Jump to content
Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum

CurBeatElite

Senior Member
  • Posts

    1,577
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by CurBeatElite

  1. 8 hours ago, Jdubu said:

    It does appear there could be some truth to this. Outside of the first few games where we ran dominant, we haven’t done much well since then and the passing game is meh at best. We are getting blitzed and not executing many hot reads nor are we executing anything else to exploit the blitz. 
     

    one other thing that’s different this year besides the oline coach and that’s no Andrew Luck. Was he the straw that stirred the drink? Did he manage play calling to get us into the proper plays so much better than what Reich and Sirianno has provided? I mean this team looks horrific and that’s a generous term imho. Something is just a huge miss currently and whether the oline coach change is it or whether Luck had so much more influence in playcalling than we knew, it’s going to have to be fixed whether by new coaching, new oline guys, new QB or much better scheming play calls. 

     

    We are 5-4 and one game out of 1st in the AFC South.  Vinatieri has played a huge role in several of our losses (we could very well be 8-1 if not for his missed kicks).  

     

    Sure, we haven't  looked great over the past 3 games, but 5-4 is certainly better than the 1-5 start we had last year.  We aren't 'horrific', we have a winning record and are still in a good spot to win the AFC South or be in the wild card hunt.   

     

    We've been without our best skill player (TY) and have had other injuries at WR.  We also are playing with a back-up QB (which is kind of like a 3rd stringer considering we lost Luck  very shortly before the season).  

     

    I don't think the sky is falling.  A couple not-so-great games but games which could have been won had our kicker made some very make-able kicks.  

     

    We're in a better spot today than we were at this point last year.  Hopefully we heal up and we ought to see larger improvements.  

     

    7 hours ago, Flash7 said:

    In football, there are so many variables.

     

    The O-line is struggling compared to last year, but we had Andrew Luck under center last year. You know what he was good at? Picking up the blitz and calling the right plays. Eventually, Luck became one of the least blitz QBs, making life much easier for the O-line.

     

    Currently, without T.Y. there is no deep threat. Teams are loading the box to stop the run and are taking away our short passing game. They are also blitzing much more, with more success. They're sending more men than the O-line can block, and it's making life for the O-lineman a nightmare.

     

    We're blaming the O-line (they do deserve some of the blame, especially when they get beat straight up) however, there are more factors in play. 

     

    Agreed.  TY has been out, he's kind of the security blanket on our team in terms of the WR position.  Cain hasn't lived up to his hype and Funchess & Parris Campbell have been hurt, all three of these guys are guys who most people believed would make our WR group a very strong group this season.  That hasn't been the case.  Our top 2 WRs last week were Zach Pascal and Chester Rogers, both undrafted free agents.  Plus we had a back-up QB in the game.  

     

    Our offense was (not-shockingly) pretty 1-dimensional against Miami due to the amount of injuries.  We still ran for almost 4 yards per carry and only gave up 1 sack.  If this team gets healthy, I don't see any reason to believe we will not be challenging for the AFC South title with a playoff birth as a wildcard team being a fall back.

     

    3 hours ago, Superman said:

     

    I was never a big Glowinski fan. I was accused of being harsh when grading him last year, but I felt like his technique and execution weren't all that great to begin with. So I don't notice too much of a drop off from him, but I haven't spent a lot of time watching him specifically this year.

     

    I agree with you.  I think (when healthy) Glow was the weak link on last year's OL as well.  I don't think he's really digressed that much, rather I think people have such high expections for our OL this year that there's more scrutiny being given to them.  Playing with a back-up QB and missing 3 of the top 4 WRs (TY, Funchess, Campbell) certainly doesn't help this offense, either.

     

    • Thanks 1
  2. 19 hours ago, Imgrandojji said:

    You mean other than Mahomes, watson and wilson

     

    Not Watson or Mahommes.  Maybe Wilson, maybe Cam Newton, maybe a healthy Ben Roethlisberger.

     

    19 hours ago, jvan1973 said:

    I doubt any of them are strong enough to get out of Miller's grasp

     

     

    Maybe Wilson, definitely not Mahommes or Watson.

