CurBeatElite
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Posts posted by CurBeatElite
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1 hour ago, GusFring said:
Would Frank even call a fg in that spot?
Need to go younger
In a dome, I have 100% confidence in Vinny. 57 yards is a long way for any kicker, but I'd put AV out there with as much confidence as any other kicker from that distance in a dome setting.
1 hour ago, Introspect said:No chance does AV make that.... Father Time is undefeated.
The old man is coming fast for AV.... Cut bait
As @Hammer said, Vinny was consistently hitting from 60+ in practice and warm-ups. Vinny has as good a chance as anyone to make that kick, especially with a good hold in a dome.
55 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:57 is pretty far, If Vinny is kicking in a dome I would feel great if it was from 50 or so, outside of 55 is always iffy.
Exactly.. no kicker is going to be hitting 55+ yarders consistently. If the game is on the line, and its in a dome, I trust AV as much as any kicker in the league to take that chance with.
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5 hours ago, Colts_Fan12 said:
That would be a waste Geathers is a decent player but we should definitely be looking to upgrade. Nothing is worse than being content with average players. Collins is still a far superior player to Geathers.
In absolutely zero ways as far as football talent is concerned is Collins 'far superior to Geathers.' He has stayed more healthy then Geathers and he comes from a bigger school and is more of a household name than Geathers are the only areas where he is superior to Geathers. They both played 12 games last year, missing 4 due to injury. Geathers had 89 tackles, 1 FF, 3 PDs, 0 INTs ... Collins, in a different scheme, had 96 tackles, 1 FF, 4 PDs, 0 INTs (more or less as close to the same stat line as possible for 2 players on different teams playing the same position).
Geathers was named a team captain for Indy last year. Collins is disliked by most of his teammates because he is a bad teammate. Watch Inman's interview on the Herd yesterday where he talks about locker room/chemistry/team atmosphere. He flat out says the Colts and Patriots are about building a culture of a team that cares about eachother and basically every player knows the sum is greater than each individual part. Collins has no problem throwing his teammates under the bus if it makes him look better to the media (for the short term... Collins and the NYG looked pretty dumb after Eli Apple was basically ridden out of town by Collins and going on to be a stud for NO).
4 hours ago, colt18 said:Bethea was awesome during his time here, I hate that we let him go
I always liked Bethea. Great player and a great Colt. I think part of him being let go was just trying to clean house from the mess Polian left Grigs and Co in (funny, now we're stuck trying to clean up some of Grigs' mess) and part was he probably didn't want to sacrifice his salary as part of a rebuilding team.
4 hours ago, ThorstenDenmark said:Hooker is good when Healthy... BUT... he's often injured and we need another stud to back him up or one who can take more of his snaps.
Hooker is good, but we need one who's reliable
Hooker played 14 games this year and did very well. That is pretty good in terms of health, and we're not likely to find a back up who will be near as good of a player as Hooker who can also play 16 games a year. As mentioned previously by many posters, the injury from his rookie year normally takes 2 full years to recover from, so the fact he only missed 2 games 1 year out is promising. The only way we're going to get someone as talented as him is to either draft high or break the bank in free agency (and both of those are probably bad ideas and not likely to provide us an improvement of Hooker).
4 hours ago, Shive said:One of the most underappreciated guys on our defense is Mathias Farley. If he was healthy this year, we would have had very solid Safety depth and I think would have improved the overall play of our defense. He's not a pro bowler or a game changer, but he's one of those dependable guys that will at the very least execute consistently and make a good play every now and then.
I agree. Farley is a very solid and reliable player. That said, everyone is knocking Hooker and Geathers on their health issues. Farley missed a 11 games with his own injury problems. Hopefully he comes back fully healthy and can stay that way. If so, we may have no real need to address safety in the off-season and can rely on what we already have.
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2 hours ago, Colts_Fan12 said:
Well he doesnt have enough picks so he isnt good!
Damn I love Malik Hooker!! I really hope we get a SS with better coverage skills to pair with him our S duo will be one of the best in the league. If by some miracle Collins hits FA I'd take him or I'd even take Johnathan Abram in the draft if he falls to one of the 2nd rounders.
Collins, IMO, is largely overrated. And the biggest knock on his game is probably his coverage skills. He's also a bad teammate (most of my friends are Giants' fans and do not like him much -- here's one example of him being a jerk: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2751070-landon-collins-calls-giants-teammate-eli-apple-a-cancer-during-interview).
Plus, Ballard loves Geathers (listen to his season ending press conference, he's very high on the guy). Geathers is a very good player, he just has to be healthy (not just healthy enough to get on the field, but healthy when he's on the field as well). Given that both Geathers and Hooker have had injury issues over the course of their short careers, I expect we'll do something to address the S position in the off-season (expecting Farley back healthy and resigning some of our own guys may be enough), but I don't foresee us doing in anything major or bringing in any huge names to replace Geathers.
