Peps play calling today was TERRIBLE

[RockThatBlue]

I'm not one of those that bashes him constantly because for the most part he's done well.

But we start the game with three straight runs

And we ran like 100 screen passes today. It was the most vanilla/ predictable play calling I've seen in a long time.

[MTC]

No, it wasn't great, but there were so many drops and penalties.

[Dudley Smith]

I'm not one of those that bashes him constantly because for the most part he's done well.

But we start the game with three straight runs

And we ran like 100 screen passes today. It was the most vanilla/ predictable play calling I've seen in a long time.

 

How about the Richardson draw play on the first drive, 3rd and 14? That was a gem.

[RockThatBlue]

No, it wasn't great, but there were so many drops and penalties.

Oh for sure. But I was stunned at how bad the play calling was. Pep has done such a good job this year but today he was just awful.

[TKnight24]

Praying he takes a College HC job. Want him gone. Pagano too

Holding the team back. Never seen more dumber coaches who don't change things that are broke

[RockThatBlue]

How about the Richardson draw play on the first drive, 3rd and 14? That was a gem.

If we are going to do a draw play on a third and long, at least give it to herron. My grandmother has an equal chance of picking that up as Richardson did.

[1959Colts]

It seems in every game, on our first play on offense, we lose 10 yards or get sacked and fumble.

[Bluefire4]

I think play calling may be the biggest problem with this offense right now. Some adjustments need to be made.. we have too good of an offense to be struggling like this.

[Superman]

If we are going to do a draw play on a third and long, at least give it to herron. My grandmother has an equal chance of picking that up as Richardson did.

 

Herron is the one who got stuffed on the first two carries. It was third and 14 because he couldn't get back to the line of scrimmage.

 

The draw was a white flag, clearly. Don't get Luck killed, try to gain some yards, and get the punter out there. People who complain about draws on third and long fail to understand the whole purpose of running the ball in a long yardage situation.

[CanuckColt]

Pep is still a college OC...he calls stuff that works in college ball...and he gets taken out to the woodshed by every good DC and good D.

[TKnight24]

Pep is still a college OC...he calls stuff that works in college ball...and he gets taken out to the woodshed by every good DC and good D.

Glad someone gets it

[HtownColt]

Word was that they wanted to work on their running game this game to prepare them for the playoffs. Should've just stuck to their real identity

@Edwerderespn: With division clinched, #Colts priority is to prevent Andrew Luck from being hit, working on run game to create more balance for playoffs

This was hours before the game

Least Khaled Holmes was freed

[GOCOLTS_ROLLTIDE]

Honestly he could've a perfect game as long as we drop open passes and o line make decisions linemen look like reggie white and Bruce Smith lol

[OffensivelyPC]

Did you miss the part where the defense couldn't stop anything?

[OffensivelyPC]

Pep is still a college OC...he calls stuff that works in college ball...and he gets taken out to the woodshed by every good DC and good D.

Umm..we gave up 42 points. 

[TKnight24]

Word was that they wanted to work on their running game this game to prepare them for the playoffs. Should've just stuck to their real identity

@Edwerderespn: With division clinched, #Colts priority is to prevent Andrew Luck from being hit, working on run game to create more balance for playoffs

This was hours before the game

Least Khaled Holmes was freed

So you won't rest the starters, but you put a security blanket over Andrew? How does that make sense?

[James Harden]

I could pick a random person that plays Madden really well and could be wayyyy better OC than Pep

[Johnny Bui]

lol someone beat me to this post.  Can we hurry up and fire Pep already, theres only so much more we fans can take.  Chuck better get his act together or he may be next.  

[RockThatBlue]

Did you miss the part where the defense couldn't stop anything?

Nope. Defense was clearly bad but I don't think play calling was why for that. We just don't have hardly anything outside of Davis.

[jmac_48]

More than anything it was a total lack of execution by most of the players on the field.

I don't think that it is on the play calling, I mean, how could this team have been #1 in the league for offense if the scheme and play calling is that bad?

