[Grades] Week 1: Colts @ Texans

[Superman]

I can't tell you how much I didn't want to do grades on this game. I didn't even want to watch this game, to be honest, but I did. And it wasn't as bad on film as it would seem, although it was bad. I don't agree with the idea that the team got run off the field. I think we made several crucial mistakes, and the Texans capitalized on nearly all of them. So, here goes nothing. Let's start with the defense...

Defense, C: 27 points, 384 total yards, 5.8 yards/play, 26 first downs (13 passing, 12 rushing, 1 penalty), 5/11 on third down, 3 turnovers; started two touchdown drives inside the red zone

Defensive line -- This was a mixed bag. Consider: In 41 carries, the Texans had sixteen carries of 3 yards or less. The problem is that they got eight carries of 8 yards or more, including four for 10+. And many of those bigger plays weren't the fault of the linemen (some were, like the time Freeney spun himself completely out of the play that was coming right at him). They got blown off the ball a few times, and struggled in pursuit on the bootlegs, but overall, they weren't as awful as 167 rushing yards would indicate. Whenever we'd stunt effectively, a Texan blocker would cut block and wipe the stunt man out, rendering the stunt moot. It was difficult to get pressure on Schaub because of the way they moved him around, and they also threw in some max protect on crucial downs to keep our ends away from him. Freeney didn't really get close all day, while a couple of linebackers pressured him and Mathis snuck in for a sack. We eventually adjusted to his rollouts and contained him, but there was some concern early as he got outside and was able to throw with no one around him. So, lot's to improve on (gap assignments, pursuit), but it wasn't particularly bad. C+

Linebackers -- I thought this was the worst defensive unit of the day. Unlike last year, the corps wasn't consistently over-running plays, losing containment, or even necessarily getting run over. They seemed a step slow on the off tackle runs, and they blow tackles on the inside runs. They were just not good in the run game. And that pounding took its toll in coverage, because not only did they have to react to the play-fakes, but they seemed incapable of stopping completions. With the exception of a couple tips (one of which was still caught for a touchdown) and 58's interception, there wasn't very much help from the linebackers in the pass game. Might have been the type of game where you just send a linebacker or two every down, and play single-high coverage with Bethea to play the deep ball. But the backers were plagued with poor tackling and were out of position on a lot of those bigger run plays, even when the line did an adequate job of forcing the back to go horizontal or even redirect. I felt the backers were more to blame for the rushing performance than the line was. Gary's interception and the intermittent pressure saves them from a lower grade. C-

Secondary -- I'll have more to say about this unit in coaching, because a lot of the problems in coverage were scheme related. I don't think the secondary got picked on that much; a lot of the completions were across the middle over the linebackers. The Texans blocked up the pressure and went with zone-beating routes by outside and slot receivers. Really a sound passing scheme, and we did little to counter it. If not for a couple of errant throws, might have been a lot worse. But 8 yards per pass play isn't that big of an issue. It's really just the three or four 20 yard receptions that bothered me. I thought the safeties did a reasonably solid job supporting the run, though they were a bit late on some plays (plays that should have been finished by linebackers). Corners got taken out of the game by the scheme. Not horrible, but not good either. C

Offense,C-: 236 total yards, 4 yards/play, 15 first downs (10 passing, 4 rushing, 1 penalty), 1/9 on third down, 2 turnovers, 3 drive-stalling penalties; only 22 minutes of possession due to the turnovers and the Texans ball control offense

Offensive line/blocking -- Not a great day. Had some serious mistakes, some very costly, others were overlooked as the play was salvaged. Whatever we were doing on the Mario Williams' sacks was foolhardy, whether it was a missed assignment by Linkenbach or a one-on-one for Dallas. Very fixable, but MUST be fixed. Other pass plays where the Texans showed pressure with 12 and 15 seconds on the play clock, where Manning would have killed them with an adjustment at the line, and they just go to show how valuable the man is. Can't get mad at the line for getting beat on a jailbreak blitz, but that's something we're not used to seeing. Castonzo held his own, including on the plays where he was one-on-one with Williams. No worries there. Very active in the run game as we ran most effectively to the left side, and he showed his athleticism and got out and blocked on some screen plays, too. I think he'll be a stud. Link was problematic, Diem didn't look great, Saturday had issues, Reitz had the 15 yard penalty, Clark got beat in pass pro... No good. Gronkowski had a couple of nice blocks in the run game, but mostly on outside defenders, nothing up the middle. The backs were serviceable in pass protection. I'm not worried about the blindside, but I think we're going to have to do something different from the middle to the right. Especially with Manning out. D+