1 hour ago, Smonroe said:He was nicked up all year and still managed to play 14 games. If I’m not mistaken, that was more than any other safety on the team.
It’s a tough position to stay 100% all season.
He also came off a knee injury that most say takes a full 2 years to recover from. I am optimistic about the way Hooker played this year and that he was on the field for the majority of games.
25 minutes ago, MikeCurtis said:I look forward to a healthy player this fall
I see these stats and I am happy that the guy had some decent stats
But.........
We played largely the same defense last year, and he SEEMED to be more involved last year (before his injury)
I hope he gets his elite speed back.
As mentioned a few times on the board...... it takes 2 years with many people..... especialy
if they tore both ACL and MCL (Like Hooker did)
If we actually get some pass rush, there will be some less accurate throws that ALL of our DBs will be able to improve their stats
We played a very different defense last year (we can just start at we switched from a 3-4 to a 4-3 cover 2 base defense). And being more involved isn't always a great thing for DBs... he had more picks last year, but people were throwing is way more. He lead the NFL in being targeted this year (only 1 ball every 75 snaps was thrown his way). It could be teams this year just shied away from him due to them knowing how big a playmaker he can be, but is probably some combination of that plus our overall scheme and defensive improvement.
15 minutes ago, ztboiler said:Not denying his effectiveness...but wonder how you objectively measure the coverage exposure of a deep safety.
As @BlueShoe said, Hooker did very well when the ball was thrown his way (1 completion allowed per 131 snaps). I think the metric to look at, though, is targets per snap which Hooker also lead the league in (only once every 75 snaps were balls going directly his way). I still think you pose a good question, though, as there are many times where Hooker is really kind of a 'clean-up' guy (like a 'sweeper' would be in soccer)... i.e., plays where he doesn't have a specific man responsibility but rather reads the QB and the offense to get to the right spot on the field.
Regardless, even though his INT numbers were down and at times he may have seemed a little slower than last year (probably true, especially early in the year when he was getting used to contact again after a long time rehabbing his knee), Hooker had a very good year and if he can stay healthy, he should be a very solid FS in this league for years to come.
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4 hours ago, coltsfeva said:
I’m kinda tired of the whole celebration thing, including the “group snapshot”, coreographed nonsense and players separating themselves after a tackle and pounding their chest.
The Autry thing was just foolish.
Nothing wrong with high fives or showing emotions but this other stuff is reminiscent of WWE.
I agree. I kind of like the choreographed team 'non-sense' a little more than the players separating themselves from the team, mainly because this is supposed to be the greatest team sport on the planet and it seems as though many in the NFL are now more out to 'build their brand' rather than win football games (see Antonio Brown, O'Dell Beckham, etc.). There area few exceptions, including TY's signature T.Y. dance. In large part, I think this is just the nature of the younger generation ('show me the money').
That said, not many things are more frustrating than watching players celebrate when they are losing, especially when it's to the point where they're drawing a 15 yard penalty on the play.
4 hours ago, Smonroe said:Totally agree. I always thought you should only celebrate on D after stopping a drive, never after 1st or 2nd down.
i don’t mind the group pic when you score if you’re winning. But I could do without all the preplanned stuff.
To his credit, Autry's tackle was on a 4th down stop. Still, we had to start backed up 15 yards from where he made the stop and we were losing pretty heavily at the time.
There were times with our group snapshots this year which I thought were kind of cool in some respects. For example, Jacoby Brissett is in most (maybe all) of them. I thought that showed we have a good connection as a team in general.
The times when I actually really do like player celebrations are when they really boost the team and get momentum going... 2 examples from the Colts are Luck's emphatic spike after his crazy TD when we came back from 28 over the Chiefs:
And when Marvin spiked the ball of Mike Vrabel's face after his amazing catch in week 9 of the 2006 season. This was after everyone was calling Indy soft and saying we couldn't get by the Pats... Marv doing that (IMO) was well worth the 15 yards, as it set the tone for the rest of that game and I think let people know that we weren't backing down from NE anymore (we wound up beating them in the AFC Championship that same year):
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Seems like a very good guy.
My favorite part of the interview was when he was talking about locker room culture/etc. and he highlighted that Luck always takes the blame on himself. I was watching an interview with Emmanuel Sanders recently regarding Antonio Brown where E.S. said something like "If Big Ben called me out to the media after the game like he did to A.B. a few weeks ago, I would have felt disrespected and like I just got thrown under the bus." I think AB is obviously a different character than Inman and others on the Colts team, but it's great to hear from our WRs that they all like playing with Luck and appreciate that as the leader of our team, Luck never deflects blame to anyone else but himself.