 

I do think that Pep has been keeping his cards close to his vest this past month when it has been obvious we were a shoe in for a playoff birth. But conservative play calling is not an excuse for players not giving it their best efforts and concentration.

 

Not happy with the results lately, but I don't think it all on the coaching.

Plus I don't think that this team is as good as many were saying just past midseason and on.

[texascolt]

I think they should try the hurry up offence.

[HtownColt]

lol someone beat me to this post. Can we hurry up and fire Pep already, theres only so much more we fans can take. Chuck better get his act together or he may be next.

It's ok, Pep will be a HC somewhere next year

[CanuckColt]

I think play calling may be the biggest problem with this offense right now. Some adjustments need to be made.. we have too good of an offense to be struggling like this.

We have a serious lack of talent at the running back position...we need a top RB, maybe 2...and Bradshaw/Ballard won't do, forget them...they are long gone by this time of year...cannot count on them...we need to draft a good one early.

[sundance75]

Did you miss the part where the defense couldn't stop anything?

No but it kind of helps if the offense isn't 3 and out, which might give the defense a breather and change the momentum a little

 

So you won't rest the starters, but you put a security blanket over Andrew? How does that make sense?

Maybe if they would play the best linemen they would not have this problem! 

[NewColtsFan]

The play calling was poor from the first call.

 

We have Louis at RG and Nixon at RT.     And what do we do?     First play we run to the right where their blocks have to be good.

 

You know the defense is going to try and overwhelm those two right from the start,  and we run right into the teeth of their defense.

 

We lost 4-5 yards.

 

But we lost our offensive mojo weeks ago.    This didn't happen today.

 

About 6-8 weeks into the season Luck was at 68 or 69 percent completion.    He's now around 61-62%     Our run game is non existent. 

 

We'll beat Tennessee because they're not good,  but the playoffs -- all bets are off.

[jimmy g]

It was the kind of thing to expect when the line is AC, the rookie Mewhort (who's earned his spot, Holmes finally getting his first start, Louis filling in, and still-hurting Nixon filling in.

Didn't help when Pep insisted on running right- behind the fill-ins....

[OffensivelyPC]

No but it kind of helps if the offense isn't 3 and out, which might give the defense a breather and change the momentum a little

 

Maybe if they would play the best linemen they would not have this problem! 

It also helps when the defense doesn't suck.

[OffensivelyPC]

Nope. Defense was clearly bad but I don't think play calling was why for that. We just don't have hardly anything outside of Davis.

What play should have been different?  Because if you're going to question the play calling..you better have a damn good idea of where it went wrong.

 

Sorry, responded to the wrong comment.

[TKnight24]

What play should have been different? Because if you're going to question the play calling..you better have a damn good idea of where it went wrong.

@Coltsfanwilson: Pagano said reason for fake punt was that they needed to be aggressive? So, what part of three straight runs was being aggressive? #Colts

Wilson got the right idea

[RockThatBlue]

More than anything it was a total lack of execution by most of the players on the field.

I don't think that it is on the play calling, I mean, how could this team have been #1 in the league for offense if the scheme and play calling is that bad?

I do think that Pep has been keeping his cards close to his vest this past month when it has been obvious we were a shoe in for a playoff birth. But conservative play calling is not an excuse for players not giving it their best efforts and concentration.

Not happy with the results lately, but I don't think it all on the coaching.

Plus I don't think that this team is as good as many were saying just past midseason and on.

The play calling was bad for this game.

[OffensivelyPC]

No but it kind of helps if the offense isn't 3 and out, which might give the defense a breather and change the momentum a little

 

Maybe if they would play the best linemen they would not have this problem! 

I'd sure like to know where the play calling went wrong...If you can tell me that...perhaps you might have a point.  But to just say that the offense was bad is to say nothing.  The playerstill have to carry out whatever the "playcalling is" and they played like crap today. Luck was awful...and so was everyone else for that matter.

