question

[OLD FAN MAN]

can the current o-line protect luck,? or will he have a short career in the nfl? if they cant protect luck which positions needs an upgrade

[Crunked]

That is the $64 question. Ballard's assessment is yes there is enough talent there to make it happen. I think RG and RT are the question mark positions at this point, but Ballard and coaches feel the tape shows enough improvement, personally between Luck's style of play, and the developing O-line the possibility is real that he could have a shortened overall career do to volume of injuries........but the Line did improve as the season went on (still had a way to go) and Luck has shown an aptitude to adapt his style of play, if both things happen I think he could be alright career length wise.

[NorthernBlue]

46 minutes ago, OLD FAN MAN said:

if they cant protect luck which positions needs an upgrade

Probably the O line.

[Andrew Luck fan club]

I think they'll be okay. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

Luck is going to play 17 years and win a SB + SB MVP and 2 MVP's. Patience.

[Moe]

I'm hopeful!

[MB-ColtsFan]

In Philbin I trust.  Barring major injuries we will a much improved (not great, but very good) offensive line this year.

I think the right side is the weak point today, but they just need time to get better, which I think they will.

[akcolt]

The right side is frequently pointed to as the question mark. I think Clark has the tools to handle RT.  I expect him to make a big jump this season. The question to me with the OL is at G. 

 

Between Haeg's struggles and Mewhort's knee that could be a problem. We brought in Schwenke to compete at RG. Hopefully Haeg has gotten stronger and Mewhorts knee is fine. 

[Peterk2011]

5 hours ago, MB-ColtsFan said:

In Philbin I trust.  Barring major injuries we will a much improved (not great, but very good) offensive line this year.

I think the right side is the weak point today, but they just need time to get better, which I think they will.

 

This. Having a great oline coach can make a world of difference. Joe Philbin is not the one you might want to have as your team's head coach, but he seem to be a terrific positional coach.

Last season the Colts had

a) an extremely young an inexperienced group of players to start with (including 3 rookies), then

b) had a fair share of injuries during the season holding them back, but 

 

despite all of their issues, the line showed massive improvement during the course of the season. Both as a group and individually as well. Actually, I can't name a single guy there who had a downward trend in his production. Every single one of the youngsters showed noticable improvement, and the "veterans" (Mewhort, lol, being a veteran with 2 years under his belt) played fine. That's a sign of excellent coaching. I'm very optimistic regarding this young group. They are still a work in progress, but I expect a much improved overall performance from this unit in 2017.

[Smonroe]

They worked together in the off season. Together being the operative word.   

 

Clark was horrible in the preseason, good by the end of the year.  We just hope that's an example of coaching and a desire for improvement that reflects on the rest of the line.  

[lollygagger8]

We're all riding the same Wait & See Bus. 

 

Enjoy the ride!

[a06cc]

Health is the main issue with this team as a whole. Oline has me encouraged as we were able to run the football well according to the stat sheet. We'll see different packages with the depth we have as well. 

[a06cc]

25. Indianapolis Colts (16) Top overall grade: LT Anthony Castonzo, 84.2 (No. 20)

For an elite player as some of you proclaim about this guy... This is the leader of our line. The stats aren't to great. Some of those games JM wasn't playing next to him. When that happens there is a decline in his play. 

[Valpo2004]

We will have to wait and see how the rookies from last year developed.  If it becomes obvious that it hasn't been fixed then I expect Ballard to fix it.  

[deedub75]

Another big question is depth. Colts almost always have injuries and it would also be nice to have good players to rotate in and out of he o line. 

[NewColtsFan]

 

The last 7 weeks where the Colts played (there was a buy in that window)  the O-line gave up just 10 sacks in those 7 games.       If my memory is correct,  I think that was roughly ranked 5th in the NFL for that time frame.

 

And those 7 games include the season ending game vs. J'Ville where the line gave up 4 sacks in the home win vs. the Jags.      So,  in the other 6 weeks,  the line gave up just 6 sacks.

 

So the line IS clearly improving over a long enough stretch that winin the coaching and front office it was felt that the line is getting better and better and there was little need to spend a high pick on an O-lineman,  especially in a draft where the lineman just weren't that good.

