Colts wasting Lucks best season so says PFF

[antipatriot]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/11/01/the-indianapolis-colts-are-wasting-andrew-luck-best-season/

Also some interesting grades for the O-line with Castonzo ranking among the top 17 in the league at his position, who would have thunk it.

 

Anyway it is a decent read and I have to say I agree with the article.

 

We are wasting a year of Lucks career with a team that is poorly coached, poorly built and plays disinterested football. 

 

 

[Nadine]

Hey guys, we are trying to keep the fire people and general venting in their own threads.  It's great to bring an article with a journalist view but, please don't turn this thread into a bash thread there are places for that here. TY!

[1959Colts]

4 minutes ago, antipatriot said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/11/01/the-indianapolis-colts-are-wasting-andrew-luck-best-season/

Also some interesting grades for the O-line with Castonzo ranking among the top 17 in the league at his position, who would have thunk it.

 

Anyway it is a decent read and I have to say I agree with the article.

 

We are wasting a year of Lucks career with a team that is poorly coached, poorly built and plays disinterested football. 

 

 

 

Yeah. Castonzo is having a real nice year!

[antipatriot]

In Picures, this pretty much says it all:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Colts/comments/5agcep/great_picture_of_what_2016_season_is_like/

[BOTT]

~ says anyone with a brain

[Steamboat_Shaun]

I don't think it's a waste at all if you look at the big picture. No one, not even the biggest Colts homer, honestly thought this team was doing anything this year aside from maybe winning the division, so expectations were already pretty minimal. Compound that with the fact that we'll likely get a high draft pick, some regime changes, and a really nice cap number, I think we're looking solid moving forward. It's tough to endure and watch the team play bad, sure, but in the long run, it'll ultimately work out for the better.

[21isSuperman]

I really like PFF, but I don't know how Castonzo is getting so much praise.  I think his play has been pretty bad.  This was also confusing for me.

 

Quote

 

Luck currently ranks third in the NFL in PFF QB grades

Luck’s 88.9 grade (on a 1-100 scale) through eight weeks this season ranks only behind Tom Brady and comes in just shy of the highest he’s ever earned over the course of a full season, which was an 88.4 back in 2014.

 

How does Luck rank third (as the title states) if he's "only behind Tom Brady".  Wouldn't that make him 2nd?  And how does a score of 88.9 come in just shy of his highest score, which was 88.4?  Wouldn't he be on pace to have his best season ever, by those metrics?

[AZColt11]

1 hour ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

I don't think it's a waste at all if you look at the big picture. No one, not even the biggest Colts homer, honestly thought this team was doing anything this year aside from maybe winning the division, so expectations were already pretty minimal. Compound that with the fact that we'll likely get a high draft pick, some regime changes, and a really nice cap number, I think we're looking solid moving forward. It's tough to endure and watch the team play bad, sure, but in the long run, it'll ultimately work out for the better.

I would concur.  I have been saying this for a while.  Which is why when it started going south I was, not happy per se, but just OK with it.  Because I know this will make them stronger down the road.  If Irsay REALLY wants a team that wins multiple Superbowls, they will need to get a LOT stronger than they are now.  And these things will help do that.  If I were Irsay, I would veto any more moves until I got my new GM in here.  I think that may be part of the reason for no moves at the deadline.

[Dustin]

26 minutes ago, 21isSuperman said:

I really like PFF, but I don't know how Castonzo is getting so much praise.  I think his play has been pretty bad.  This was also confusing for me.

 

How does Luck rank third (as the title states) if he's "only behind Tom Brady".  Wouldn't that make him 2nd?  And how does a score of 88.9 come in just shy of his highest score, which was 88.4?  Wouldn't he be on pace to have his best season ever, by those metrics?

 

It's probably just typos. the guys at pff are legit, terrible writers. 

[COLTS449]

I mean its pretty obvious. Our genius GM refuses to bring in good players in free agency, he makes stupid trades, and he has no eye for talent whatsoever. Even a blind dog might get lucky and catch a rabbit every now and then. (referring to him picking Mewhort, Kelly, Fleener, Hilton, Moncrief, Anderson, etc. Not counting Luck because anybody would have had enough sense to make that pick.

[Boiler_Colt]

A co-worker of mine keeps complaining to me that the Colts are losing because "Luck keeps sucking". I just shake my head and silently question whether he even watches football.

