Colts @ Bears - My "honest" thoughts

[SoCalColts]

So after watching the game and watching Manning play last night and reading everyone's comments. I decided to give my opinion on the situation regarding the Colts...

As bad as everyone feels the Colts played. I personally felt the momentum change after Vinitari miss the field goal before half time. Once he miss the field the confidence they had made for keeping the game competitive at the point went on the window. If he makes the field goal its a touchdown lead with Colts receiving the ball in the 2nd half and they could of had a different outcome from that point, but we all know what really happen. Andrew Luck was awesome as we can tell. I knew watching him play SC all these time in Cali he was going to be special. Sure he didn't win like RG3, but RG3 has more talent on offense and defense as well. We are still trying to find an identity on both sides of the ball. There are some things I like....

1. Andrew Luck - his numbers were identical to Manning 1st game.

2. Coby Fleener really step it up - I knew I drafted him for a reason in fantasy football.

3. Reggie - Its Reggie enough said

4. Defense wasn't too bad IMO- Time will really help in the long run. Sure we won't be a Top 10 defense, but I see the potential. I'm pretty sure the talent will be brought in next season.

Things I hated

1. The O-line- some plays the look real good and others they just plain suck. We need talent on the O-line for sure and we can all agree with this. Linkenbach was just plain bad every time the pocket collapse it was coming from his side for the most part. 2nd most would be up the middle.

2. Freeney getting hurt in 2nd play on D. I'm not sure if he would of made a difference on the field, but even without him Mathis got 2 sacks so that tells me more about Mathis who will transition well into the 3-4.

3. Hughes - Preseason he was great. Live action not so much. I will say he does seem more involve, but he will need more time. With Freeney hurt we will be able to tell if Hughes is for real or bust in the system he played at TCU which was a 3-4

4. Missed opportunities - They failed many times to make this more competitive. The missed field goal really hurt the most and things fell apart from that point on.

5. SS - Where was he? I really wasn't impress at all by his play.

I wanted to touch on the Corner play since everyone seems to be slamming on Davis & Powers. Personally of the two I feel Powers played worse. On many plays he seem out of position might be new scheme he is learning and other plays he was at the right place, but Marshall just made the play. I expected it since he is like 6'+ (Marshall) and Powers is under 6'. Next game I feel he will play much better. Davis did well for only knowing the scheme for two weeks. He had the same problem covering Marshall, but for the most part I think he did well. I do see the potential in him and I feel Pagano will bring out the best in him. Both Davis & Powers just need the time to work on the scheme. Things will get better. Also keep in mind most teams don't have tall corners most corners are under 6' or maybe 6'1". The only corner I know who is tall and good/decent is the corner from the Seahawks #25 Shurmur or something like that he's 6'3" I believe.

The most important thing we need for this season is time!!! However, for the future and long term we will need some new talent. The potential is there.....

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

So after watching the game and watching Manning play last night and reading everyone's comments. I decided to give my opinion on the situation regarding the Colts...

As bad as everyone feels the Colts played. I personally felt the momentum change after Vinitari miss the field goal before half time. Once he miss the field the confidence they had made for keeping the game competitive at the point went on the window. If he makes the field goal its a touchdown lead with Colts receiving the ball in the 2nd half and they could of had a different outcome from that point, but we all know what really happen. Andrew Luck was awesome as we can tell. I knew watching him play SC all these time in Cali he was going to be special. Sure he didn't win like RG3, but RG3 has more talent on offense and defense as well. We are still trying to find an identity on both sides of the ball. There are some things I like....

1. Andrew Luck - his numbers were identical to Manning 1st game.

2. Coby Fleener really step it up - I knew I drafted him for a reason in fantasy football.

3. Reggie - Its Reggie enough said

4. Defense wasn't too bad IMO- Time will really help in the long run. Sure we won't be a Top 10 defense, but I see the potential. I'm pretty sure the talent will be brought in next season.

