Pep keeping the playbook relatively vanilla until the season starts?

[loudnproudcolt]

Maybe it is just me, but I would love to get some other opinions. I know OC don't want to show their hands in pre-season games, but it seems to me Pep is really holding back a lot of what I expect to see. I know Fleener has been hurt, along with drops, and Allen has been hurt, but I have seen no deep seam passes. Hard to throw them without your main guys, but I still think you are going to see a lot of that. Plus, I know Pep focuses more on the shorter passes, but as Andrew says, we are going to keep some of the Arians long ball in. Except for one to TY from Andrew for 27 in the Giants game and a longer one from Hasselback in the Bills or Giants game, we have not seen very much deep stuff at all. I have not seen one long Go route for DHB, although i admit I have watched only the first half of the last two games.

 

Regardless, it does seem to me that the offense has a lot left to put out there as far as the playbook and has chosen relatively vanilla plays most of the time, which I love! Thoughts?

[Carlos Danger]

We are definitely playing vanilla offense... Preseason is about getting timing and continuity/chemistry right, knocking off the rust, and evaluating players... No reason to completely open the playbook until the season starts.

[alawai]

Yes no one's showing their cards and everyone's playing vanilla "O" and "D".  Can't wait till Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, New York Cheesecake come out!  Heck I'd even take slow churned French Vanilla!  Let the season begin!

[open window]

Yes no one's showing their cards and everyone's playing vanilla "O" and "D".  Can't wait till Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, New York Cheesecake come out!  Heck I'd even take slow churned French Vanilla!  Let the season begin!

Moosetracks

[BOTT]

Yes no one's showing their cards and everyone's playing vanilla "O" and "D".  Can't wait till Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, New York Cheesecake come out!  Heck I'd even take slow churned French Vanilla!  Let the season begin!

Chubby Hubby

[NewColtsFan]

So far the offense has been VERY vanilla.    Honestly, it's just what I expected.

 

And, I'm expecting we'll be very vanilla in week #1 of the regular season against Oakland.    I think Pep will approach the few games where we have a decided talent advantage,  games like Oakland and J'Ville and be as vanilla as possible.   He'll save his best ammunition for the biggest and toughest games.

 

Wouldn't surprise me to see us run the ball 40 times vs. Oakland and perhaps only pass 25-30 times.    I'm not kidding.

 

Think of the game as a college game where Alabama schedules some tiny directional school in a body-bag game at the beginning of the season.    I think Pep will take the same approach on the few games where he can.

 

If it's not working,  he can always adapt at the half....  but this is what I'm expecting at the start....

[Stephen]

Yea no need to go all out versus oakland unless prior puts up lots of points.

[HtownColt]

So far the offense has been VERY vanilla. Honestly, it's just what I expected.

And, I'm expecting we'll be very vanilla in week #1 of the regular season against Oakland. I think Pep will approach the few games where we have a decided talent advantage, games like Oakland and J'Ville and be as vanilla as possible. He'll save his best ammunition for the biggest and toughest games.

Wouldn't surprise me to see us run the ball 40 times vs. Oakland and perhaps only pass 25-30 times. I'm not kidding.

Think of the game as a college game where Alabama schedules some tiny directional school in a body-bag game at the beginning of the season. I think Pep will take the same approach on the few games where he can.

If it's not working, he can always adapt at the half.... but this is what I'm expecting at the start....

What? That just sounds crazy. The things you said regarding Oakland and the regular season is just not going to happen. You as a fan can under estimate a team all you want but the coaching staff absolutely won't. This is the NFL not Alabama vs Alabama A&M(no disrespect Robert Mathis lol)

You do remember the same Jaguars taking the Texans in OT

Or that same Oakland team barely losing to the Falcons 23-20.

[NewColtsFan]

What? That just sounds crazy. The things you said regarding Oakland and the regular season is just not going to happen. You as a fan can under estimate a team all you want but the coaching staff absolutely won't. This is the NFL not Alabama vs Alabama A&M(no disrespect Robert Mathis lol)

You do remember the same Jaguars taking the Texans in OT

Or that same Oakland team barely losing to the Falcons 23-20.

 

I don't claim to be certain.    This is just what I'm expecting.    But I don't think running the ball more than we pass the ball constitutes anything close to crazy.     It wouldn't surprise me if that happens more than three times (Oak and J'Ville)   Sometimes,  that's just the way the flow of the game goes.

 

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.   Won't be the first time, or the last.    But I will not be surprised if that's what happens....

