Things to Watch for:

[Coffeedrinker]

For an excellent recap of the Steelers game be sure to read Superman's Grades for Week 3

I am going to stick more with the format of last week if that is alright with the few people that read this. I watched the Tampa/Atlanta game and here are some of the things I noticed and it will be interesting to watch if the Colts noticed some of the same things.

Colts D vs Tampa O.

Last week we watched what the defensive front 7 can do against a mediocre to poor offensive line. This week, I think we will get to see it again. Davin Joseph is an elite guard for Tampa and Faine is a good center but Penn and Trueblood are really going to struggle against Freeney/Mathis/Anderson and Brayton. We are starting to see the benefits of that rotation. Anderson and Brayton come in get the tackles into a certain rhythm and then Freeney and Mathis come in and are by the tackles before they can even get their 2nd foot placed. Unfortunately for the Colts, Freeman is another QB that can move behind the LOS very well and he makes some of his best throws while on the move. In the running game Blount is a patient runner, almost too patient at times and I think against the speed of the Colts D this should prove be a good thing because he will get popped waiting for the lineman to get in place. If the Colts tackle the way they did against the Steelers it's going to be another 2.x ypc game for the Colts D. If they tackle like in the Houston game then it will be 3.5 and greater YPC. Freeman is a bit of a concern. After watching a few games my conclusion is Freeman is nothing more than an okay QB. He's at his best while on the move and he completes a high percentage of passes because he throws less than 8 yards most of the time. But his accuracy really drops when he tries to throw longer than 12 yards and he if has to stand there in the pocket and go through his progressions he will make mistakes. The Colts probably won't do it, but I think the best D against Tampa would be to rush three, drop a DE back about 2 yards from the LOS and have him mirror Freeman. Leave all 7 guys in coverage with double coverage on Kellen Winslow and Parker (the only two averaging more than 10 yards per reception)

Colts O vs Tampa D.

Tampa has a very, very good D and the front 4 are all strong, fast and aggressive. First let's talk about McCoy he is one of the most dominant DTs I have watched in a long time, Pollack, Link and Saturday are going to have their hands full, look for the Colts to have two guys on McCoy on just about every play. If they don't and Pollack handles him (which, as much as I like Pollack I would not bet money on that) then Pollack will prove to be even better than I thought. I think the Colts will line up Eldridge next to Link a lot and let Eldridge be primarily responsible for blocking Bennet and let Link help with McCoy if he goes in the gap between the guard and tackle. Miller is a space eater but after watching Saturday push Hampton all over the field, I don't think he will have many problems with Miller. AC and Reitz vs Clayborn. AC goes against Freeney in practice and I don't see where Clayborn offers anything above Freeney. AC may lose a battle or two but I expect this match to favor the Colts. In the running game the Colts should have similar success to what they've been having, 4+ ypc. Because of the way they play D there are gaps that open and the LBers are kind of hit and miss, sometimes they fill the gaps nicely, other times they are a step slow which leads to nice gains.

When watching the Atlanta passing game they had WRs and TEs running open quite a bit Ryan just was off on a lot of his throws. If Manning was the QB, I'd say he could easily put up 350+ passing yards and multiple TDs against the Tampa D. With Painter, I don't know. If it's the Curtis who lead the Colts 80 yards in 3 minutes for the tying TD, then he should have a good day. If it's the jumpy Painter that overthrows a wide open Garcon or skips passes then it will be a long evening. The opportunities are going to be there. I expect Tampa to try to match up Barber with Wayne most of the night, Garcon should be able to get the better of Talib and they really don't have a 3rd CB that can match up with Collie and Clark vs the LBers is a match-up that should favor Clark.

Fortunately the Bucs don't have a dangerous returner but hopefully McAfee will continue to send the KO out of the back of the endzone and his punts out of bounds because there is no reason to make a superstar out of the Bucs returners.

It was definitely a crazy day yesterday in the NFL, Detroit coming back from so far down, Cincy beating the undefeated Bills, KC getting their firt win of the season, the defense for both the Jets and Ravens scoring more points than their respected offenses. Will the craziness continue on Monday night (home of another crazy game just a few years ago). I don't know if it will be crazy but I think the Colts match up well with the Bucs and I think, if Painter plays like he did in the 2nd quarter of the GB preseason game and how he played on the drive against the Steelers, I think the Colts can win this one convincingly. If Painter struggles like Collins did in the 1st three games then it will take some defensive or STs TDs for the Colts to win.

[Lodogg2221]

Good write up.

Im hoping the Colts have made a few more steps towards getting everything together and that a week of taking all the reps in practice will have Painter a bit more on it than he was last week. It should at the least help with his and the receivers timing.

If they do make another step forward this week, there is no reason they cant win.

Im hoping they have and they will, like just about everyone else on here...lol.

[amazingcolts]

For an excellent recap of the Steelers game be sure to read Superman's Grades for Week 3

I am going to stick more with the format of last week if that is alright with the few people that read this. I watched the Tampa/Atlanta game and here are some of the things I noticed and it will be interesting to watch if the Colts noticed some of the same things.

Colts D vs Tampa O.