Things I hated

1. The O-line- some plays the look real good and others they just plain suck. We need talent on the O-line for sure and we can all agree with this. Linkenbach was just plain bad every time the pocket collapse it was coming from his side for the most part. 2nd most would be up the middle.

2. Freeney getting hurt in 2nd play on D. I'm not sure if he would of made a difference on the field, but even without him Mathis got 2 sacks so that tells me more about Mathis who will transition well into the 3-4.

3. Hughes - Preseason he was great. Live action not so much. I will say he does seem more involve, but he will need more time. With Freeney hurt we will be able to tell if Hughes is for real or bust in the system he played at TCU which was a 3-4

4. Missed opportunities - They failed many times to make this more competitive. The missed field goal really hurt the most and things fell apart from that point on.

5. SS - Where was he? I really wasn't impress at all by his play.

I wanted to touch on the Corner play since everyone seems to be slamming on Davis & Powers. Personally of the two I feel Powers played worse. On many plays he seem out of position might be new scheme he is learning and other plays he was at the right place, but Marshall just made the play. I expected it since he is like 6'+ (Marshall) and Powers is under 6'. Next game I feel he will play much better. Davis did well for only knowing the scheme for two weeks. He had the same problem covering Marshall, but for the most part I think he did well. I do see the potential in him and I feel Pagano will bring out the best in him. Both Davis & Powers just need the time to work on the scheme. Things will get better. Also keep in mind most teams don't have tall corners most corners are under 6' or maybe 6'1". The only corner I know who is tall and good/decent is the corner from the Seahawks #25 Shurmur or something like that he's 6'3" I believe.

The most important thing we need for this season is time!!! However, for the future and long term we will need some new talent. The potential is there.....

Agree with most of what you said, altough I thought Powers played OK based on the amount of presure the DL was getting which was NONE after the Bears frist 2 drives! Davis ahhhhh was OK but as a corner you CAN NOT get beat deep like that.EVER! Totally Zeb is not good he really has showed me to this point NOTHING. The Defense I thought was NOT GOOD. NO presure & other than Conner Mathis, & Bethea, & King not good. Link was not good But honestly who on the line was? NO ONE!!

Hughus was OK not great he was making some plays & would have had a sack if he wasn't cliped in the back on 1 play. Its going to take a while!! THATS FOR SURE!!

[manning04]

We were getting no pressure on Cutler after their first two drives. You can put an 8th grader behind the Bears line with no pressure and he would complete some passes. We had alot of people playing their "first" out there against an experienced well developed not just defense but team in general. the bears Offense is better than we thought and i think we will see that on Thursday when they play the Pack.

Our Line getting better is probably the most important unit that has to get better. I don't know what we have to do to get it better but we have to FAST.

I think Powers played fine. Davis did as well but when Cutler has time to get his Thriller dance on after the snap we can't expect them to be able to stick their man the whole play. it's impossible. I think early on we tried to capitalize of the bears trying to figure it out having miscues... but our Line could not hold up. Thank goodness they don't hand out trophies after the first week.

[colts_mp]

Andrew Luck played very poorly yesterday. Threw many bad passes (including some that only Reggie could catch). He got most of his stats after the Bears opened a huge lead and Urlacher went out (Peppers was getting some extra rest too).

[coltsfanmilyman]

Don't think that Luck played poorly yesterday as much as the offense around him (outside of Wayne and Fleener) didn't show up. Brown personally killed 2 drives that could have done a multitude of things.

Just like last season and well even when Manning was here, if you don't have a running game because of oline/playcalling you wont win many games. When the oline played well we ran decent but when it didn't Luck was either running for his life or had pressure all around him to make his job a lot more difficult. Looking at the picks and fumble it does look bad but Jennings made a spectacular pick on the one pass! The fumble came from behind so that IMO falls on the line. Another was a tipped pass as well. Don't forget that the other team has players who get paid too. People for some reason seem to think that Chicago isn't a good team? I don't know why though. They have always had an excellent defense. It was the offense that was suspect.

We got manhandled by a better team sunday but we also did not help ourselves in the slightest either.