[HtownColt]

I don't claim to be certain. This is just what I'm expecting. But I don't think running the ball more than we pass the ball constitutes anything close to crazy. It wouldn't surprise me if that happens more than three times (Oak and J'Ville) Sometimes, that's just the way the flow of the game goes.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Won't be the first time, or the last. But I will not be surprised if that's what happens....

I'm talking about the vanilla part not the run to pass split

[NewColtsFan]

I'm talking about the vanilla part not the run to pass split

 

Just to be clear....   I think part of keeping things vanilla is the heavy emphasis on the running game.

 

I think Pep will want to throw as few passes as possible, and give opposing defenses something to think about if we can win with a strong ground game and passing less than 30 times.

 

I don't think he'll want to show any of his best plays unless he absolutely has to.   He'll keep those tucked away for the Big Boys.

 

Again....   I only expect this against our weakest opponents.   And, any other time that it becomes an advantage for the Colts.  For instance,  that long last drive against the Texans at home late in the season.   Not sure we passed the ball once as we ran it down their throats and let the clock run out.     If Pep can get those kind of drives more often,   he'll be the happiest man on the planet.    Drives like that will make Andrew Luck much, MUCH more dangerous.....

[crazycolt1]

Just to be clear....   I think part of keeping things vanilla is the heavy emphasis on the running game.

 

I think Pep will want to throw as few passes as possible, and give opposing defenses something to think about if we can win with a strong ground game and passing less than 30 times.

 

I don't think he'll want to show any of his best plays unless he absolutely has to.   He'll keep those tucked away for the Big Boys.

 

Again....   I only expect this against our weakest opponents.   And, any other time that it becomes an advantage for the Colts.  For instance,  that long last drive against the Texans at home late in the season.   Not sure we passed the ball once as we ran it down their throats and let the clock run out.     If Pep can get those kind of drives more often,   he'll be the happiest man on the planet.    Drives like that will make Andrew Luck much, MUCH more dangerous.....

So far from what I have seen the Colts are not ready to have a run heavy type of game. These new o-linemen haven't showed the blocking ability to protect Luck and run block. At this point I see the run game working off of the passing game not the other way around. This is not Stanford where Pep had top notch linemen playing against college players. With time these o-linemen may become better at a lot of things but right now they haven't been together hardly long enough to know each others names let alone play like seasoned veterans. I have my doubts that the Colts even have the o-linemen on the roster at this time to make this team a power running team. We are still a draft or two away from having that type of personnel on this team. History tells us that it takes a while to get the right pieces in place.

[Tracy Denton]

Moosetracks

Make that Monstertracks !!!

[ruksak]

We have yet to exploit the down field threats of Bey and Hilton. This is certainly by design. As the season kicks off, we'll see these quick WR screen looks and fast passes to the flat turn into ploys to hit the 70 yard bombs. 

 

Pep hasn't even opened his bag of tricks, our greatest weapons have been tethered thus far. Cannot wait to see them unleashed upon unsuspecting AFCS opponents. 

[NewColtsFan]

So far from what I have seen the Colts are not ready to have a run heavy type of game. These new o-linemen haven't showed the blocking ability to protect Luck and run block. At this point I see the run game working off of the passing game not the other way around. This is not Stanford where Pep had top notch linemen playing against college players. With time these o-linemen may become better at a lot of things but right now they haven't been together hardly long enough to know each others names let alone play like seasoned veterans. I have my doubts that the Colts even have the o-linemen on the roster at this time to make this team a power running team. We are still a draft or two away from having that type of personnel on this team. History tells us that it takes a while to get the right pieces in place.

 

Remember,  this week vs. Cincinnati,  we'll be mostly vanilla.   Luck and the #1's on both sides of the ball won't play much.  A quarter --- tops.

 

But, with Oakland as the week #1 regular season opponent,  they're the perfect team to open with.   They're not ready.   And so we should be able to do most anything and everything we want with them.   So, I'm comfortable with my prediction of a run heavy offense.

 

Please don't get me wrong....   I am NOT predicting that week in and week out.   No!   Just certain select weeks where it's to our advantage.    At the end of the season, I think Luck will have attempted more passes than the team will have on running plays.     Not by a lot perhaps,  but still more pass attempts than runs.

 

Hope that clarifies....

[Slick_Rick]

Remember,  this week vs. Cincinnati,  we'll be mostly vanilla.   Luck and the #1's on both sides of the ball won't play much.  A quarter --- tops.

 

But, with Oakland as the week #1 regular season opponent,  they're the perfect team to open with.   They're not ready.   And so we should be able to do most anything and everything we want with them.   So, I'm comfortable with my prediction of a run heavy offense.

