colts89

I hope you're right next year, but It'd be silly if Steichen simply hopes that is the case. Having a one trick pony at that spot who can't seem to provide any other utility in the passing game is something very risky to bet on going forward. We'll see.

I remember the people on this board that actually said that Minshew is better and should start over AR earlier on this season. I hope you feel dumb. As a starting QB, he's mediocre at his very best. Decent backup though, but that's it. The receivers didn't help him out a ton either tbh, but the bad drops does not excuse how inaccurate he was in key moments throughout the game. What a meh throw to end the season. I don't believe in Pierce at all. The guy on the field across from Pittman can't simply be a distraction and very rarely a home run hitter. A distraction and a great run blocker can be the 4th WR on the roster, not the second WR who is on the field most of the game. I know that I could be wrong about him once he's paired with AR, but going into next season, I hope he's not the defacto WR2 and has to earn his spot. I also remember the people on this board that actually didn't think JT wasn't worth $14M per year. He's been that guy with absolutely mediocre QBs throughout most of his career. You're simply wrong. Special players are worth the money, even if you're paying more than the average starter at his position. He's going to look even better with AR next to him next year. Bradley should have coached his last game as a DC. His zone defense will be ripped apart by Shroud and Lawrence going forward. Those two, especially Stroud, simply have good enough touch to exploit his defense. But besides the DL, the talent on the defense has been very lacking this year. I don't think Juju will ever be a great CB1. Maybe a decent CB2, but we need to add elite talent in the DB room in general. I could say the same thing about the LB position as well unfortunately. The only reason this doesn't sting as badly is because it's AR's era now. There's 0 doubt in my mind he would have won this game if he played. It's not like he could of done much worse then Minshew was passing. He only played 2.5 games this year but in that time, he played far, far, far more poised then anyone expected him to be. His biggest haters were saying he would average 40% passing and would be throwing picks galore. He didn't do either and had the ability to break huge plays every snap. Can't wait to watch that next year.

I really don't want to read anyone say Taylor isn't an elite talent again.

We need to score a TD. Stroud going forward is going to get his points vs anyone, and beyond the first snap, the Colts D has been pretty solid vs their offense. The offense has to not self destruct with bad throws and even worse drops.

What universe do you live in where the OL is playing poorly. Minshew has had plenty of time and the run game is doing very well.

How the offense responses in the second half will tell a lot about Steichen.

We win by 7.

Where did you get this info?

Next week will be wild. At this point I think we all know the strength and defenses of this team. This off-season will be very important in seeing what decisions Steichen makes to improve the roster/potentially coaching. It would be nice to see the Colts seal the deal next week and go to the playoffs, but it's nice to see that even with the roster that Steichen mostly inherited from the last regime, they improved considerably.

That's all on Speed. Nobody else. What a horrible decision by him.

Horrible effort by the LBs once again. If we are seeing this many broken tackles already, then I'm scared for the rest of the game again. These zone D's only work if you have sure tacklers. In this second half of the year, the LBs and Safeties have been awful at it.

We should wait for due process, but it isn't looking good. He took some nasty head hits this year as well. Obviously no excuse for battery, but brain damage can really mess with a person's personality and overall decision making. All around sad situation.

What a sensational thread title lol. Blasting the Colts would warrant him saying something negative at all about the Colts, no? He was cut, so he wants to prove he still has it. I'd imagine most players would feel the same way.

The DL missed a lot of tackles they normally get, and the LBs were awful overall. Sounds about right.

I agree. I might be wrong on this, but it feels that Taylor breaks his biggest plays from under center. The RPO plays they run out of shotgun are most valuable if the QB is also a threat to run it and break a huge play, which would be the case if AR was playing. It forces an edge defender to choose between AR or JT on these kinds of plays .No so much with Minshew, so why not mix in runs under center in these cases?