I think some people bought into the hype of SC and the pre-season. Sunday was a dose of reality that against good teams these games can be tough to watch.

Yet there were some positives from the game. FWIW Luck did have over 300 yds, Special teams downed 2 punts inside the 10. Let me repeat that

SPECIAL TEAMS DOWNED 2 PUNTS INSIDE THE 10 YARD LINE.

MLB I feel is going to be okay without Angerer.

Davis and Powers will get better! Marshall is a beast and when Cutler is putting it where only he can catch it and on a rope, no one is gonna stop those two.

When we were able to run, Brown showed flashes of being good.

Personally I want more and can't wait til Sunday.

Footballs back people! we lost 1 game thats it! Alot of teams lost yesterday.

I took joy in seeing the Saints lose as well as the packers, sucks that HOU won but ohwell, Titans lost, Jags lost. Were in 2nd in the division

[JWF]

Having finally rewatched some of the game I thought Luck was actually pretty good considering the horrendous O-line play and the awful defense we were playing. I dont think ive seen a QB that young with that kind of pocket presence. Without that pocket presence he probably wouldnt have made it past the 1st half. He did make a few bad decisiosn (2 of the 3 INTs) and was off on some passes but considering the situation Im not surprised.

The one thing, and I think he'll learn, is he needs to realize when to put more zip on the ball. I see some people claiming he has a weak arm but ive seen him throw with good velocity plenty of times just since he's been a Colt. Ive also seen him rocket passes several times when I watched Stanford play. I just think he has a tendency at times to use touch when its not needed and shift his weight too far back as well. Nothing I saw from in that game isnt easily correctable in my very humble opinion.

I also watched some of the Washington game and Griffin did look good. At the same time you can see the Redskins had a great gameplan to ease him into the game and the offense was simplified. They actually ran alot of zone read like he used at Baylor with quick reads. The other thing is he def. made some bad decisions and got away with them. He had one pass in the redzone that 3 Saints broke on and should have been an INT. He also had a INT dropped by a Saints DB. The jumpball in the endzone that got the PI was also kind of fortunate. Both the WR and Harper were in position to make a play on the ball.

Overall I think both these guys are going to be good from watching them. I wasnt very worried about Luck without having seen the game but having watched it now I dont think its nearly as bad as people are making it out to be. He showed flashes of why he was the #1 pick, atleast to me anyways. Its going to be a bumpy road for sure for him though. That O-line...wow.

[funktacious2]

Things I liked

1.Wayne- He was the real deal. He looked good all offseason, but remained kind of quiet. I think he proved he's still the same Reggie and I think he's going to have much better season after a somewhat disappointing one last year with our quarterback situation.

2.Luck's Awareness- Luck kept his eyes down field and rarely lost awareness among great pressure

3.Fleener- 80+ and I expected half that.

4.Brown's YPC- He got downed at the line and behind the line plenty and dropped two easy passes, but had two awesome 18+ yards rushes and a couple other good efforts. The resulted in a typical Brown showing: Flashes of greatness mixed in with flashes of a dud.

Things I did not expect

1.Where was Dwayne Allen? I'm sure he spent most the game blocking someone, but I'm still shocked to have not really heard his name.

2. Wayne dominating. Wayne is the man, we all know that... and pretty much every analysts and many other NFL fans know that, and other than be called "aging" everyone still expected greatness out of Wayne. However, with all the other receivers brought in and an emphasis in camp on spreading the ball around I did not expect Wayne to get so many yards, and though I'm sure it's been posted elsewhere it's worth mentioning again for those who had not heard, but Wayne was the number 1 receiver (in yards) this opening week. Maybe it's going to be one of those things where he only gets 60 this coming game and then more again the week after, after or maybe he's primed to have monster year. A rookie needs reliable targets and Wayne is stepping up to the plate better than I expected.