Last week we watched what the defensive front 7 can do against a mediocre to poor offensive line. This week, I think we will get to see it again. Davin Joseph is an elite guard for Tampa and Faine is a good center but Penn and Trueblood are really going to struggle against Freeney/Mathis/Anderson and Brayton. We are starting to see the benefits of that rotation. Anderson and Brayton come in get the tackles into a certain rhythm and then Freeney and Mathis come in and are by the tackles before they can even get their 2nd foot placed. Unfortunately for the Colts, Freeman is another QB that can move behind the LOS very well and he makes some of his best throws while on the move. In the running game Blount is a patient runner, almost too patient at times and I think against the speed of the Colts D this should prove be a good thing because he will get popped waiting for the lineman to get in place. If the Colts tackle the way they did against the Steelers it's going to be another 2.x ypc game for the Colts D. If they tackle like in the Houston game then it will be 3.5 and greater YPC. Freeman is a bit of a concern. After watching a few games my conclusion is Freeman is nothing more than an okay QB. He's at his best while on the move and he completes a high percentage of passes because he throws less than 8 yards most of the time. But his accuracy really drops when he tries to throw longer than 12 yards and he if has to stand there in the pocket and go through his progressions he will make mistakes. The Colts probably won't do it, but I think the best D against Tampa would be to rush three, drop a DE back about 2 yards from the LOS and have him mirror Freeman. Leave all 7 guys in coverage with double coverage on Kellen Winslow and Parker (the only two averaging more than 10 yards per reception)

Colts O vs Tampa D.

Tampa has a very, very good D and the front 4 are all strong, fast and aggressive. First let's talk about McCoy he is one of the most dominant DTs I have watched in a long time, Pollack, Link and Saturday are going to have their hands full, look for the Colts to have two guys on McCoy on just about every play. If they don't and Pollack handles him (which, as much as I like Pollack I would not bet money on that) then Pollack will prove to be even better than I thought. I think the Colts will line up Eldridge next to Link a lot and let Eldridge be primarily responsible for blocking Bennet and let Link help with McCoy if he goes in the gap between the guard and tackle. Miller is a space eater but after watching Saturday push Hampton all over the field, I don't think he will have many problems with Miller. AC and Reitz vs Clayborn. AC goes against Freeney in practice and I don't see where Clayborn offers anything above Freeney. AC may lose a battle or two but I expect this match to favor the Colts. In the running game the Colts should have similar success to what they've been having, 4+ ypc. Because of the way they play D there are gaps that open and the LBers are kind of hit and miss, sometimes they fill the gaps nicely, other times they are a step slow which leads to nice gains.

When watching the Atlanta passing game they had WRs and TEs running open quite a bit Ryan just was off on a lot of his throws. If Manning was the QB, I'd say he could easily put up 350+ passing yards and multiple TDs against the Tampa D. With Painter, I don't know. If it's the Curtis who lead the Colts 80 yards in 3 minutes for the tying TD, then he should have a good day. If it's the jumpy Painter that overthrows a wide open Garcon or skips passes then it will be a long evening. The opportunities are going to be there. I expect Tampa to try to match up Barber with Wayne most of the night, Garcon should be able to get the better of Talib and they really don't have a 3rd CB that can match up with Collie and Clark vs the LBers is a match-up that should favor Clark.

Fortunately the Bucs don't have a dangerous returner but hopefully McAfee will continue to send the KO out of the back of the endzone and his punts out of bounds because there is no reason to make a superstar out of the Bucs returners.

It was definitely a crazy day yesterday in the NFL, Detroit coming back from so far down, Cincy beating the undefeated Bills, KC getting their firt win of the season, the defense for both the Jets and Ravens scoring more points than their respected offenses. Will the craziness continue on Monday night (home of another crazy game just a few years ago). I don't know if it will be crazy but I think the Colts match up well with the Bucs and I think, if Painter plays like he did in the 2nd quarter of the GB preseason game and how he played on the drive against the Steelers, I think the Colts can win this one convincingly. If Painter struggles like Collins did in the 1st three games then it will take some defensive or STs TDs for the Colts to win.

I agree with everything you said. //this should be aninteresting and exciting game!

[Coffeedrinker]

Good write up.

Im hoping the Colts have made a few more steps towards getting everything together and that a week of taking all the reps in practice will have Painter a bit more on it than he was last week. It should at the least help with his and the receivers timing.

If they do make another step forward this week, there is no reason they cant win.

Im hoping they have and they will, like just about everyone else on here...lol.

I would be a lot less confident with Painter if it were not for the fact that with the game on the line, not much time on the clock and after making two bad plays (the Garcon miss and the fumble) he stood back there and went 5 of 7 for 60 yards for the tying TD under tremendous pressure from Troy P who seemed to be playing in the Colts backfield the entire drive.

I have never been a Painter fan but that drive started to change my opinion of him.

[OLD FAN MAN]

Good write up.

Im hoping the Colts have made a few more steps towards getting everything together and that a week of taking all the reps in practice will have Painter a bit more on it than he was last week. It should at the least help with his and the receivers timing.

If they do make another step forward this week, there is no reason they cant win.

Im hoping they have and they will, like just about everyone else on here...lol.

my guy at practice said we are going to see some more different things this week, things went very well at practice. colts to win

[Coffeedrinker]

Just listened to the Pregame report on Colts.com with Lamey and he stated T. Johnson is getting the start tonight at CB. I'm not as rough on Lacey as many posters but this should be a good thing. Johnson is not that great in coverage but he is great at making the tackle after the catch and good in run support, although Lacey has been laying the wood the last couple of weeks.