     

    4 hours ago, Coffeedrinker said:

    You know what is funny, as the play unfolded, I thought a safety is not the worst thing in the world, stops the clock and the Colts would get the ball at about the 30 and a FG would still tie.  Then he spun out of it and completed the pass, I had to admit that result was better.

     

    We would have to punt to them if we took a safety.  That would have been the end of the game, essentially.

  3. Wow... that Fountain injury looked gruesome.   I was expecting him to be doing some sort of exercises in a pool or something before I watched that video.  Maybe I'm wrong, but seems like he's healing quickly.

    • Like 2
  4. 50 minutes ago, Fisticuffs111 said:

    You know, as much as I like Sheard I was on the side of thinking we should let him go at the end of the season. I think I've changed my stance on that though. I definitely wouldn't mind having him and Houston man the edges (for the most part) for another season. He's just been too good here, in all aspects, on the field and off the field.

    He's that prototypical set the edge kind of guy, and for the past couple weeks especially, has gotten to the QB really well. He, along with Houston, are great guys to have our young ends learn from.

     

    I agree.  Hopefully Turay bounces back healthy and we bring in another young DE or 2, which could reduce the amount of snaps Sheard/Houston get next year, but they are both still playing at a high level and are good character guys and all-around football players.  Sure can't hurt to have our young guys get groomed by those 2.

     

    Since Sheard has been back, it seems like there's been significant improvement in Autry's game as well.

    • Like 1
  5. 44 minutes ago, coltsfeva said:

    Found a good write up on Wikapedia

     

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager

     

    He was stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis (as per that article).  I found he lives in California now, but then googled "Is Chuck Yeager a Colts Fan?" and came up with this: 

     

    https://blog.ticketmaster.com/indianapolis-colts-team-fans/

     

    "The team counts among its loyal followers a number of big-time celebrities, including:
    • Billy Bob Thornton
    • Famed test pilot Chuck Yeager
    • Actor Haley Joel Osment
    • Comedian/former talk show host David Letterman
    • Actress Elisabeth Shue
    • Rob Lowe"

     

    _____________

    Pretty cool, Mr. Irsay!

    • Like 3
  6. 41 minutes ago, GOLFoholic said:

    See responses to BigQungus on Glowinskis performance and stats from yesterday's game. The tape does not lie.

     

    Ya, Glow is the weak link of the OL right now... but is still an improvement to what we had when Ballard/Reich took over this team.  He didn't have a good game against HOU but they also have one of the best defensive fronts in the NFL.

     

    Nelson is a once in a generation talent, I don't see any guards coming out this year close to him.  While I trust Ballard, I highly doubt we'll take a G with our first rounder given the fact that we can use help at several other positions and there will probably be better positional value there for us in the first at other positions.

  7. 31 minutes ago, BigQungus said:

     

    I agree, but my point still stands that we can lose to lesser teams, especially the way we played. Our defense was totally lost the entire game. Yes the Raiders aren't as bad as they're made out to be, but my point is that with an effort like that, we are not totally incapable of losing to the Broncos.

     

    ....Any Given Sunday...  

     

    I think the point of the Salary Cap in the NFL was to make this a league of parity.  For the most part, that's what it is (we have a few teams which seem far and away better than others -- the Patriots, e.g., ... and then a couple really bad teams -- the Dolphins this year, e.g.).  

     

    For the most part, teams are just a couple injuries/suspensions/ejections shy of losing very good players who change the entire dynamic of their team and if any team comes out with their best effort vs. a team w/ a lackluster effort, there are a lot of things that can happen on Sunday.

     

    I don't disagree with you that we can still lose to the Broncos.  I also don't disagree that the Colts didn't show up to play their best brand of football vs. Oakland.  That said, OAK is a better team than most people think and my original post was in response to you suggesting after the loss to the Raiders, the only way you'd look by a team is if they have 0 wins (IMO, you were suggesting OAK was a very bad team).  

     

    Regardless, I don't think it's smart to look past a 0 win team, either.  It happens very rarely, and almost every team that has 0 wins has players on them playing for their personal pride (not just this year, but every year).  Heck, in 1997 we were 0-10 and played the Green Bay Packers who were 8-2 and beat them.  The Packers wound up 13-3 and lost in the SB to Elway's Broncos... we were 3-13, there wasn't an honest 'expert' anywhere who would've thought the 0-10 Colts would beat GB like that, but they did it.