Backs/receivers -- No one really got a chance in this one. Only 16 carries, and we were right at 4 ypc, by some miracle, because the room wasn't there with the run blocking. Joe was jump cutting, Delone was churning out a profit wherever he could, including his 8 yarder where he should have been stopped at the line, but there just wasn't anything there. Nothing. The receivers had no rhythm, between having a new quarterback for the first time in their careers, and being mostly on the sideline in the first half. And they still made great catches, ran good routes, and blocked well. Reggie's touchdown catch might have been the play of the game. Dallas got a one-hander in there. Garcon had a nice grab on the sideline with a defender all over him. A few balls well overthrown, a couple thrown in the dirt... That we salvaged 16 completions is impressive. Hope they get better looks next week, because they deserve it. B+

Quarterback -- I don't know what to say. The guy was shooting * (Edit: I can't say s-k-e-e-t?)in his backyard three weeks ago, now he's the starting quarterback for what's long been a top flight offense in the NFL. And he's got enough gray in his beard to inspire a "Just for Men" commercial. I expected some rustiness, and that's just what we got. The first fumble was avoidable, had he seen the pressure coming from his front side and gotten rid of the ball or gone down. The second was a botched exchange, which ordinarily gets blamed on the quarterback, but could have been out of his control. Either way, that's a sucky way to debut for this team, on the road. The throws were some good, some bad, some indifferent. I think we all know Kerry Collins can sling it. That's not the problem. The problem is he's going to have to take charge of this offense, settle himself in, and recognize that he's not going to be comfortable behind this line. He's going to have to identify pressures and get rid of it quickly. He'll have to make the gimme throws. I didn't expect us to win this game, but I didn't expect us to fumble on consecutive plays inside our own 20 and be down 17-0 before anyone could exhale. Was a perfect storm, and I think it should improve as the weeks go on. I'm being generous, given the circumstances, but I don't think he played as poorly as you'd think when you look at the passing numbers. C+

Special teams, F

Holy... We did nothing on returns, so, nuff said there. On coverage, you've got to be kidding me. We started the first half off allowing a 46 yard return (wasn't the new rule supposed to help us out there???) We ended the half allowing a 79 yard punt return for a touchdown. My initial instinct was to say that McAfee outkicked his coverage, because this thing went over 60 yards in the air, but his hangtime was 5.0 seconds according to ESPN. Rewatching the play, we had gunners falling down in the middle of the field. McAfee tried to stop the cut back at midfield, when he had Adrian Moten to the inside backing him up and could have just tried to cut off the outside, and then Moten got burned down the sideline. Un-be-lievable. Horrible coverage on the few chances we had to cover kicks (you don't kickoff that much when you only score once). And then, insult to injury, Vinatieri misses a 37 yarder! Indoors!!! It's like we're out to prove that we have the worst special teams in the NFL. Good start, if that's the objective. Make a couple of tiny adjustments, and none of those big plays happen. Alas...

Coaching, D

We saw this gameplan from the Texans coming from a mile away. The turnovers fed right into it. But we still weren't as sharp on the bootlegs and counter runs early as we should have been. Edit: We gave ridiculous cushions on the outside which led to underneath completions and inside releases for completions all day. I don't need to see a bump-and-run all game, but I don't get a 10 yard cushion on first down. Make it stop, please! Some questionable play calling and blocking schemes that led to the first fumble, with Dallas Clark blocking the best pass rusher in the division one-on-one. Either Link messed up, or it was a stupid call, but the coaches have to make sure that doesn't happen. I could go on and on, second-guessing and criticizing some of the decisions made here. I will defend the timeouts to get the ball back in the second quarter, but I will also criticize vehemently the fact that we were unable to cover the ensuing punt, which was a phenomenal kick that should have resulted in Texan possession inside their 25 yard line. But nooo, we don't cover punts. Come on, fellas. Same thing for the opening kickoff. After we get beat in the playoffs primarily due to a long kickoff return, and knowing that we don't have our eraser available for who knows how long, it would seem that we'd be on top of the little things like this that change games. This must be fixed, or else heads must roll.

