Take a step back and look at the game

[Legend of Luck]

I knew that people were going to freak out based on today's game, but I want to try to help calm the situation. Allow me to point out a few things.

 

1. Our defense held Darren McFadden to ONLY 48 yards. That's a lowely 2.8 yards per carry for one of the most dangerous backs in the league. Ballard had a 4.8 average, and Bradshaw had a 3.7.

 

2. The ONLY reason this game was even remotely close, was because of Pryor's insane athleticism. Now, we do play Wilson and Kaepernick later in the year, but they are not as elusive as Pryor. If it would have been any other qb, we would have had NUMEROUS sacks. 

 

3. Our O-Line was great during the first half, but they became shaky as the game went on. We have potential there, we just need to play with more consistency.

 

4. We didnt have any drops! That was such a huge issue for us last year, and we didnt have a single one today!

 

5. Andrew's was very efficient today. He had a 78% completion percentage. His passing yardage was down, but that was mostly because of the raiders eating up the clock with all of their running. Lucks numbers will be better.

 

So, theres plenty to be happy about. Yea, it wasnt perfect, but next week will be a lot better.

[House]

I don't understand how you take away from this game a feeling of embarrassment, or anger.

We didn't play great. Plenty to work on. But we got the win, and made the plays when we needed too.

[Moose Of Woe]

I knew that people were going to freak out based on today's game, but I want to try to help calm the situation. Allow me to point out a few things.

 

1. Our defense held Darren McFadden to ONLY 48 yards. That's a lowely 2.8 yards per carry for one of the most dangerous backs in the league. Ballard had a 4.8 average, and Bradshaw had a 3.7.

 

2. The ONLY reason this game was even remotely close, was because of Pryor's insane athleticism. Now, we do play Wilson and Kaepernick later in the year, but they are not as elusive as Pryor. If it would have been any other qb, we would have had NUMEROUS sacks. 

 

3. Our O-Line was great during the first half, but they became shaky as the game went on. We have potential there, we just need to play with more consistency.

 

4. We didnt have any drops! That was such a huge issue for us last year, and we didnt have a single one today!

 

5. Andrew's was very efficient today. He had a 78% completion percentage. His passing yardage was down, but that was mostly because of the raiders eating up the clock with all of their running. Lucks numbers will be better.

 

So, theres plenty to be happy about. Yea, it wasnt perfect, but next week will be a lot better.

 

On a counter point of #2, I'd say the only reason this game was close is Andrew Luck. Most QB's would get killed with that line.

 

The rest I agree with. I especially liked the lack of drops. Sure handed receivers are always a great sign.

 

There's a lot to like, but there's a lot more I didn't like. Luck needs some help from this team if we want to be contenders.

[GwinnettColt]

Containing Pryor was almost impossible. 

 

Yes, holding Mcfadden to 48 yards was good on the part of the D, but they bit on the run too much and Pryor picked up yards. 

 

Passing D needs tighter coverage.

 

Is Costanzo playing hurt?

[BronxColtNYC]

Containing Pryor was almost impossible.

Yes, holding Mcfadden to 48 yards was good on the part of the D, but they bit on the run too much and Pryor picked up yards.

Passing D needs tighter coverage.

Is Costanzo playing hurt?

Yes, coming off of mcl sprain.

[Dark Superman]

I knew that people were going to freak out based on today's game, but I want to try to help calm the situation. Allow me to point out a few things.

 

1. Our defense held Darren McFadden to ONLY 48 yards. That's a lowely 2.8 yards per carry for one of the most dangerous backs in the league. Ballard had a 4.8 average, and Bradshaw had a 3.7.

 

2. The ONLY reason this game was even remotely close, was because of Pryor's insane athleticism. Now, we do play Wilson and Kaepernick later in the year, but they are not as elusive as Pryor. If it would have been any other qb, we would have had NUMEROUS sacks. 

 

3. Our O-Line was great during the first half, but they became shaky as the game went on. We have potential there, we just need to play with more consistency.

