CurBeatElite
-
Posts
1,577 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Events
Blogs
Posts posted by CurBeatElite
-
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
1 hour ago, chad72 said:Albert Breer has to make up for kissing Josh McDaniels' behind when he published that unsubstantiated "organizational structure" crap about the Colts. I lost respect for him when he said that. Remember this link??? I have not forgotten.
We, Colts fans, are pretty high on Ballard, regardless of whether Breer sings his praises or not.
Getting Reich instead of McDaniels is probably the best thing that could have happened for the Colts.
-
9
-
6
-
On 5/18/2019 at 6:46 AM, DougDew said:
Anybody can have the most anything after 3 weeks. You're really stretching the concept of forecasting to be essentially calling Hooker a pro bowl player during his rookie year after a few games.
Sorry, to this point, he has not lived up to his rookie pre-season hype, either due to previous injury or current scheme, or maybe simply not being that good. Nice player so far. That's about it. Maybe he'll get there. Maybe he'll get a franchise designation or a top 5 S contract in a couple of years. Maybe not. We'll see.
He was mostly a centerfielder as a rookie, and yes after 6-7 weeks he was well on his way to the pro bowl.
Last year, he was asked to shut down one side of the field, and he did that very well.
-
2 hours ago, DougDew said:
Nonsense. Nobody should project any rookie to have a pro bowl year based upon 5 games. He just had a higher level of interceptions at the time, but wasn't elite at anything else.
He wasn't ever hyped to simply have a "very solid" season. He was hyped to be the 7th best player who "fell" to 15. Very solid is what you get with pick 40.
Hooker had an interception in each of his first 3 starts. He was defensive rookie of the week on multiple occasions. He was getting a lot of buzz on major media outlets. Before he got hurt he was right up there near the league lead in interceptions, which is what defensive backs get voted into the pro-bowl on.
Not sure what you're talking about in your second paragraph, he was on pace to have the most interceptions in the entire NFL or at least be tied. As a rookie, centerfield-type free safety, that is outstanding, regardless of where you were picked.
-
I think Ballard initiates a lot of this, or at least doesn't back away from it. I remember reading something like the first pre-season game he went to, there was a tailgate club and he talks to them before every game to get their opinions on the team and to shed some light onto what's going on (I am not in that tailgate club, so I cannot verify that, but I do remember seeing a clip during his first season as GM where he was doing that -- I doubt any other GM's in the league do that).
-
25 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:
I agree. I often wonder who votes regarding this list. The NFL Network says it is the players but some players have commented on previous lists and say they had no vote. Having said that, Luck should be top 25, if he isn't then the list loses credibility IMO. There isn't 25 better players than Luck in the league.
I think it is the players, but probably a quasi-random survey of them. If they surveyed every player on every team they'd have nearly 1,700 votes to count. I imagine they pick a random draw of 'x' players from a group of players that play greater than 'y' amount of snaps, or something like that. Wikipedia just says players who are not retired the next year are eligible, but most polls/surveys are selected with some sort of random component.
I agree with you that Luck ought to be in the top 25 (I think in terms of most valuable last year, he should really be in the top 10). I would think Ebron gets in, as he did make the pro-bowl and he did lead the league in TDs for a TE, but agree with @NewColtsFan -- last year was really his break-out year, so he may get slighted.
I remember the year Peyton missed the whole season with his neck injury, he was still voted into the top 100. He came in at 50 overall without playing a snap: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/09000d5d82966195/Top-100-Players-of-2012-Peyton-Manning
I am sure some of it is guys just having respect for other guys, like you can see in above video. There's a good chance some players who didn't play great last year get votes over Ebron, just because Ebron hasn't earned as much respect throughout the league yet.
-
1
-
-
This is pretty cool...
You'll see Glowinski pushing a car down the highway, I'm assuming the person ran out of gas and put the car in neutral.
-
Just now, throwing BBZ said:
It is a contract year so.....
And the line made it's leap when Glow and Smith came in to start.
I do hope AC has a healthy, happy, solid 2019.Yes, Glow and Smith sure did help... but the Colts gave up 10 sacks in the first 5 games. Castonzo returned in week 6 and they gave up 8 sacks in the remaining 10 games.
Castonzo's protecting Luck's blindside -- and it was very obvious when he returned that Luck went from getting sacked on average 2 times per game to getting sacked less than once per game.
-
3
-
1
-
-
This is great news. Sounds like Rusty Jones really helped Castonzo out this season... if he's really going to play the best football of his life this year, that's a huge boost to our OL -- it was very obvious our OL made a huge leap when he returned to the field in week 6 last season.
-
6
-
-
5 hours ago, runthepost said:
Seattle did have 3 guys in the secondary that were 6 foot 3 or taller that were also big and smart physical players. If we can strive for that then it would be great.
