Seth Olsen is Benched Finally

[HtownColt]

Seth Olsen was out of the starting OLine today at practiced replaced by the one and only Linkenbach. as Reitz didn't practice today

a few starters missed practice today. will get a better look at to who will be availabe for the Packers game wednesday. Bruce Arians will give an injury update wednesday as well. robert Mathis tells media he is playing no matter what even though he missed practice today with an ankle injury.

"Inside linebacker Pat Angerer (foot) practiced but center Samson Satele (knee) did not. Outside linebackers Robert Mathis (foot/ankle) and Dwight Freeney (ankle) weren’t out for the early portion of the workout, nor were guard Joe Reitz (knee), cornerback Vontae Davis (ankle) or cornerback Justin King (groin)."

"Anthony Castonzo, Mike McGlynn and Winston Justice were at their normal spots, left tackle, right guard and right tackle respectively. But Jeff Linkenbach was at left guard and A.Q. Shipley was at center."

[HtownColt]

http://www.indystar.com/article/20121001/SPORTS03/121001050/Colts-Notebook-Robert-Mathis-expects-play-Sunday?odyssey=nav|head

[ColtStrong]

I expect the Colts to come out fired up no matter what. And if Freeney plays, it's a bonus. Even though the Pack should beat us on paper, I still think we will do much better than last year even though it may not show in the win column. I've given this year a pass as far as making the playoffs, but I see some really good things happening. Add to that, that we have 40 mil to spend next year, then I will start to expect things.

But I'll still be OK if they lose next week. This is just practice for next year. If Peyton can from 3-13 to 13-3, Luck can certainly sniff the playoffs next year. After all, he's on pace to get 4,000 yds in his rookie year. Not too worried yet.

[Stephen]

yea i just want the colts to keep it close. I'd like to see a touchdown in each quarter and a fast start in the second half as well.

[Indyswagger]

Unfortunately , we are not blessed with depth at any o-line position, so having our starters back is a huge deal. I am concerned with Satele being out though, Hope Shipley can call the right protection to keep Luck upright instead of looking up at the roof on his back.

[jimirsaysdog]

Unfortunately , we are not blessed with depth at any o-line position, so having our starters back is a huge deal. I am concerned with Satele being out though, Hope Shipley can call the right protection to keep Luck upright instead of looking up at the roof on his back.

olsen is hurt also.

[Indyswagger]

olsen is hurt also.

I am just finding this out, injuries we dont need for sure.

[lollygagger8]

I'm optimistic about Shipley. Linkenbach...not so much.

[BrentMc11]

Kind of surprised at the waving of Mario Addison. I hope he gets through waivers. To waive from the active roster, something may have happened internally? Besides Joe Lefeged, Addison had been a strong suit on special teams. Maybe Angerer is closer than we think.....Just do NOT rush back!

Shipley blocked well in the preseason...reminds me of Saturday....has not had his chance. With Link at guard, Arians seems to be wanted to force it up the gut....and avoid the maniacal Clay Mathews with delayed draws.

I would feel more comfortable with a vet at center if we go more no huddle as well.....it is the bye week so we have more time to analyze.....HMMMM maybe even a designes QB draw....(Just stay upright Andrew)

[swflacoltsfans]

I expect to see clay matthews in the backfield more than donald brown. if the packers don't get at least 8 sacks i will be surprise. luck better roll out on almost every play. we will need screens to slow down the pass rush.

[lollygagger8]

I still can't for the life of me understand how Linkenbach is getting to start, and we release Trai Essex. What is going on?

[PMan Escape Plan]

I still can't for the life of me understand how Linkenbach is getting to start, and we release Trai Essex. What is going on?

^this

[colts52761]

when does hicks get a chance? i can't wait till anderson comes back! i can't believe hicks and anderson are worse than olsen, mcglynn.

[Archer]

I expect Reitz and Satele to start this game, and we'll finally have our starting five together. If Reitz is a no-go, I'm all for Linkenbach over Olsen. At least Link can hold up at the point of attack, and his lack of athleticism won't hurt him as much as if he were at tackle. (Hey - ANYONE's better than Olsen!) As for Satele: he started in Week 3, and he didn't sustain a new injury (he just couldn't battle through the pain any longer). So, I don't see how he wouldn't be ready to go after two more weeks of (relative) rest. I see the day off on Monday as a precaution. I expect him to be about a half participant in practice this week and a starter on Sunday...

