Although Richardson showed he could rally his team with a late comeback against the New York Jets two weeks earlier, he needed to prove he could do it again.

Moments after Richardson found Alec Pierce for a 3-yard TD pass on fourth-and-goal, Steichen gave Richardson a run-pass option that Richardson considered no option at all.

So the guy Steichen had recently challenged to make a stronger commitment to the team and sport he loves, went all-in and got the payoff.

“I know Shane called that play for a certain reason,” Richardson said. “I was reading the outside guys on it, but once I looked in the middle, I just decided I was going to take it and put it in my hands and try to make a decision right there and try to make it work.”

Every risky decision won't pay off, of course.

But Steichen took a chance on Richardson by selecting him with the No. 4 overall draft pick last year, by picking him as the starter that summer, by benching him in October and by reinstalling him as the starter in mid-November.

And now, Steichen seems content to let Indy's playoff hopes ride on Richardson, too.

Michael Pittman Jr. & Jonathan Taylor. The Colts' top offensive playmakers — aside from Richardson — were more involved Sunday. Taylor ran for 96 yards and caught a TD pass. Pittman had five catches for 42 yards and drew two pass interference calls on TD drives.

Defense. It appeared the Colts defense had finally turned the corner in recent weeks. This week, Indy regressed against one of the league's least efficient offenses. The Colts allowed 200 yards rushing and 422 yards overall against a rookie quarterback. They were stout in the red zone but forced only one punt — the one that led to the game-winning drive.

Richardson. While his stats still look subpar, partly because of costly penalties and unseemly drops, his play has improved. He's making better throws and decisions, and he's demonstrated why Indy projects him to be its franchise quarterback.

Gus Bradley. The longtime defensive coordinator and former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach quieted some critics with the unit's improved play. But this performance will evoke another round of calls for Steichen to shake up his defensive staff.

WR Josh Downs missed Sunday's game with an injured right shoulder, and the Colts played with a completely revamped offensive line. Centers Ryan Kelly (knee) and Tanor Bortolini (concussion) were both out with injuries. Right tackle Braden Smith missed the game for personal reasons and the Colts made a lineup change at right guard. Steichen didn't talk about any additional injuries following the win.

But there is one to watch: All-Pro left guard Quenton Nelson appeared to hurt his back early in the second quarter. He finished the game, but that's an injury that has caused him problems previously.

75 percent and 33.3 percent — Those are the red zone success rates that results in TDs scored and allowed by Indy on Sunday. The Colts converted three of its four trips into TDs while New England went 2 for 6. That proved to be the difference.

The Colts get a well-deserved and well-timed bye. Indy now has two weeks to prepare for a key showdown at Denver (7-5) on Dec. 15 that could play a big role in determining the final AFC playoff spots.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

New England Patriots cornerback Alex Austin (28) breaks up a pass intended for Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce (14) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

New England Patriots running back Antonio Gibson (4) carries for a touchdown against Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (99) and safety Nick Cross (20) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) carries the ball against New England Patriots safety Kyle Dugger (23) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce (14) makes a touchdown reception against New England Patriots safety Kyle Dugger (23) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen, center, walks on the field after his team defeated the New England Patriots in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) celebrates after his two-point conversion during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) enters the end zone to complete a two-point conversion as New England Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss (53) defends during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A white Kansas police detective accused of sexually assaulting Black women and girls — and terrorizing those who tried to fight back — is dead, prosecutors said as his trial was set to begin Monday.

Prosecutors say female residents of poor neighborhoods in Kansas City, Kansas, feared that if they crossed paths with Roger Golubski, he’d demand sexual favors and threaten to harm or jail their relatives.

Golubski, 71, was facing six felony counts of violating women’s civil rights. But he did not appear in court Monday morning for the start of jury selection. Prosecutors later confirmed in court that Golubski has died. They did not say how or when he died.

Allegations at the heart of the case — that Golubski preyed on women for decades with seeming impunity — have outraged the community and deepened the historical distrust of law enforcement. The prosecution followed earlier reports of similar abuse allegations across the country where hundreds of officers have lost their badges after allegations of sexual assaults.

Cheryl Pilate, an attorney representing women who've said they were abused or threatened, called for a thorough investigation of Golubski's death by officials with no ties to local police.

“The community was looking forward to justice, to a full and public accounting and now that has been denied to them," Pilate said.

About 50 people had a short rally in sub-freezing temperatures outside the federal courthouse in Topeka to show their support for the women accusing Golubski of abusing them, breaking up before the announcement of his death. They held signs with slogans such as, “Justice Now!”

Golubski had pleaded not guilty to the charges. After he failed to appear in court Monday, his lead attorney, Christopher Joseph, said his client “was despondent about the media coverage.” He did not elaborate.

U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse dismissed the case against Golubski at prosecutors’ request. Joseph called the death “truly unexpected.”

“I don’t know the details,” he told reporters as he walked away from the courtroom.

Golubski was accused of sexually assaulting one woman starting when she was barely a teenager and another after her sons were arrested.