 

4. We didnt have any drops! That was such a huge issue for us last year, and we didnt have a single one today!

 

5. Andrew's was very efficient today. He had a 78% completion percentage. His passing yardage was down, but that was mostly because of the raiders eating up the clock with all of their running. Lucks numbers will be better.

 

So, theres plenty to be happy about. Yea, it wasnt perfect, but next week will be a lot better.

AGREED!!!!

[NCost12]

Remember when we all did this after that Jets game?

[Gabriel Alexander Morillo]

I knew that people were going to freak out based on today's game, but I want to try to help calm the situation. Allow me to point out a few things.

 

1. Our defense held Darren McFadden to ONLY 48 yards. That's a lowely 2.8 yards per carry for one of the most dangerous backs in the league. Ballard had a 4.8 average, and Bradshaw had a 3.7.

 

2. The ONLY reason this game was even remotely close, was because of Pryor's insane athleticism. Now, we do play Wilson and Kaepernick later in the year, but they are not as elusive as Pryor. If it would have been any other qb, we would have had NUMEROUS sacks. 

 

3. Our O-Line was great during the first half, but they became shaky as the game went on. We have potential there, we just need to play with more consistency.

 

4. We didnt have any drops! That was such a huge issue for us last year, and we didnt have a single one today!

 

5. Andrew's was very efficient today. He had a 78% completion percentage. His passing yardage was down, but that was mostly because of the raiders eating up the clock with all of their running. Lucks numbers will be better.

 

So, theres plenty to be happy about. Yea, it wasnt perfect, but next week will be a lot better.

I agree with everything but the fact about other read option qbs. They will beat us even worse because they all have good olines, and are much better qbs. IQ is greater than elusiveness. 

[In Luck We Trust]

I knew that people were going to freak out based on today's game, but I want to try to help calm the situation. Allow me to point out a few things.

 

1. Our defense held Darren McFadden to ONLY 48 yards. That's a lowely 2.8 yards per carry for one of the most dangerous backs in the league. Ballard had a 4.8 average, and Bradshaw had a 3.7.

 

2. The ONLY reason this game was even remotely close, was because of Pryor's insane athleticism. Now, we do play Wilson and Kaepernick later in the year, but they are not as elusive as Pryor. If it would have been any other qb, we would have had NUMEROUS sacks. 

 

3. Our O-Line was great during the first half, but they became shaky as the game went on. We have potential there, we just need to play with more consistency.

 

4. We didnt have any drops! That was such a huge issue for us last year, and we didnt have a single one today!

 

5. Andrew's was very efficient today. He had a 78% completion percentage. His passing yardage was down, but that was mostly because of the raiders eating up the clock with all of their running. Lucks numbers will be better.

 

So, theres plenty to be happy about. Yea, it wasnt perfect, but next week will be a lot better.

in reference to number 2, we play Kap in two weeks, and i believe Wilson the week after. 

 

our Oline was great in the first 2 possessions after that it fell apart. same with the defense. after we took a 14-0 lead it was like the Oline and defense fell a sleep out there and never woke up until the drive that Luck scored a TD on. 

 

as far as Toler goes, he was burnt a couple times by streeter, and he could have played better defense on that quick slant in the end zone he didnt even bump the receiver and try to knock him off his route. granted he did have an INT BUT he also made a stupid decision in taking the ball out and caused us to have a penalty, granted it didnt hurt that drive as we scored anyway. but the point is he should have downed it in the endzone instead of trying to take it back. 

 

But toler wasnt the only DB who was burnt, as butler was to i believe in the 4th QTR where he was also called for holding i believe. 

 

 

Offensive line, i dont know where to start with them. honestly if it wasnt for luck this game would not have been won. maybe we are over rating this colts team a little to much with these predictions of them winning 10 or 11 games this year. Guess we will find out next week against Miami. bright side of it all is, we did win and a win is a win no matter how ugly it was, and unlike Jacksonville we were not held to only 2 points the whole game or Pittsburgh who was held to 2 points all but the final 5 minutes of the game. hopefully we look better and play better next weekend defensively and on the offensive line!!!

 

GO COLTS!!