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20 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:
My comment about Pagano was sarcastic. I was kidding. I was joking.
I'm actually a Pagano supporter.... but many here want to blame Pagano for many of our problems, so I thought I'd add one more. Again, complete sarcasm. Sorry it wasn't more obvious.
I was also kind of kidding in my response... but found a way to blame Pagano for Guges' firing.
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11 hours ago, Coffeedrinker said:
Wow, you are busy with your quotes. Good work. I will give you the system somewhat, Chicago ran a cover 2 type D for a bit while he was there, but not always and KC did not run a cover 2 type at all. But the attributes, that is up to the coaches to decided, it's up to the GM to figure out how to grade players in those attributes.
I will say I don't think Pagano staying on for a year was "out of respect" for Pagano, I think @DarkSupermannailed it the other day in his "tanking a season" post. I think Irsay/CB wanted to tank the season so they could start the rebuild.
I completely disagree about an eye for talent because there is no set definition of "talent". Talent is the combination of attributes and the attributes and priority of those attributes is determined by conversations with the coaches, coordinators and position coaches. Glowinski is a perfect example. Glow was not talented enough for Seattle, that is why they let him but he comes to the Colts and does very well. Did he all of a sudden become more talented? No, he just came to a team that wanted and was able to teach him how to use his attributes.
Anyway, welcome to the board and I hope you keep posting, especially posts like these, they were enjoyable to read.
Or he could just be a better fit for Indy's scheme. We got him in December 2017 off waivers. He started out that season as a starting OL for Seattle and was later replaced by a younger guy (so I wouldn't say he was 'not talented enough for Seattle' -- maybe he was just irked that he lost his starting job and needed a change of scenery, plus Seattle had Luke Joeckel at one G spot and a couple of young studs at G as well). Our OL was pretty horrendous in the 2017 season, so I think we would've signed basically anyone we could get to try to help out (we had 4 different starters at C, 5 different starters at RG, and had Vujo as a LG with Clark and Haeg splitting the season at RT).
Glowinski was a 4th round pick in 2015 and obviously is talented enough to play in the NFL. I am sure if we didn't claim him off waivers, someone else would have. At the time it may not have seemed like it, but maybe we were lucky that our OL was so bad in 2017 that we needed to pick him up (and convince Ballard to put some major investment into it during last offseason). That said, I appreciate what Glowinski did for us this past year, but I still think he was the weakest link on the OL by far and a lot of his troubles were masked by being surrounded by the rest of the OL which is very talented. I don't think we should break the bank for him, as I think he is pretty easily replaced, but it'd be nice to see him back at the right price.
Anyway, to your point "talented" is a combination of things (IMO). Raw talent is one thing, fitting a scheme and being in an environment to thrive given your raw talent (and willingness to work hard) is another. This happens often... see Jerry Hughes, a first round draft pick for us that didn't produce at all and then went to Buffalo to become a very solid LBer or Vontae Davis who was nowhere near living up to potential in Miami and came here and gave us a few years of being a top 3 CB (IMO, definitely in the top 10) in the NFL.
This article is pretty compelling about Ballard looking to switch to a 4-3 (even though a few arguments like his Hankins and John Simon signings are out the window): https://www.stampedeblue.com/2018/1/4/16849394/theory-ballard-knows-the-new-head-coach-big-changes-coming-for-colts-defense
Another thing I love about Ballard is he is drafting/signing guys who are good locker room guys... heck he even hired a former Green Beret to help judge player character (http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/17255219/green-beret-brian-decker-thinks-improve-success-rate-nfl-first-round-draft-picks).
It is funny, Ballard has said many times he is aiming to bring in guys who love football and who are of high character... now we're seeing players coming up with quotes very similar to what Ballard's philosophy has been since day 1 of being hired as Colts' GM... for example, TY in this article (https://www.colts.com/news/the-sky-s-the-limit-for-colts-t-y-hilton-in-2019 -- which came out today) says: "What Chris (Ballard) and Frank has put together, they're putting together some guys that love football,” Hilton continued. “And as long as you're around guys that love football, you're gonna be a tough team." .... very similar to Ballard here: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/colts-gm-chris-ballard-says-hes-learning-from-theo-epsteins-example-cubs-model/ when he says "
"We want high-character guys that love football, that will hold each other accountable, that will be good teammates. It stuck out like a beacon light.
"Look at the teams that win in this league. It's culture. Culture wins. It absolutely wins. Football is the greatest team sport. It really is because guys want to have individual success, but they can't have individual success without their teammates. They can't do it. Not in this sport. It's too hard.""
