I thought Arians game management was improving

[Superman]

He completely bungled that end of half possession. Atrocious clock management. How do we run out of time and still have a timeout left?

[trueblueblood]

That's what I was thinking. Combination of face palm and smh.

[MSColtsFan]

Down 14 fourth and four from their 39 just now too. You can't punt there. You just can't.

[GoodLuck]

Punting down by 14 is horrible as well

[GoodLuck]

LOL, someone beat me to it

[John Dee]

He completely bungled that end of half possession. Atrocious clock management. How do we run out of time and still have a timeout left?

The QB did.

[John Dee]

and yes it sucked...

[John Dee]

He completely bungled that end of half possession. Atrocious clock management. How do we run out of time and still have a timeout left?

A lot of rookies on O.. and a rookie Coach...

I mean really... are we expecting mid 2000 Colt proficiency?

Dang this team is playing great........

[schwamm]

A lot of rookies on O.. and a rookie Coach...

I mean really... are we expecting mid 2000 Colt proficiency?

Dang this team is playing great........

Not unhappy with the way the Colts have played, minus the turnovers, but down 3 scores, now is where they show their mettle.

[John Dee]

Not unhappy with the way the Colts have played, minus the turnovers, but down 3 scores, now is where they show their mettle.

I honesty am happy this happened to a good team. Indy is close... they are NOT there.

A lot of work to do.... but dang... Indy is not a team to be taken lightly...

[PatMcAfeeFan]

I don't blame B.A. at all except for punting from the 38. We should have tried for three. The defense isn't getting any pressure and they just aren't playing with any intensity. This is just a pitiful performance out of our D.

[schwamm]

Not Quite Ready for Prime Time...

[chad72]

Down 14 fourth and four from their 39 just now too. You can't punt there. You just can't.

Totally agree.

[SOMDColtsfan]

Disagree. The Colts D hadnt stopped Brady up to then (didnt in 2nd half either) but Arians was trying to juggle getting some points before halftime without leaving Brady time enough on clock for another drive. Seemed like right thing to do to me?

[YOUR GM]

He was horrible today. I didn't expect us to win going into this game but Arians certainly didn't do us any favors with his poor game management and play calling. The constant calls for deep routes even when the Pats were blitzing every play is what p****ed me off the most. *ic gameplan with little adjustments on offense or defense. There was no reason for this game to get out of hand the way it did, at all

[NewColtsFan]

He completely bungled that end of half possession. Atrocious clock management. How do we run out of time and still have a timeout left?

I wasn't happy with Arians today on a variety of levels, but if I remember the end of the 2nd quarter, the biggest mistake was from Luck. Ball at the 40, approx :15 secs to go... Luck drops back, looks, looks and then throws deep and misses the receiver.

WTH???

What about throwing for a 10-15 yard gain and give Vinatierri a better shot than a 58 yard FG?? I don't know what Luck was thinking but that was a rare brain cramp from him.

I wonder if we'll even watch game film tomorrow. I'm sure Luck will, but sometimes a coach will just tell the team to forget it and erase the game from your mind.... this may be one of those times....

A day to forget....

[Andy]

I'm glad you brought attention to it.

That was terrible clock management, and it's been bad ever since he started taking over.

The Colts could have had at least 3 easy points on the board, and maybe even a TD considering the way they moved the ball.

Then they had a 58 yard try, that obviously didn't go through. They left points on the board, and it's one of the main reasons why they lost.

[Brooklyn Colt]

Terrible game manager and questionable play calling at times...yea I'm not worried about him running off for a head coaching position anytime soon...

[Chicago-Colts Fan1287]

Totally agree. clock management was bad.

[chrisfarley]

But how do other bad teams play the patriots close? We were not close but better than those other terrible teams that played the Pats close, and yes, they turned the ball over too.

[Gavin]

Sounds like some are coming around about Arians, Nice guy I like him but should be outlawed from calling plays on offense and coaching decisions, QB Coach thats all he is

[YOUR GM]

Terrible game manager and questionable play calling at times...yea I'm not worried about him running off for a head coaching position anytime soon...

