1. The Colts defense benefited from playing ahead yesterday. The D forced a turnover on the first possession, and played with a fury and intensity that hadn't been seen all season. Don't minimize the effort they played with by saying, "Well, they had a big lead". Even when the game was close, they were overwhelming the Ravens.
2. The Colts offense was in sync yesterday. Again, not really. The truth is that they hit a couple of the deep balls which have been there all season, but always seemed to end badly for weird reasons. The defense handed them the ball five times, and honestly, the O should have converted even more of those. Honestly, 31 points felt like underachieving. I'm not trying to be negative, but when the Colts are really on, they put up 50 on days where the D forces 5 turnovers and a handful of first downs.
3. The Colts ran the ball effectively. No. They didn't. Dom had one big run, which was amazing, but the overall production from the run game (admittedly hurt by injuries to Addai and Hart), simply wasn't acceptable. I get that Baltimore has a great run defense, and that's fine. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that yesterday was a run offense that we can live with.
I don't say those things to be negative, but merely to point out that it wasn't all wine and roses yesterday. This team still can improve on offense, and must if it hopes to finish over .500 in the key stretch of 5 games. If this team can finish the first ten games at 6-4 or better, they'll be set. The schedule eases up dramatically in the back half.
I also find it amazing that for all the whining about the Colts defense, they are 8th overall in scoring defense, while it's the offense that is a middling 16th. When this offensive line is finally healthy and playing consistent, smart football, this team might well be unstoppable. If Manning has time, he'll hit the deep passes, which will open up the run game. Then we'll really see something special.
Links:
PK is a clown. Now he has the Colts at 4 on this Fine Fifteen. Way to be a front runner there, Pete.
The Colts 'acknowledge' a second procedure on Manning's knee. So what? The original story that 'broke' the procedure implied Manning would miss significant time and that the injury was more severe than anyone let on. That's been patently ridiculous. Manning may or may not have been out of sync in the first few weeks, but he was moving fine. The original story was alarmist and wrong. But we've covered that before.
Dom talks to ESPN. His comments about coming back in 20 years to celebrate with these guys were awesome.
Ross Tucker gives the Colts an A and says they look a lot better.
Peyton and Reggie show up big time in Quick Reads
Prisco gives the boys a well deserved A
10 comments:
I'm not trying to hate on Stampede Blue. They do a good job, but I don't understand their fascination with the Lombardi story or their anger towards the Colts medical staff.
1.) Peyton couldn't run the stretch play initially. True. But his biggest weakness so far hasn't been his knee. It has been his offensive line along with drops by the WRs. I'm not sure how you can say he had no business playing week 1.
2.) We never said Lombardi was wrong about the second surgery. We simply said we didn't think there was evidence to suggest that Manning's knee was in a terrible state.
3.) Lombardi wrote "It’s clear that this is a HUGE concern short- and long-term for the Colts." I thought Peyton played fine against the Bears and don't anticipate any long-term effects from this issue.
For the record: Manning was 30/49 for 257 yards and 1 touchdown and no picks against Chicago. A game that featured at least a half-dozen drops by Indy receivers.
The defense has played against Chicago, Minn w/ Jackson at QB, Jax, Hous (w/ a backup QB) and Balt with a rookie QB. Not one quality offense in the bunch.
There's a reason that DVOA going into this game had the offense at 12th, the defense at 23d, and the ST at 27th.
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It'll be interesting to see how those offenses shake out by the end of the season. Chicago's is better than we thought, though not great. Houston's had a lot of talent. In watching that game, most of the plays I thought, "Wow, Houston is pretty good". Andre Johnson slaughtered us, and there's no shame in that.
The defense had to play better sure, but I feel like people got bent out of shape over the rushing yards, while not paying enough attention to the points. In both losses the D gave up 21 (with 7 on a drive started in Colts territory) and 16. That's really pretty solid.
It would not surprise me if the Houston game at Indy turns out to be one of our tougher remaining games.
Adrian Peterson and the worst 100 yard rushing day ever was a real interesting quirk this week.
I just need 6.6 points from Plax and Stallworth combined to beat Demond in the 18to88 league. Lets Go PlaxandStallworth!
Regarding the "strong run game" I think there are different ways to measure success and if the Colts have proven anything statistically, it is that even at FO, they just don't fit any mold. I'll take 30 rushes and 100 yards almost any day because the sheer number of runs means that the playcalling is balanced, that we're not abandoning the run, that the D cannot dictate to us, etc. Sure I'd prefer a buck-fifty, but it's the number of rushes that gets me excited. We won it all in 06 when we were balanced--even run-heavy in the playoffs and Manning's stats (though not his contribution) looked pretty ordinary. If you look at nearly all of our losses over the past five years, especially in the playoffs, you'll see lack of run/pass balance. So it's not great, but it succeeded at what we needed it to do--take the heat off PM.
How about that freaking left sideline 34 yard pass/catch to Wayne? Reggie's hands were within a foot of his navel, so the defender, who was damn close, could not key on RW telegraphing the ball. And the ball landed there just like that. A-freakin-mazing. That's what comes from practicing that play a thousand times.
I agree with you in concept, Bob, but not in specific application. 30 carries and 100 yards might be ok, but 78 yards on 28 carries isn't. And even worse is 40 yards on 27 carries if you take out Dom's one big run. On the same drive, he had a nine yard run too, which means the other 26 carries netted 31 yards.
That's horrible, and cannot be considered effective by any standard.
Through last week FO has Addai 9th in DYAR and DVOA and 6th in success rate. I'm surprised, but I shouldn't be. Addai always has lots of 2 yards on 3rd and 1 type carries.
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