[FanFromtheWasteland]

4 hours ago, 21isSuperman said:

I really like PFF, but I don't know how Castonzo is getting so much praise.  I think his play has been pretty bad.  This was also confusing for me.

 

How does Luck rank third (as the title states) if he's "only behind Tom Brady".  Wouldn't that make him 2nd?  And how does a score of 88.9 come in just shy of his highest score, which was 88.4?  Wouldn't he be on pace to have his best season ever, by those metrics?

Proofreading skills have been non existent in the general media for a while now. I have seen misspelled words, wrong facts, bad grammer and out and out bull dung. Some reports look like they were written in a foreign language and translated to english by Microsoft

[WoolMagnet]

6 hours ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

I don't think it's a waste at all if you look at the big picture. No one, not even the biggest Colts homer, honestly thought this team was doing anything this year aside from maybe winning the division, so expectations were already pretty minimal. Compound that with the fact that we'll likely get a high draft pick, some regime changes, and a really nice cap number, I think we're looking solid moving forward. It's tough to endure and watch the team play bad, sure, but in the long run, it'll ultimately work out for the better.

I like your style Steamboat!

[lollygagger8]

Whenever I think of PFF 

[OffensivelyPC]

14 hours ago, 21isSuperman said:

I really like PFF, but I don't know how Castonzo is getting so much praise.  I think his play has been pretty bad.  This was also confusing for me.

 

How does Luck rank third (as the title states) if he's "only behind Tom Brady".  Wouldn't that make him 2nd?  And how does a score of 88.9 come in just shy of his highest score, which was 88.4?  Wouldn't he be on pace to have his best season ever, by those metrics?

I agree with the first paragraph.  He's given up a handful of sacks against some good pass rushers, but I feel like the more I pay attention to him, the more I feel like he gets beat more often than he wins.  Part of that is being overcritical, I'm sure, but I certainly don't feel like he's the top 5 LT that I once thought he was.  He's good, but I don't think he's earning every penny of his big deal.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

4 minutes ago, OffensivelyPC said:

I agree with the first paragraph.  He's given up a handful of sacks against some good pass rushers, but I feel like the more I pay attention to him, the more I feel like he gets beat more often than he wins.  Part of that is being overcritical, I'm sure, but I certainly don't feel like he's the top 5 LT that I once thought he was.  He's good, but I don't think he's earning every penny of his big deal.

 

Close your eyes and imagine the Colts offensive line without him.

[OffensivelyPC]

2 minutes ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

 

Close your eyes and imagine the Colts offensive line without him.

Like I said, he's still good.  I'm not even saying we shouldn't have re-signed him.  We could do worse for sure.  But given the deal that we made for him, I would have expected more from him.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

14 minutes ago, OffensivelyPC said:

Like I said, he's still good.  I'm not even saying we shouldn't have re-signed him.  We could do worse for sure.  But given the deal that we made for him, I would have expected more from him.

 

He's probably a little overpaid, and some of his mistakes have been inexplicable. But you'd be hard-pressed to name one of our linemen that are actually playing better. Sure, Kelly's been lights out for the most part, but he is still making some rookie mistakes, and he's not going up against speed rushers every snap.

[OffensivelyPC]

24 minutes ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

 

He's probably a little overpaid, and some of his mistakes have been inexplicable. But you'd be hard-pressed to name one of our linemen that are actually playing better. Sure, Kelly's been lights out for the most part, but he is still making some rookie mistakes, and he's not going up against speed rushers every snap.

We could do worse than Castanzo for sure.  And the reality of the situation is, there's no viable replacement that's either available on the market or wouldn't cost future resources.  So we're stuck with him, and I'm okay with that.  Like I said, I just wished he'd be performing a bit better than he is.  He does struggle with the speedy edge guys, but many LTs do, so it's not like I'm expecting perfection.  Thankfully Luck is good at navigating the pocket.  The OL will improve, despite what some around here believe, and as it does, Castanzo's mistakes will be less impactful because there won't be so many guys within arm's reach of Luck and he'll have more room to move.

[Gavin]

Typo on PFF's part. Its not the first time. It wont be the last time. They are pretty accurate with grading however in just about every area though I do have some questions about grades at times since they do come out with grades so fast now and don't always watch the All 22 unless they feel it is needed

[Mr Coffee]

20 hours ago, Nadine said:

Hey guys, we are trying to keep the fire people and general venting in their own threads.  It's great to bring an article with a journalist view but, please don't turn this thread into a bash thread there are places for that here. TY!