[In Luck We Trust]

I agree with everything but the fact about other read option qbs. They will beat us even worse because they all have good olines, and are much better qbs. IQ is greater than elusiveness. 

you are also forgetting Kap and Wilson have better defenses to help them out in low scoring games. good thing about the seattle game is , that seattle has a very tough time winning on the road they proved it last year and today in carolina. 

[Malakai432]

I don't understand how you take away from this game a feeling of embarrassment, or anger.

We didn't play great. Plenty to work on. But we got the win, and made the plays when we needed too.

There are some obvious trolls on this forum which are pretty easy to spot. Even if the Colts did blow them out by 20, some would still be making some very ridiculous comments.

Colts looked really happy on the locker room. I was pumped they won, sides good games are much more interesting and intense to watch. Definitely happy for the Colts, but as you, I realize there are plenty of things to work on.

[jvan1973]

I agree with everything but the fact about other read option qbs. They will beat us even worse because they all have good olines, and are much better qbs. IQ is greater than elusiveness.

they can't beat us even worse, seeing how we won and all

[jvan1973]

I don't understand how you take away from this game a feeling of embarrassment, or anger.

We didn't play great. Plenty to work on. But we got the win, and made the plays when we needed too.

stop using logic and over react for crying out loud

[CanuckColt]

A very shaky game against the consensus worst team in the league.

Don't know if the Colts just played that bad or if they ARE that bad. (Luck and Reggie excluded)

Without some drastic immediate improvement, they are not getting a sniff at even a wild card.

[BronxColtNYC]

A very shaky game against the consensus worst team in the league.

Don't know if the Colts just played that bad or if they ARE that bad. (Luck and Reggie excluded)

Without some drastic immediate improvement, they are not getting a sniff at even a wild card.

I would hate to be a Steelers or Buccaneers fan right now.

[Gabriel Alexander Morillo]

they can't beat us even worse, seeing how we won and all

I meant beat us as in Pryor beat us, so what i mean is that Wilson and Kap will have a better stat line but not necessarily win. I should have phrased it differently. Like allowing Pryor to run for 120something yards, and outhrowing (IIRC) luck etc. 

 

you are also forgetting Kap and Wilson have better defenses to help them out in low scoring games. good thing about the seattle game is , that seattle has a very tough time winning on the road they proved it last year and today in carolina. 

I'm not forgetting that at all. 

[chelsea_fc]

A very shaky game against the consensus worst team in the league.

Don't know if the Colts just played that bad or if they ARE that bad. (Luck and Reggie excluded)

Without some drastic immediate improvement, they are not getting a sniff at even a wild card.

I agree with what you are saying, both our offensive line and defensive line looked terrible. But here's the problem I have with what you said, if I remember right, at this time last year the Colts were the "consensus worst team in the league". So what I'm saying is that it was game one, so we have no idea if they are good or bad, for all we know we could have just beaten this year's Colts. This could have been a good win for us, basically people need to stop overreacting until we know more about this season. But I do agree that there are plenty of things we need to clean up.

[dw49]

A very shaky game against the consensus worst team in the league.

Don't know if the Colts just played that bad or if they ARE that bad. (Luck and Reggie excluded)

Without some drastic immediate improvement, they are not getting a sniff at even a wild card.

 

 

Not an impressive win , infact you could argue that we were a tad lucky to win. However , IMO , you are over stating a bit. They just couldn't contain Prior's scrambles and that just made the game a nightmare. I think more of a scheme and discipline issue than lack of good players. 

[jvan1973]

A very shaky game against the consensus worst team in the league.

Don't know if the Colts just played that bad or if they ARE that bad. (Luck and Reggie excluded)

Without some drastic immediate improvement, they are not getting a sniff at even a wild card.

PANIC MODE AT YOUR HOUSE

[GoColts8818]

Yes, coming off of mcl sprain.

I am really hoping that's the reason he struggled today because he looked awful. 

[House]

A very shaky game against the consensus worst team in the league.

Don't know if the Colts just played that bad or if they ARE that bad. (Luck and Reggie excluded)

Without some drastic immediate improvement, they are not getting a sniff at even a wild card.

