What happened to blitzing?

[lollygagger8]

Where's all of these exotic blitzes at?

Is it just because we are still learning the playbook, or do we not have the talent to pull them off? I thought we'd be blitzing like crazy Sunday against the Bears since their O-line is suspect.

Did we run them and the Bears just picked them up that well? After the first quarter, it seemed like we either ran out of gas, or the Bears figured us out.

[MIColtsFan]

I was wondering the same and also was wondering why we kept going to cover 2...??

[cmgww]

The Bears did pick up a number of blitzes...and we still don't quite have the personnel to run the scheme Pagano wants to run, esp. with Freeney out. He went out, D line pressure non-existent, our CBs can't stay with a guy 5 seconds. Thus going to zone and trying to make a sandwich out of %

[Indyfan4life]

Yeah, half this board was on the "let's get rid of Freeney" bandwagon, but it's obvious after he went out we put ZERO pressure on the Bears O-Line.

[krunk]

Where's all of these exotic blitzes at?

Is it just because we are still learning the playbook, or do we not have the talent to pull them off? I thought we'd be blitzing like crazy Sunday against the Bears since their O-line is suspect.

Did we run them and the Bears just picked them up that well? After the fir

st quarter, it seemed like we either ran out of gas, or the Bears figured us out.

From what I saw we were blitzing a good bit. The problem was they kept getting picked up.

Honestly I thought the bears were doing a lot of holding out there. Jerry Hughes had a B-Line

sack on Cutler and he was pulled down from the back of his shoulder pads by a lineman and

the referees acted like it didn't even happen.

[FightLikeSin]

From what I saw we were blitzing a good bit. The problem was they kept getting picked up.

Honestly I thought the bears were doing a lot of holding out there. Jerry Hughes had a B-Line

sack on Cutler and he was pulled down from the back of his shoulder pads by a lineman and

the referees acted like it didn't even happen.

There were a lot of ref fails. How about Idonije in between our tackles before the ball snapped during the play that lead to Luck's first INT? Should have been a free play which would explain the long bomb down the sideline. Horrible non-calls all day.

[Gavin]

There were a lot of ref fails. How about Idonije in between our tackles before the ball snapped during the play that lead to Luck's first INT? Should have been a free play which would explain the long bomb down the sideline. Horrible non-calls all day.

watching the on slow mo replay and seeing that yellow line Im not so sure he crossed it

[ColtJ82]

The Def. was on the field way too much.......had to be gassed....exposed our depth issues. Plus, our NT play was suspect.

[GoColts8818]

From what I saw we were blitzing a good bit. The problem was they kept getting picked up.

Honestly I thought the bears were doing a lot of holding out there. Jerry Hughes had a B-Line

sack on Cutler and he was pulled down from the back of his shoulder pads by a lineman and

the referees acted like it didn't even happen.

This people seem to think if we blitz and it gets picked up some how we didn't blitz. Once Freeney left it eliminated the double team he was getting and freed up one more blocker to pick up another blitzer. Freeney going out changed the whole game on defense.

[FightLikeSin]

watching the on slow mo replay and seeing that yellow line Im not so sure he crossed it

Do you have Game Rewind? He was way across the ball.

[Gavin]

Do you have Game Rewind? He was way across the ball.

I got it but havent looked at it on there, I recorded the game on DVR

[krunk]

There were a lot of ref fails. How about Idonije in between our tackles before the ball snapped during the play that lead to Luck's first INT? Should have been a free play which would explain the long bomb down the sideline. Horrible non-calls all day.

These guys don't know what to call. I was watching Peyton play last night and he did his infamous snap the ball with

12 men on the field to get the 5 yard penalty strategy. Guess what? Their were 12 men on the field and the referees

never did throw the flag. You could see that peyton was clearly ticked off about it!

The NFL needs to make some kind of deal to send these guys packing. And soon!

[GoColts8818]

These guys don't know what to call. I was watching Peyton play last night and he did his infamous snap the ball with

12 men on the field to get the 5 yard penalty strategy. Guess what? Their were 12 men on the field and the referees

never did throw the flag. You could see that peyton was clearly ticked off about it!