[jimirsaysdog]

when does hicks get a chance? i can't wait till anderson comes back! i can't believe hicks and anderson are worse than olsen, mcglynn.

huh ? mcglynn has been solid at two positions no less. there's a reason 32 teams passed on hicks over 250 times.

[John Waylon]

I expect to see clay matthews in the backfield more than donald brown. if the packers don't get at least 8 sacks i will be surprise. luck better roll out on almost every play. we will need screens to slow down the pass rush.

Gonna be hard to do seeing Brown never leaves the backfield.

Ha! I made a funny!

[MrCCCs]

Olsen is far from being the problem in our offensive line. Obviously he's a favorite whipping boy, but he's outplayed Satele, McGlynn, and Link.

[1959Colts]

Olsen is far from being the problem in our offensive line. Obviously he's a favorite whipping boy, but he's outplayed Satele, McGlynn, and Link.

I agree 100%

Olsen has taken all the heat for the lines struggles.

But after watching all the games on dvd. I agree Satale and others have been worse.

Does anyone know if Olsen is actually benched? Or hurt?

Glad to see AQ Shipley given a chance though.

[1959Colts]

I see they brought back Mario Addison to practice squad.

Thats good, hes a fine player.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2012-10-02/colts-bring-back-linebacker-to-practice-squad

[Andy]

Jeff Linkenbach is going in for Seth Olsen...

The Colts would be better off putting a pole in their spot then having those two guys play there.

Get back quickly Reitz!

[Superman]

Olsen is far from being the problem in our offensive line. Obviously he's a favorite whipping boy, but he's outplayed Satele, McGlynn, and Link.

Agreed. I've been looking at the line play, and Olsen gives up pressure too often, but he's also outplaying everyone on the line in run blocking, outside of Castonzo. He's not a rock at left guard, but he's not the weak link, I don't think.

And again, I don't get the Jeff Linkenbach thing. I wonder if he'll get the start on Sunday.

[Gavin]

Agreed. I've been looking at the line play, and Olsen gives up pressure too often, but he's also outplaying everyone on the line in run blocking, outside of Castonzo. He's not a rock at left guard, but he's not the weak link, I don't think.

And again, I don't get the Jeff Linkenbach thing. I wonder if he'll get the start on Sunday.

Can you give specific examples why you dont think Olsen is outplaying everyone else on our O Line? I know your very smart when it comes to the game and the ins and outs but we have differing opinions on Olsen, I also would not say he is the weak link but thats only at this stage because we appear to have more then 1 weak link, To me he has just looked awful in my opinion especially when asked to be the pulling Guard (a time sticks out in my mind when he can running out towards Idonije in Chicago, Olsen looked very off balance and clumsy to me that play and when he hit Idonije it showed, Olsen smacked into him and got knocked down to his left knee, that was 12:28 of the first quarter which did not give Brown any room to run. Another play 1st quarter vs the Bears 5:52 mark (Im just talking about running plays) Henry blew by him on the inside like Olsen wasn't even there living Brown hung out to dry because he was hit less then a half second after he got the handoff, I can give you more instances. I have seen enough of him being the Pulling Guard he has inconsistent balance. Im not saying he is the weak link but like I said thats not because we have a bunch of strong links, I much more prefer Mcglynn as the primary Pulling Guard, Also Im not saying any of this to be confrontational just more out of curiousity

[throwing BBZ]

Can you give specific examples why you dont think Olsen is outplaying everyone else on our O Line? I know your very smart when it comes to the game and the ins and outs but we have differing opinions on Olsen, I also would not say he is the weak link but thats only at this stage because we appear to have more then 1 weak link, To me he has just looked awful in my opinion especially when asked to be the pulling Guard (a time sticks out in my mind when he can running out towards Idonije in Chicago, Olsen looked very off balance and clumsy to me that play and when he hit Idonije it showed, Olsen smacked into him and got knocked down to his left knee, that was 12:28 of the first quarter which did not give Brown any room to run. Another play 1st quarter vs the Bears 5:52 mark (Im just talking about running plays) Henry blew by him on the inside like Olsen wasn't even there living Brown hung out to dry because he was hit less then a half second after he got the handoff, I can give you more instances. I have seen enough of him being the Pulling Guard he has inconsistent balance. Im not saying he is the weak link but like I said thats not because we have a bunch of strong links, I much more prefer Mcglynn as the primary Pulling Guard, Also Im not saying any of this to be confrontational just more out of curiousity

You are on the money Gavin. Olson is poor at pass blocking, to slow and clumsy to pull, and gets NO Push. Apparently he knows the plays better.