The case against Golubski was part of a string of lawsuits and criminal allegations that has led the county prosecutor’s office to begin a $1.7 million effort to reexamine cases Golubski worked on during his 35 years on the force. One double murder case Golubski investigated already has resulted in an exoneration, and an organization run by rapper Jay-Z is suing to obtain police records.

Joseph had said lawsuits over the allegations were an “inspiration for fabrication” by his accusers. But prosecutors said that, along with the two women whose accounts are the heart of the criminal case, seven others were going to testify that Golubski abused or harassed them.

“We have to keep fighting,” said Starr Cooper, who was in the courthouse Monday to watch jury selection and said Golubski victimized her mother before her death in 1983.

Fellow officers once revered Golubski for his ability to clear cases, and he rose to the rank of captain in Kansas City, Kansas, before retiring there in 2010 and then working on a suburban police force for six more years. His former partner served a stint as police chief.

Prior to his death, Golubski had been under house arrest and undergoing kidney dialysis treatments three times a week. That angered women who said he victimized them. Anita Randel-Stanley, a Kansas City, Missouri, resident who said Golubski started harassing her decades ago when she was a teenager, called the house arrest “a slap on the hand.”

“There is no justice for the victims,” she said.

Stories about Golubski remained just whispers in the neighborhoods near Kansas City's former cattle stockyards partly because of the extreme poverty of a place where some homes are boarded up. One neighborhood where Golubski worked is part of Kansas' second-poorest zip code.

Crime was abundant there, as were drug dealers and prostitutes, said Max Seifert, a former Kansas City, Kansas, police officer who graduated from the police academy with Golubski in 1975.

Seifert said police misconduct was tolerated in the department. He described how informants and Golubski’s ex-wife complained that Golubski was soliciting prostitutes. Golubski also was caught having sex with a woman in his office, he said.

“It’s kind of like a boys will be boys type thing,” said Seifert, who was forced into early retirement for refusing to conceal a motorist’s beating by a federal agent in 2003.

The inquiry into Golubski stems from the case of Lamonte McIntyre, who started writing to McCloskey’s nonprofit nearly two decades ago.

McIntyre was just 17 in 1994 when he was arrested and charged in connection with a double homicide, within hours of the crimes. He had an alibi; no physical evidence linked him to the killings; and an eyewitness believed the killer was an underling of a local drug dealer. Golubski and the dealer have since been charged in a separate federal case of running a violent sex trafficking operation.

The eyewitness only testified that McIntyre was the killer after Golubski and a now disbarred attorney threatened to take her children away, she alleged in a lawsuit.

McIntyre's mother said in a 2014 affidavit that she wonders whether her refusal to grant regular sexual favors to Golubski prompted him to retaliate against her son.

In 2022, the local government agreed to pay $12.5 million to McIntyre and his mother to settle a lawsuit after a deposition in which Golubski invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent 555 times. The state also paid McIntyre $1.5 million.

Prosecutors said Golubski drove one of the women at the center of their criminal case to a cemetery and told her to find a spot to dig her own grave. He sexually assaulted her repeatedly, starting when she was just in middle school, leading her to suffer a miscarriage, court filings say.

Once, prosecutors say, he forced her to crawl on the ground with a dog leash around her neck in a remote spot near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. With no one around, he is accused of chanting, “Down by the river, said a hank a pank; Where they won’t find her until she stank."

Golubski introduced himself to Ophelia Williams, the other woman at the center of the case, by complimenting her legs and nightgown as police searched her home, prosecutors said.

Williams was terrified at the time because her 14-year-old twins had just been arrested in a double homicide. They ultimately admitted to the crime so police would free their 13-year-old brother, Williams said in a separate lawsuit.

Golubski began sexually assaulting her, alternating between threatening her and claiming he could help her sons, according to court records in the criminal case. The twins are now 40 and remain behind bars. The lawsuit she is part of questions their confessions.

The Associated Press generally does not name alleged victims of sexual assault, but Williams has told her story publicly.

Williams said in her lawsuit that she once mentioned making a complaint. She claims Golubski told her: “Report me to who, the police? I am the police."

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.

Laquanda Jacobs speaks at a rally outside the federal courthouse on what was to be the opening day of a trial for former police detective Roger Golubski, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Laquanda Jacobs speaks at a rally outside the federal courthouse on what was to be the opening day of a trial for former police detective Roger Golubski, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

People rally outside the federal courthouse on what was to be the opening day of a trial for former police detective Roger Golubski, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Lesa Mensa, left, and Anita Randle listen to a speaker at a rally outside the federal courthouse on was was to be the opening day for a trial for former police detective Roger Golubski, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

People listen to a speaker at a rally outside the federal courthouse on was was to be the opening day for a trial for former police detective Roger Golubski, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

People listen to a speaker at a rally outside the federal courthouse on was was to be the opening day for a trial for former police detective Roger Golubski, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

FILE - Former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Roger Golubski testifies, Oct. 24, 2022, at the Wyandotte County courthouse in Kansas City, Kan. (Emily Curiel/The Kansas City Star via AP)