Bonus grades:

Refs -- F. Walt Coleman has a grudge against us, ever since 1998 when he robbed us of a win against the Niners.

Broadcasters -- F. What's Dan Dierdorff ever talking about? Does he bring anything to the discussion? It's like watching the game with your drunk uncle. I don't know why this guy gets so many Colts games, but it's excruciating.

It's overly trite and cliched to say, and I hate hearing it, but it's really true in this case: We're not as bad as we looked on Sunday. The Texans played significantly better, in all respects, but they weren't 27 points better than us, even in the first half. We handed them this game on a silver platter, and mostly due to four or five big plays that could have easily been avoided. These are the mistakes that used to turn two score leads into close games, but without Manning, they turn into insurmountable deficits. Gotta take care of those details, and then we'll have a better idea of how our team will look moving forward. It was good to see them continue to fight and play better in the second half, which indicates that they haven't given up, but if they play sloppy, they might as well not show up. I'm more optimistic after a 34-7 loss than I was before the game. Let's see if I'm crazy.

GO COLTS!

[Coffeedrinker]

Interesting conclusion at the end.

Not much to disagree with in your grades. Two slight changes I would make; I would probably give the line an overall grade of C+ because the Colts did get 4 per carry (and not all of them were the backs making great moves in the backfield) and Collins other than a few plays, Collins did have time on a lot of his pass plays. And I would probably move Collins down to just a C because of the two fumbles... just because you get sacked doesn't mean you have to cough the ball up.

I was listening to the game on the radio and in the 3rd quarter when Houston got their first flag my wife asked me the ref was and I told her, "I don't know but I bet it's Coleman."

But yeah, you can't turn the ball over in their redzone twice and give up a special teams TD and expect to win.

[ruksak]

I thought the game started well and ended well. It was that middle part that was sketchy.

It takes only a fumble and a punt return Td to throw the score off dramatically. As well, we left points on the field when Vinni missed his kick on a possession that really shoulda had us a TD if not for Collie's shoe size.

This could've been an ugly win as easily as it was an ugly loss.

Thanks for the effort, Superman. Good job and a +1 for you, sir.

[coltsdan]

pretty good write-up man. dierdorf comment was lol thinking the same thing

[swflacoltsfans]

Nice job.

You pretty much could have taken the write up from last year and previous years and the results would be the same.

Why can't the front office and coaches get the same problems fixed? Same issues, different year.

Polian should try to get punts and kickoffs banned completely!!!!

[Superman]

Interesting conclusion at the end.

Not much to disagree with in your grades. Two slight changes I would make; I would probably give the line an overall grade of C+ because the Colts did get 4 per carry (and not all of them were the backs making great moves in the backfield) and Collins other than a few plays, Collins did have time on a lot of his pass plays. And I would probably move Collins down to just a C because of the two fumbles... just because you get sacked doesn't mean you have to cough the ball up.

I was listening to the game on the radio and in the 3rd quarter when Houston got their first flag my wife asked me the ref was and I told her, "I don't know but I bet it's Coleman."

But yeah, you can't turn the ball over in their redzone twice and give up a special teams TD and expect to win.

Collins did have a lot of time. I graded the line a bit harshly because of the mistakes, more than the performance. And it's not just the line, it's the blocking in general, which includes Dallas Clark getting overpowered by Mario Williams. If that's a mistake by Linkenbach, it's awful. If it's the scheme, it's worse, but correctable. Take out seven or eight mistakes, and this grade would improve dramatically.

The botched exchange is a 50/50 deal. I don't know who to blame for that, so equal parts Jeff and Kerry. The sack/fumble is totally on Kerry, even with the blown protection because it was a front side pressure. He should have seen it coming, and then you either have to get down or throw the ball away. Don't get sacked and fumble the football on a front side pressure. Graded him on a bit of a curve, given the circumstances. And he bounced back well from the fumbles and made some throws throughout the game. We got stymied by penalties from that point forward.

[Superman]

Nice job.

You pretty much could have taken the write up from last year and previous years and the results would be the same.

Why can't the front office and coaches get the same problems fixed? Same issues, different year.

Polian should try to get punts and kickoffs banned completely!!!!