Still need a safety like Kam Chancellor
Tell really reminds me of a Seattle corner. Even though he played S in college, he's long and very fluid and our coaching staff is going to start him out there.
3 hours ago, CR91 said:The concept and players are there to make that comparison.
Wagner-Leonard
Irvin-Banogu
Smith-Walker
Bennett-Sheard
Avril-Turay
Thomas-Hooker
unfortunately we are still missing key elements in the secondary. We do not have a corner that can take half the field away like Sherman. Perhaps Ya-sin can, but we'll have to wait and see on that. Geathers can be Kam, but Kam was much better at coverage and way more of a fierce hitter.
There were a few games last year where Desir did a very good job shutting down top notch WRs (DeAndre Hopkins comes to mind). I have a feeling these coaches are hoping Desir can be that guy for us....maybe Q. Wilson, he really started to come along last year and he's only 21 (maybe 22), so even though this is his 3rd year, he's still the youngest guy on the team and should hopefully keep improving.
1 hour ago, ColtStrong2013 said:I think they are banking on Desir, Ya-Sin, Wilson and Kenny Moore on being every bit as loaded at corner as those Seattle defenses were.
Oh and btw, Sherman didn't always take half the field away. I recall a certain game in Indianapolis...
The coaches should have the young guys call TY 'light' in practice a few times to get humbled and maybe learn a few lessons.
-
5 hours ago, krunk said:
I thought him saying Turay and Banogu are very similar in some ways. If Banogu in year 1 can give us rush wise what Turay gave us or maybe a little more I will take that. I thought Turay was pretty fast coming off the ball and getting into the backfield.
I am not totally sure why Turay's play seemed to decrease during the season. I don't know if that was due to Lewis coming back, if Turay was dinged up some, or if that was part of the master plan to keep Turay healthy during his first 16 game season. But yes, 4 sacks from a rookie who was expected to be a developmental player is pretty good... I expect with the addition of Houston and more talent in the backfield Turay will improve this year as a rusher. Also seems like he's putting in a lot of time this offseason.
11 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:I hope Turray has bulked up some to stay on the field when teams run the ball.
https://twitter.com/kturay_58?lang=en
That link is to Turay's twitter.... if you scroll down a few tweets, he's got some workout videos... he looks jacked.
-
1
-
-
49 minutes ago, Smonroe said:
Good stuff. Did anyone see the article on cbssports about each teams possible fatal flaw?
For most teams it was something like QB, Oline, coaching, etc.
For the Colts it was “expectations”. That’s pretty impressive that they really couldn’t find a spot.
We are a young team, so it makes sense that expectations may become an issue.
The three things that cause me to put little worry into this are: (1) I think Reich is a terrific leader, a calm leader, and he seems to really have this team bought into his system, (2) we have good veteran leaders on this team from Vinatieri to Luck, etc., and (3) it truly seems like the young guys that had success last year are mature beyond their years -- Nelson called every draft pick right after the draft to let them know what to expect when becoming a Colt, Leonard is definitely a terrific leader - moreso than a lot of 2nd year players -- and they are all hungry, so I don't think they'll let expectations get to their heads.
This is from the article @NewColtsFan posted, but I like what Ballard says:
On if Ballard believes a roster can be too young: “No. That’s a good point. I think we’ve got a good mix of vet players on the team. I think on defense our back end’s young, but (Clayton) Geathers is a vet — been here a long time; he’s played a lot of football. You look up front: Justin (Houston), (Jabaal) Sheard, (Margus) Hunt, (Denico) Autry are all vet players, and they all do things the right way. So the rest of the defense is really young — (Pierre) Desir’s played a lot of football. And then offensively with Andrew (Luck) and (Anthony) Castonzo and T.Y. (Hilton) and Jack Doyle and (Eric) Ebron — I mean, we’ve got enough vets on the team (that) I think helps balance it out..."
-
3
-
1
-
-
On 5/8/2019 at 8:08 AM, BlueCrew48 said:
I am confused how the best offensive line in class can be an A- though??? Curious what qualifies as an A or A+ in Wesselings opinion.
I would guess on a few things -- (1) we have good, but not great depth -- we didn't drop off much last year when Kelly and Castanzo were hurt, but IMO, they were pretty obvious losses and it changed the way our O played, (2) I like Glowinski, but I think he could definitely be upgraded (I would still love to see B. Smith move to RG and somebody emerge as an elite RT), and (3) I think Nelson and Kelly are two of the top in the game at their positions, Castonzo has been very reliable but I don't think he is considered 'elite', and then I think Smith played very well at RT and Glowinski was good at RG, but currently I don't think either of them are much more than 'average' or 'slightly above average' in terms of position ranks throughout the NFL (I think Smith could move higher if moved back to RG, but as a T, I think there are quite a few in the NFL who are better than him).