Weren't the Colts last year the "consensus overall worst team" going into the season? Why let hype distort the fact that the Raiders played well. We didn't play great by any stretch, but the Raiders were balling as hard as they could today.

[House]

stop using logic and over react for crying out loud

CUT LUCK HE CAN'T GET IT DONE!!!!! REGGIE'S GOTTA GO!!!!!!! SELL THE TEAM!!!!!!!

[Archer]

Interesting game.  We looked good on D the first two drives, for the most part.  But it seemed like we did terribly on third/fourth down.  I just checked the stats, and they went 8 of 14 on 3rd and 4th.  That's got to get better.  On their third drive, something clicked with Pryor and he started running very well.  I saw some times when we seemed to be in position to stopp him, but his wheels are really something!  One time, Bethea got to him in the backfield, and he pulled away from Bethea in a big way.  I'm not sure what happened to our offense after the first two drives.  Seems like the 3rd drive got derailed by a poor run by Bradshaw, who really seemed to have some negative plays today.  Maybe some bad play calling the rest of the game?  Somehow, we got off our game on offense.  The D just seemed flummoxed with Pryor's running, and eventually that opened up the passing game.  A lot of blown coverages...perhaps because we had someone trying to shadow Pryor?  (I didn't see that, but I'm just guessing.)

 

In general, I don't want to take too much from this game.  I'm hoping we just need to study how to stop  the running QBs.  We didn't face many last year.  Next week will be a very different game.  Tannehill ran poorly today, and the Dolphin offense wasn't very good...

[House]

Not an impressive win , infact you could argue that we were a tad lucky to win. However , IMO , you are over stating a bit. They just couldn't contain Prior's scrambles and that just made the game a nightmare. I think more of a scheme and discipline issue than lack of good players.

Lucky in what sense?

[csmopar]

I'm gonna get blasted for this I'm sure. But....

 

QUIT PANICKING!!

 

Look, the Colts had a bad game, they made some mistakes, the offense stalled etc. To me, they looked a tad rusty. Keep in mind, this was the first time this year that any of these guys have gone a full 60 minutes with each other. I saw a lot of things I liked, a lot of things I didn't like. I really like the big hit Laron laid on their one receiver right before the half that jarred the ball loose and prevent it from being a catch for a 1st down. A lot of what happened with Pryor getting loose on us was not staying in our lanes. I thought for the most part we tackled well. A couple missed tackles or blown coverages. However, I think Pags and the rest of the staff can address those areas over the next week and we'll be fine.

 

If we are still making these types of mental mistakes come week 4 or so, then i'll start to worry. What I saw today both made me sick and excited at times. But I think we'll be fine in the long run.

[Smonroe]

Weren't the Colts last year the "consensus overall worst team" going into the season? Why let hype distort the fact that the Raiders played well. We didn't play great by any stretch, but the Raiders were balling as hard as they could today.

 

Well said my friend.  Opinions mean nothing.  The Raiders didn't read that and lay down.  We didn't read that and lay down last year.  The Jets, Bills, and Titans didn't read the spread and quit.  (Well, maybe the Jags read it and laid down, so that's one)

 

We can't forget, we plan an NFL TEAM every week.  Take nothing for granted.  Do we have work to do, yes.  Embarrassed about how we won?  Never.

[CR91]

im giving our secondary a pass on this one for a couple of reasons. one theres not a lot of tape on pryor so its hard to get ready for him. two its hard to keep the coverage when theres no pass rush. three even when we did get to pryor he was able to create more time for his wrs to get open.

[dw49]

Lucky in what sense?

 

 

A little lucky that Janikowski misses a 47 yarder indoors. Pretty high % kick for him. I believe that Mastard pulled something and couldn't run on that 41 yard reception. The Mathis sack was wonderful , but to give up a sack there with Prior at QB was maybe a bad play call or bad decision by Prior. They had more yardage , time of possession and controlled the game after the two early TD's. Pretty hard , IMO anyway , to feel that we outplayed them. 

 

Also a "tad" means just a very little. It's also lucky that we finished 2-14 in 2011 and have Andrew Luck.