3.Fleener production. I never expected Fleener to put up 80+ yards and Allen end up not ever really having his name mentioned. I remember hearings something about Arians not using almost a 3rd of the playbook in the preseason, and even though it's fact-less speculation, I wonder if part of the game plan was to keep some Fleener plays a surprise until gameday. That would certainly answer part of why we saw so little of Fleener in the preseason. I know Arians has said Fleener needed to work on his hands, but I still was surprised to not see him as much in the preseason. (though he wasn't used as much as I thought in camp either.) >_>

Things I did NOT like

1. The O-line- They kept some plays open long enough for Luck to get a pass off, but other times Luck made them look good by showing good pocket awareness. The pocket collapsed far too many times for my liking and 50 yards is quite bad even for a team I expected to still struggle in the run.

2. Luck's Accuracy- I know it's his first rookie game, playing a good D, etc...but there were way to many under and overthrown balls. I expect this to improve as early as this next game, but so far a big issue.

3. Weak pressure- We looked like a monster for a second on D. I even let myself think for a second, "Hey, maybe we really are much better than expected" then we stopped bringing pressure, then they kept passing and rushing and then they put up a ton of points. What happened? Does it have something to do with Freeney going out, or was the first drive or so of the game a fluke?

4. Inconsistent Coverage- This one explains itself, sometimes our corners made big plays then sometimes they gave up a big one.

5. Back up running backs? What is the point of having 4 running backs on the roster if you're only really going to use 2 of them? (really felt like 1 considering production). Granted Carter is injured, I'm beginning to see big potential for Carter to have a good impact when he returns. He got injured in the preseason, and camp, but when healthy he may very well offer our best chance at a being our back to power through the gabs for the shorter yardage. Ballard showed he may be capable, but he doesn't have Carter's experience, and Moore has been known to take on the roles fairly well too. A running game is a great thing for a rookie to have in order to take pressure off, but so far our guys had little to show us.

[ColtsFTW]

Things I liked

1.Wayne- He was the real deal. He looked good all offseason, but remained kind of quiet. I think he proved he's still the same Reggie and I think he's going to have much better season after a somewhat disappointing one last year with our quarterback situation.

2.Luck's Awareness- Luck kept his eyes down field and rarely lost awareness among great pressure

3.Fleener- 80+ and I expected half that.

4.Brown's YPC- He got downed at the line and behind the line plenty and dropped two easy passes, but had two awesome 18+ yards rushes and a couple other good efforts. The resulted in a typical Brown showing: Flashes of greatness mixed in with flashes of a dud.

Things I did not expect

1.Where was Dwayne Allen? I'm sure he spent most the game blocking someone, but I'm still shocked to have not really heard his name.

2. Wayne dominating. Wayne is the man, we all know that... and pretty much every analysts and many other NFL fans know that, and other than be called "aging" everyone still expected greatness out of Wayne. However, with all the other receivers brought in and an emphasis in camp on spreading the ball around I did not expect Wayne to get so many yards, and though I'm sure it's been posted elsewhere it's worth mentioning again for those who had not heard, but Wayne was the number 1 receiver (in yards) this opening week. Maybe it's going to be one of those things where he only gets 60 this coming game and then more again the week after, after or maybe he's primed to have monster year. A rookie needs reliable targets and Wayne is stepping up to the plate better than I expected.

3.Fleener production. I never expected Fleener to put up 80+ yards and Allen end up not ever really having his name mentioned. I remember hearings something about Arians not using almost a 3rd of the playbook in the preseason, and even though it's fact-less speculation, I wonder if part of the game plan was to keep some Fleener plays a surprise until gameday. That would certainly answer part of why we saw so little of Fleener in the preseason. I know Arians has said Fleener needed to work on his hands, but I still was surprised to not see him as much in the preseason. (though he wasn't used as much as I thought in camp either.) >_>

Things I did NOT like

1. The O-line- They kept some plays open long enough for Luck to get a pass off, but other times Luck made them look good by showing good pocket awareness. The pocket collapsed far too many times for my liking and 50 yards is quite bad even for a team I expected to still struggle in the run.

2. Luck's Accuracy- I know it's his first rookie game, playing a good D, etc...but there were way to many under and overthrown balls. I expect this to improve as early as this next game, but so far a big issue.