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From front page of Colts.com: @Superman was right w/ his Occam's Razor analogy
From the front page of Colts.com interview with Reich:
On recent changes to the coaching staff, including assistant offensive line coach Bobby Johnson being named the Buffalo Bills’ offensive line coach, and deciding to part ways with offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo:
“Obviously in Bobby’s case, it was a tremendous opportunity for him. You know, right after the season, I got a call right after the season — in fact, I got a call from those guys noting there could be some interest. And so it’s a great opportunity for Bobby to go there and be the offensive line coach. And then, of course, after the season, you know, just decided to part ways with Guge. And that was really hard, because I so much respect Guge as a person and as a coach. You know, he played a significant role in us coming in here and the success we had. And it’s hard — it’s hard to explain. It was really odd dynamics the way that he and I got connected, and it’s no reflection on him or anything; it’s just when I had envisioned getting this position, you know, there’s certain things that you just are looking for, in ways that you just want to have ‘my guy,’ for lack of a better way to say. You always envision bringing in the guy that you had envisioned bringing in. But certainly appreciate the contribution Guge made, and I told him that, and love and respect him.”
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On kicker Adam Vinatieri and his pending free agency:
“He’s the ‘G.O.A.T’ for a reason, right? And, I mean, just the week before the season ends, he’s out there kicking 63, 64 yarders on the practice field. I don’t know how he does it. The guy’s incredible. So he’s still kicking at a very high level. I know he’s working through that decision (and) has expressed some desire of, ‘Hey, probably want to (return),’ but I can certainly understand and respect him to take a minute to think that through. But I’ll have to keep sending him texts, ‘Come on, now. Let’s go. Get back here. We’ve got a few more years left in you.’”
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On 1/15/2019 at 12:49 AM, GusFring said:
That catch vs Oak was beautiful, but thats all I ever saw from him this yr. Swoope makes plays. This reminds me of Grigson with AQ.
As others have said above.. Swoope is injured frequently, he is a very poor blocker and he is not much (if at all) better than Cox as a receiver.
On 1/15/2019 at 3:36 AM, DaveA1102 said:If all a tight end needs to do is catch then this could be a discussion. Unfortunately for Swoope it is not.
Without Doyle we were devoid of blocking talent at the TE position as this is not Ebron's game. Cox excelled at this on a number of occasions and was specifically mentioned by a number of people in the media and Colts locker room.
The other thing is we have seen tangible progression with Alie-Cox from where he started, especially on the blocking side. I would say that Swoope is the same player he was when he walked through the door on his first day.
I think Swoope definitely developed nicely between his first day and his 2nd year, but he doesn't seem to have done much growing since then.
Although he's athletic and has good hands, he doesn't really seem to be able to run after the catch and he doesn't really seem to be able to block or stay healthy. There was a time when I thought he'd turn into a very good yards after catch guy, but that seemed to not work out.
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On 1/15/2019 at 9:15 AM, 21isSuperman said:
This is interesting. Many in New England were saying he was to blame for the poor OL play when Scarnecchia retired and DeGuglielmo replaced him. No question this was McDaniels' guy, but the line did play much better this year than it has in recent years. I wonder what role he played in that, or if it was just because we had better talent along the OL. However, I trust Reich in making this decision.
see where I quoted @ColtStrong2013 below. I think a lot of things went into our OL play this year, Guges being a small part of it.
On 1/15/2019 at 9:37 AM, NewColtsFan said:Is there a way we can blame Chuck Pagano?
Just thought I'd ask................
If Chuck was good enough to not get fired, we probably never would have brought McDaniels in and in turn would probably never have seen Guges on our staff.
On 1/15/2019 at 9:40 AM, John Waylon said:I do think this had some to do with it. His hard nosed style did not fit the culture Reich wants to build. Though the results were nice. If we fall back into the middle of the pack next year up front I’m gonna be pretty sad.
Exactly. I won't go as far as saying Reich is as calm as Dungy, but he definitely seems to have more of that mold as a coach (i.e., little yelling or screaming or berating players). While Good may be one example (and it recently came out, so it may also have something to do with public perception), it sounds as though Guges definitely was a screamer and a yeller. He got the guys to play hard for him, as Frank acknowledged throughout the season, which was good.... but Frank probably has someone in mind (see link posted about hiring Sirianni below) who he would've selected if Guges wasn't already on board through McDaniels. Also, I don't see us (barring injury) falling back to middle of the pack with this offense, especially if we get another WR or 2 who can create separation (this was a major problem in the KC game and forced Luck to hold the ball longer than normal). This unit gave up very few coverage sacks throughout the season because Luck is in a rhythm in this offense which gets the ball out of his hand very quick compared to years past.
On 1/15/2019 at 9:47 AM, ColtStrong2013 said:He was not a fit here. There are too many reports out there how aggressive he was in his coaching. The report of Good was not a good look for a locker room that is working hard to be great. He didn't blame the Colts, he solely blamed this guy for being a butt to him after his brother died.