We can only hope. Might end up being a blessing in disguise

[cmgww]

But how do other bad teams play the patriots close? We were not close but better than those other terrible teams that played the Pats close, and yes, they turned the ball over too.

I think, and this is coming from what Pats fans were saying, it was due to the Pats D playing zone/soft in previous games. They have done it all season, partly due to inexperience in the secondary and partly b/c the offense gets out to big leads. When they don't, they've lost. They did it against the Bills and it almost cost them the game. They played that way last night in the beginning, and saw the Colts drive the ball at will. BB then took a bit of a gamble and dialed up the pressure. He knew he was playing a rookie offense (really besides Wayne nearly all are rookies) and an average line, and took advantage. And you saw the difference. heck, the Pats D looked circa 2004 last night! I was thinking, "who the heck are these guys? they were supposed to be terrible!" Part of it was blitzing, which we didn't make them pay for with short passes/draws (BA problem partly, didn't adjust to that, but not all his fault when we got down big and had to throw a lot), another part was their front 7 was getting pressure without it. Big Vince had himself a game, again, and that allowed the secondary to drop back and play more aggressively.

I think the biggest reason for the beatdown was the punt return TD and pick six. That changed the dynamic of the game completely; shifted momentum too. Take those away, and I think we keep it closer. We still lose, but not 59-24.

[chrisfarley]

I think, and this is coming from what Pats fans were saying, it was due to the Pats D playing zone/soft in previous games. They have done it all season, partly due to inexperience in the secondary and partly b/c the offense gets out to big leads. When they don't, they've lost. They did it against the Bills and it almost cost them the game. They played that way last night in the beginning, and saw the Colts drive the ball at will. BB then took a bit of a gamble and dialed up the pressure. He knew he was playing a rookie offense (really besides Wayne nearly all are rookies) and an average line, and took advantage. And you saw the difference. heck, the Pats D looked circa 2004 last night! I was thinking, "who the heck are these guys? they were supposed to be terrible!" Part of it was blitzing, which we didn't make them pay for with short passes/draws (BA problem partly, didn't adjust to that, but not all his fault when we got down big and had to throw a lot), another part was their front 7 was getting pressure without it. Big Vince had himself a game, again, and that allowed the secondary to drop back and play more aggressively.

I think the biggest reason for the beatdown was the punt return TD and pick six. That changed the dynamic of the game completely; shifted momentum too. Take those away, and I think we keep it closer. We still lose, but not 59-24.

Very good analysis !! I was stunned when we didn't go to short passes, I think our little Wide Outs could have punished them if they can catch the ball, or ALLEN. I also think that Coby Fleener is our main short pass weapon and he is hurt. Thanks for your copious analysis!

[krunk]

I just realized from watching the highlight tape that Lucks interception to Aqib Talib happened on 2nd down and 1 yard! What in the world were we doing throwing a deep bomb on that play? Why was that play called? I don't think this was one of our best play calling games. I also agree with Superman about the clock management on that one drive. Not good at all.

A deep bomb on 2nd and 1 yard? You gotta be kidding me! You're helping the kid to become too trigger happy and somewhat careless with his throws when you are neglecting to run the ball on obvious running situations. The game wasn't out of hand at the point. Matter of fact, that throw is one of the things that turned the tide.

[Superman]

A lot of rookies on O.. and a rookie Coach...

I mean really... are we expecting mid 2000 Colt proficiency?

Dang this team is playing great........

The players on the field really don't dictate how the coach uses his timeouts. To be honest, we haven't had a head coach that does a good job managing timeouts in a long time. Manning was great inside two minutes, and Luck has been pretty good so far also, but use of timeouts is mostly up to the coach.

So, yes, rookie head coach. Who is also calling the offensive plays (which is something I've always been against, except for in special circumstances, like Arians has). I understand that this lack of experience has something to do with the poor clock management, but that doesn't excuse it.

It's a cardinal sin to run out of time when you have the ability to stop the clock. It's Football 101. You don't let the clock run play after play when you have timeouts. It's absolutely inexcusable that we ran out of time and still had a timeout left. Despite the fact that we have a bunch of rookies and an inexperienced head coach. Arians should rewatch that series and kick himself over how poorly he managed the clock.