At this time he does not belong on an NFL roster.

Hicks looked better in all areas, must not have the playbook down. Olson no doubt is a 110% guy, the coaches pet.

[Gavin]

You are on the money Gavin. Olson is poor at pass blocking, to slow and clumsy to pull, and gets NO Push. Apparently he knows the plays better.

At this time he does not belong on an NFL roster.

Hicks looked better in all areas, must not have the playbook down. Olson no doubt is a 110% guy, the coaches pet.

Nah Hicks has some issues to from what I saw of him in the preseason after watching him over and over

[GoColts8818]

Outside of Castonzo no one on our o-line has proven to be a must keep player. They have played well in spurts and all struggled in others so you can easily make a case for a guy playing well if you want too and you can do the same if you want to make a case about a guy playing poorly. Frankly I think our second best o-lineman at this point has been Justice. He's been the most solid of the other guys and while he can easily be replaced at seasons end I think he's done better than most thought he would when we got him.

[Freenyfan102]

Linkencrap at guard NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[TKnight24]

We;ll see how this plays out on Sunday

[MrCCCs]

Can you give specific examples why you dont think Olsen is outplaying everyone else on our O Line? I know your very smart when it comes to the game and the ins and outs but we have differing opinions on Olsen, I also would not say he is the weak link but thats only at this stage because we appear to have more then 1 weak link, To me he has just looked awful in my opinion especially when asked to be the pulling Guard (a time sticks out in my mind when he can running out towards Idonije in Chicago, Olsen looked very off balance and clumsy to me that play and when he hit Idonije it showed, Olsen smacked into him and got knocked down to his left knee, that was 12:28 of the first quarter which did not give Brown any room to run. Another play 1st quarter vs the Bears 5:52 mark (Im just talking about running plays) Henry blew by him on the inside like Olsen wasn't even there living Brown hung out to dry because he was hit less then a half second after he got the handoff, I can give you more instances. I have seen enough of him being the Pulling Guard he has inconsistent balance. Im not saying he is the weak link but like I said thats not because we have a bunch of strong links, I much more prefer Mcglynn as the primary Pulling Guard, Also Im not saying any of this to be confrontational just more out of curiousity

I remember the play in question with idonije, and it wasn't Olsen's finest moment as he was not ready and got smacked pretty hard. But, it also stopped Idonije and he did not make the tackle (assisted I think). Still, not the finest moment for Olsen. There are other specific plays where he's missed. But I also remember him pulling and putting a pretty good smack on Kiesel in a preseason game, opening one of the few good runs with an excellent block against the Vikings, and doing a good job in pass protection.

Overall he's been the best guard so far this season. There are numerous plays I can think of where McGlynn got blown up into the backfield on running plays, and the same for Satele. If you look at Brown's bigger runs this year they have generally come to the left side of the line with Olsen and Castanzo. I have not seen him be pushed into Luck in pass blocking, and have witnessed him do a good job picking up stunts and blitzes.

McGlynn did better blocking when he was at center because he was generally not required to go one on one as he was at guard.

All lineman have highlights and lowlights. I have just watched Olsen more specifically because he is a favorite person that people like to point out as an example of our bad o-line. I haven't seen justification for it in his play, though. Linkenbach, however, has earned his criticism at right tackle. He didn't do poorly at left tackle, though, and it should be noted that he's played everywhere along the line. People seem to think McGlynn is better since we acquired him through free agency, but he hasn't impressed me.