The NFL needs to make some kind of deal to send these guys packing. And soon!

I thought it was strange Denver didn't challenge. 12men on the field is reviewable because the normal guys have missed it too.

[FightLikeSin]

I got it but havent looked at it on there, I recorded the game on DVR

Luck also noted in the press conference he had a free play to throw it. Regrets the "assumption" lol.

Me too Andrew...dumb refs!

[CjMcGirt23]

We couldn't run any exotic blitzes or high risk high reward defense. In order to do that 1) our offense has to be able to do something. You can't just run the risk of letting the bears put up points by playing to aggressive (even though that's still what happened) and 2) We had no pass rush once Freeney came out, we can't just send the whole house.

[oldunclemark]

Where's all of these exotic blitzes at?

Is it just because we are still learning the playbook, or do we not have the talent to pull them off? I thought we'd be blitzing like crazy Sunday against the Bears since their O-line is suspect.

Did we run them and the Bears just picked them up that well? After the first quarter, it seemed like we either ran out of gas, or the Bears figured us out.

I thought we couldnt afford to...

They had big rerceivesr and we had to double cover Marshall somtimes....and Forte was breaking tackles....

...I think we'll blitz more as time goes on against less experinecd pass-catch squads

[lollygagger8]

We couldn't run any exotic blitzes or high risk high reward defense. In order to do that 1) our offense has to be able to do something. You can't just run the risk of letting the bears put up points by playing to aggressive (even though that's still what happened) and 2) We had no pass rush once Freeney came out, we can't just send the whole house.

They put 41 points up on us. I would've went back to blitzing like the first half regardless of Freeney being out. That was Hughes chance to shine, and it seemed like he was back to his old self

[Bubba_Rebel]

Sadly I think Pagano should take over play calling for the defense. Manusky has a long history of not being a game changer DCoord

[dgambill]

Where's all of these exotic blitzes at?

Is it just because we are still learning the playbook, or do we not have the talent to pull them off? I thought we'd be blitzing like crazy Sunday against the Bears since their O-line is suspect.

Did we run them and the Bears just picked them up that well? After the first quarter, it seemed like we either ran out of gas, or the Bears figured us out.

The Bears did a good job picking them up. We didn't go blitz crazy but we did blitz but when the team is throwing and completing everything including on first down thats tough to stop. We just opened up more throwing lanes for Cutler. Even hot routes Cutler was on the money.

Luck also noted in the press conference he had a free play to throw it. Regrets the "assumption" lol.

Me too Andrew...dumb refs!

Well we know what assuming makes out of u and me. I watched it and never saw him cross the line although from the original angle it was hard to tell because of the camera angle. Fact was it was a terribly thrown ball under no pressure on that one. Luck just lifted his back foot and it came up short....just like his other int on the sidelines. He needs to work on that....and our o-line needs to work on pass protection. Our coaches could learn to run the ball....even when a game is out of reach it was clear that we couldn't handle their pass rush....we were lucky we didn't get our qb killed. A couple of draws and screens would have been nice to slow down the rush....of course we have to catch the ball but anyways....rookies at qb, coach, and some backup lineman meant for a lopsided affair.

[southwest1]

As soon as Dwight Freeney went out of the game, it seemed as though any form of QB pressure on Cutler died right with it. I expected Jerry Hughes to pick up the slack and he failed miserably to fill Freeney's void on the line. I don't like getting embarrassed like we got embarrassed yesterday. Chalk it up to playing 4 full quarters I guess. Jerry Hughes I better not see you disappear again.