And like I said, his game management has been getting better week by week. But he took a huge step back right there.

[Superman]

Down 14 fourth and four from their 39 just now too. You can't punt there. You just can't.

Yup.

[Superman]

I wasn't happy with Arians today on a variety of levels, but if I remember the end of the 2nd quarter, the biggest mistake was from Luck. Ball at the 40, approx :15 secs to go... Luck drops back, looks, looks and then throws deep and misses the receiver.

WTH???

What about throwing for a 10-15 yard gain and give Vinatierri a better shot than a 58 yard FG?? I don't know what Luck was thinking but that was a rare brain cramp from him.

I haven't rewatched the game yet; was anyone open on that play? I don't know the answer to that, but it's much harder for me to criticize a rookie quarterback for taking a shot downfield (Who was open? What kind of pressure was there? Etc.) than to criticize the head coach for mismanaging the clock. Up to that point, we had probably wasted 40 seconds of game clock by trying to get back to the line and run a play, rather than using timeouts.

And we took that play with the clock running, and still had a timeout left. That would have been a good opportunity for us to use a timeout, let the coach and quarterback talk it over, get the priorities well in mind, and run a good play. Nope. We wasted 15+ seconds getting lined up, then threw incomplete, leaving just four seconds on the clock.

By the way, in 2005 against the Steelers, Manning made a similar mistake. He threw downfield on third down, rather than hitting a closer receiver for some yardage to get Vanderjagt a shorter kick. He was a seven year vet who had won playoff games and two MVPs.

[John Dee]

The players on the field really don't dictate how the coach uses his timeouts. To be honest, we haven't had a head coach that does a good job managing timeouts in a long time. Manning was great inside two minutes, and Luck has been pretty good so far also, but use of timeouts is mostly up to the coach.

So, yes, rookie head coach. Who is also calling the offensive plays (which is something I've always been against, except for in special circumstances, like Arians has). I understand that this lack of experience has something to do with the poor clock management, but that doesn't excuse it.

It's a cardinal sin to run out of time when you have the ability to stop the clock. It's Football 101. You don't let the clock run play after play when you have timeouts. It's absolutely inexcusable that we ran out of time and still had a timeout left. Despite the fact that we have a bunch of rookies and an inexperienced head coach. Arians should rewatch that series and kick himself over how poorly he managed the clock.

And like I said, his game management has been getting better week by week. But he took a huge step back right there.

In reality how many coaches are great clock managers? IMO... It is up to the QB to know the situation and act accordingly. And Indy has been spectacular in 2 minute drives. Luck was in his first REALLY BIG GAME. And he struggled.... played great in some aspects and he sprinkled in some really poor decisions.

The TO's were killer, ST's killed them, but I wish Allen and Brazil had held onto those early throws that they dropped. Those hurt really bad also.

Nobody played well. And the time management thing.... what are you gonna do? After the first 2 drives every thing went to heck.

All that said... This team is in great position to MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!!! People laughed at me pre season when I mentioned it even being a possibility. Well it is. 8-8 will do it I think. 9-7 and Indy is playing on wildcard weekend.

Bad game ... oh well ... live and learn.

Go Colts

By the way.. Luck simply cannot be asked to throw the ball 50 times and Indy expect to win. He is a very good player but he is not Tom Brady... yet....

[Superman]

In reality how many coaches are great clock managers?

I don't see how this is relevant, but there are many head coaches who do a masterful job of managing the clock and their timeouts. I don't expect Arians to be masterful; the situation at the end of the half yesterday was pretty basic, and we butchered it.

IMO... It is up to the QB to know the situation and act accordingly. And Indy has been spectacular in 2 minute drives. Luck was in his first REALLY BIG GAME. And he struggled.... played great in some aspects and he sprinkled in some really poor decisions.

I have nothing against Bruce Arians. I've said I think I like him better as a head coach than as a coordinator, and I still feel that way. I'm super excited about Luck's development and future. But between the two of them, I would expect someone to handle that situation better. Overall, I think Arians is in charge of stopping the clock there.

