Colts Recap: Week 9

[Andy]

Indianapolis Colts 23 vs Miami Dolphins 20

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

FG D.Carpenter 37 yd. Field Goal (11-42, 5:19)

TD R.Wayne 9 yd. pass from A.Luck (A.Vinatieri kick) (9-80, 3:20 )

2nd Quarter

TD C.Clay 31 yd. pass from R.Tannehill (D.Carpenter kick) (5-80, 2:22)

FG A.Vinatieri 23 yd. Field Goal (8-75, 3:40 )

TD R.Bush 18 yd. run (D.Carpenter kick) (9-80, 4:30)

FG A.Vinatieri 47 yd. Field Goal (10-58, 1:07)

3rd Quarter

TD T.Hilton 36 yd. pass from A.Luck (A.Vinatieri kick) (9-82, 4:27)

4th Quarter

FG D.Carpenter 31 yd. Field Goal (10-52, 3:37)

FG A.Vinatieri 43 yd. Field Goal (13-69, 7:14)

What the Colts did Right

On offense, the Colts looked very solid. The Colts' defense looked very good in the 2nd half, holding the Dolphins to only 3 points. The 2nd half was great!

Andrew Luck had the best game of his career, statistically at least. He had 433 passing yards, which is a rookie record, threw 2 TDs and had no interceptions. All in all his decision making was very solid. He had 2 very nice touchdown passes, that were perfectly thrown. Also, he was ballsy today and that was good to see as his deep passes were on the ball this game. He was also very accurate, completing 63% of his passes, and considering how many passes he attempted, that's very good.

Vick Ballard had a solid 2nd half. He made some very key runs at the end of the game, and it seems like he's a clutch player, ending the game for 3 straight weeks now off either first down runs or a touchdown. Delone Carter had some very nice run too, but he had a more limited role.

The receiving core had a great game. Reggie Wayne was clutch and had another great game as usual. He hasn't had less than 70 yards all year; he only had more than 70 yards 5 times last year. He was great today and has been great all year. Big games came from Donnie Avery and TY Hilton who both had over 100 yards. TY Hilton had a beautiful 36 yard TD catch, where he leaped over both defenders and caught the ball. Great pass and great catch. Donnie Avery had a couple of great catches down the field, and was a big part of this offense today. He also made some good blocks.

The offensive line was great! Their pass blocking was very good throughout the game. They only allowed a sack and a few pressures, which against a great D-line is a win. Winston Justice did a nice job against Cameron Wake and the interior line performed well. Joe Reitz had a good game in his first start this year. Samson Satele got injured early, but for some reason I felt more confident and better when AQ Shipley was in. He had a great game pass blocking and run blocking. I think there he should be given a shot to compete for the starting center job. Maybe guard is a better spot for Samson Satele.

On defense, Freeney and Mathis both had great games. It feels really good to say that! Freeney had a strip sack and Mathis had a sack. On top of that, they frequently got to the quarterback. Cory Redding had a good game too. Kavell Conner had a good game, but this time in the pass defense department. He made stops and deflected some passes. He showed improvement in that area. Mookie Johnson... now all in all it wasn't good, but I need to give him credit for one play. On one play, he put pressure on Ryan Tannehill and knocked him down. It was perhaps the best play of his career, and much to the laughter of the announcers, it was a great play! Fili Moala had a nice performance too.

The part that impressed me is that even after they were getting beat badly in the first half, but they fought hard in the second half. The only allowed 3 points in the 2nd half, and that's a big positive considering the firepower of their offense and how much momentum they had. They showed great potential in the 2nd half.

The aggressive gameplan seemed to work. I thought the conservative gameplan was the way to go, but I was wrong. Aggressiveness won them the game. The offensive play calling was good throughout the game. The defensive play calling was pretty good in the second half.

On a side note, great to see Coach Pagano back! Don't find too many guys that get hit with cancer and go back to their jobs one month later. Takes a special person to do that.

What the Colts did Wrong

There were a lot of errors, most of them coming from the defensive side.

Lets start with the offense. The running game wasn't there today. There were some good runs by Vick Ballard and Delone Carter, but all in all it was nothing to be proud of. They stopped them most of the time, and for the longest time, they were around 0 total rushing yards.

TY Hilton had some drops today. It's not the first time this has happened. He's too inconsistent with his hands. He has 5 drops this year, and considering the amount of targets he has (44 targets, so 11% of the passes that come his way are dropped), that's quite a bit.

The run blocking in the first half was quite weak. The Colts had just a few yards of rushing in the first half, which is unacceptable, and the run blocking is the main reason why it was bad.

On defense, they were torched in the first half. Every time they touched the ball, they scored. The tackling was just horrible, especially on that Reggie Bush touchdown where he must have juked out 5 guys. Embarassing.

They were also beat badly on a lot of occasions in the secondary. Cassius Vaughn had a horrible game, as he was beat a lot. Jerraud Powers wasn't as bad, but he wasn't good. He was beat on a few occasions, but they were big plays. Tom Zbikowski didn't have a great game, but it wasn't horrible. He wasn't a liability.

The field goal team. The blocking is horrendous. Some people forget, but the opponents have blocked 2 kicks in 2 weeks. There shouldn't be 2 blocked kicks all year. They need to start blocking better, because on the block today, Olivier Vernon just hopped over Linkenbach and easily blocked the kick. That could be the difference between a win and a loss. Had Adam made that kick, they would have had a much more comfortable 6 point lead and force the Dolphins to score a touchdown. On top of that, Adam Vinatieri had a miss (but 2 makes).

[throwing BBZ]

We out rushed Miami. Didn`t feel like it. Castonzo had problems again today.

Powers has reminded me of Lacy the last two games. He fell in the draft because of a lack of speed. I thought he was better than this. He is on probation.

Avery, Hilton, & Allen were so good. The trust is certainly coming along with the accuracy. Got scary good this quick?? Yow!

Justice played well and that Sowell kid came in for him and really got into his man. I was impressed with what I saw. Nice.

McGlynn didn`t stick out like last week, their tackles were BAD Men.

Not sure what future Angerer has if they go after him in the passing game. The TD play looked ugly.

With us being so weak at corner, we are hanging in there. We ran 17 more plays is one reason. Andrew on 3rd down was amazing.