Offense: Someone else already said this, but this game just made Pittman a whole lot of money. The Falcons D played very much like the Jaguars D does: base defense, rushing 4 for the most part, and committing to the Run D on each play. This worked very well against the Colts earlier this year, but it was waning down due to Pittman stepping up and being a great YAC option for Minshew, which forced defenses to respect the pass game more. With Pittman being out, the Falcons essentially tee'd off on stacking the run game. This felt like the worst game Nelson had this year. He was pretty bad. So was the rest of the OL. I think that when the opposing defense fully commits to the run game and stack the box, this OL starts to suffer. And it's easier for the opposing D's to do this if Pittman isn't playing. Back in 2021, they were playing at a different level that allowed them to beat those heavy boxes, but I don't think they can do that much anymore unfortunately. They can still be pretty good though if they run a balanced offense, which should be the case anyways. The run option coming from AR will help counter this too. This game made me lose a lot of hope that Pierce can ever become a consistent weapon going forward. If Pittman being out didn't open up the opportunities for Pierce then I'm not sure what will. He's a good distraction and run blocker, but an NFL team should strive to have at least two game in and game out productive receivers on the team imo. Maybe that changes once AR comes back and more plays go Pierce's way given AR's stronger arm/playmaking abilities. Defense: Speed and Franklin had a lot of hype from our fanbase earlier this year (especially when comparing them to the injured Shaq), but this game exposed the LB group's weakness. The Falcons OL was able to neutralize them completely in the run game and the middle of the field got picked on all game. With Shaq gone, I would hope that Ballard adds some decent draft investments in that spot next year. Only re-sign Franklin for a reasonable contract. Kenny Moore was also abused in the Run D/screens as they ran a bunch of heavy formations towards him, but I imagine this happens to most teams with slot CBs. The LBs should be good enough to help with those mismatches. They made way too many untimely penalties today. I'm not very pro or anti Bradley. I do think the talent level on the D isn't where it needs to be yet, but there is a lot of things that this Defense does well despite the lack of investment. If Steichen wants another kind of defensive scheme, I'd be fine with the Colts getting another DC, but I also wouldn't mind Bradley staying next year with an upgraded squad. I think a lot of the issues currently going on with the offense will be corrected once Richardson returns.

No it's not rofl, Atlanta has a talented roster with mid coaching. The Panthers have the worst roster in the league with abysmal coaching.

Yeah this game sealed the deal for me on Pierce... He probably won't get cut, but I can't see how Steichen doesn't get Ballard to find him a reliable WR2 to replace him this off-season. If the only thing he provides is a distraction plus run blocking, he's a WR4 at best.

There's a constant on this team that just deflates when games become important. Whatever it is, I hope we get rid of it soon. It might just be Bradley.

Holy crap, tackle anybody

The Defense has been meh, but it hasn't been close to as bad as the Offense. We can still win, but the OL in particular needs to figure their % out. The players on the OL seems to lose all composure at the end of the season during important games. It's incredibly * annoying.

The OL is playing like it's early 2022. Absolutely awful.

I for one think the OL is having a phenomenal year. Nelson isn't the year in, year out 1st team All Pro that he used to be, but he's still playing at a high level. Kelly had an incredible rebound year. Raimann is becoming a franchise LT and is only in his second year of development btw. Fries is serviceable and Braden Smith has looked his usual stellar self while playing. If Freeland did whatever Raimann did this off-season, then we will also have a very good swing tackle going forward as well. I'd also note that the few times Freeland did start this year were against some of the best DL in the league (Garrett and Donald topping that list), and although he got destroyed, it's very good learning experience. They should always invest in depth/potential future starters, but I really does seem it was the coaching that made them look horrible last year until Saturday showed up.

Great game by Minshew. He is good when has a solid run game going, and the backup RBs did really well today as well.

- Great rebound win after getting destroyed by the Bengals - The OL played fantastic against a good front, especially in the run game. - Great game by the backup RBs - The D settled down nicely after the first quarter. They learned something after the Bengals destroyed them in the screen/short pass game. - Getting EJ Speed back a lot.