The TO's were killer, ST's killed them, but I wish Allen and Brazil had held onto those early throws that they dropped. Those hurt really bad also.

True.

Nobody played well. And the time management thing.... what are you gonna do? After the first 2 drives every thing went to heck.

Specifically, make better use of your timeouts. You can't run out of time when you have timeouts in your pocket. It's a cardinal sin, and it's Football 101. I'm no smarter than the next guy, but I can't just brush this off. This can be the difference between winning and losing.

And to take it a step further, imagine we handled the clock better there, and wound up scoring a touchdown. Now it's a tie game, and things could have gone completely different coming out of the break. Not saying this drive cost us the game, but those micro-decisions can have macro impacts on a game, and even a season. This was an egregious mistake, and it's one I thought Arians had gotten a handle on already. I'm disappointed that I was wrong.

All that said... This team is in great position to MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!!! People laughed at me pre season when I mentioned it even being a possibility. Well it is. 8-8 will do it I think. 9-7 and Indy is playing on wildcard weekend.

I'm excited about the position we're in. We're well ahead of where I thought we'd be at this point in the season.

Bad game ... oh well ... live and learn.

I hope.

[John Dee]

As far as time management... being on the sideline in the moment is not a as easy as sitting in a lazy boy and just saying "call a time out" ...

All the best coaches in the NFL and college have their bad moments.

I think the entire Colt team was shell shocked nearing the end of the half... maybe even panic mode.

It's a work in process.

[Superman]

As far as time management... being on the sideline in the moment is not a as easy as sitting in a lazy boy and just saying "call a time out" ...

All the best coaches in the NFL and college have their bad moments.

Yes, all that is true. And it doesn't help that Arians' focus is split between game management and play calling. Still, that's not an excuse. Neither is "every coach messes up game management from time to time." It's important.

I think the entire Colt team was shell shocked nearing the end of the half... maybe even panic mode.

All the more reason to be liberal with your timeouts. Get your team settled down, make good decisions, and give yourself a chance to get points.

It's a work in process.

Indeed. I just thought we were further along.

Arians made some pretty ridiculous game management decisions in his first few weeks. We've bungled some game management situations early on, but it's gotten better. Until yesterday.

[manning04]

I hope he can put his ego aside for this game against buffalo though. they are one of the worst run defenses in the league. i don't know why we don't want to commit it more than we have. imagine how much that would throw the opposition off.

[NewColtsFan]

I haven't rewatched the game yet; was anyone open on that play? I don't know the answer to that, but it's much harder for me to criticize a rookie quarterback for taking a shot downfield (Who was open? What kind of pressure was there? Etc.) than to criticize the head coach for mismanaging the clock. Up to that point, we had probably wasted 40 seconds of game clock by trying to get back to the line and run a play, rather than using timeouts.

And we took that play with the clock running, and still had a timeout left. That would have been a good opportunity for us to use a timeout, let the coach and quarterback talk it over, get the priorities well in mind, and run a good play. Nope. We wasted 15+ seconds getting lined up, then threw incomplete, leaving just four seconds on the clock.

By the way, in 2005 against the Steelers, Manning made a similar mistake. He threw downfield on third down, rather than hitting a closer receiver for some yardage to get Vanderjagt a shorter kick. He was a seven year vet who had won playoff games and two MVPs.

I did not see a replay.... (not saying there wasn't one, just that if there was one, I didn't see it)

Your scenario is possible.... no one was open underneath, so he took a shot deep.....

But my main reason for doubting that is that Luck does not appear to scan the field in any kind of way... just looking up the right sidelines and deep and fires.... I didn't see any scanning of other options... I may be completely wrong on that, but that's my recollection....

Look forward to hearing from you once you double check the tape....

Also.... your comments about not using the time out are, of course, spot on....

[Jason_]

The players on the field really don't dictate how the coach uses his timeouts. To be honest, we haven't had a head coach that does a good job managing timeouts in a long time. Manning was great inside two minutes, and Luck has been pretty good so far also, but use of timeouts is mostly up to the coach.

So, yes, rookie head coach. Who is also calling the offensive plays (which is something I've always been against, except for in special circumstances, like Arians has). I understand that this lack of experience has something to do with the poor clock management, but that doesn't excuse it.