3. Weak pressure- We looked like a monster for a second on D. I even let myself think for a second, "Hey, maybe we really are much better than expected" then we stopped bringing pressure, then they kept passing and rushing and then they put up a ton of points. What happened? Does it have something to do with Freeney going out, or was the first drive or so of the game a fluke?

4. Inconsistent Coverage- This one explains itself, sometimes our corners made big plays then sometimes they gave up a big one.

5. Back up running backs? What is the point of having 4 running backs on the roster if you're only really going to use 2 of them? (really felt like 1 considering production). Granted Carter is injured, I'm beginning to see big potential for Carter to have a good impact when he returns. He got injured in the preseason, and camp, but when healthy he may very well offer our best chance at a being our back to power through the gabs for the shorter yardage. Ballard showed he may be capable, but he doesn't have Carter's experience, and Moore has been known to take on the roles fairly well too. A running game is a great thing for a rookie to have in order to take pressure off, but so far our guys had little to show us.

You forgot

Things I liked

5. Special Teams. =P

[funktacious2]

You forgot

Things I liked

5. Special Teams. =P

The special teams made a few good plays and some bad ones (Brazill fumble, and gave up a pretty large punt return.) It left me hopeful, but I think those mistakes tarnished them enough for me to not be too impressed by their performance.

[braveheartcolt]

Why can't Pat hit the kick-offs through the end zone? I watched several games over the weekend, and everyone apart from McAfee was pumping them through the back.....with some of the killer returners in this league, this is criminal....

[FanFromtheWasteland]

Why can't Pat hit the kick-offs through the end zone? I watched several games over the weekend, and everyone apart from McAfee was pumping them through the back.....with some of the killer returners in this league, this is criminal....

I thought the same thing (last year also). It may be just me but I thought that he line drives an awful lot of them.

[gspdx]

Just looking at some numbers. Luck and the offense already scored enough points to win games and that was against a good Bear defense. Scored 21 - should have been 24. The next number is turnovers. If we cut down on turnovers that can extend drives, maybe mean a few more points (24 to 27 points?) and maybe eliminate a couple of possessions for the opposing team with our offense burning up more time on the field.

Even without revamping the o-line this team has the ability to compete.

Now we need the defense to get off the field!

[TKnight24]

3. Hughes - Preseason he was great. Live action not so much. I will say he does seem more involve, but he will need more time. With Freeney hurt we will be able to tell if Hughes is for real or bust in the system he played at TCU which was a 3-4

TCU does NOT Run a 3-4. And they did NOT Run a 3-4 when Hughes was there. They run a 4-2-5. Hughes was at LE (If you're looking from the Safety Perspective). TCU has always run a 4-2-5 for as long as I've been a Fan

4 Lineman 2 Linebacker's & 5 Defensive Backs (4-2-5) Hughes playing OLB is just as NEW as it is to Freeney & Mathis

[teganslaw]

I couldn't believe that Vinatieri missed a 37 yard field goal. That seeemed to take momentum out of the game. He is one of the best kickers, so what happened?

[corgi]

I couldn't believe that Vinatieri missed a 37 yard field goal. That seeemed to take momentum out of the game. He is one of the best kickers, so what happened?

I'm going to say the wind played a factor. He should've made it, but I'm not throwing him under the bus.

[Rich Cannon]

I think penalties on the defensive end cost us this game early. Starting the game we played solid D and were in Jay Culters face early and often forcing him out of the pocket on numerous occasions. Just think of the out come of this game if we didnt commit all those pass interference penalties. On the flip side Offensively we need to simply block better for Andrew Luck. One good thing is we wont face teams with a pass rush like the Bears every game so Andrew Luck will do better in the future, just not against the Vikings, the pressure they can create with Jared Allen and company is very similar to the Bears. The vikings Defense again will pressure Andrew all game, I think the Vikings offense isnt as potent as the Bears is, so we can win this game.