This unit was night and day better for a number of reasons. This guy is likely pretty far down on the list of why.
1. Better scheme under Reich
2. Adding Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith
3. Veteran leadership from Slauson
4. Glowinski pickup
5. Healthiest and most consistent line we have had in years.
6. This guy
I agree with you, though I may put the healthiest and most consistent line we have had in years a little higher to #3. However, we still didn't have a totally healthy or consistent OL... Slauson got hurt after starting 5 games, Haeg and Clark were starters early in the year (we didn't really see Braden Smith until week 5), Kelly had some injuries and there were a few games where our 3rd string C (Josh Andrews) had to come in to replace Boehm. Big Q was the only OL to start all 16 games for us. In my opinion, that'll be the biggest thing for us going forward. I tend to think we can upgrade Glowinski/Slauson at RG (whether it be move Smith there and bring in a new RT or whether Haeg or Clark develop enough to win a starting spot on the right side of the line is TBD). I definitely thought there was an obvious drop-off in the OL when Kelly was out, so hopefully they can figure out how to keep him on the field for the entire season. Anyway, if we get some WRs that can separate from the defenders and lessen our drops next year, that'll only just help Luck get the ball out faster and have the offense running smoother than it did this year. I also think Q became a leader of this team over the course of the season. While I love that Slauson helped a lot of the young guys, I tend to think he's pretty expendable at his age coming off that injury and imagine Q can light a fire under this OL week-in/week-out.
On 1/15/2019 at 9:52 AM, Chloe6124 said:After seeing the way the oline played against KC I say good ridence. Frank will get his own guy and that is very important.
I won’t be suprised if frank eventually gets his own d and o coordinator also if things don’t improve a ton next year.
The O coordinator was hand-picked by Reich. Reich is still responsible for play calling, but Sirianni has a lot to do with planning their offensive attack and is in constant communication with Reich from the booth during Sunday. Read here: https://www.1070thefan.com/blogs/kevins-corner/colts-coverage/frank-reich-always-knew-nick-sirianni-would-be-his-colts
On 1/15/2019 at 10:09 AM, Chloe6124 said:Well l I am sure he loves football and the colts enough he might. Don’t frank and him have some history when Reich interned with Dungy.
Reich coached in Indy 2006-2011 (Saturday's last year in Indy was 2011). Reich started as an intern for 2 years than an offensive assistant and then QB coach. I am sure he and Saturday have some sort of chemistry from spending 5 years together.
Where I see Saturday being a good fit is: (1) he's a former Indy player and still very well respected in the organization as a member of 'The Ring of Honor', (2) he was one of the most cerebral centers in NFL history, running the O with Peyton Manning (it sounds like Kelly is responsible for a lot of the O's success by helping Luck orchestrate the line on the field, much like Saturday did with Peyton).
Where I may not see Saturday fitting is: (1) He doesn't have prior NFL coaching experience, and we all know that good/great players don't always translate into good/great coaches, and (2) It seems like we're trying to build a more power group in Indy than what Saturday played with in his time. We were primarily a pass-protection unit during most of Saturday's tenure in Indy (especially after the Edge years) and we very rarely had a 'run it down their throat' mentality. I get the impression that we want some sort of mix with our line, but are leading toward a dominant physical unit, which we never really had during the the Saturday/Manning era Colts.
I would be more in favor of seeing Saturday come in kind of like a Robert Mathis and start more as an assistant positions coach/mentor to see how good of a coach he can be (or is) before flat out offering him the OL coach position... but why would Saturday give up his TV personality gig to do that?
23 hours ago, MacDee1975 said:2 more playoff performances like that, and they will.
You really think the head coach would be the fall guy in his first year?
Next time will be coordinators, next time after that will be Reich?
Is this the first year you've followed the NFL? This scenario has happened hundreds of times in the past.
Very rarely when a team went 4-12 and had as many holes as our team had is a first year HC let go after leading a team to the playoffs and picking up a dominating win in the first round.
21 hours ago, Coffeedrinker said:My word, I sincerely hope not. The GM should not have an offensive or defensive system he believes in, should not have any preconceived ideas of standards, it should only come from talking with the coaches and determining the attributes they think are important and watching film and getting examples of what those top traits look like.
I disagree here. Ballard came in to build a system which he has seen run successfully in the past (or some modification of that). Out of respect to Pagano, Irsay gave him a year to work with Ballard after Grigs was fired. It was pretty clear then, at least defensively, that Ballard was mostly bringing guys in that could transition to a 4-3/cover2 defense if Pags didn't work out.
