Leonard Fournette stars on field, in locker room as Tampa Bay Buccaneers rally past Indianapolis Colts

INDIANAPOLIS — Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette not only had four touchdowns that propelled the team to a 38-31 road victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday — including a gashing 28-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left — he also gave an impassioned halftime speech that resonated with teammates after they were down 24-14 at the half.

The Bucs already had lost three games on the road this year — at the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3, at the New Orleans Saints in Week 8 and at Washington in Week 10 — a major hurdle they’ve had to try and clear in order to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

“I was like, ‘You have to have a will and a want,'” said Fournette, who rushed for 100 yards on 17 carries, and added eight catches for 31 yards. “You have to be willing to risk everything. Play by play, you have to want to win, you have to want to fight, each and every play.’ I think they understood that message and played their lights out.”

The Bucs struggled to find their rhythm on offense in the first half, turning over the ball twice — first on a Chris Godwin fumble on third down that was forced by linebacker Darius Leonard, with safety Andrew Sendejo making the recovery, and then on a Tom Brady pass intended for wide receiver Scotty Miller that was picked off by Isaiah Rodgers.

On defense, cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting was outright beaten by Ashton Dulin on a 62-yard touchdown. They also gave up a 16-yard scramble to Carson Wentz on third-and-15, and then a 22-yard reception to Jack Doyle on third-and-10 that set up a 4-yard touchdown from T.Y. Hilton just before halftime.

The Bucs also expected NFL leading rusher Jonathan Taylor to run the ball more, but he had just eight carries in the first half.

“You could tell the mood — people’s energy was down. And it wasn’t like we [were] out there getting our asses whooped. It’s just the little things separating us to win the game from them,” Fournette said. “So just trying to boost everybody coming out. And…