I thought this game was much different than last years game. Last year, the issue was overrunning plays and being out of position, not to mention being over powered at the point of attack. Plus, there was a crucial fumble by Collie and a dropped touchdown pass by Garcon that hurt our chances. This game was less about being out of position and more about being blocked out of position, not to mention the turnovers and special teams plays. We got dominated last year, and still lost by just ten points. This year, we shot ourselves in the foot.

[Jason_]

Great write up and I agree with just about everything you said. A lot of the mistakes that were made were huge but were also correctable. I do believe that both the OL and the DL will get better as the year goes on.

The one point I would add in regards to the coaching staff is that once we were down 17-0 in the first quarter there was no point in even attempting to play catch up. I'm not by any means saying we just forfeit the game and give up. However, we had a brand new OL (4 of 5 starters either new or in new positions) and several new players on defense. We had a QB that was less than a month removed from being retired who has had less than 30 days to 1) learn the playbook, 2) get comfortable with the OL and protections and 3) build a chemistry with the WR's. There was no chance we were winning that game. However watching the game you just got the feel that they were going forward after the first quarter as if Manning were in there and he was going to mount one of his famous comebacks. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. I would have simply continued to run a balanced offense and given the backs more than just 16 carries. Keep running the ball to get the OL some experience run blocking...plus give them a chance to turn around and hit the defense in the mouth for a change after spending so much time getting punched in the mouth by the defense.

With Manning in the game, I consider anything less than 25 carries per game a failure on the coaches part. Without Manning that number goes up to 30-35 carries per game. If we don't learn to become a more balanced offense then we have no chance...with or without Manning (it was largely the improvement of our running game that propelled us into and won the SB for us in '06).

[Coffeedrinker]

Collins did have a lot of time. I graded the line a bit harshly because of the mistakes, more than the performance. And it's not just the line, it's the blocking in general, which includes Dallas Clark getting overpowered by Mario Williams. If that's a mistake by Linkenbach, it's awful. If it's the scheme, it's worse, but correctable. Take out seven or eight mistakes, and this grade would improve dramatically.

Good point. And I think some people forget (or refuse to see) the line did pretty well, other than the 7 or 8 mistakes you mentioned, I counted 9) 9 is bad but when you break it down per player that is 1.8 mistakes per player. Although, when I watched the game on game rewind, I counted 4 mistakes by Link, 1 by Diem, 2 by Saturday, 2 by Reitz and none by AC. The 4 by Link are unacceptable, IMO. 2 by Reitz is pretty good considering that: he is getting his first start and playing time since high school and he is also playing next to a rookie.

The botched exchange is a 50/50 deal. I don't know who to blame for that, so equal parts Jeff and Kerry. The sack/fumble is totally on Kerry, even with the blown protection because it was a front side pressure. He should have seen it coming, and then you either have to get down or throw the ball away. Don't get sacked and fumble the football on a front side pressure. Graded him on a bit of a curve, given the circumstances. And he bounced back well from the fumbles and made some throws throughout the game. We got stymied by penalties from that point forward.

I understand the grading on Kerry. When they showed the replay of the fumble on the center exchange it looked like it hit Collins square in the hands and he just wasn't ready for it. As a former center I blame the QB.

[MTC]

Waterboys- F for making the players dehydrated

[Coffeedrinker]

The one point I would add in regards to the coaching staff is that once we were down 17-0 in the first quarter there was no point in even attempting to play catch up.

Don't take this wrong Jason because I like you as a poster, but that is absolutely ludicrous. 17 point deficit after 1 quarter is hardly time to treat it like a preseason game. Even given all the things you listed a 17-0 lead is not much to overcome in 3 quarters. The Colts would have had to play clean, mistake free football for the last three quarters but to turn it off at that point would have been one of the worst moves ever.

[byrddawg]

Good evaluation and objective report.

[Jason_]

I thought this game was much different than last years game. Last year, the issue was overrunning plays and being out of position, not to mention being over powered at the point of attack. Plus, there was a crucial fumble by Collie and a dropped touchdown pass by Garcon that hurt our chances. This game was less about being out of position and more about being blocked out of position, not to mention the turnovers and special teams plays. We got dominated last year, and still lost by just ten points. This year, we shot ourselves in the foot.