 

The pressing need in the 17 draft was defense.      Honestly,  the pressing need in the 18 draft is going again to be defense.      And perhaps even the 19 draft as well.        Our line is getting better.     Ballard is listening to Philbin and looking at the game tape.      He sees what we have.    

 

We should all feel better about the O-line.     As another poster wrote, the line will be good this year,  and even better next year and in the years to come.....    

 

 

[Steamboat_Shaun]

I think they'll be much improved, but at this point I just wanna see Luck throw a dang football, I'll concern myself with protection once I see that and can breathe a sigh of relief.

[WoolMagnet]

10 hours ago, lollygagger8 said:

We're all riding the same Wait & See Bus. 

 

Enjoy the ride!

Hopefully your seat is not next to the bathroom.

[Malakai432]

I think he will be ok if he:

1. Stops holding the ball too long (granted he's just trying to extend plays and wait for routes to develop, blah blah blah.)

2. They actually learn to dial up quicker plays so he's not running around like a chicken with his head cut off 40% of the time because of an obscene amount of 7 step dropbacks, long developing kill shot plays.  

3. The OL continues to grow and develop, completely finding a way to solidify the entire line.  It doesn't need to be like Dallas, but no severe weaknesses in the chain.  The unit needs to be fully solid and have solid depth due to injuries which will happen.

 

 

If they wants to maximize his career it definitely needs to be a coordinated effort between himself, the OC, and OL.  

[lollygagger8]

13 hours ago, WoolMagnet said:

Hopefully your seat is not next to the bathroom.

 

Yeah, that would be crappy.......

 

ba dum tssss! 

[IndyScribe]

Probably. Right side is the question. Left side is ok.

[bleevit]

The O-line has some nice quality depth.  They have 8 proven NFL players that are very young and I see from their swagger that they think they have something going on. They also have 2 nice discoveries in that Robert Turbin's numbers make him among the top 2 pass blockers (PFF) and among his many talents Jack Doyle is among the better blocking TEs.  Barring injuries Luck is going to pass for 5000 yds.  I think they can ball a little.

[RockThatBlue]

On 7/4/2017 at 9:31 PM, NorthernBlue said:

Probably the O line.

By George I think NB has got it.

[RockThatBlue]

I think the O Line is still a work in progress but I expect it to be the best line Luck has had in his career. Maybe not a top 10 O line, but maybe top 15 or so which is an upgrade.

[bleevit]

I'd really like to see Chud install some of that old Hasselbeck offense.  If that old man could do it (and do it he did), Andrew can do it. Plus its a good way to let the O-line gel and give Andrew a way to ease back into it. Let the league get used to it and then spring the regular offense on an unsuspecting team with a weak back end, like say the Steelers and let the chips fall where they may. It could work.

[MackAttack]

I think if Costanzo, our veteran presence at O line, doesn't improve his game and cut down on his penalties then that could be the ultimate fail for this team. We need huge years out of costanzo for the foreseeable future. 

[crazycolt1]

16 minutes ago, Zalazar Elijahh said:

I think if Costanzo, our veteran presence at O line, doesn't improve his game and cut down on his penalties then that could be the ultimate fail for this team. We need huge years out of costanzo for the foreseeable future. 

Costanzo had exactly 4 penalties called on him in 2016. 3 holding and 1 false start. IMO that is very good compared to how many plays he played.

[Peterk2011]

14 hours ago, Zalazar Elijahh said:

I think if Costanzo, our veteran presence at O line, doesn't improve his game and cut down on his penalties then that could be the ultimate fail for this team. We need huge years out of costanzo for the foreseeable future. 

 

Castonzo is a valuable assett for the oline. He's always been a bit better at run blocking than pass blocking, but he does both quite well. He had better and so-so years, but overall he was a fine NFL left tackle ever since he's been drafted. He's been a 6 year starter, he's still under 30, so he still has a lots of snaps in his tank left. And he missed only 3 games so far in his entire carreer (knock-knock). This is huge. "Your best ability is availability". It's a cliche, but still so true.