     

    So yea, I agree w/ you about starting to buy into Reich's motto of '1-0' -- that's what it takes to win consistently in this league and not let up against lesser opponents.

  8. 4 hours ago, Pacergeek said:

    Colts dominated KC, one of the top teams in the AFC.

     

    We kept their O in check and we played a good game.  We still won by only 6.  We held Mahommes in check better than any team had done to him so far, sure... but still they were 1 score away from taking the lead from us.

     

    4 hours ago, Pacergeek said:

    Denver is horrible. Joe Flacco lol. Easy win this week. 

     

    Denver's D still has some very good players.  Flacco isn't really all that bad if you watch their games.  His OL is terrible and he has little talent around him, but he can still make tough throws.  This is definitely not a game to overlook, we will serve ourselves best if we can get ahead early and keep the pedal on the metal for a while, but with some of the stars they have on D, I don't want to see this game coming down to a 1 possession game.

     

    4 hours ago, BigQungus said:

     

    After the Raiders loss I won't make that comment unless we're facing a winless team. Now, of course I expect us to win, but I won't just overlook them. I'm starting to buy more and more into Reich's mentality of going 1-0 every week

     

    Raiders aren't really that bad, IMO.... they play tough/physical (sometimes dirty while Burfict was around anyway), and they are well coached with a very good QB.  We didn't play our best against them (especially our start to the game), but I imagine the Raiders will be in the wildcard hunt near the end of the season.  They're one of only 7 teams in the AFC with a .500 or greater record right now, and they don't have an overwhelming schedule coming up any time soon.  I truly don't think they're as bad as everyone blames them for.

  9. 1 minute ago, Coffeedrinker said:

    personally, I think it's because they think they have a superstar Qb and play accordingly but they don't and so they put him in situations where he has to be a superstar to win and he cannot do that often enough.

     

    Although I will admit Watson seems improved this year over last year but I still think he is just a good QB who can extend plays but looks pretty lost in the pocket when his first ready is not open.

     

    Physically, I think Watson is as athletic as they come for a QB.  However, I agree with you -- he relies too much on extending plays/scrambling.  This is a recipe for disaster in the NFL for longevity of QBs.  Many teams are able to adjust after seeing enough film on these types of QBs.  It's also difficult for these QBs to stay healthy over a full career.  

     

    We also have some guy named TY.

     

    tim curry clown GIF

     

    • Like 3
  10. It's a small sample size with Reich as a HC (not even 1.5 full seasons under his belt).  

     

    That said, he's clearly better than Caldwell/Pagano/Arians IMO.

     

    Too early to say he's better than Dungy (he needs a ring before we make that argument), but I think he's on the right path.

     

    The thing I like most about Reich so far, which reminds me a bit of Dungy, is that all of his players are bought into him/his system.  He leads with a calm demeanor (both he and Dungy and men of strong faith, so I bet that has something to do with their leadership styles).  I also like that he is willing to take calculated risks (something Dungy almost never did) and he uses very creative play calling and adjusts during the game (at least on offense) better than any Colts' coach I can recall in my days as a fan (since '94).  

     

    We frequently start fast with Reich.  This was extremely rare in the Pagano era, and we were lucky to have had Andrew who could come back late during that time, but it seemed like his teams were so predictable offensively, especially to start games and it wasn't really until we had our backs to the wall that the offense opened up.

     

    Reich changes his game-plans drastically between weeks, and he also changes better in game than an Colts coach I remember.  

     

    Just look at this season:

    Game 1 (vs LAC) -- Our 2nd drive we went 15 plays for 75 yards and a TD

    Game 2 (vs TEN) -- Our 1st drive we went 7 plays for 78 yards and a TD

    Game 3 (vs ATL) -- Our 1st drive we went 9 plays for a FG and our second drive we went 7 plays for 93 yards and a TD.

    Game 4 (vs OAK) -- took us until our 3rd drive to score a TD (we got down early and couldn't come back.

    Game 5 (vs KC) -- First drive 11 plays 70 yards and a TD, field goal on 2nd drive.