 

Please don't get me wrong....   I am NOT predicting that week in and week out.   No!   Just certain select weeks where it's to our advantage.    At the end of the season, I think Luck will have attempted more passes than the team will have on running plays.     Not by a lot perhaps,  but still more pass attempts than runs.

 

Hope that clarifies....

I know Oakland looks bad, but they are still an NFL team. Anything could happen.

[Buck Showalter]

Hope DHB kills it against the Raiders... Living in SOCAL I deal with raider nation on a daily basis...

[shakedownstreet]

i like ice cream  :whatever:

[throwing BBZ]

Just seeing Pep working hard on the running game. He has to be extremely excited to see Thornton ready to replace McGlynn and how well Reitz & Ijalana are coming along.

And then deprograming Lucks BAD habits left over from the Arians offense.

 

As the running game becomes more effective so will the Quality/lower risk downfield opportunities come.
Maybe K.Holmes will be ready to replace Satelle by the off week!

 

Just a waste to grade the New Offense till they get a lot of games to play together.

[basketballsteve]

Hope so.

[ColtsBlueFL]

So far the offense has been VERY vanilla.    Honestly, it's just what I expected.

 

I expect vanilla in pre season games. however, during the regular season I always expect the OC to determine the gameplan and the particular plays vs each particular team that enhances our players strengths and exploit the other teams weaknesses.  Throw out the rest of the plays for that week and practice those left in the gameplan not until they got it, but until they can't mess it up.

 

And, I'm expecting we'll be very vanilla in week #1 of the regular season against Oakland.    I think Pep will approach the few games where we have a decided talent advantage,  games like Oakland and J'Ville and be as vanilla as possible.   He'll save his best ammunition for the biggest and toughest games.

 

Possibly, but not likely. I think he'll include any and all plays in the game plan likely to succeed against a particular opponent and go thorough the weeks practice with those. If he holds something back for other teams, I believe it is he feels it would be more successful versus the/those other teams. Not because the level of competition of the current opponent doesn't warrant him putting it in the gameplan.

 

 

Wouldn't surprise me to see us run the ball 40 times vs. Oakland and perhaps only pass 25-30 times.    I'm not kidding.

 

If those plays are what he feels will most likely break down the D and move the chains and allow us to score, the maybe so.  But if that were the case and we spent most 1st team reps running and little passing, it make it very tough on folks if the run gets stuffed in the game and we have to go to plays that weren't practiced that much during the week.  So I see balance.  But if they can't stop our run (lol a phrase I don't think I've ever mentioned  in recent decades) I can see him using it until they do, then switching up to pass plays they worked on during the week too.

 

Think of the game as a college game where Alabama schedules some tiny directional school in a body-bag game at the beginning of the season.    I think Pep will take the same approach on the few games where he can.

 

The NFL is the best of the best, there are no gimme game the like of Huge College football program vs. little school were happy to share in the revenue pool school.

 

If it's not working,  he can always adapt at the half....  but this is what I'm expecting at the start....

 

If it is not working, OC failed to correctly choose the right plays and gameplan that uses your players advantage vs. their weaknesses.  Now he scrambles to use plays they may not practiced that week that might have a prayer of turning the game around. Not a scenario.

 

Yes, I know players run through the schedule and make mental checkoff lists on who they personally believe will be easy pickins', but the coaches also know that  the other coaches are going to try to strengthen their team from last season and gameplan to put their players in the best chance to succeed or overcome.  Sometimes it works and an 'Upset' becomes news.  I want our team to prepare like every team is capable of stealing their lunch money or ticket to the playoffs, and take steps to prevent it.

[Iancolts]

This is the NFL when the season starts and the game counts there is no such thing as a vanilla O or D even bad teams can show up any given Sunday

[MB-ColtsFan]

I think what NCF is trying to say is that Pep will try to establish the running game first. If Oakland doesn't stop us why throw a lot? All that does is give opposing teams some tape on our schemes.

It's not like we need to yhrow to win the game if they can't stop the run.

Keep teams guessing and just maybe it will pull the FS into the box a step or two against Miami. I also agree that establishing the run just makes play action such a killer with this corp of receivers. This is going to be the type of offense where you can plan to run a certain scheme against virtually any kind of D.

[lollygagger8]

If we truely run it that much, it will be kinda interesting to see if we get better at the run as the game goes on since Ballard and Brown seem to need more carries to get their groove going. 

[PrincetonTiger]

It doesn't hurt that Pep was Andrew's OC in college