[HtownColt]

Linkenbach problem was the speed rush he doesn't have to worry about that at guard. He is actually good at the point of attack he just struggled with the speed rushers

[Superman]

Can you give specific examples why you dont think Olsen is outplaying everyone else on our O Line? I know your very smart when it comes to the game and the ins and outs but we have differing opinions on Olsen, I also would not say he is the weak link but thats only at this stage because we appear to have more then 1 weak link, To me he has just looked awful in my opinion especially when asked to be the pulling Guard (a time sticks out in my mind when he can running out towards Idonije in Chicago, Olsen looked very off balance and clumsy to me that play and when he hit Idonije it showed, Olsen smacked into him and got knocked down to his left knee, that was 12:28 of the first quarter which did not give Brown any room to run. Another play 1st quarter vs the Bears 5:52 mark (Im just talking about running plays) Henry blew by him on the inside like Olsen wasn't even there living Brown hung out to dry because he was hit less then a half second after he got the handoff, I can give you more instances. I have seen enough of him being the Pulling Guard he has inconsistent balance. Im not saying he is the weak link but like I said thats not because we have a bunch of strong links, I much more prefer Mcglynn as the primary Pulling Guard, Also Im not saying any of this to be confrontational just more out of curiousity

I'm not singing his praises. He certainly hasn't been perfect. As you said, he's not a good pulling guard, but that's probably why we run more to the left side than to the right, and with more success. I'm okay with him not being a good pulling guard, we can compensate for that in several different ways.

But the numbers bear this out: we run with more success off left tackle and left guard than we do running up the middle, right guard, or right tackle.

I hope to see Reitz back in the lineup sooner rather than later. It sounds like he's not ready to go this week, but eventually he'll take over at left guard again. And we'll be able to get a good idea of whether he is a legitimate starter in the NFL.

I'd like to have a new right guard and right tackle next season, and I don't see Olsen fitting into our plans beyond Reitz's injury. I'm just saying that the problems on our line are bigger on the right side than they are on the left side.

[jimirsaysdog]

I'm not singing his praises. He certainly hasn't been perfect. As you said, he's not a good pulling guard, but that's probably why we run more to the left side than to the right, and with more success. I'm okay with him not being a good pulling guard, we can compensate for that in several different ways.

But the numbers bear this out: we run with more success off left tackle and left guard than we do running up the middle, right guard, or right tackle.

I hope to see Reitz back in the lineup sooner rather than later. It sounds like he's not ready to go this week, but eventually he'll take over at left guard again. And we'll be able to get a good idea of whether he is a legitimate starter in the NFL.

I'd like to have a new right guard and right tackle next season, and I don't see Olsen fitting into our plans beyond Reitz's injury. I'm just saying that the problems on our line are bigger on the right side than they are on the left side.

interesting. i think until the top five can actually play together we won't be able to get a true read on this line. i for one think justice, costanzo and mcglynn have been just fine. satele has been a huge disappointment and olsen is olsen. i think justice and mcglynn are both here for more than one season. they are very well thought of by the powers that be.

[Superman]

interesting. i think until the top five can actually play together we won't be able to get a true read on this line. i for one think justice, costanzo and mcglynn have been just fine. satele has been a huge disappointment and olsen is olsen. i think justice and mcglynn are both here for more than one season. they are very well thought of by the powers that be.

Justice is a free agent. He hasn't been awful, but he hasn't really done anything that makes me think he'll be a priority re-signing either. McGlynn has another year on his deal, so I'm sure he'll be back for camp. I don't think Satele has been a disappointment. Between his injury status and the poor guard play, it's hard to blame him for the issues.

[jimirsaysdog]

Justice is a free agent. He hasn't been awful, but he hasn't really done anything that makes me think he'll be a priority re-signing either. McGlynn has another year on his deal, so I'm sure he'll be back for camp. I don't think Satele has been a disappointment. Between his injury status and the poor guard play, it's hard to blame him for the issues.

mcglynn has played center better than satele has in my opinion. lets get the first 5 healthy and see what happens. it's really not fair to judge the unit until then. that said when i watch other games many teams o-lines look much worse than the colts.

[Superman]

that said when i watch other games many teams o-lines look much worse than the colts.

That's true, but a good offensive line isn't quite a mythical being just yet. There are plenty of teams that get really good offensive line play consistently, and they are able to plug guys in when there are injuries and not miss a beat. So it doesn't quite make me feel better than our line isn't the worst in the league. We still have a long way to go.

[jimirsaysdog]

That's true, but a good offensive line isn't quite a mythical being just yet. There are plenty of teams that get really good offensive line play consistently, and they are able to plug guys in when there are injuries and not miss a beat. So it doesn't quite make me feel better than our line isn't the worst in the league. We still have a long way to go.

i don't disagree. i just think that given all the injuries up front that things aren't nearly as bad as they could have been. i'm optimistic about what the first 5 can do once all are healthy.

[turner46992]

is Olsen better then Linkenstink