    Game 6 (vs TEX) -- First drive -- 12 plays, 94 yards and a TD.

     

     

    So in 4 of our 6 games with Reich we have scored on our opening offensive drive.  In 5 of 6 we have scored on at least one of our first 2 offensive drives.  In our worst game of the year (vs. OAK), it took us til our 3rd drive to score and we were already down 21-7 at that point.

     

    I could be wrong -- but I don't recall it being the norm in the Pagano regime that we scored on the majority of our first possessions.

    • Like 1
  11. 6 hours ago, GOLFoholic said:

    Glowinski has to go (or at least stay in a backup role).

     

    Please Ballard draft another right Guard in the 2020 draft.

    Don't take my word, watch the film. He was beat quite easily on many run or pass plays.

     

    Probably the best we got now at RG, but I would make this my first (or second round) draft choice behind DE.

     

    I agree that Glowinski is the weak link of the OL, but I don't think he's that bad.  

     

    I could be wrong, and Smith has been doing a very nice job at RT... but I still think with his size that G (which he played in college) is his most natural position.  TBH, I'd rather see us get a very good RT and move Smith inside to RG (I think this would give us the best interior line in football hands down).  

     

    Either way, I was kind of hoping Haeg or Clark would take that next step this year and potentially replace Glow, but apparently that hasn't happened.  Still think both those guys ought to be solid depth players if we need them, which is a big improvement from when Ballard took over this team.

     

    Regardless, I don't think we need to invest another 1st round pick into a RG but I would be very happy if someone else stepped up to replace Glow or if we brought someone in through draft or FA to challenge for that spot.

     

    3 hours ago, egg said:

     

    The importance of this cannot be overstated. When it happens, it's like, ho-hum, boring, whatever. .... But it is very important to not take a sack or force a bad throw. This is about my only criticism of AL. He just would not do it. He would take a sack far too often or force a throw rather than throw it away. Not saying JB is a better QB. But in this one very important way, he is.

     

    Peyton was very similar to Luck in this regard, especially early in his career.  I think part of that trait in both of them was they very rarely had more than mediocre defenses.  I always got the impression (especially from Peyton), that when he threw forced INTs that his mentality was 'my defense is so bad, it doesn't matter if we punt or if I throw an INT because the other team is going to ram it down our D's throat and score on us anyway.'  Additionally, after we lost Edge, I don't recall seeing Peyton or Luck with as balanced of an attack as this (i.e., we can 'run the damn ball' most of the time with this offensive line).

     

    Props to Brissett for not turning the ball over, and props to Ballard/Reich for building a team which allows the QB to trust other aspects aside from his arm to be able to make throwing the ball away a peaceful decision.

     

    3 hours ago, dodsworth said:

    He will probably struggle keeping his roster spot next season with TY,

    Pascal, Campbell and Fountain securing roster spots next year.

     

    Fountain's injury was pretty gruesome.  I agree, at this point he's behind TY, Pascal and Campbell -- but I don't think Cain is 100% quite yet coming from his injury last year and I think it'll take Fountain a while to really gain his confidence in that ankle after his injury.  

     

    3 hours ago, NorthernColt said:

    Obviously way to early to tell, but I feel like with Funchess missing most of the year, they'll run it back with him next year and likely go with Hilton, Funchess, Pascal and Campbell. Then let the rest battle for it.

     

    Not sure about this, though I can see your logic.

     

    We brought Funchess on a 1 year deal as a player who Reich really liked, though there was some concerns about his drops.

     

    From what I could see, Funchess was coming along nicely and developing chemistry w/ Brissett.  We'll see how that continues when he returns to the field.  The nice thing is that a broken collar bone is a very common injury which very rarely results in any sort of serious long-term damage (i.e., he's not coming back from a severe knee injury or any tendon/ligament damage which can linger for a long time).  

     

    However, we signed him at 1 year $13 million (which isn't too exorbitant, but it's still fairly expensive).  Also, this upcoming draft is one of the deepest WR drafts in a while and is full of big-bodied guys with similar skillsets as Funchess (there are 7 WRs in the top 40, with 5 of them being 6'2" or taller).  