It's a cardinal sin to run out of time when you have the ability to stop the clock. It's Football 101. You don't let the clock run play after play when you have timeouts. It's absolutely inexcusable that we ran out of time and still had a timeout left. Despite the fact that we have a bunch of rookies and an inexperienced head coach. Arians should rewatch that series and kick himself over how poorly he managed the clock.

And like I said, his game management has been getting better week by week. But he took a huge step back right there.

I want to preface by saying I haven't been able to watch the game yet. I was moving yesterday but I did hear the majority of the broadcast, including the last drive before halftime, on the radio. So, just to play devil's advocate, I can see one reason why Arians hadn't used the last time out yet. It was suggested by one of the commentators that Arians' intention could have been to keep the last timeout to call after the end of the last pass play so they would be able to setup the field goal, and this would allow them to not be forced to go to the sidelines. Since they still had the TO left, they could use the entire field. He was probably anticipating Luck just taking some sort of dump off to gain another 5-15 yards to make the field goal a slightly higher percentage. If that were the case then I can see the reasoning for keeping that last time out. However again, just to re-emphasize, I haven't gotten to watch the game yet so I'm simply going by what I heard on the radio. I'll be watching the game soon and then could probably give a more educated comment, but just wanted to throw out there that, if that's what Arians was thinking, then I could see keeping that final TO in his pocket.

[Surge89]

I think, and this is coming from what Pats fans were saying, it was due to the Pats D playing zone/soft in previous games. They have done it all season, partly due to inexperience in the secondary and partly b/c the offense gets out to big leads. When they don't, they've lost. They did it against the Bills and it almost cost them the game. They played that way last night in the beginning, and saw the Colts drive the ball at will. BB then took a bit of a gamble and dialed up the pressure. He knew he was playing a rookie offense (really besides Wayne nearly all are rookies) and an average line, and took advantage. And you saw the difference. heck, the Pats D looked circa 2004 last night! I was thinking, "who the heck are these guys? they were supposed to be terrible!" Part of it was blitzing, which we didn't make them pay for with short passes/draws (BA problem partly, didn't adjust to that, but not all his fault when we got down big and had to throw a lot), another part was their front 7 was getting pressure without it. Big Vince had himself a game, again, and that allowed the secondary to drop back and play more aggressively.

I think the biggest reason for the beatdown was the punt return TD and pick six. That changed the dynamic of the game completely; shifted momentum too. Take those away, and I think we keep it closer. We still lose, but not 59-24.

I completely agree with a lot of what you said except one part... BA had a much bigger fault then what your giving him... We were not down big until late in the third. Our D made a stop and instead of driving the ball down the field we attempted for 20+... down 14 is not panic and throw the game... its get your head together and get the TEAM to play. D did their part O didn't at that moment and it was a catalyst to a snowball.

I'm also scared of one other thing... I've been hearing people reference Luck to Brett Farve... and I know Farve was a great one but I would like Luck to be a bit more cerebral than a gunslinger who risks it all.

[Superman]

I want to preface by saying I haven't been able to watch the game yet. I was moving yesterday but I did hear the majority of the broadcast, including the last drive before halftime, on the radio. So, just to play devil's advocate, I can see one reason why Arians hadn't used the last time out yet. It was suggested by one of the commentators that Arians' intention could have been to keep the last timeout to call after the end of the last pass play so they would be able to setup the field goal, and this would allow them to not be forced to go to the sidelines. Since they still had the TO left, they could use the entire field. He was probably anticipating Luck just taking some sort of dump off to gain another 5-15 yards to make the field goal a slightly higher percentage. If that were the case then I can see the reasoning for keeping that last time out. However again, just to re-emphasize, I haven't gotten to watch the game yet so I'm simply going by what I heard on the radio. I'll be watching the game soon and then could probably give a more educated comment, but just wanted to throw out there that, if that's what Arians was thinking, then I could see keeping that final TO in his pocket.