Seems like his post was more centered on Luck rather than firing everyone.  

[Coffeedrinker]

AC gets blamed for a lot of things by this forum even though he did his job like he is supposed to.

 

Middle of the pack for starting LT is about where I'd expect him based on his play this year.  I don't know if he's trying to adjust back to a ZBS from man or if he just his his max and defenders have learned how to attack him.

 

Even in that picture that antipatriot linked, everyone is doing their job except Haeg got beat.  Kelly has his man, Good has his man, AC has his man and Reitz took his guy behind Luck.  fans tend to forget, olineman are supposed to form a pocket not a wall.

[chad72]

20 hours ago, antipatriot said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/11/01/the-indianapolis-colts-are-wasting-andrew-luck-best-season/

Also some interesting grades for the O-line with Castonzo ranking among the top 17 in the league at his position, who would have thunk it.

 

Anyway it is a decent read and I have to say I agree with the article.

 

We are wasting a year of Lucks career with a team that is poorly coached, poorly built and plays disinterested football. 

 

 

 

Top 17 among 32 LTs would mean average, right??? 

[Nadine]

18 minutes ago, Mr Coffee said:

Seems like his post was more centered on Luck rather than firing everyone.  

Agree, that's why my post was directed at everyone who planned to respond.  we've had an issue recently with people turning all threads into bash fests

[The Peytonator]

20 hours ago, antipatriot said:

In Picures, this pretty much says it all:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Colts/comments/5agcep/great_picture_of_what_2016_season_is_like/

 

Honestly the only one I see getting beat is Haeg. Castonzo and Kelly are definitely not getting beat. Reitz runs his guy around the edge and plants him, which is exactly what an OT is supposed to do. Good is in the process of getting beat, but it appears he held his man long enough for Luck to have thrown the ball if he didn't have to worry about fighting off Derrick Johnson.

[Superman]

This angst over "wasting Andrew Luck" is giving me angst.

 

1) Luck still has some work to do. He's the reason the Colts have had a chance in every game this season, and if he had played a little better in the Chiefs game he might have made that one more competitive, so I am NOT complaining about or blaming anything on Andrew Luck. But before we start getting anxious about Luck's prime being wasted, how about we let him get there first?

 

2) Just because Russell Wilson and Tom Brady won SBs early in their career doesn't mean that a good/great QB should be expected to be immediately in title contention every season. Typically, it doesn't work that way. Typically, especially with a #1 pick, he's coming into a bad team, and it takes time to build. 

 

3) The Colts have missed very good opportunities to get better, from 2013 on. That sucks. Still, the Colts are not some bottom dweller that has spent the last five years floundering around. Prior to 2015, they were on a positive trajectory, even if you dislike the guys running the show. This idea that Luck is stuck in a bad situation is, well, dumb.

 

4) Irsay knows what he wants, and he's not going to put up with sustained mediocrity, much less the kind of slippage the Colts are showing right now. It's funny, people (wrongly) have accused him of being impetuous and wild-eyed, but when he actually shows patience with his staff, now he's a bad owner... Makes no sense to me. He got rid of Mora, not because Mora was awful, but because he wasn't the right guy at the right time. He also had his eye on Dungy, and went and got him. When Irsay is ready to move on, he won't hesitate, but he's not going to lurch around because of a few bad games.

 

5) It's getting more difficult to say this  as the sacks pile up every week, but the OL is going to be okay. I'm still more concerned with the play calling than I am with the line play. Chud and Luck can and must make adjustments to the passing game to take pressure off of the line, while they get experience and settle in. We need a RG and a RT, but what we have now can work if they gameplan better. I don't know if AC will right the ship or not, but that's workable.

[BOTT]

7 hours ago, OffensivelyPC said:

We could do worse than Castanzo for sure.  And the reality of the situation is, there's no viable replacement that's either available on the market or wouldn't cost future resources.  So we're stuck with him, and I'm okay with that.  Like I said, I just wished he'd be performing a bit better than he is.  He does struggle with the speedy edge guys, but many LTs do, so it's not like I'm expecting perfection.  Thankfully Luck is good at navigating the pocket.  The OL will improve, despite what some around here believe, and as it does, Castanzo's mistakes will be less impactful because there won't be so many guys within arm's reach of Luck and he'll have more room to move.