[OffensivelyPC]

@Coltsfanwilson: Pagano said reason for fake punt was that they needed to be aggressive? So, what part of three straight runs was being aggressive? #Colts

Wilson got the right idea

so coaching sucked after the 3rd play of the game?

[RockThatBlue]

The play calling was poor from the first call.

We have Louis at RG and Nixon at RT. And what do we do? First play we run to the right where their blocks have to be good.

You know the defense is going to try and overwhelm those two right from the start, and we run right into the teeth of their defense.

We lost 4-5 yards.

But we lost our offensive mojo weeks ago. This didn't happen today.

About 6-8 weeks into the season Luck was at 68 or 69 percent completion. He's now around 61-62% Our run game is non existent.

We'll beat Tennessee because they're not good, but the playoffs -- all bets are off.

Running behind the right side of our line is just dumb. The right side of our line has got to be the worst in the NFL. Just atrocious and Pep tried running behind them. Just really dumb. Its almost like pep didn't try to create an offensive scheme so he just ran any dumb random play he could think of.

And the amount of screens was nauseating at best.

[TKnight24]

so coaching sucked after the 3rd play of the game?

Not saying it sucked, but we didn't do what we said we'd do. That's not aggressive. Aggressive is what we did when Arians was coach. Deep shots almost every play.

[TKnight24]

Running behind the right side of our line is just dumb. The right side of our line has got to be the worst in the NFL. Just atrocious and Pep tried running behind then. Just really dumb. Its almost like pep didn't try to create an offensive scheme so he just ran any dumb random play he could think of.

And the amount of screens was nauseating at best.

To be fair, Louis is bad. Holmes should start but we have stubborn coaches

It was a small sample size but against a solid front 7 of the Browns, Holmes did pretty well IMO

Castonzo-Mewhort-Shipley-Holmes-Cherilus

But knowing our coaches, the same o-line from today will be there next week vs Tenn

[DougDew]

To be fair, Louis is bad. Holmes should start but we have stubborn coaches

It was a small sample size but against a solid front 7 of the Browns, Holmes did pretty well IMO

Castonzo-Mewhort-Shipley-Holmes-Cherilus

But knowing our coaches, the same o-line from today will be there next week vs Tenn

I'm all for resting Cherilous for the playoffs. As average as he has been this year, his replacements have been down right putrid.

[OffensivelyPC]

Not saying it sucked, but we didn't do what we said we'd do. That's not aggressive. Aggressive is what we did when Arians was coach. Deep shots almost every play.

You are saying it sucked...Don't play that half-assed crap.  To you, it wasn't good enough.  Stand by your convictions.  To me, my opinion was the defense played bad enough the offense couldn't have saved it.  Why?  Because we gave up 42 points. 

 

My other opinion?  Don't blame the coaching for not fixing something that the players helped create.  Colts played like garbage today.  You can blame the offense for playing like crap.  Part of that is coaching, but a big chunk of that is also on the players.  The offensive execution was easy to hate today.  So if you're going to blame the coaches..at least have the wherewithal to blame everyone else for playing like garbage too.

[jskinnz]

Not saying it sucked, but we didn't do what we said we'd do. That's not aggressive. Aggressive is what we did when Arians was coach. Deep shots almost every play.

 

Every time you post something I am just amazed...

[sfergson727]

Pep's doing great!  We've never been so consistent at going 3 and out and starting slow.  It's perfection in action this season.  With his leadership, we've got the worst running game in the league, and Luck's QB rating has been abysmal the last month or so, which is necessary to pound the ball.  You want to talk about creativity?  Well, we can't, because we haven't seen anything creative since the Bengal game. Yeah, nothing wrong with Pep, that's for sure.

[HarryTheCat]

Not saying it sucked, but we didn't do what we said we'd do. That's not aggressive. Aggressive is what we did when Arians was coach. Deep shots almost every play.

Those "deep shots" require far more time to develop downfield than that leaky O-line can give Luck.  I'd rather see more short, quick stuff where Luck doesn't have to hold the ball so long.  Those quick five- and ten-yarders won't make the highlights, but they will keep your QB out of the obituary column.