     

    I don't know how Funchess is valued as a leader for this team (Ballard/Reich seem to put a lot into that)... but if I were to guess right now, unless Funchess really kicks it off w/ Brissett he is going to have to take a pay cut to stay in Indy -- otherwise, I see Ballard bringing in a big-bodied WR in the draft which frees up a little cap space for a few years.

    • Like 1
  12. 7 minutes ago, Imgrandojji said:

    The big thing for me about this game is that the passing game now has a the beginnings of a strong foundation.  The emergence of Pascal as a potential WR2 and JB developing chemistry with him solves a problem that has held us back in the air since Funchess got hurt and really opens up the game for TY.

     

    I still think we need 1 more good receiving threat, whether it's one of the guys on the roster or a guy we bring in. 

     

    I do think we're good enough at this point that there's no excuse not to be buyers at the deadline.  We are Superbowl contenders right now, and we're somewhere in the top 5 in the AFC at the moment by most people's reckoning, so I really hope Ballard doesn't sit tight.  I think we'll make some good moves though.  Sanu would be my ideal move.  Manny Sanders would also be fantastic.

     

    Yea, I don't know if we have to make a move if Funchess and Campbell come back 100%.  They said early in the year they didn't think we'd see a lot from Cain until the 2nd half of the season (didn't see him do anything notable today), but with those 3 guys back, we may be all right at WR.

     

    I still have a strong feeling that Reich/Sirrianni have some wrinkles in this D which they've yet to display.  Today's game opened the O up more than I can remember seeing in a while, but when (assuming we do) get back to full health, I think we'll see some new tricks come out of Reich's sleeves.

     

     

  13. 2 hours ago, PeterBowman said:

    I'm not too worried about the team looking ahead.... I think that loss to Oakland was a wake up call.

     

    Yea, we easily could've beaten SD (we win that game if not for Vinny's kicking blunders) and we got outplayed by OAK, but that's a game we should've also won.


    We're 4-2 atop the AFC South, could easily be 6-0 (IMO).

     

    If we can take care of our division games, we should be back in the playoffs at the very least.

  14. Overall, a very good team win, IMO.

     

    Jacoby played well, other than a couple errant throws, he continues to protect the ball and makes the plays the coaches are asking him to make.  He made a couple of very nice throws and this was the first game I can remember this season where he was asked to throw the ball long so many times -- he showed he has the arm to make deeper throws.  I was glad to see Pascal being utilized as a deep threat.

     

    Other individuals that impressed:

     

    1) Ebron -- I thought he could potentially have snagged one ball in the endzone where he was kind of diving out of bounds, which the Texans got a pass interference called on them for, otherwise, I thought this was his best game by far.  He made a heckuva TD catch w/ 1 hand in the back of the end zone and  was really a major part of the game plan.

    2) Leonard -- 10 tackles and a great INT to seal the game.  I think he's 'back' if today's performance was any indication.  I thought this was his best game of the year.

    3) TY -- his run after catch was very good today.  I'd still like to see him getting open on deep routes a bit more, but he was solid today and aside from his TD he has at least one very nice run after the catch to gain some crucial yards.

    4) Big Q -- dude is a stud, the whole OL looked good to me except a couple plays where Glowinski looks like he's the weak link.

    5) Ya-Sin -- he got beat on at least 2 plays, but he was right there -- hopefully just a little more time in the film room will help him turn his head a split second faster and knock those balls down or get picks -- regardless, he seems to have improved each week and he seems to have a short memory even if he does get beat, which is a huge positive trait for a rookie DB.

    6) Geathers -- he had a couple nice ST plays and didn't look too out of position on D, I thought today was a nice game for him.

    7) Shakial Taylor -- I didn't see much of him, but from what I did see, I think this kid will stick around the league for a while.

    8) Justin Houston/Jabaal Sheard -- it was very nice to have 3 sacks against Watson.  Houston and Sheard both seemed to apply pretty consistent pressure throughout the game w/ Houston picking up 2 sacks and Sheard 1.

    9) Desir -- I didn't notice much of him outside the INT, but was happy to see him have a solid performance as a game-time decision.