[mradican]

Just looking at some numbers. Luck and the offense already scored enough points to win games and that was against a good Bear defense. Scored 21 - should have been 24. The next number is turnovers. If we cut down on turnovers that can extend drives, maybe mean a few more points (24 to 27 points?) and maybe eliminate a couple of possessions for the opposing team with our offense burning up more time on the field.

Even without revamping the o-line this team has the ability to compete.

Now we need the defense to get off the field!

Actually the Colts scored 2 offensive TDs - the last one well after the game was settled. While the game was still "up for grabs" the Colts got 7 offensive points.

[gspdx]

Actually the Colts scored 2 offensive TDs - the last one well after the game was settled. While the game was still "up for grabs" the Colts got 7 offensive points.

But the team was still out there working and competing and they did score. 21-24 points should be enough to win some games. That is all I'm saying. I take it as a positive.

[Mouthfire]

TCU does NOT Run a 3-4. And they did NOT Run a 3-4 when Hughes was there. They run a 4-2-5. Hughes was at LE (If you're looking from the Safety Perspective). TCU has always run a 4-2-5 for as long as I've been a Fan

4 Lineman 2 Linebacker's & 5 Defensive Backs (4-2-5) Hughes playing OLB is just as NEW as it is to Freeney & Mathis

Yeah, I don't know where this misconception came from, or why it keeps frickin' persisting. Hughes NEVER EVER EVER EVER played in a 3-4 defense, let alone as a 3-4 linebacker.

[oldunclemark]

But the team was still out there working and competing and they did score. 21-24 points should be enough to win some games. That is all I'm saying. I take it as a positive.

the post games suggest suggest we had a fighting chance to win going in and with the experinece situation we did not.

I WILL take it as a positive..

[TKnight24]

Yeah, I don't know where this misconception came from, or why it keeps frickin' persisting. Hughes NEVER EVER EVER EVER played in a 3-4 defense, let alone as a 3-4 linebacker.

I don't either. People have to start doing research before making a Topic

[mradican]

But the team was still out there working and competing and they did score. 21-24 points should be enough to win some games. That is all I'm saying. I take it as a positive.

Very true. It is encouraging that they never stopped trying. If they play the same way next week, they can definitely beat the Vikings. I don't see the Vikings scoring very many points against the Colts.

[JoKeR]

Ahh the urban myth of Jerry Hughes

[gspdx]

Very true. It is encouraging that they never stopped trying. If they play the same way next week, they can definitely beat the Vikings. I don't see the Vikings scoring very many points against the Colts.

Let's hope so. It would be great for the team to win the first h9ome game.

[Coltsagent]

The game remined me of the old colts...the other team going up and down the field at will. The difference this time is we dont have the O that can keep up the scoring toe for toe like we did w/ PM. The most dispointing part of this game was the D. I thought maybe, finally, we were going to have a D, but just looks like the same old colts D: cant stop the run and get dink and dunked to death.

[chad72]

Ahh the urban myth of Jerry Hughes

Yep, pretty soon, we will run out of excuses to defend him.

This is a young team, we will see how they respond in their first home game.

[braveheartcolt]

He's a bust. From top to bottom. He has never ever done anything on the field to warrent a place on any team. Ever.

[JoKeR]

Yep, pretty soon, we will run out of excuses to defend him.

This is a young team, we will see how they respond in their first home game.

I was referring to Hughes being a 3-4 OLB in college.

As far as Hughe's performance, he wasn't playing Mathis's role like he did during the preseason.

[Balzer40]

Andrew Luck played very poorly yesterday. Threw many bad passes (including some that only Reggie could catch). He got most of his stats after the Bears opened a huge lead and Urlacher went out (Peppers was getting some extra rest too).

This is just so wrong that I'm just going to leave it at that before I say something that will get me in trouble.

[SoCalColts]

My fault on Hughes playing 3-4 at TCU. I guess I must of made that assumption on his alignment on the field at times. Plus being in Cali I only see TCU 2 or 3 times a year if we are lucky. This is SC country so yea we don't see much of TCU.