Gimme shelter
Entry posted by HungarianColtsFan
2,471 views
I've been away for a while from my blog as have been busy to start "new era2 at home. As major operations around the house are over I can pay more time to forum and my blog too.
However summer Olympic Games in London ruling the sports life nowadays, preseason has already started in NFL which means end of football-fast for the fans.
By signing Andrew Luck (and all other rookies) new era has officially begun at Colts. Ship is loaded with sailors, pilot, first mates,captain, commander, and sets sail to a new horizon. The ship has stormy seas ahead full with reefs and sharks.
This gonna be interesting season for the Colts, as it is a test flight, from many aspects:
- New coaching staff
- Rookie QB
- Loads of new players on the roster
- Loads of rookies on the roster
- New philosophy on O and D
- New "Monster" style
Coaching staff is totally new, however coordinators and coaches are experienced and proven experts. Head Coach Chuck Pagano is also a rookie as HC, but he has tons of NFL experience...sure as a Defensive Coordinator, but he is from the first line of commander chain of coaching, and he was 2.Coach at Ravens, so he may have some idea about head-coaching. Still, he is rookie on this post, and surely there are lots of stuff to learn about being a HC. He is in better position than Caldwell was in my opinion, as Caldwell was handed over a winning team, that could march into SB by itself, that situation didn't allow him to learn much. Pagano has a "dark blue horse" team, with many flaws, so he can learn fine tuning, timing, and how to intervene game if needed. He may grow up as HC with the team.
Andrew Luck was the #1 pick int this draft, and during TC he proved being as good as advertised before. According to reports and fans narratives from TC, he is already in command of O-line, acts like a 3-4 year veteran QB, and shows many similarities with..."some QB I used to know" (Peyton Manning of course). According to others he is frustrated when playing 11 again 11, whatever it means. According to Pagano, he is able to change plays when calling according to defensive formation, so he is flexible, that is more than needed. Still, he is gonna playing pro-football, in the NFL, so he will have a hard start I recon. High expectations and comparison to PM puts great load on this young man, I hope he can put it down at the sidelines and carry only the ball to the field. One is for sure: Luck has swarms of targets on the field, what allows him large number of permutation of play calls (if they can run routes out of cover), which may be unpredictable for opposing Ds. Main thing in his rookie year to learn to step up to the pocket, and the O line shall give him shelter to pass.
After last infamous (let1s forget it) season, holes on the roster were filled in with new players, at last mediocre, or sometimes better players, New FO put lots of pounds in the middle, and tried to sing and draft weapons for Luck. Our salary cap is under of burden of history high 38 M$ dead-cap, so I must say under given circumstances FO reinforced the team, at least first lines. In my opinion spine of our roster will take its shape over the next 2-3 season.
With new FO and coaching staff, new philosophy arrived to Indianapolis. According to experiences and expectations Pagano implicates a 3-4 hybrid D-system instead of old Tampa 2 "cover nobody, but your head". We shall stop here for a while. Tampa2 isn't a bad system if implicated well, many team applies it successfully. Pagano is a Master of 3-4 (besides Colts' fans are fed up with old and not-functioning D-system), so he's switching to his system, which was operating well, and hopefully he transplants his system here successfully. Question here is, if D-players are good enough to maintain a close to medicore or at least "better than last season" Defense?
New philosophy involves bigger emphasis on Special Team play, hopefully we will experience longer returns, not to mention punt-returned TD, what we haven't experienced over last 2 seasons...
Offensively, Colts will remain a pass-heavy team, however I believe running the ball will have more role than over recent years.
"Build the Monster" is the new catchword, according to this monster-sized players were signed. But will the transition from a soft team to an aggressive, attacking from every angle playing style with Godzillas in the middle swift? We will see.
In "kurz und gut" to recap this whole text:
Colts are facing a long, bumping and winding road that leads to an other decade of greatness. every conditions are given, time is the only question.
This time will demand great patience from us, fans. To overcome such Armageddon is never easy, and we have to respect the team to take this daring step toward the future.
I don't think that number of wins matters this season...in my opinion only learning, chemistry and gained experience matters. If we will have only 3 wins, but an operating team at the end of the season, I will happy.
I won't hide it: I'm very anxious and concerned about the team, and especially about Luck this season. Not because I think they are bad, because I think they are talented...I hope we won't waste this talent in no ways.
Preseason has already started, both RGIII and PM has played their first downs. Manning played too little according to my liking, seems like Broncos don't risk him and his health before regular season.
For the first preseason game:
GO COLTS!!!
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