    10) Pascal -- had his best game as a Colt and was just a couple yards too long on the trick play with his through to Hines, would've been great to see that completed.  He also was credited for the safety, showing he plays a valuable role on STs.

    11) Wilkins -- didn't get used much, but had a very nice 9 yard run on one of his two rushing attempts.

    12) Vinny and Rigo -- Vinny was 4/4 on XP's and Rigo had a couple of nice punts inside the 20.  I don't think Rigo's leg will ever be what McAfee's was, but he's certainly a good punter in this league and our STs played well throughout the game.

     

    Some (minor) disappointments:

    1) Mack -- while it did seem like the Texans were trying to take away our run and we were favoring the passing game, I thought today was Mack's worst game of the year.  I'll have to watch closer, but it just seemed like he wasn't really able to pick up anything on his own.

    2) Deon Cain -- not sure if he was a healthy scratch or not, but he doesn't even show up on the box score.  It'd really be nice if either he and/or Funchess can step up here soon to give the WR corps another threat outside of TY and Pascal.

    3) Our zone secondary in the end zone -- this is the 2nd time this year when our zone just broke down in the redzone (the first being against Mahommes in KC).  I get it, it's a zone and things get chaotic when plays break down, but the one reception TD tonight I thought our secondary showed poor overall awareness by allowing a guy to find a wide-open seem in the D with several DBs right in the vicinity.

     

    Indifferences:

    1) Reich -- thought his offensive game plan (especially early) was masterful.  Overall, think it was a positive game, but it seemed like we could've put them away more convincingly earlier than we did aside from a few questionable game management calls (overall, I think Reich was positive, just a few things he did late which made me scratch my head).

    2) DL -- Houston and Sheard I thought played very well.  And yes, aside from 3-4 decent run plays against us, our DL played fairly well.  I still think we've gotta improve the interior of that unit if we want to win games in the playoffs, though.

     

    Again, overall, I thought it was a positive performance.  Glad to show the NFL that the Colts can beat you in more ways than 1 on the offensive (and optimistically, think we've not peaked there yet with guys like Funchess and Campbell expected back).   Our D, for the most part, looked pretty strong.  I think we've got a lot of young talent on this team across the board (from the young OL and some young WRs stepping up, along with the younger RBs -- to Ya-Sin, Leonard, Willis, etc. on D -- to Dulin, Pascal and others on the ST unit).

     

    Perhaps the best thing is we are alone at 1st place in the AFC South and are 2-0 in our division games.  We're one of 5 teams in the AFC with a >.600 winning percentage and we could very easily be 5-1 or 6-0 instead of 4-2.  We've been winning games differently every week, which (IMO) is a good thing and will serve us well down the stretch.  We also haven't been fully healthy all year, so let's hope we stay healthy and get guys back each week (IMO, Hooker/Funchess/Campbell/Lewis/etc. will all improve this team significantly if they can come back healthy).

     

     

     

     

    • Like 2
  15. On 10/16/2019 at 4:12 PM, BleedBlu8792 said:

     

    I said a variation of this in another thread. I watched Tyquan his whole time at Ohio State. He's not a guy who will "wow" with athletic ability. So I never understood the whole "add weight and make him a pass rusher on the inside" mentality. He was a decent pass rusher, in college, but at best he was going to be a strong side DE at this level. He can set/play the edge well, but as you said, he was never going to be a high profile guy on the outside. I still believe he could be a decent stop gap for Sheard if they decide to move on from him next year, but I'm not so sure that the team doesn't move on from Lewis first.

     

    Lewis is hurt/injured way too much so far.  I root for him because he's a Colts' player, but if he can't stay on the field, we have to move on from him.

  16. 15 hours ago, BleedBlu8792 said:

     

    He needs to be back down at his college weight of 255-260 and left alone playing behind Sheard. Trying to add weight to him and plugging him inside obviously isn't working. 

     

    Maybe.... but I still think he's a little slow to be an above average pass rusher, and at his college weight, he may be a little small to be an above average run defender.  Maybe weight gain is leading to his injuries though?  It seems like his injury last year was a foot injury and this year is a knee (both parts of the body which become more prone to injury if you're carrying too much weight).

  17. 4 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

    This is Mariota's contract year.  They just announced that they will not be giving him a new contract.  And we already know that Tannehill isn't the answer.

