Grades: Week 1 @ Rams

[Superman]

 

This is gonna be ugly. Usually, even in a blowout, you can point to a handful of plays that could have gone differently and resulted in a much closer game. I don't really feel that way in this one. Even without the two INT returns, we got outscored by 21. Sad outcome after waiting 8 months for a real Colts game.

 

Box score

Snap counts

 

Offense, D: 49 plays, 225 yards, 10 first downs (6 passing, 3 rushing, 1 from penalty), 0/10 on third down, 0/1 on fourth down, 1/2 red zone, 4 turnovers (including the safety), -7 points (gave up 16 points on turnovers and the safety); calling this offensive showing "pathetic" is too kind, the aggregate grade doesn't emphasize the putridness of this performance

 

QB: Tolzien was awful. Inaccurate throws, late throws, no poise in the pocket, no calm under pressure, was rattled from jump, and just got worse. Didn't keep his eyes downfield when he felt pressure, he missed almost every down field throw he attempted, and just generally played one of the worst games of QB we've seen in a long time. We had 11 total completions, and didn't have any yards in the entire third quarter. Brissett showed that he's far more talented in just 9 snaps. The sooner he learns enough of a package to start, the better. F, Brissett saved the minus

 

Backs / receivers / TEs: The backs ran well. Gore churned out yards, Mack needs to be a tad more patient but showed his defining trait, and they both caught the ball well and earned yardage after catch. Mack's fumble is disappointing, but when you get held up and a defender starts raking, you're in trouble. Hilton's fumble was bad, but he did his job as a receiver. Not a good game to judge pass catchers. C, ball security is the only negative

 

OL / blocking: Leaky pass pro, jumbled run blocking. There were some good individual moments, and there's reason to believe the line can play well enough if the offense ever gets into a rhythm. They created some small holes in the run game, and Gore did a good job of finding them and getting through. AC got whipped at LT, Good was decent at RT, and everyone else had good and bad moments in both phases. Still struggled picking up stunts and delayed rushers, still not good in the screen game. I put 75% of the blame for sacks on the QB. C-, so sloppy you'd think 80% of the line is changed...

 

Defense, D+: 64 plays, 373 yards, 19 first downs, 13 passing, 5 rushing, 1 from penalty), 5/14 on third down, 2/4 red zone, 0 turnovers, 30 points; good run defense, awful pass coverage, no pass rush, no playmaking

 

Defensive front: The run defense was pretty good. The only times Gurley got out of the backfield were when the Rams held, and those plays came back. Missed some tackles, including on the TD, which was ridiculous. Overpursued on the couple of designed counters, but for the most part they held the edge and stayed strong up the middle. Al Woods was much better than I anticipated. Pass rush didn't get home pretty much at all, and that's because we don't have pass rushers. Mingo had a couple nice rushes, Ridgeway had a couple nice beats, and Hunt got home once, but the pressure wasn't anywhere near consistent, and that's problematic because we can't cover. The ILBs were hit and miss, had some nice stops and then some poor tackling efforts, some nice covers then got beat. Bostic was very active, but his hand limits him. Morrison started out well, then faded, and maybe that's because of the injury. George was active just like in preseason, he might get more and more time with Morrison and Walker hurt. I'm continually impressed by the way Hairston supports the run and tackles. C+, the front was by far the best unit of the day, and that's with zero pass rush

 

Pass defense: Unsurprisingly, they struggled to cover at almost every level. Any misdirection -- play action, screens, whatever -- was successful for the Rams, and then they still were able to beat us deep on a couple plays. Second level coverage had blown plays also. Top to bottom, bad coverage. There were some decent plays, but they went 22/30 on us, so we didn't cover well. The TJ Green experiment continues to have mixed results; he was flat footed at the top of Kupp's TD route, which is a continual problem for him. Melvin is not a good player; he used to at least tackle well, but no more. Wilson struggled at the point, but was again in good position; he needs more reps. D-, I knew McVay would upgrade their passing attack, but we put up zero resistance 

 

Special teams: Sad that we couldn't even get this right. Got blown up on punt returns, gave up a 35 yard kick return, and missed two field goals. Recovered a muffed punt, but not really of our own doing. And then the missed kicks by AV... when it rains, it pours. I think Sanchez's holds were bad, the ball was leaning away from the kicker on both. They'll figure that out. D, mistake city

 

Coaching / play calling / game management, D-: 

Monachino didn't dial anything up to manufacture a pass rush, but really didn't have the situations to do so. The Rams countered any pressure with quick hitters (imagine that!) and kept the QB out of trouble. I didn't have any problem with his approach or gameplan, but we have to cover better. If we had a pass rush, I'd suggest more Cover 3. C

 

I have the usual issues with Chud's play calling -- some nonsense route combos on 3rd and short, etc. And again, the inability to run a screen is a coaching issue. But inept QB play and leaky protection are the bigger issues. C-

 

Why not challenge the goal line play? We went hurry up like we thought there was a fumble or something... And then the general lack of execution points to a lack of preparation and ability to refine your gameplan into something the team can actually perform at a winning level. Awful coaching performance from the top. F

 

Game ball: Yeah right...

 

Callin 'em out: Later this week, I'm bringing back "Callin 'em out," which will be a thread where we post who needs to play well for the team to win, what adjustments have to be made, what you'll have your eye on, etc., and I'll reference that thread in the grades. 

 

Next, home opener vs the Cards. Still no Luck. Who will start at QB (we already know it will be Tolzien, but here's hoping it's not), will the offense convert a third down, will we give up less than 40 points, etc. Kind of a sad state of affairs right now, but it can't get much worse than Sunday's game.

 

GO COLTS!

[OHColtfan]

In college they had a W-F, withdraw failing, where you left the class with a failing grade. I'd really like to give our coaching staff that grade.

[NorthernBlue]

The defense was bad but I'm willing to hold judgement on them until they can get some freaking support from the offense.

 

I pray that Brissett is a fast learner because there's no way the colts even scratch Arizona with Scott Tolzien under centre.

[BPindy]

Kudos to you for having the strength to actually pick apart that game. 

 

I will say a stout run defense was a pleasant surprise for once, but this defense will do no better until Davis is back. 

 

Bond may have had the best game out of the linemen. He opened up some decent lanes for Gore 

[a06cc]

Castanzo sucks. Been saying it for years. The guy can’t handle Robert Quinn. 

[Superman]

1 hour ago, BPindy said:

Kudos to you for having the strength to actually pick apart that game. 

 

I will say a stout run defense was a pleasant surprise for once, but this defense will do no better until Davis is back. 

 

Bond may have had the best game out of the linemen. He opened up some decent lanes for Gore 

 

I didn't get to watch it live, so I didn't have to suffer through the gradual realization that we weren't going to win. I already knew how bad it was, and had some things I wanted to pay attention to. 

[The Peytonator]

At least Al Woods looked good. About the only positive from the game other than it ending.