[House]

A little lucky that Janikowski misses a 47 yarder indoors. Pretty high % kick for him. I believe that Mastard pulled something and couldn't run on that 41 yard reception. The Mathis sack was wonderful , but to give up a sack there with Prior at QB was maybe a bad play call or bad decision by Prior. They had more yardage , time of possession and controlled the game after the two early TD's. Pretty hard , IMO anyway , to feel that we outplayed them.

Also a "tad" means just a very little. It's also lucky that we finished 2-14 in 2011 and have Andrew Luck.

Yeah, but we also had a few unlucky things that could have pushed us ahead more that went the Raiders way.

Not saying your wrong or should change your opinion, I just felt luck had pretty little to do with the overall win. We just made the plays to win, and Pryor couldn't.

[dw49]

Yeah, but we also had a few unlucky things that could have pushed us ahead more that went the Raiders way.

Not saying your wrong or should change your opinion, I just felt luck had pretty little to do with the overall win. We just made the plays to win, and Pryor couldn't.

 

Nor would I argue this point with you. 

[dw49]

im giving our secondary a pass on this one for a couple of reasons. one theres not a lot of tape on pryor so its hard to get ready for him. two its hard to keep the coverage when theres no pass rush. three even when we did get to pryor he was able to create more time for his wrs to get open.

 

 

Agree. When a QB runs around like that , it kind of turns the game into a hot pile of garbage. Makes me want to jump out of my window , but not high enough to do anything but cripple me. 

[Nostrils]

A very shaky game against the consensus worst team in the league.

Don't know if the Colts just played that bad or if they ARE that bad. (Luck and Reggie excluded)

Without some drastic immediate improvement, they are not getting a sniff at even a wild card.

 

 

PANIC MODE AT YOUR HOUSE

 

 

ahhahahhahaha love it...

[mystrymaster]

I think the reason I and others here have (in your opinion) overreacted is because this is the same old defense we have seen, last year it was Brandon Marshall who destroyed us, the same old o-line that we have been wishing we would be better for years now.

It is only 1 game and we won,but you are allowed to react the way you want and I can react the way I want.

I am tired of this team having the same problems, can they fix them, sure. Right now though they look like a team with all the same problems

[jvan1973]

I think the reason I and others here have (in your opinion) overreacted is because this is the same old defense we have seen, last year it was Brandon Marshall who destroyed us, the same old o-line that we have been wishing we would be better for years now.

It is only 1 game and we won,but you are allowed to react the way you want and I can react the way I want.

I am tired of this team having the same problems, can they fix them, sure. Right now though they look like a team with all the same problems

yes, panicking about something you have no control of seems logical. Carry on

[mystrymaster]

yes, panicking about something you have no control of seems logical. Carry on

Who is panicking? I am concerned.

Negative does not equal about to kill myself.

We won, I am happy about that.

Some things that we did or did not do today I am not happy about.

[Moose Of Woe]

I think the reason I and others here have (in your opinion) overreacted is because this is the same old defense we have seen, last year it was Brandon Marshall who destroyed us, the same old o-line that we have been wishing we would be better for years now.

It is only 1 game and we won,but you are allowed to react the way you want and I can react the way I want.

I am tired of this team having the same problems, can they fix them, sure. Right now though they look like a team with all the same problems

 

 

This.

On the plus side, our run blocking isn't like it was pre 2007, but it's better. Still bad, but better last and this year. Also our special teams are significantly improved from god awful to mediocre. Hey, it's something.

[Happy2BeHere]

Well like some...I was NOT impressed. But a W is a W. I'll take it.

[BigQandTheManiac]

i swear i think we did the same thing after losing to the bills in preseason..over react..then came next game what happened.???

[BigQandTheManiac]

we just underestimated the raiders...and we know it...now that the colts now you can't underestimate anybody...they will be better then they were today..trust me..we're fine

[Gavin]

This.

On the plus side, our run blocking isn't like it was pre 2007, but it's better. Still bad, but better last and this year. Also our special teams are significantly improved from god awful to mediocre. Hey, it's something.

Its 1 game