     

    In effect, the Titans just announced that they will be drafting a QB this year.

     

    So they're in tank mode?

  18. The Titans named Tannehill their starter this week, which seems to come as a surprise to many.  Just a few years ago, the experts were saying between Watson, Mariota, Luck, and Bortles the AFC South would be one of the most competitive QB Rival divisions in the league for years to come.  With Luck's injury, Bortles never panning out, and Mariota getting sent to the bench in favor of Tannehill, I guess they were wrong.    

     

    IMO, it should just help us get wins against TEN, though... 

     

    https://www.espn.com/blog/tennessee-titans/post/_/id/28775/why-did-titans-qb-marcus-mariota-wind-up-on-the-bench

  19. Personally, I thought Lewis was a couple steps slow last year in terms of being an edge pass rusher.  Could be due to the face he was coming off an injury and didn't really see his first action until ~1/2 through the year.  Seemed to me like he was best suited to either play in running situations on the edge, or help push the pocket back in the middle on passing situations.  

     

    Until he can show he can stay healthy, I have very little faith in him being a savior for this team, especially as a pass rusher.  I think with the speed with have at LB (mainly Leonard, Okerere, and Speed), our best bet at helping Houston get to the QB is to have some schematic blitzes with some of the bigger guys we just picked up hopefully eating blockers to free up our LBs.  Hopefully Banangu steps up sooner rather than later as well.

    • Like 1
  20. 2 hours ago, egg said:

     

    Then you didn't see the Dallas game. Luck had 200 yards no TD. Complete domination on the ground.

     

    Mack averaged 4.7 yards per carry last year.

     

    Mack is averaging 4.7 yards per carry this year.

     

    I said "I don't remember many times when we could run at will last year..."  The Cowboys game was kind of an anomaly last year, if you ask me.  It was definitely a big game in setting a tone for who Ballard/Reich and others on the coaching staff and FO want us to be.

     

    Mack this year (through 5 games) has 25 attempts, 20 attempts, 16 attempts, 11 attempts, 29 attempts rushing... so 3 games in the first 5 with 20+ attempts.

     

    Last year, in the 12 games he played, his attempts per game were 10, 12, 19, 25, 12, 16, 15, 8, 14, 27(vs. Dallas), 12, and 25 --- in 12 games he only had 3 with more 20+ carries.  

     

    We'll see how the rest of the season plays out, but as of now, it seems like we are much more committed to the run than we were last year.  Hopefully Mack stays healthy, as he's a very good back... and if things continue to trend like they are, he's going to be getting a lot more miles on his legs this year than he did last year.

     

  21. 1 minute ago, Imgrandojji said:

    Kerry Collins was a corpse in Indy.  His career is actually pretty strong.  Not the best basis of comparison.

     

    As for not taking Cassel over Dan freaking Orlovsky, I think that's ridiculous.  Remember, Cassell got it done for a couple years as the starter of his own team in KC before injury forced the Chiefs to bring in Alex Smith.  Even made the playoffs and got the team to a 10-6 record.  Orlovsky never managed that and neither did the last gasp of Kerry Collins' career Indy got to see.

     

    Ya, Orlovsky is a bit of a stretch -- but I'd give him a better chance of compiling a .500 record on the NE team than I would give Cassel to compile a .500 or better record on the Colts team Orlovsky walked into.

     

    Collins actually was coming off a decent season and he got hurt very early in the year when he joined the Colts.  I would have rather had him as a back-up than Cassel at that time, and there is still no way Collins was going to pull off a winning record with the team he inherited when Peyton couldn't play.

     

    I really think there are at least 1/2 dozen other QBs (Manning, Brees, Rodgers, Marino, Elway, Montana) who, if they played in the system Brady's in with Belichek for the same amount of time, would've accomplished similar or better things.  If Matt Cassel could come in as a rookie (I was wrong before, he had ~30 pass attempts in 4 years in college -- but was mainly a backup), and lead that team to 11 wins, there had to have been at least 15 other QBs in the NFL that year who could've done it with that team.

