Sunday, December 2, 2007

Back from the Dome

Huge win for the Colts today against Jacksonville. Here are a few thoughts on the contest:

  • For a game played in the twenties this was all about the offenses. Neither team showed any ability to stop the other team. I knew the Colts would find a way to pull it out, but I also never felt that the Indy D could stop Jacksonville after the first quarter.
  • It was raining like crazy outside. This would have been a nasty day in an outdoor stadium.
    Manning has his groove back. Besides the frustrating interception (is running on third and short too much to ask?) he played out of his mind. Jacksonville's D ain't what it used to be.
  • Tony Dungy saved the game with his aggressive of use instant replay. He gets a lot of crap for not throwing the red flag more often, but today his decisions led to two touchdowns.
  • I don't know what we'll do if Jack Del Rio ever leaves this division. His bumbling antics never tire out.
  • Penalties killed the Jags again today. At last count they had 8 penalties to the Colts' 2. You can always count on a brainless personal foul from Jacksonville.
  • Tough game for Joseph Addai today. As usual there wasn't much room to run the ball. The bigger surprise was that he had no catches. The Colts made an earnest attempt to run left around Tony Ugoh, but the Jags seemed to have it figured out. They never really tried to run the ball between the tackles. Fortunately it didn't matter on a day where the Jacksonville secondary was abysmal.
  • The story of the game was the ineffective play of the defensive line. They started the game with a huge forced fumble, and had a couple sacks along the way, but for the most part there was no pressure on Garrard. The rib injury to Raheem Brock left three rookies to fend for themselves at DT. It was not pretty. It was the worst the entire unit has looked all season. 25 is the most points they have allowed in 2007. I don't think it was a coincidence that the Colts secondary looked worse than ordinary. They refused to play man to man despite fact they were getting picked apart by Garrard.
  • The fans of Indianapolis regressed today. Who were the geniuses doing the wave in the fourth quarter while the Colts were on offense holding on to a slim lead? That was pathetic.
  • Overall it was a huge win highlighted by clutch performances by Reggie Wayne and Peyton Manning. Still, this game may leave some fans with tempered expectations for the rest of the season. The importance of the loss of Dwight Freeney is still sinking in. The Colts may have to fall back on their old philosophy of If you can't stop 'em then outscore 'em. That never seemed to work in the playoffs.

DZ Comments: This was a rough day for me because a last minute illness left me sprawled on the couch in misery instead of at the dome where I should have been. I can't believe I had to miss that game. Here's my additional thoughts:

  • The D line was scary bad today. Lots of hits behind or at the line, but few tackles. Brock was really starting to roll and losing him could be a death blow. There was simply no pressure from anyone but Mathis. What rush there was, Garrard rolled away from (with the exception of the blitz). Meeks made a huge mistake staying in zone coverage today. Garrard played great.
  • Gary Brackett makes the pro bowl or they should shut the game down. What a great play to force the big pick.
  • The pick by Peyton was inexcusable. RUN THE EFFING BALL FOR ONCE.
  • It was great to see our old buddy CJ show up so large early in the game. I swear man, it's called blocking, not paddy cake. Still, despite early struggles, he looked better as the game went along.
  • Thanks for the props on Eyes this week. LUKE LAWTON. Where else can you get such insight. (ok, so I didn't exactly say that he'd catch the game winning TD, but whatever. It was still clutch).
  • Did anyone else catch the quote on the ESPN pregame where one of the Jags (was it Spicer?) saying that when Manning "gets the happy feet, he's a below average QB". Yeah, nice job Jags. Next time, talk less, win more.
  • On my loooong drive home, I endured 45 minutes of Sean Salisbury KILLING Eli Manning, only to have him drive them into a win. Hilarious.
  • The AFC Playoff picture is pretty simple. Jags, Titans and Browns are the only WC contenders. No division is close. Wow. So much for head scratching tie breakers this year.
  • Even I was confused by a pass to Devin Aromashodu. Have it all really come to this?
  • Most encouraging report of the day: ESPN reported that Dungy said that Marvin will not play until 'the doctors can convince me he can't further damage himself for future games OR it's a game we have to win'. That's a rough quote, but certainly seems like Marvin WILL be available for the playoffs.
  • Kenton Keith is in danger of dropping passes clean into oblivion. Buy some stickum, kid.
  • Leave it to us to be upbeat after losses like NE and SD, but critical and worried after a win like this. Welcome to our neurosis. Jump on in, the water's fine.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was thinking earlier today, next to Peyton suffering a serious injury, the Jags hiring a good coach is a Colts' fan's worst nightmare.

Ship 'em out to LA and put the Rams in our division before del Rio loses his job.

Ian said...

Wow, you guys nailed this game in "Eyes in the Backfield." Four TDs, a Garrard INT, the Luke Lawton effect, fourth downs. Great job.

Man, there's no better feeling than a close game in the fourth quarter and seeing Jerk Del Rio on the other sideline. That guy is just nuts. What was up with him and not understanding the challenge rules?

I'll tell you right now why Del Rio won't ever be a great coach. He thinks that he can win the game as a coach. He doesn't just let his team play. Also he's a dumbass.

Rob Cullin said...

Nice pickup on the idiot fans in the upper deck doing the wave with us on offense. We are yelling up to them to knock it off but they kept trying to start it and finally succeeded, much to our dismay.

Defense was not good today. The cut back runs were hurting us as they always have, but what was really disturbing was how bad we were defending the run between the tackles. The rookie DTs were inconsistent, most had both good plays and bad plays. Did you catch late in the 4th when Guzman lined up at Def. End? Not sure if that was a planned role or they were just so banged up on the DL.

But in the end a good win. A win they earned, but even though the Jags clearly are starting to get their act together on offense it won't matter as we clearly still own them.

Anonymous said...

So, for those of us who had to watch Titans-Texans, how many drops were there?

Deshawn Zombie said...

Keith dropped a ball, but that's the only one I really remember hurting. It's just that it came in the 4th quarter when the Colts were trying to run clock

Picky said...

I was also upset with those fools starting the wave. I was sitting next to a 15 year old girl from Evansville, and she made some comment like, "Oh great! The wave! I love that!" I said, "No! We are on offense! Everybody is supposed to be quiet." She ignored me.

Morons. You'd think they had never been to a game before.

Anonymous said...

ok great game but too much pressure on Manning! let's get rid of charlie johnson! When he was in for Ugoh i was worried about pressure from the left side during every game and then when i found out that Ugoh was back i was so happy, but then Diem was out so guess who they put in as right tackle! Charlie Johnson! He is so horrible! All the pressure during this week's game was coming from the right side! Go figure! I dont know what Howard Mudd is thinking. If you go back to the San Diego game, Manning was getting all kinds of pressure due to the countless missed blocks by Johnson, causing INT's and incomplere passes. Then Johnson got hurt and they put in some guy who's name i cant even pronounce and the pressure lessened! Put that guy in and bench Johnson or get Diem back and not have anymore injuries to our O Line. I can't stand seeing manning on the ground. Speaking of Manning, i loved his tackle on Mathis (i'm pretty sure that's who caught the pick) after that INT, way to go Peyton, but you could get hurt so leave the tackling to everyone else from now on lol =)