I do think you are correct that Ballard needs to address the coaches and be very tightly on the same page with them, but I think Ballard had the vision for what kind of coaches and schemes he wanted to see brought into Indy to build this franchise back to legitimacy. However, Ballard had a vision when he was brought to Indy and he's hired guys who can help him achieve getting there to be coaches. He definitely has experience as a scout and a good track record in the NFL prior to Indy. Sure it's important he communicate with the coaches, but he's also got to have a keen eye for the kind of talent and the kind of personalities that he wants to see in Indy.
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17 hours ago, HOF19 said:
And ????? …………. My buddy (Giants fan ) ALWAYS complains after his Giants go to the playoffs and then gets a tougher schedule the following season …...Well hey just like the team with the worst record gets the first pick in the draft ( which is proper ) it is also proper that we get a tough schedule next season …..WHY ? …….Because we made the playoffs . So I guess we can't complain .
Just like every other team in AFC South we play the entire AFC West and NFC South.
The teams outside of that we play are Pittsburgh and Miami. Miami has been no more than an average team for quite a while now and Pittsburgh is going through a lot of turmoil with Bell, Brown, etc.... I kind of expect next year to be Tomlin's last year there.
Since we got 2nd in our division we got the 2nd place teams in the AFC East and AFC North (as @jvan1973 and @chad72 say below, they are the only 2 games which are impacted by our record). Since HOU won our division, they've got a harder schedule having to take on New England and Baltimore.... We proved we're a good team this year and can hang with pretty much anyone. A few key additions in the off-season, a healthy team, and some development by our current players and we should be in very good position to be battling for the AFC South.
17 hours ago, coltsva said:Steelers without Brown are middle of the pack team.
I think the Steelers are going to fall apart next year. It sounds like a lot of doubt about Big Ben and a lot of criticism of the way Tomlin is handling that locker room/team. Personally, I expect both of them to be done in Pitt after next year. It's too early to tell, but they scare me less than the Browns or Ravens do this far out.
17 hours ago, chad72 said:Only 2 games are impacted by how you finish - Dolphins and Steelers in our case. Rest are predetermined.
Our main issues will be limiting good QBs with zone coverages, Matt Ryan is no slouch either.
6 hours ago, jvan1973 said:Where you finish only affects 2 games
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4 hours ago, DaveA1102 said:
I was just wondering about RG for next year? For most of the year I thought it would be likely that Smith would move back over in 2019 and we would address the RT position in the off season, likely via the draft. However, the more he played, the more he seemed to fit that role and so I would be comfortable going into 2019 with Smith there and there for the long term.
Glowinski and Slauson both have contracts that will expire soon and so I was wondering what people's thoughts are on whether we bring back one, both or neither?
Glowinski has been unexpectedly rather good and has looked excellent while pulling, which has been a defining element in the success of this group in 2018. However, I just feel Slauson is the leader this group needs. Even after his injury he was constantly there and getting involved and even Big Q mentioned how important he has been for him in his first year.
The fear is obviously that he had a really nasty back injury sustained against the Patriots and whether that will become an issue for an older player but, for me, he seems like the kind of veteran presence this young group needs.
Also, he is just plain nasty when playing!
Smith has looked very good at RT. However, I still tend to think he's best suited for guard. LeRaven Clark, to me, looked pretty good for the time he got this season and he was drafted as a project (under the Grigs regime). If he is developing well, as he appears to be, I could see him potentially moving to RT and bringing Smith over to RG next year. Haeg also seems to be improving (i.e., getting stronger).
I like what Glowinski did this year and think Slauson will be serviceable if healthy. However, if we're looking to get younger on the OL, I see us bringing in a rookie or 2 and am very encouraged to know we've got several guys on this team that can play multiple positions along the line if needed (i.e., Haeg and Smith I think can play anywhere along the line and Clark can play T or G if needed).
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3 hours ago, luv_pony_express said:
I disagree. Badgley kicked well for us while he was here in the pre-season. And now the Chargers are talking about him as somebody they’re going to hang onto long term.
BTW, notice that I started a thread about this subject *before* the Chiefs game. What happened in the game only reinforced my lingering doubts.
I’m not saying Vinny had an awful year. But it wasn’t his best. But that’s not really the point. The point is that NFL front offices have to take age into consideration in their personnel decisions. It’s not just about one year. Badgley offered us a way to transition to a good PK for the foreseeable future and we passed on it. It was a mistake.
Hindsight is 20/20 and we're still not sure it's a mistake.... the fact that after we let Badgley go, it took 6 weeks for a team to give him a shot is an obvious sign that he wasn't lighting the world on fire during preseason (if it was obvious he was going to be an all-time great NFL kicker, teams would have jumped on him much earlier). Also, taking into account the Chargers demoted him to practice squad after signing him shows they had some doubts about him.
The guy attempted 16 field goals in his rookie season (making 15 and missing 1 of 2 from 50+). He was 5/6 on FGs in the post-season.
If the guy goes on to have a 20+ year career and become the all-time greatest, we can be sure we made a mistake.