     

    You're right, the Chiefs went to the playoffs with Cassel and he did go to a probowl, but that same year he was 19th or 20th in the league in passing yards, 14th QBR, and 26th in completion percentage --- the Chiefs took him to the playoffs, not the other way around.

  22. 1 minute ago, Imgrandojji said:

    Tough argument to sustain when Manning is the only one of the two to play a losing season as the starter

     

    he had 2, his 3-13 rookie season, which is easily explained and forgiveable, and then a 6-10 year in his third professional season that seems to have come down to a craptacular defense that was so bad even Manning couldn't score his way out of trouble.

     

    Brady's worst season was 9-7 in 2002 as a result of a letdown year after winning SB36.

     

    Brady also didn't start as a rookie, he had a year to develop behind Bledsoe who was a good QB... and he wasn't playing on the worst team in the NFL his first year in the league (Peyton was, which is why the Colts had the #1 pick).  

     

    I don't think Cassel is much, if any better than Kerry Collins, Orvolsky, etc. who led the Colts to a 2-14 season without Peyton.  Cassell came in and led NE to a 11-5 record after Brady got hurt year 1.  Highly doubt Cassell could've come to Indy and took a Peyton-less team to 11 wins, but wouldn't see it out of the realm of possibility for 50% or more of the back-ups in the league going to NE the year Brady was hurt and having >0.500 record.

  23. 12 hours ago, jameszeigler834 said:

    I put Manning ahead of Brady for one simple reason Manning earned every win he ever got while Brady has cheated to everything he has ever got so Brady being called the goat is nonsense.

     

    I think Brady has played within and exceptional system the majority of his career (and sure, they may have been caught cheating, but I imagine every coach in the NFL is trying to do something every week to get a leg up on the opponent).

     

    My biggest argument on why I take Peyton over Brady is look what happened the year Peyton missed -- we went from being projected to win the AFC South, potential SB contenders, 10+ wins, etc... and we became the laughing stock of the league going 2-14.  It exposed how bad our team really was without Peyton at the helm.  

     

    When Brady missed significant time, Matt Cassell led them to 11 wins.  Matt Cassel backed up Matt Barkley and ButtFumble Sanchez in college and never had a snap in a real game, yet could win double digits in NE.  Cassel got paid like a #1 QB after that, and has had maybe 1 decent year and otherwise is a major disappointment and essentially a journeyman back-up QB -- yet, he could win very regularly in NE under Belichek.  


    To me, that just says Peyton was a more valuable player to his team than Brady.  It's evidenced by Peyton's regular season MVP awards.  Unfortunately, I don't think Peyton ever had as good a team around him (including defense) as Brady has had since he's been a starter in the NFL.  Also unfortunate, the problem on relying on one guy in the playoffs is that the playoffs usually require all 3 phases of a team to be playing pretty flawless once you're through the wildcard rounds.  Brady always had a D he could count on, always had a run game, and has had a lot of very reliable WRs throughout his career.  He rarely was asked to do as much for his team to get W's as Peyton was asked to do in Indy (or his first year in Denver).  

     

    9 hours ago, Imgrandojji said:

    If the goal of the NFL was to make cool throws I would agree with you.

     

    No head coach in the game is worth a damn if his quarterback can't execute.  Belichick is the best in the world at defense.  Brady carries the offense.  Neither would be as strong without the other

     

    I think Belichek is the best coach in NFL history and at this point, I think it's almost hands down (I think the argument that he is the best is a far easier one to make than any individual QB, or really any individual player, considered the best all time).  If Matt Cassel could win 11 games with Belichek, I'm pretty sure there are at least 15 QBs in the league who could post winning records with that system (Cassel is far inferior to guys like Peyton, Brees, Rodgers, Big Ben, Stafford, and a whole slew of other QBs who have played QB in this league).  

     

    Brady is a clutch player and he plays in a very solid system on a very solid team year in and year out.  That said, in their primes, I think a guy like Peyton could go to a 2-14 team and turn it around quicker than Brady could.  It's impossible to say, but if Peyton played 20 years with Belichek, I'd have to think he'd have as much or more SBs than Brady -- whereas, I don't think Brady could elevate a team like Indy the same way Peyton did over the course of his career.

    • Thanks 1
×
×
  • Create New...