I dunno,  Venturi was pretty hard on Castonzo today.  Flat out called him below average.  From the times I have payed attention to Castonzo, I can't say I disagree.

[antipatriot]

4 hours ago, The Peytonator said:

 

Honestly the only one I see getting beat is Haeg. Castonzo and Kelly are definitely not getting beat. Reitz runs his guy around the edge and plants him, which is exactly what an OT is supposed to do. Good is in the process of getting beat, but it appears he held his man long enough for Luck to have thrown the ball if he didn't have to worry about fighting off Derrick Johnson.

Agreed you can see the guys doing there job but in the end someone gets to Luck and this happens way more often than it should.

[Superman]

2 hours ago, BOTT said:

I dunno,  Venturi was pretty hard on Castonzo today.  Flat out called him below average.  From the times I have payed attention to Castonzo, I can't say I disagree.

 

I haven't charted AC, but I feel like he's doing a good job most of the game, but has 4 or 5 hiccups every week, with at least one of them resulting in a sack. He's good in the run game, and running to the left side is more productive than running anywhere else. So he has 60-65 good plays, then 5 bad plays. That's better than 30 good plays, 30 average plays, and 5 bad plays. 

 

And again, that's just my general impression. But cleaning up a handful of mistakes is easier than changing a bad player into a good player. 

[Gavin]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

I haven't charted AC, but I feel like he's doing a good job most of the game, but has 4 or 5 hiccups every week, with at least one of them resulting in a sack. He's good in the run game, and running to the left side is more productive than running anywhere else. So he has 60-65 good plays, then 5 bad plays. That's better than 30 good plays, 30 average plays, and 5 bad plays. 

 

And again, that's just my general impression. But cleaning up a handful of mistakes is easier than changing a bad player into a good player. 

I think it might be something as simple (well not for Castonzo) as putting on some weight. 10-15lbs. He resembles a long tall string bean right now and I think its the main source of his problems this year 

[Synthetic]

 

Team is going nowhere as long as Grigson is running the show to put together these sorry teams. If there is anything to hope for with this losing season, it's that Irsay finally does something good and lets go of both Grigson and Pagano. Take the high draft pick, go into the draft and begin to rebuild again. 

[dudeski]

On November 1, 2016 at 8:10 PM, 21isSuperman said:

I really like PFF, but I don't know how Castonzo is getting so much praise.  I think his play has been pretty bad.  This was also confusing for me.

 

How does Luck rank third (as the title states) if he's "only behind Tom Brady".  Wouldn't that make him 2nd?  And how does a score of 88.9 come in just shy of his highest score, which was 88.4?  Wouldn't he be on pace to have his best season ever, by those metrics?

Really liking pff is your first issue

[dudeski]

On November 1, 2016 at 8:37 PM, Dustin said:

 

It's probably just typos. the guys at pff are legit, terrible writers. 

No they aren't 

[dudeski]

9 hours ago, Gavin said:

Typo on PFF's part. Its not the first time. It wont be the last time. They are pretty accurate with grading however in just about every area though I do have some questions about grades at times since they do come out with grades so fast now and don't always watch the All 22 unless they feel it is needed

Nope.  Their grades are trash.  Always have been

[Superman]

1 hour ago, Gavin said:

I think it might be something as simple (well not for Castonzo) as putting on some weight. 10-15lbs. He resembles a long tall string bean right now and I think its the main source of his problems this year 

 

Meh. I think his feet look slow and he's playing too far upright. I don't think he's getting overpowered too often, just beat around the edge, and with up-and-under moves. 

[NewColtsFan]

3 hours ago, dudeski said:

Nope.  Their grades are trash.  Always have been

 

 

By the way,  I called your home early today....     I really like your voice mail message.....

 

"Hi,  this is Dudeski.    I'm not home right now,  but, at the beep,  leave a message.    Oh, by the way,  if this is Pro Football Focus,  your grades are trash!     Always have been!"      BEEP!!

 

I'm sure they will be your dying words.....   along with...   "Fleener sucks!"

 

 

 

[Dustin]

13 hours ago, dudeski said:

No they aren't 

 

They aren't terrible writers?