[Lucky Colts Fan]

14 hours ago, Zalazar Elijahh said:

I think if Costanzo, our veteran presence at O line, doesn't improve his game and cut down on his penalties then that could be the ultimate fail for this team. We need huge years out of costanzo for the foreseeable future. 

 

Remember Tarik Glenn?  We could count on him for at least one false-start penalty per game.  But he made up for it by protecting the blind-side of Peyton.  If Castanzo does the same for Andrew, we should be fine.  Plus, those extra 5 yards just ended up padding the stats for Manning.  "What is it?  1st and 15?  Ok, looks like we're passing the ball to Marvin, Reggie, and Dallas until we get a TD..."

 

If Castanzo puts us in 1st and 15 or 1st and 20, but then protects Andrews blind-side so he can hit TY for a 40-yd TD on 2nd or 3rd down, I'm Ok with that.  Protecting Luck is more important than getting to 3rd and short.  I trust Luck to convert 3rd and 12, Tolzien with 3rd and 2 makes me nervous.

 

The OLine holding or getting a false-start is like a defensive PI penalty that prevented a TD.  Yeah, they get the ball on the 1, but they didn't get points.  Yeah, now Luck is looking at 1st and 15 or 1st and 20, but he didn't get leveled by a DLineman because our OLinemen were afraid of a penalty.  I'd rather have a healthy Luck looking at 1st and long all the time than have Tolzien with 3rd and 2...  

[Peterk2011]

Does anyone have stats about holdings vs stalled drives? I don't, but I have a gut feeling that those +10 yard holding penalties play a large role in stalled drives. So I'm not that forgiving. False starts may hurt less, but still, one of the most important thing is to keep penalty rates as low as possible.

 

And, imo, third and shorts are key to the success, and also, key to protect Andrew's health. The more obvious a pass situation is and the more time a play needs to develop, the bigger the chance that the defense will get to Luck. Third and shorts are the best weapon against that.

[MackAttack]

3 hours ago, Lucky Colts Fan said:

 

Remember Tarik Glenn?  We could count on him for at least one false-start penalty per game.  But he made up for it by protecting the blind-side of Peyton.  If Castanzo does the same for Andrew, we should be fine.  Plus, those extra 5 yards just ended up padding the stats for Manning.  "What is it?  1st and 15?  Ok, looks like we're passing the ball to Marvin, Reggie, and Dallas until we get a TD..."

 

If Castanzo puts us in 1st and 15 or 1st and 20, but then protects Andrews blind-side so he can hit TY for a 40-yd TD on 2nd or 3rd down, I'm Ok with that.  Protecting Luck is more important than getting to 3rd and short.  I trust Luck to convert 3rd and 12, Tolzien with 3rd and 2 makes me nervous.

 

The OLine holding or getting a false-start is like a defensive PI penalty that prevented a TD.  Yeah, they get the ball on the 1, but they didn't get points.  Yeah, now Luck is looking at 1st and 15 or 1st and 20, but he didn't get leveled by a DLineman because our OLinemen were afraid of a penalty.  I'd rather have a healthy Luck looking at 1st and long all the time than have Tolzien with 3rd and 2...  

The past few years I've noticed a lot of penalties coming from the o line now I understand Andrews had like 40+ different o line combinations but costanzo was always the left tackle. He should be the cleanest and best o lineman we currently have but it feels like our best linemen atm could be up for grabs between ac Kelly and mewhort. But I guess we'll see  

[GoColts8818]

Can it?  Sure on paper the line looks young but pretty good and should improve as they get more experience. 

 

Will it?  Remains to be seen. 

 

What areas could be improved?  The right side is unproven long term for the most part.  Still you have to find out it those guys can play and develop.  AC is a solid left tackle but if a stud left tackle falls into your lap you always take him even if you don't "need" him. 

[lollygagger8]

If the O-line doesn't protect Luck, and (God forbid) he gets hurt again, heads will roll I'm sure. 

[shakedownstreet]

6 hours ago, lollygagger8 said:

heads will roll I'm sure. 

 

Irsay will start CRACKIN' SKULLS!