1 last point: RB Donald Brown please catch the ball first before you look upfield okay. Thank you. That drove me nuts yesterday. :pullhair: :slaphead:

[BleedBlu8792]

The first two possessions the Bears offense had the defense was flying, but as another poster stated they were gassed by the middle of the second quarter. The first 4 possessions on offense for the Colts was 3 3 and outs and I believe an INT. The Bears offense was on the field for 20 minutes of the first half. Pagano and Manusky HAD to back off or they would have been carting guys off the field. They had to go more zone in order to give the guys a little rest. All in all I thought the Colts did well defensively but were hung out to dry by the offense. With the exception of Forte's 32 yard run, they did very well against the run. However, I have to credit the Bears O-line. They were matching our front 5 very well, and with the Colts going a lot of zone in the second half Cutler just hit the holes while being given a lot of time. Once the offense comes around this defense is going to shine.

Also not to make excuses, but the Bears got some help. The PI on Justin King was terrible and that was on a 3rd and long that could have got the defense off the field. The defense just couldn't get any help whatsoever. On top of that the Colts left AT LEAST 6 points on the field. Vinny missing that easy FG and Lucks INT in the endzone are all plays I bet they wish they had back. The offense HAS to get any and all points they can get and keep that defense off the field. The fresher they are throughout the game the more we will see of them like they were at the beginning and getting after the offense.

[Coltfan729]

I think overall the Colts did well on Sunday. From where they ended last year to where they started this year, I could see some major improvement. The line has to be able to keep a pocket. Had too much pressure in Luck's face, and the running game needs developed earlier to relieve that. While there were five turnovers, there was definitely some good reads and Donald Brown is scared in the flat. Need to put Mewelde Moore in there for any pass protection or screens not up the middle because twice Donald Brown heard footsteps when there weren't any.

[coltsblue1844]

watching the on slow mo replay and seeing that yellow line Im not so sure he crossed it

Down linemen arent allowed to put their hand down and then pick it back up before the snap, anyhow

[Nostrils]

From what I saw we were blitzing a good bit. The problem was they kept getting picked up.

Honestly I thought the bears were doing a lot of holding out there. Jerry Hughes had a B-Line

sack on Cutler and he was pulled down from the back of his shoulder pads by a lineman and

the referees acted like it didn't even happen.

I hate looking for excuses but i feel the same way.. as the weeks went on I bought into the Replacement Refs but after yesterday they are so much worse than i expected.. in all games... but I think the refs sucked as bad as we did yesterday

[mystrymaster]

We blitzed alot.

[Andy]

The Colts actually had a lot of 1 and 2 man blitzes. They never brought the safety in or the nickelbacks, but there were a lot of blitzes.

I think as the Colts get more comfortable with this defense, the more "exotic" blitzes will happen. Pagano used safety and nickelback blitzes in Baltimore, and I expect him to do that here.

[krunk]

Want to know what happened to our pass rush?

This is straight from Paganos' mouth. Many of us said this, and he is confirming:

“I think, what (the Bears) do is as soon as that (injury) happens, when you don’t have to tend to one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, now all your focus goes to the other guy (Robert Mathis), who ended up having two sacks and started the game with a sack,” Pagano said.

http://www.colts.com/news/article-1/FREENEY-MENDING/c00484d4-a822-4b30-91c9-5871556d9f48

So Freeneys injury did play a role as to why we could generate no pass rush.

[corgi]

The Colts actually had a lot of 1 and 2 man blitzes. They never brought the safety in or the nickelbacks, but there were a lot of blitzes.

I think as the Colts get more comfortable with this defense, the more "exotic" blitzes will happen. Pagano used safety and nickelback blitzes in Baltimore, and I expect him to do that here.

Bethea clearly blitzed once. It was on a hand-off to Forte I believe, but one of the commentators mentioned it after it happened.

[USAFHoosier]

It was Jerry Hughes time to shine and he did ok. He made alot of plays from behind in the back field but was mostly a non factor in the pass rush. Looked like mathis and Redding were the only ones to put any pressure on Cutler the whole game.

[krunk]

It was Jerry Hughes time to shine and he did ok. He made alot of plays from behind in the back field but was mostly a non factor in the pass rush. Looked like mathis and Redding were the only ones to put any pressure on Cutler the whole game.

Hughes got some pass rush, but not the kind Freeney would have generated.