Sure, AV is getting up there in years. I don't think his production is dropping off that much. Yes, he did have an injury which certainly seemed to negatively impact his performance for a small bit this season (an yes, there is usually some sort of correlation between age and injury). Is he done and a wash-up? No. If he thinks he can fully recover from that injury and put in an offseason to strengthen up to avoid it happening again, and wants to come back and kick in the NFL again, he's more than qualified.
That is not to say we shouldn't be bringing in young legs to see if we find something special, but no way can we consider it a definitive mistake that a guy who has attempted 22 total FGs in the reg/post season is not on our team and the GOAT is.
There is also no question that Vinny has a strong locker room presence in Indy. See Reich's press conference before/after our first round playoff win, he said Vinny addressed the team as the guy who had a lot of playoff experience on a roster with very little of it.
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17 hours ago, luv_pony_express said:
We didn’t “miss” on Badgley. We chose Vinny over him. And, all sentimentality aside, it wasn’t a wise choice.
And I’m not just saying that because Vinny blew a PAT and a chip shot FG in a playoff game. We had a chance to nab an obviously good young kicker fresh out of the gate and we decided to give him up to hang on to the aging icon for 1 or 2 more years of his decline.
It may hurt our hearts to admit it was a bad choice. But it should be obvious that it was.
If Adam made both those kicks yesterday, which he had the leg on each one, we're not even having this conversation and very few people would even remember Badgley or be talking about him as we head into the off-season. It stinks that he did miss the kicks, but it doesn't mean he's a complete bum or a has-been. Also, keep in mind Badgley wasn't signed by the Chargers until week 6, when they were experiencing kicker issues. He was then placed on their practice squad because he wasn't performing all that well right away. In no way should it be obvious that we made a bad choice when we kept Vinny over him... if it was that obvious, he would've signed with another team prior to the regular season starting and wouldn't have been demoted after signing. The kid played well late in the season, but at the time he was cut there was nothing remotely close to obvious signs suggesting he'd be a great replacement to Vinny.
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1 hour ago, Fluke_33 said:
Awesome! I can’t make out that full sweatshirt logo. Is it American Nerds Football? Is Andrew the qb? Hahaha.
America Needs Farmers. https://www.iowafarmbureau.com/ANF
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5 hours ago, chipster said:
LETS CRY OVER SPILLED MILK... Does everyone know that if the colts would have punt in that over time game with Houston.. we would have tied and the Texans would be playing us in INDY,.
In hindsight, it's probably good. It means if we beat Houston, in Houston (which we just recently did), we go to KC. They are a very beatable team and never do well in the playoffs. It means the Chargers/Ravens go to NE, who are both capable of beating NE. We are very capable of beating any of those 3 teams, but NE would be the last one I would want to face due to Belichek (though, Reich did some offensive play-calling magic against them with Philly last year).
IMO, our road to the SB is easier as the 6 than it would be as the 3.
As @Clem-Dog said.. the losses early in the season helped this team build character. We were in the same position against the G-men as we were in Cincy (when Doyle fumbled the ball deep in their scoring territory). No way do we score with 55 seconds left to win by 1 point against NYG if we were the same mentality that we were when we faced Cincy.
I really want to see Nick Foles or Drew Brees come out as NFC Champions and Indy in the AFC (great story-line either way.. Reich vs. his old team or Indy vs. NO round 2).
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8 hours ago, Luck 4 president said:
Ya Leonard made a bigger impact. He plays in a more game changing position and can do more by himself. It’s not a knock on Nelson, but he’s only 1/5 of the OL and depends on the other 4 guys every play. 18/18 sacks given up this year happened when either Castanzo or Kelly were out.
Not really fair to say Q is 1/5 of the OL and then exclude that Maniac is 1/7 of the front seven. In a cover 2, it is common for the WLB to lead the team in tackles, based purely on scheme (we've seen this before with guys like Cato June, Mike Peterson, Marcus Washington, Freddy Keiaho/Tyjaun Hagler, Clint Session). None of those guys were the best defensive player on the team but all lead or were near the top of the team in tackles at some point due to the scheme, which requires the DL and other LBs to hit gaps and eat blockers to free the WLB.
I do think Leonard is better than all the aforementioned guys and is making plays besides tackles (forcing fumbles, getting sacks while not primarily being a pass rusher, critical interceptions, etc.). Leonard also seems to be more of a vocal leader than any of them as well. The point is, he's not doing it by himself. Guys like Hunt, Autry, Woods, Walker, Sheard and a lot of our young guys (Turay, Tyquan, Franklin, Adams, etc.) have been playing better front 7 football than we've seen this team play in a long time.
6 hours ago, BOTT said:Odd and pointless question.
but to say Leonard single handily made the colts a top 10 defense is absurd.
