LANDOVER, Md. -- Andrew Luck’s first victory in 622 days didn’t come easily.

In fact, the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday were in danger of continuing a trend of not holding on to leads in the second half. The Colts' offense, which was impressive early at FedEx Field, got stuck in cement, which gave the unimpressive Washington Redskins some hope.

That’s when Luck, playing just his second regular-season game since Jan. 1, 2017, orchestrated a drive to put the Colts in position to ice their first win of the season.

Luck threw, scrambled for yards and even ran a quarterback sneak to extend a drive that ended in a touchdown before the defense closed the deal to help the Colts get just their fifth win in that 20-month span, a 21-9 victory over the Redskins.

“We talked about it as a team this week, playing with conviction and you believe in each other and you believe in what you’re doing. It just gives you some extra juice,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “I think we had that for 60 minutes, even when we faced adversity. Even when we came out as an offense and didn’t play so good in the third quarter, we hung in there. The defense played great, kept us in it and then we came through at the end and finished the game the way we wanted to finish.”

For so long during Luck’s career, the Colts’ fate has rested on the right arm of their franchise quarterback. But on this afternoon, Luck didn’t have to do all the work.

He had plenty of help.

Finally.

The Colts' defense, which finished 20th or worse in five of the past six seasons, including 30th in the NFL last season, bailed out Luck to ensure the Colts didn’t fall to 0-2 for the fifth straight year.

Luck threw two interceptions on the Colts’ side of the field only to have the defense, led by rookie linebacker Darius Leonard, hold the Redskins to two field goals when momentum easily could have swung in Washington’s favor.

After the Colts had four straight three-and-out possessions -- not counting a knee at the end of the first half -- and gained just 5 yards in the third quarter, vintage Andrew Luck showed up on the next drive. He orchestrated a 75-yard drive that ended with a touchdown when he went 6-of-7 for 62 yards. He also tested his surgically repaired right shoulder on a run up the middle on a quarterback sneak, extending a drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass to T.Y. Hilton to give them a 21-9 lead.

Leonard, who was selected in the second round out of South Carolina State, a Football Championship Subdivision school, sealed Reich’s first victory as coach of the Colts when he forced a Jordan Reed fumble. Leonard had 18 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. The 18 tackles were the most by a Colts defender since Kavell Conner had 18 on Oct. 3, 2011.

“[The defense] did an amazing job,” Luck said. “They didn’t give up a touchdown, a couple of field goals here and there. What a great job they did keeping us in the driver’s seat. When we needed to, we put a drive together and got points. [The defense is] a fun unit to watch. They’re young, they’re fast, they’re athletic, they’re tough.”

Luck finished 21-of-31 for 179 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and was sacked only once. The defense gave up 334 yards to Washington, but defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ bend-but-don’t-break philosophy paid off because his unit allowed only three field goals.

“I think there’s probably a moment in there when some people are saying, ‘Oh, here we go again,’ when the third quarter starts,” Reich said. “It probably went through everybody’s minds and that’s fair. That’s fair until we prove otherwise, and today was just step one to proving otherwise. We’re going to finish. It’s never 100 percent, but we’re going to finish the right way when we can and today was the first step for that.”

The last time the Colts won a game in which Luck had this much help on defense was in their 34-6 victory over Minnesota on Dec. 18, 2016. The improved defense should allow Luck to not have to shoulder as much of the load by throwing the ball, which in turn should keep Luck from taking as many hits.

“It was awesome; the defense, they’re playing really well,” Hilton said. “[Eberflus] has those guys running to the ball constantly, stripping, pulling and trying to get it out. They played unbelievable. Kept us in the game. Didn’t give up any touchdowns. We felt like we owed them that in the fourth quarter. They were playing good; we needed to step our game up. That’s what we did, we scored. Any time we’re playing good offense, defense and special teams, we’re going to be hard to beat.”