It wasn't just that one play. After we used the second timeout, the next play was a pass for a loss to Brown that took 24 seconds off the clock. The following play went for a first down, but because it took us so long to line up and get the play started (after a short pass play, by the way), it took another 22 seconds. So now, we've run two plays, and it took us from 1:30 left to :37 left, and we're still at the NE 44. At this point, the clock is more important than anything else, and we just wasted a good forty seconds by a) not calling a timeout, and b) not running clock-preserving plays. The only reason the clock stopped at :37 is because of an incompletion to Reggie, and that was in the middle of the field, not on the sideline. We didn't even try to spike it, and it was first down.

Then we throw another short completion that gives the receiver no chance of getting out of bounds, and now there's :32 left, and we still don't use a timeout. We're still 40 yards from the end zone. It takes us 28 seconds to line up and run another pass play that doesn't work, and now there's four seconds left, and we're still on the fringe of Vinatieri's career best field goal range. And Vinatieri is as old as we were far away from the end zone.

Wanna know what happened next? We keep the offense on the field to try a hail mary!

...

I'm serious. It's only because the Patriots called a timeout that we tried a 58 yard field goal with four seconds left in the first half. With a timeout left. If you get a chance to watch the game (and I don't know why you would, it was a disaster), you'll notice that we were incredibly inefficient once we used that second timeout. It's glaring.

Your offense can always stop the clock. You can spike the ball, you can throw it away, you can use the sideline. Timeouts aren't worth hanging on to if you run out of clock to stop. Which is exactly what we did.

The offense had been able to bite a couple chunks out of the Patriots defense on that drive. We started at our own 10, and in less than a minute, were across midfield. We needed ten more yards, fifteen to be safe, and we had 59 seconds and one timeout left. We gained four more yards over the next 55 seconds, and still had that timeout, and were forced to kick a 58 yarder. It was classic clock mismanagement; it would make Andy Reid proud.

I'm not trying to bang on Bruce Arians; I've been very complimentary of him recently. But he didn't handle the clock well at the end of the first half.

[Jason_]

Ah gotcha. I didn't catch all of the details leading up to that final play so didn't know the full circumstances. Was just playing a little bit of devil's advocate, which I do quite a bit. I will watch the game, even though it was a train wreck. lol Still, I like to watch for individual performances and frankly I just like to watch every game with this young team even if just to try to get an idea how individul players are improving or regressing, no matter the end results of the game.

[Pombi9]

I haven't rewatched the game yet; was anyone open on that play? I don't know the answer to that, but it's much harder for me to criticize a rookie quarterback for taking a shot downfield (Who was open? What kind of pressure was there? Etc.) than to criticize the head coach for mismanaging the clock. Up to that point, we had probably wasted 40 seconds of game clock by trying to get back to the line and run a play, rather than using timeouts.

And we took that play with the clock running, and still had a timeout left. That would have been a good opportunity for us to use a timeout, let the coach and quarterback talk it over, get the priorities well in mind, and run a good play. Nope. We wasted 15+ seconds getting lined up, then threw incomplete, leaving just four seconds on the clock.

By the way, in 2005 against the Steelers, Manning made a similar mistake. He threw downfield on third down, rather than hitting a closer receiver for some yardage to get Vanderjagt a shorter kick. He was a seven year vet who had won playoff games and two MVPs.

Way different scenario than we are discussing. First off they were already in field goal range. Second, the field goal does not give them the win like you seem to be inferring. Manning went for the win when he knew he had already "locked up" the tie to the best of his abilities. Did you see that kick? Idc if he started 7 yards closer it was not going through the uprights.

Ironically Manning connecting on that deep route was their only real chance to win the game (in hindsight of course) and you are torching him for it basically calling it one of his biggest blunders.

[ruksak]

I honesty am happy this happened to a good team. Indy is close... they are NOT there.

A lot of work to do.... but dang... Indy is not a team to be taken lightly...

I hear ya....however (and I hate to pull to 'ol Madden card) ...any dipstick with an X-Box and a copy of Madden Football could manage the clock better than that.

It's pretty bad when a dummy like me is wailing his arms yelling "CALL A TIMEOUT, WTH!!!"

I mean, I'm sitting there on my couch trying to push the dang select button to call a timeout.