And then we slit our wrists, put a noose around our neck, tied the other end around a tree branch that dangled over a lake and then we jumped right into the water allowing ourselves to bleed to death as we suffocated and drowned....with a bullet in our foot. :tvhammer:

[Coltssouth]

Dallas on game:

It was just plain getting our butt kicked, I mean it had nothing to do with who was out there, who wasn't out there. It was just us making uncharacteristic mistakes and you can't do that in this league. It doesn't matter who you have and who you don't have. You give them great field position like that and spot them seventeen points before you can even break a sweat it's gonna' be a long day.

[Jason_]

Don't take this wrong Jason because I like you as a poster, but that is absolutely ludicrous. 17 point deficit after 1 quarter is hardly time to treat it like a preseason game. Even given all the things you listed a 17-0 lead is not much to overcome in 3 quarters. The Colts would have had to play clean, mistake free football for the last three quarters but to turn it off at that point would have been one of the worst moves ever.

Perhaps I didn't explain well enough....I don't mean to simply turn it off but I don't think there was any point in pretending that it was Manning out there and playing pass on every down. I wouldn't have done anything different with the defense, but as far as the offense was concerned I would have stuck to the hopefully more balanced gameplan they had going into the game rather than put Collins in the shotgun and have him throw on every down.

In a normal situation I would agree with you that a 17 pt deficit after 1 quarter isn't too much to overcome. However Sunday's game was hardly a normal situation. We had a new QB learning a new system, trying to get familiarized with our playbook and our receivers and an OL who we all knew was going to take time to learn to work together all combined with the lockout shortened offseason. Plus our defense to that point had shown no signs of being able to stop Houston.

I'm just saying there was no point in trying to pretend that it was Manning out there and that he might be able to bring us back for a win. It was one game...granted it was a divisional game but each team in our division plays 3 divisional games to end the season so it's very likely that the division is still up for grabs even down to the last week. I definitely wouldn't have treated it like a preseason game (with bringing in second and third stringers etc) but I wouldn't have altered the game plan as much as (I hope) they did. If they stuck to the gameplan they had going into the game then that means they intend for Collins to throw the ball almost as much as Manning did and that's even worse, imo, than the performance we saw on Sunday.

I guess it all boils down to the fact that they essentially got completely away from the running game. Going to an all-* offense could have given the defense that many more opportunities to hit Collins. If all or the majority of the passes wind up incomplete then there's that many more 3 and outs, which is going to give the defense little time to rest meaning they're playing more fatigued, in the opening game where conditioning is often a factor anyway and this only exacerbated by the shortened offseason. Sure if we had turned things around and played mistake free football on both offense and defense then we could have possibly come back and won....however there wasn't a single sign of that happening. I would have simply kept running whatever game plan I had coming into the game in trying to establish a balanced offense of both run and pass. Maybe up the tempo a little bit but not run with the pedal to the metal as if Peyton were in there. As it turned out it wasn't necessarily a bad thing that they did because Collins did start to get into somewhat of a groove and the pass protection did start to get a little better as the game went on.

Hopefully I've cleared up any confusion. We still may not fully agree and that's fine. My opinion is simply that there are times when, as disaster strikes, you can change your gameplan and go for the kill or go all out to try to win a game. This however wasn't a must-win game and all circumstances considered and the way the game had gone to that point I simply didn't feel this was one of them. If Manning had been playing then by all means, scrap the gameplan and go full throttle to try to pull out the win. A few weeks from now after the OL has had a chance to play together and improve and Collins has a better feel and comfort level with the offense and receivers, then sure by all means. Just my $0.02.

Also after further consideration, perhaps I should have said at halftime instead of at the end of the first quarter. I'm sure we all knew at the end of the first quarter that a loss was a foregone conclusion. I, unlike many, was not upset about it though. I was definitely hoping for a win but it was clear it was not going to happen so I was simply content to watch the rest of the game paying attention to individual matchups, the cohesion of the OL and the play of the defense as a whole.

[Superman]

Good point. And I think some people forget (or refuse to see) the line did pretty well, other than the 7 or 8 mistakes you mentioned, I counted 9) 9 is bad but when you break it down per player that is 1.8 mistakes per player. Although, when I watched the game on game rewind, I counted 4 mistakes by Link, 1 by Diem, 2 by Saturday, 2 by Reitz and none by AC. The 4 by Link are unacceptable, IMO. 2 by Reitz is pretty good considering that: he is getting his first start and playing time since high school and he is also playing next to a rookie.