What I did really like last year was as a unit, the OL seemed to play (at least the back half of the season) greater than the sum of their parts. I'll be interested to see how they react to new coaches.
On 5/8/2019 at 12:09 PM, Superman said:In May...
I like where our offense is headed, but I have a lot of questions. I'm also concerned about regression and sophomore slumps affecting the OL.
A few of my major questions are:
(1) Will Doyle be back healthy and to his old form,
(2) What will we actually get from Funchess/Campbell/Cain,
(3) How is the OL going to react to a new OL Coach (I assume positive and love we brought Mudd back, and really don't worry about Big Q going backwards),
(4) Will TY be 100% (his ankle should have had plenty of time to heal in the off-season, but he's getting up towards 30 and I thought it showed clearly in the playoffs that he's not the same WR if his burners are slowed down),
(5) Will Hines and Wilkins make any steps forward,
(6) Will we stay healthy otherwise
?
I'm optimistic about our O, and think with some added weapons at WR, we'll see Reich and Sirianni add some new wrinkles for Andrew to work with.
Now, let's just hope we stay healthy.
-
1
-
-
On 5/10/2019 at 1:26 PM, PrincetonTiger said:
Not sure DI will make the final 53
I appreciate what Inman did here, but there was a reason why we were able to sign him in the middle of the season.
In 5 years in the league, he's had 12 catches, 35 catches, 58 catches, 50 catches and 28 catches. Not bad numbers, but he is also no superstar.
A major part of the reason we brought him in was because Sirianni & Reich coached him in San Diego and knew he'd be able to come in and learn the system quickly.
As you already stated, I think he's pretty low on the depth chart to start in New England. Not saying he won't make the team, but I don't see him making much impact in NE unless they get plagued with injuries.
On 5/10/2019 at 2:01 PM, NewColtsFan said:No. It didn’t.
Neither of them do what Inman does.
Inman gets open. He doesn’t have great speed or quickness. But he runs great routes. He reads defenses. He catches the ball. He developed great chemistry with Luck inside of a week.
He’s a reliable professional receiver.
There’s almost akways room for a guy line that on any roster. I’m sorry he’s not on ours.
I certainly think Inman would have made our roster had we re-signed him, but I don't think he would be playing much of a factor in the offense if guys like Funchess and Campbell do what Reich thinks they can.
Andrew Luck makes those around him a lot better, especially if given time to throw like last year. We were very thin at WR last year, in part due to injuries and in part due to lack of talent. As you and @Supermanhave discussed he isn't a great route runner and doesn't get great separation, so more likely than not he is catching contested balls. Inman is 6'3" and a big target with good hands. Funchess is a bigger target (6'4" and 20 lbs heavier) and a better athlete -- the knock on him has been inconsistent hands.
I know it's nice to have big targets, but IMO, this offense will be built a lot on speed and we have plenty of it. Assuming Funchess and our TEs stay healthy, I don't know that we had much need for another big bodied WR who isn't terribly fast.
On 5/10/2019 at 2:35 PM, TonyBungee said:Agreed. He was the 2nd best WR on the Colts last year, and it wasn't even close. Maybe DF & Cain might have outplayed him this year, but I wouldn't bet on it. I get going with youth, but I still say this year's Colts roster would be better with him than without him.
Our WR group was very weak last year and got hit with some injuries. There is a reason why 31 other teams hadn't signed Inman until the middle of October. I agree, he was our 2nd best WR, but that isn't saying a whole lot considering who that bunch consisted of last year. We also probably would be better with Inman than without him (he would likely be an improvement to Rogers or whoever gets our last WR slot, but with the signing of Funchess, I imagine Inman wouldn't see a whole lot of the field this season).
On 5/10/2019 at 3:00 PM, SouthernIndianaNDFan said:Dude would have been the 1)TY 2)Ebron 3)Mack 4)Doyle 5)Funchess 6)Hines 7)Parris...at best 8th option in the offense, not an issue from an offensive production standpoint. Only worry is a schematic standpoint. If we end up facing them in an important playoff game, does he divulge schematic info? Absolutely.
I agree with you here (though, I have a gut feeling that Campbell will move above Hines and Funchess above Doyle in terms of offensive production).
I get the concern about sharing information about our schemes, but the amount of film preparation being done in the NFL these days, IMO, makes that a non-factor. Plus, if Campbell and Funchess turn out, and if Doyle's healthy, we're likely to be running a lot of different plays this year because we'll just have a lot more skill/athleticism on the field.