Correct, we've seen better DB, DL, and LB play on this team than we did throughout the Pagano era, IMO (Vontae had a couple of stud years at CB, and Hooker put up better numbers with Pagano, and Mathis had that one monster year... otherwise, across the board this D is much better than we've seen). Leonard definitely seems to be a critical leader of this team, but he's not 'singe-handedly' making the D a top 10 D.
5 minutes ago, TheMarine said:Sad y'all leaving Smith out of this too. Dude's been studtastic at RT. His impact there is almost as noticeable (without Pancakes) as Nelson.
Dude was frigging drafted to play guard. He's developed into a consistent RT with tremendous athleticism, and we never hear his name in a game. I can see him being a RT for a while to come
Smith has been great. PFF (for what it's worth) had him rated just below Q for final grade (I think Q was 73.4 to 72.9 or something like that). I kind of hope Clark makes a big transition in the offseason and can take over at RT, as I still think Smith has the most upside as a G. Either way, he's been balling out and should get some serious praise. That said, I don't think he's been as instrumental with setting the tone as Big Q. Smith's definitely been a valuable asset to this team, but in terms of overall (on and off field, leadership and playing well, etc.), I think Q has been more valuable to this team.
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This is a hard question, IMO.
We went from being the most sacked team in the NFL to the least sacked team in the NFL in one season, which is pretty incredible (and absolutely necessary with Luck coming back from injury). We had multiple games with 100+ yards rushing (I could be wrong, but I think in Luck's first 4 years he had that happen less than this entire year). While there were multiple games that Luck was throwing the ball around 50 times (IMO, too much), we seem to finally be able to protect him and at least pose some sort of threat as a running team .... something which our franchise QB hasn't had until now. Something (listen to Reich's presser yesterday) which becomes even more important on the road in the post-season.
I think Slauson and Glowinski have played major roles as vets coming into Indy, but Big Q has definitely helped bring a meanness and toughness to this OL that I cannot remember in Indy since I've been following them (1994). You can also tell in many games that as the game goes on there are defenders shying away from Big Q (see Dallas for example, LVE wanted nothing to do with Big Q in the 4th quarter). Big Q also didn't miss a snap all season and I love the fact he's the first one down the field on many plays picking his teammates off the ground. From the recent Indy Star article about the players only meeting after our 1-5 start, it sounds like Big Q was the first rookie to really step up and light a fire under this team... he definitely has some great leadership qualities.
On D, we have finally been able to stop the run. A huge part of this is The Maniac (plus Eberflus and the best DL play we've had in the Luck era). The Maniac seems to be the leader (at least vocally) of this D. Although not a rush LB, he still had 7 sacks. He is all over the field and he is also creating turnovers. He's come up with multiple clutch plays (his pass break-up to seal the Dallas game, his INT to seal the TEN game, for example) and he put on one of the best single-season performances by a LB in the history of the NFL (in 15 games, mind you -- only player since sacks were a stat to have 160+ tackles and 7 sacks and 2 INTs, not to mention his 4 FF and 2 recoveries).
I don't know if I feel comfortable voting on either one of these guys, but I think if I had to, I'd go with Big Q. Andrew Luck is still the most important player on this team, and it seems like we've finally got the ability to keep him upright and give him some time and a running game to alleviate some of the pressure on his shoulders week in and week out (some of this is Reich/Sorianno getting the ball out of Luck's hand quicker, but a lot is on the OL and IMO, Big Q is the anchor of the OL).
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If you're wondering how good Malik Hooker was this year
in Colts Football
Posted
Collins has been healthier. I gave you that. That is about the only area where he is 'far superior' to Geathers. He may be a tad better, but Geathers is a very good football player IF/when he is healthy. Collins also came into the league super-hyped, straight from a very good Alabama team and he plays in NY, so he gets more coverage from the media (the fact that he was voted by fans into the pro-bowl this year given his performance is a testament to that -- there are several players at that position who are far more deserving based on their on-field performance in the NFC this past year).
They play in two totally different systems. Geathers is not used in coverage remotely close to how Collins is used in coverage. Collins had one big year with PDs and INTs (2016), otherwise his numbers per game are extremely similar to Geathers.
It seems like Ballard and Reich are building a culture here in Indy. Geathers seems to fit that mold of a team-first player, a leader, a stand-up guy. Collins is far from that. Collins is also far from being 'far superior' of a football player than Geathers, he's just been able to keep himself on the field more. We don't need him here. I am not saying we shouldn't do something to address the S position in the off-season, especially if the FO isn't convinced we'll have full health from Geathers, Farley and Hooker.... but it's likely we can bring in a player who is comparable (or maybe better for our scheme) than Collins who won't break the bank and who we won't have to worry about bringing problems into the locker room.