If you counted nine mistakes, then take out four or five. One mistake per player isn't the end of the world, given 50+ reps in a game. I'd rather have a perfect game by the line, but we haven't had one of those in a long, long time. We just can't afford nine. Probably can't afford four or five without Manning, but definitely not nine.

I understand the grading on Kerry. When they showed the replay of the fumble on the center exchange it looked like it hit Collins square in the hands and he just wasn't ready for it. As a former center I blame the QB.

No surprise there. It's still not the worst mistake ever made. If we fall on that, no one ever thinks twice about it.

Something else I forgot to mention is how Collins holds the football in the pocket, basically the way almost every other quarterback holds it, in one hand, ready to pat it and throw when he sees what he wants. It's the most annoying thing in the world to me. Put two hands on the football, please. And stop patting it, you're going to get your receivers killed.

[Superman]

Dallas on game:

It was just plain getting our butt kicked, I mean it had nothing to do with who was out there, who wasn't out there. It was just us making uncharacteristic mistakes and you can't do that in this league. It doesn't matter who you have and who you don't have. You give them great field position like that and spot them seventeen points before you can even break a sweat it's gonna' be a long day.

I wonder how frustrated he is. He was a big part of a couple of those uncharacteristic mistakes. I'd love to be in the film room when they discuss those couple of plays.

[Coffeedrinker]

Here's an interesting stat about the game. The Colts allowed only one TD on drives longer than 19 yards.

[Jason_]

Here's an interesting stat about the game. The Colts allowed only one TD on drives longer than 19 yards.

That is an interesting stat. The thing I found the most interesting was that as a team, the Colts averaged 4.0 ypc whereas Houston averaged 4.1 ypc. There were so many posts on the board after the game about how we can't run the ball and can't stop the run, and our offense didn't do anything and etc etc....but the numbers show that Houston and Indy were equally efficient in both running the ball and stopping the run.

[Superman]

That is an interesting stat. The thing I found the most interesting was that as a team, the Colts averaged 4.0 ypc whereas Houston averaged 4.1 ypc. There were so many posts on the board after the game about how we can't run the ball and can't stop the run, and our offense didn't do anything and etc etc....but the numbers show that Houston and Indy were equally efficient in both running the ball and stopping the run.

Good thoughts, all.

[Douzer]

I can't tell you how much I didn't want to do grades on this game. I didn't even want to watch this game, to be honest, but I did. And it wasn't as bad on film as it would seem, although it was bad. I don't agree with the idea that the team got run off the field. I think we made several crucial mistakes, and the Texans capitalized on nearly all of them...

GO COLTS!

I really enjoyed reading your review. Grade the offensive game plan please. I grade it "D" (for DUH)

The 3 WR set - with an inexperienced O-Line line and new QB? The 3-WR set requires tuned-in blocking and synchronized, efficient passing. Pure folly based on the body of work amassed in the previous 4 weeks. The 1st quarter results speak for themselves. A total tragedy that shattered their chances in minutes. What mastermind deemed that was the right personnel strategy early? This, more than anything else, is eating away at my confidence in this teams leadership.

[Superman]

I really enjoyed reading your review. Grade the offensive game plan please. I grade it "D" (for DUH)

The 3 WR set - with an inexperienced O-Line line and new QB? The 3-WR set requires tuned-in blocking and synchronized, efficient passing. Pure folly based on the body of work amassed in the previous 4 weeks. The 1st quarter results speak for themselves. A total tragedy that shattered their chances in minutes. What mastermind deemed that was the right personnel strategy early? This, more than anything else, is eating away at my confidence in this teams leadership.

I don't mind the 3WR set because I believe you should get your best players on the field. I also believe a veteran qb should be able to identify pressures even better when you're in a 3WR set. I would like to see Brody out there more often, especially if we're gonna run the football, which we have to.

And by the way, we were in a 2TE set on the first fumble, and Collins got caught with one hand on the ball.

[HouFan]

That is a ton of passing grade for a team that got rolled.

[Curveball]

Thanks for the well thought=out analysis Superman. Looking forward to more of your post game summaries this season.