On 5/11/2019 at 11:05 AM, Jdubu said:He was almost the clone of a Wayne type of receiver. Just fast enough, run perfect routes and catches the ball. Not going to run 60 yard patterns but will move your chains. That’s exactly what we seen from him last season and hope we didn’t kick his production to the curb in lieu of a newer shiny toy that struggles. These are the tougher kind of decisions GM’s struggle with. Do I take the new version WR with tons of upside but unknown or stay with a known quantity with known ceiling and floor? Time will tell if we made the right choice on our guys.
Wayne and Inman both ran their 40 yard dashes in the mid 4.4 range -- they are both (well Reggie was) plenty faster than just fast enough. Inman was a little bigger than Reggie, but certainly didn't run perfect routes or routes close enough to be in the same category as Reggie.
There is obviously something about Funchess that Reich loves. The only parts of Funchess' game which may not be as good or better than Inman are his straight line speed and his hands (though, as others have pointed out, Funchess catches everything in the slot, where I expect he'll be used often).
On 5/14/2019 at 9:41 AM, shastamasta said:You aren't overstating the case. Luck had a 120 passer rating when targeting Inman...1-2-0...#11 in the NFL. You take away that JAC % show for the whole offense...and it would be even higher. And it's not like it was a super small sample size. Their rapport also happened very quickly. We talk about Luck elevating WRs around him...but he clicked with Inman better than any WR (not TE) since TY and Reggie.
Definitely fair to question why he wasn't brought back. The football reasons don't seem to add up. He seemed to have carved out a role as that savvy vet WR...which is very beneficial to have in a WR room that will include basically three rookies.
I know they have a plan for everyone...and age is a factor. But if you are bringing back Hunt because of how he performed (despite his age)...I am not sure why you wouldn't bring back Inman as well.
I think this is a nice read and makes sense. https://www.1070thefan.com/blogs/kevins-corner/colts-coverage/how-much-have-colts-improved-wide-receiver-offseason -- Also points out that Inman had some drop issues before joining Indy.
I haven't seen what Inman signed a deal for, but would like to know. At 2 years, $9 mil we got Hunt for pretty cheap. My guess on potential of why not bringing back Inman was either a too high of an asking price, or looking for a long term deal (can't blame him either way). After giving Funchess a pretty hefty 1 year deal, I imagine Ballard was not willing to invest heavily into another bigger WR like Inman, who would essentially be playing the same role as Funchess.
I have also not seen who the other '4 teams at the table' with offers for Inman are... I know Ballard and Inman met several times early offseason and nothing came from it. For all we know, Inman threw a really high number out and * Ballard off and they decided to part ways after those meetings.
-
2 hours ago, Stephen said:
Metcalf will prob just go deep and catch or be used in crossing routes and slants. He def can be effective. Campbell might be the most hyped rookie the colts have had in a while
Granted he missed 5 games last year, he was only 5th on the team in receptions (even if he hadn't missed 5 games, he still would've been 3rd most likely).
At 6'3" 228 lbs with a 4.33 forty, 27 reps on bench press, and a 40.5 inch vertical he is going to be a match-up nightmare for most corners just based on his size, strength, speed and ability to jump. He also has good hands (he kind of reminds me a little of a stronger DHB who can also catch).
I think you're right, he'll probably be used for the deep ball. Randy Moss wasn't as strong as this guy, but was quicker/more agile and they have similar speed. Randy made a living early in his career by running straight by people and outjumping them if he had to... as his career went on he became a more polished route-runner, but he was highly successful straight out of the gate primarily due to his speed, his height, ability to jump and good hands. Metcalf has the measurables to be a similar kind of deep threat.
And yes, I was just reading the article on the front page of Colts.com -- Ballard said Reich and Sirianni will find ways to get production out of Campbell right away based solely on his athleticism and will continuously be working on developing on turning him into a true WR and route-runner.
-
On 5/7/2019 at 7:18 AM, jchandler7 said:
They had Woods last yr (330 lbs) along with Stewart and Ridgeway (305 lbs) to help stuff the run. Right now the only true NT on the roster with any NFL experience is Stewart. I'd really like to see them pick up some depth/competition at the NT position.
In a recent press conference, Ballard spoke very highly of Stewart and said he expects him to make a major leap this year.
On 5/7/2019 at 7:23 AM, Scott Pennock said:Last year we had two 330 pound tackles plus Hunt and Ridgeway to help corral the running game.
Now we have one 330 pounder, Hunt and several guys in the 270 range.
Both Chicago and Tampa had 2-3 300+ guys to stop the run. Autry and Lewis scream Polian 4-3 defenses to me....
I hope I'm wrong and tey stop the run again this year thru scheme.
The thing with this D compared to the old Dungy D's, IMO, is we are a lot more athletic behind the front 4. Also, I think our DL is more well-versed than the Polian/Dungy-era. Freeney was a top-notch pass-rusher, but he was one of the worst DE's at stopping the run I have ever seen. I don't think we've seen enough from Turay yet to know if he's more than a 1 trick pony, but otherwise, I think all of our other DE's (while they/outside of Houston may not be elite pass rushers) can help stop the run better than Mathis and Freeney ever could.
On 5/7/2019 at 8:26 AM, SouthernIndianaNDFan said:They could've been #1 in both last season and people would still want a NT that weighs 498 lbs, because they're stuck in 1985 Ditka Land. Successful teams are built to score a ton of points these days, and it's no coincidence the 4 highest scoring teams were the last 4 standing last season. It's dynamic playcalling, and Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and Deshaun Watson that are what this league is gravitating towards. You need a defense full of athletic hybrid players that can do more than just their generic designation; fill a couple of roles. Keep the opposition guessing. It's essentially the defensive answer to today's offensive explosion, and I think Flus, and Ballard as the architect, are at the forefront of the defensive revolution.
Keep in mind, an explosive offense plays a very key role in making the other offense 1-dimensional. Part of why Freeney/Mathis were so successful in getting sacks was because more often than not (especially on our home turf), we were playing with a lead because Peyton and Co. were putting points on the board. Teams playing with a lead can focus on pinning their ears back and hitting the QB, as the opposing run game is removed.
I am very hopeful, with Luck's new weapons, that our O will figure out how to score early and often. If we can do that, it makes our run D much less of a concern because teams simply don't focus on establishing the run if they're down 14 points.
On 5/8/2019 at 8:40 AM, shastamasta said:Great post. I think Autry looked a bit better than adequate last season...but your assessments overall here are spot on...especially the part about Lewis.
Count me out of that high on Lewis group. Lewis is on the BDB hype train for sure...even though he was largely ineffective when he played (especially on the edge). Oddly, Turay isn't...which is interesting to me...because he too was a Ballard draft pick in that same area.
But if you watch the tape on Lewis...he was mostly a non-factor...getting blocked out of plays quite often. His only sack as an edge rusher came against a TE. I think that DAL game gassed everyone's head up. Great game no doubt...but not a good representation.
I can't imagine we see him at edge much this season.
I am little more optimistic about him as an UT...because I think he has the strength to do it...and his athleticism will play there. But we will see. He needs to stay healthy and take some major strides this year (same with Turay). Regardless, I would love to see them add another DT before the season.
Assuming Turay will make improvements in year 2, and with the addition of Houston, we are much more likely to see Lewis more on the inside. I don't think Lewis has a huge ceiling, but there were many plays I remember last year where it seemed like Lewis was just a step away from getting to the QB. I am hoping that is because he wasn't fully comfortable with NFL speed and because he was coming off an injury (I think a fairly serious toe injury), so he wasn't playing at full speed. If that's the case, I think he's gonna be just fine, especially with most of his reps coming from the interior. If it is just that he is actually one step too slow, I don't see him making much improvement from what we saw last year.
On 5/8/2019 at 9:43 AM, DougDew said:Agreed, that other post was great and this is too.
I look at the hype towards Lewis being sort of the same as the hype towards Hooker. The love seems to be more than what would be supported by the tape and their accomplishments. I would say that both are from Ohio State and that there are a lot of OSU fans on this board. But if I said that I would probably be criticized for the comment not having any merit.
A team also needs fatties for short yardage/goal line situations.
Back in the Polian years, he would say that the run game doesn't beat you as much as the passing game. And the NFL has become more of a passing league since then. Maybe guys like Brock and Foster would be valued more now than then. And with PMs offense, the theory was that the defense would be defending the pass more than the run, and the D was built to reflect that. With Luck/Reich's offense, the same could be said for how the defense should be built.
Having said that, I simply don't see where Stewart and Hunt can be relied upon to be the NTs for the entire season.
Hooker was on his way to a pro-bowl year before injury derailed him as a rookie.
Last year, PFF had him as the 14th ranked safety in the NFL (with an above average 79.7). He was used differently in the 'Flus scheme (he was mainly a center fielder as a rookie in a single-high role -- last year the cover 2 employed had him mainly in a double-high role with responsibility for only 1 half of the field). He didn't have the interception numbers last year, but he was also barely being thrown at because he was very effective at shutting his half of the field down. Additionally, I think Hooker was still recovering from knee injury a good chunk of last year (at least to me, he seemed to get faster or at least play faster as the season went on, which would be expected as an ACL is usually more than a full year to totally recover from).
Here's a good article on Hooker: https://coltswire.usatoday.com/2019/03/05/indianapolis-colts-malik-hooker-player-review-2018/
I'm not an OSU fan, and have to see a lot more from Lewis before I get too high on him... but I think Hooker, quietly, had a very solid season last year and is living up to his hype.
-
On 5/10/2019 at 1:29 PM, Superman said:
I'm not saying Rock has great mirror technique, just that he has shown he can mirror. Their write-up makes is seem like he has zero ability there, and that the staff doesn't care because he's long. He mostly played man in college, and was pretty good at it. I think they're stretching here.
As for the scheme, I think our coverages will vary more than they did early in the year, and I think we'll play a good amount of Cover 2, Cover 3, and add in some man in situations, with Cover 1 being a primary option and even some more aggressive coverages (Eberflus really dialed up the blitzes as the season went on). So we won't abandon zone, but I bet we're not second in zone snaps in 2019.
Ballard says it in the post-draft press conference. People undervalue the ability of a player to be versatile. He said that's what he liked with the Tell pick, is the guy should be able to play multiple positions on this defense and it's also what he likes about Quincy Wilson.
We definitely got more athletic on defense during this draft and we now have multiple players who can be used interchangeably at different positions. I expect you're correct... we are now more athletic and many of our young players have more experience in this system.
On 5/10/2019 at 4:40 PM, Superman said:Someone did a Twitter thread recently of some of the blitzes Eberflus used late in the season.
My favorite was a weakside stunt, with a weakside blitz. While the linemen are occupied with the stunt, the blitzer comes untouched. It's a work of art. Eberflus knows how to bring pressure. Adding fast players in the defensive front is an easy win.
I'm not as confident in his coverage calls, especially since the last time we saw the Colts trying to cover -- against KC -- they looked like they didn't understand how football works. The Chiefs destroyed our defense pre-snap, all game. And throughout the season, it wasn't hard to find open spaces in the secondary. We didn't give up big plays, but we gave up a ton of intermediate throws.
I'm definitely hoping for improved coverage this season. Maybe better pass rush will help.
I think pass rush and coverage go hand in hand. Better coverage leads to more QB pressure and more QB pressure leads to the ball coming out of the QB's hand faster. It will be very fun to see if Turay and Lewis make significant progress in year 2, if so, with a healthy Justin Houston, I don't think there's any doubt that we'll be racking up more sacks this year from the DL. That, plus some more creativity from 'Flus should really help this defense pressure the QB and make plays.
On 5/10/2019 at 6:18 PM, SouthernIndianaNDFan said:I'd be interested in seeing that if you find it, the Twitter thread. Well, they're 100% locked in as far as drafting a certain kind of guy for Flus scheme, so it's either gonna work brilliantly or fall flat on it's face. The KC game was hard to gauge, I feel like that was at the polar end of the "how badly can we play" spectrum. At that point, Luck essentially had TY and Ebron, and teams were doing all they could to take TY out of the mix. The rest of those guys were...well, let's face it, practice squad guys that Luck made to appear serviceable. With Funchess and Campbell (and Doyle's hopeful return from injury) there's several more dynamics to the offense, and TY should see significantly less double coverage. I feel like Reich/Luck are gonna have a field day next year, not to mention I think Marlon Mack is primed for a huge year. He's currently between the 14th and 17th RB taken in fantasy drafts at the moment, which blows my mind...but, that's another conversation for another day lol. They went on a hell of a streak to end last year, and I think Ballard --being the mad genius that he is-- just added the pieces necessary to get them to that next tier of football. Justin Houston and Devin Funchess may have been low key, but they both fill a glaring need, probably the 2 biggest needs they had. Adding Rock to the secondary is huge, that guy is a stud. The LBer depth that was added was arguably the 3rd most glaring need that had to be filled (and a strong argument could be made for it being the primary concern, with our lack of intermediate route coverage, and inability to cover TEs or anyone really in the intermediate portion of the field). Long story short: They made this team one of the 3-4 legit SB contenders going into next year. It's gonna be fun.
I think Luck showed us how good he really is last year. After Doyle went down, he made something from basically nothing with our receiving/TE corps (outside of TY and Ebron).
TY gutted it out and played very well considering he had a high and low ankle sprain the last 7 games and into the playoffs. I really think TY's ankle was shot after the first half of the Texans game. He was definitely a few steps slower against KC, and it really exposed our offense, as outside of Ebron, Luck didn't have much to work with in the passing game.
One pick which Ballard seems to be high on is Khari Willis. He is a similar player to Geathers, both thick guys and sound tacklers. I think Willis may be a little more natural in deep coverage than Geathers. I am fully expecting to see packages with Willis and Hooker in true S roles whereas Geathers is either shadowing the opposing TE or playing as a hybrid S/LB/dime CB. Hopefully, if I am right about this, we'll see much better coverage of TE's and short/intermediate passing. routes
The nice thing, as I kind of alluded to above, is a lot of our CBs can play all over the field now (e.g., I think Rock is better suited outside, but Wilson and Desir are long and fast and can play outside or inside). I think we'll see some exotic D packages this year, and I imagine the guys on the field are going to be changing on a weekly basis depending on the matchups.
-
On 5/13/2019 at 8:59 AM, Matthew Gilbert said:
I think Hooker might be my darkhorse All Pro candidate.
Hooker had a heck of a year last year. He definitely seemed to improve as the year went on (and I think that was expected in a new scheme and coming off a major knee injury). Unfortunately, it seems like DBs who rack up a lot of INTs get more recognition for All-pro/Pro-bowl. Hooker did an exceptional job shutting down the middle of the field last year... if he does that again this year, he may have an exceptional year, but if teams don't throw at him, may lack the stats to get votes.
On 5/13/2019 at 9:59 AM, dodsworth said:Reggie Wayne wasn't exactly a burner along side Marvin Harrison,
so I can't recall when we had 2 elite speedster wideouts.
As @ProblChld32 said, Reggie ran a 4.45 before the draft. He was a lot faster than most give him credit for.... People have high hopes for Campbell (rightfully so), but for now I think it's way pre-mature to call him elite.
A few years back we had Moncrief, Dorsett and TY -- all 4.4 or under guys. They talked a lot in pre-season that they had some packages called the Indy 500 b/c they were so fast and would burn by defenses. TY is really the only one that did anything substantial from that group.
I think Campbell will wind up being a better WR than Moncrief/Dorsett -- but until we see it, I'm not ready to say TY's got an elite speedster alongside him.
On 5/13/2019 at 10:12 AM, Superman said:I'm intrigued by this entire class. I don't know if any one player excites me (Campbell, maybe). I'm more excited by what the coaching staff is going to do. I see some scheme versatility coming on defense, and I think the offense has the potential to be more refined, balanced and explosive.
I agree with this 100%. We ran a pretty vanilla defense last year -- I think for 2 reasons: (1) we were very young and unexperienced, and (2) we didn't have a lot of talent. We definitely deepened our talent across the roster this year and the young guys from last year are a year older (outside of Autry, Woods and Hunt, our main defensive contributors had 3 or less years of NFL experience).
We definitely added some athletes to this roster in the off-season, so I think we'll see a much more intricate defensive scheme this year.
On offense, I am excited that we tried to get some weapons for Luck to take pressure off TY. We got Luck protection last year, but with Doyle out hurt and TY playing with significant pain, Luck did a heckuva job elevating talent of others in the offense. I thought it was very apparent in the playoff loss to KC when TY was hobbling that our offense needed to add weapons. If Campbell, Cain, and Funchess pan out and if Doyle comes back healthy, Luck ought not have any lack of weapons with this group.
On 5/13/2019 at 11:16 AM, BlueCrew48 said:Just watched Devin Funchess's highlights and I had to come back to change my vote. I think he might be the one I am now most excited for. That dude is TALENTED and BIG. We haven't had a big target like that in awhile, not that can reliably catch the ball at least. Dude has Damian Heyward Bay size, but actually makes catches, which is fairly important. Plus he seems pretty damn quick, looked it up and he ran a 4.47 40 on his draft profile. and, I like the fact that he doesn't seem bothered by contact, and lowered his head and shoulder on quite a few plays getting him extra yardage or the TD.
I also like that he has a wide catch radius. It seems like his drops are what he gets knocked for, but if you look at the actual stats, he mainly drops balls that are right in his numbers and makes catches on balls away from his body. I think Luck will work very nicely with him.
-
1
-
-
8 hours ago, DaveA1102 said:
I love that Ballard does this, gives a real perspective on what the scouts were thinking on each drafted prospect:
Little nuggets like this on Campbell:
While Campbell flaunted his talents at rookie minicamp last week – that speed, those hands, one smooth, effortless route after another – the biggest hurdle he’ll have to clear in the pros, Ballard said, is learning to play on the outside. Campbell played almost exclusively in the slot as a Buckeye. Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni will certainly use him there, but the scheme, heavy on multiple formations, will require him to work near the sideline as well.
“The question with Parris: How long will it take him to really learn how to play outside?” Ballard said. “He just hasn’t done it. That’s gotta be an adjustment. How long did it take Reggie Wayne? And I’m not calling him Reggie Wayne, but Year 3? Maybe it happens Day 1, maybe it’s Year 3, you don’t know.”
The nice thing with Campbell, like it was with Reggie, is he has a very good mentor to learn from. Ideally, we'll see Campbell develop closer to day 1 than year 3... but if it takes him a little while to turn from a freak athlete to a top notch WR, we'll likely be OK.
-
1
-
-
7 hours ago, Myles said:
I agree with most of those. Just not Mack. I think with Ware, we have a very competent backup you could slide into the starter role.
Ware is talented if he's healthy and arguably our most talented back-up to Mack... however, Ware did miss the entire 2017 season w/ a knee injury and he only rushed for 246 yards last year (granted he was backing up Kareem Hunt most of the year prior to Hunt's release).
Ballard said last year that he believes Mack can be a 1,200+ yard rushing season if he can stay healthy a full 16 game season. I agree with you that we can still win games without Mack, but if we really want to make a run through the playoffs, I don't see us doing it without a healthy Mack leading our backfield.
-
5 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:
Well, Ballard just said he may take till mid-season to be 100% so they are probably going off that. It takes time to develop any player so there is no reason to believe he will bolt out as an exception. Patience.
Torn ACL's typically take over a year to fully recover from (though technology is improving)....
Even last year, I thought Malik Hooker looked a little slow until sometime around the bye week. He played well, but whether it was mentally building confidence in the knee or the knee itself was still healing, I thought he seemed to improve as the year went on.
I would expect the same from Cain -- in August, which is ~1 year from his injury, he'll start participating in contact drills/etc.... but it'll take a few months after that until he's really back at full speed.
-
2 minutes ago, Shadow_Creek said:
Let me first start off by saying i like both TE's and i think they both contribute gracefully in there own awesome ways. However if i were to give an edge to the better player i would go with Ebron due to his explosiveness after the catch you just cant beat that.
I would give the edge to Ebron right now strictly based on health. Ebron is also a better athlete and more of a receiving threat.
Doyle is a better blocker and is reliable in short yard passing situations, but doesn't really seem to have the athleticism to put a ton of fear into defenses like Ebron can.They really are two totally different players. In my opinion, I think it's easier to replace a guy like Doyle than a guy like Ebron mainly due to raw athletic ability.
Either way, I hope Doyle's hip recovers to a point where he is back to old form and can play a full season for us --- if so, we have one of (if not the) best TE Duo's in the NFL.
-
2
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, chad72 said:
Remember, when Bill Polian and his scouts drafted players from the Big Ten consistently, the joke was that we had budgets only for scouts to scout from the Big Ten nearby???
Polian had some sort of personal connection with Kirk Ferentz from Iowa. He mentioned several times that kids coming out of Iowa are well trained and prepared for the NFL. Dallas Clark and Bob Sanders came from Iowa in 2003 and 2004 via draft by the Colts.
Polian also mentioned he really trusted Coach Ferentz' opinion when he was evaluating players. Perhaps Ballard or one of Indy's staff members has some connection with Meyer or an assistant at OSU. Reich does mention when he talked to the position coach at OSU, he said Parris Campbell is the "kind of man I want my son to grow up to be like." The way Reich said it, you could tell he really valued the opinion of that specific coach.
3 hours ago, dodsworth said:Things may change since Urban Meyer was ousted.
I wouldn't say he was ousted... he was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director. Ohio State is going to continue to be a powerhouse of D-1 College Football for the foreseeable future.
-
1
-
-
18 hours ago, Chloe6124 said:
Are we just going to put linebackers out there on defense.
https://www.colts.com/video/nfl-draft-day-3-willis-tell-iii-speed-green-barton-patterson
He says it kiddingly, but somewhere in the NFL Draft Recap video, Ballard says we'll have a special package with 11 LBs standing up on D.
-
1
-
-
20 hours ago, CamMo said:
But this guy has DK Metcalf rated as a “can’t miss” player when all I’ve heard from Colts affiliated media is how overrated Metcalf is, lack of actual production, workout warrior, etc.
Can’t wait to see Parris at training camp.
He does say Parris is his favorite WR from this draft.... but says Metcalf will be the surest one to be a decent NFL player. Metcalf seems to lack agility and is from tape he looks pretty stiff getting in and out of routes... however, he's got tremendous size and strength and good hands, so he'll still probably be productive.
CR91 standing prediction
in Colts Football
Posted
The Pats picked up K'Neal Harry with their first draft pick. They also have added Demaryius Thomas, Dontrelle Inman and have retained Edleman. Yes, they lost Gronk, but he also missed 13 games over the past 3 seasons and they still win without him. They also have NYJ and Miami in their division (I think the AFC East has become the least competitive division in the NFL -- though, I think Buffalo is going to shock some people this year).
I am somewhat of a Mahommes skeptic. He had a fantastic year last year, and played well in the post-season. I think he'll continue to be up near the top in QBs in the league, though I have a hard time imagining he's going to reproduce what he did last year on a consistent basis. NFL coaches sometimes take a year to figure things out, but I think he'll be contained much better this year after others have had a year of film on him to break down.