Colts Defense

[OffensivelyPC]

Counted up the Colts total net yards given up and thought I'd share this with you.

 

In the 49ers first two drives, Colts gave up 87 yards on the ground on 8 attempts for an average of 10.9 YPC (including passing, 101 total yards).  For the rest of the game, Colts gave up just 28 yards on 15 carries for an average of 1.87 YPC (including passing yards, 153 total yards). 

 

Taking away garbage time stats, on Kaepernick's last drive, he went 5-9 for 64 yards, 0 sacks and an interception.  For the entire game before that, 7-15 for 72 yards (subtracting the 1-3 for 14 yards already accounted for above in the 1st two drives).  

 

Taken all together, this basically means that after the second drive and before garbage time, the Colts defense gave up 28 yards rushing and 72 yards passing on 8 drives.  EIGHT! (NOTE: 7 drives if you choose not to count taking a knee at the half, which that's fair).  That is something Indy has been missing for such a long time and it's great to see this defense come to form. 

 

Unbelievable resilience from this football team yesterday.  Play like this week in and week out and we shouldn't lose another game.  I know that's not somethign very reasonable to achieve, but it certainly is reason to be optimistic about it.

 

GO COLTS!!

 

P.S. Off topic, but I love how the "experts" love all over the NFC in their rankings and what not.  But after 3 weeks (will be true after MNF since it's two AFC teams playing tonight), the AFC is 11-3 against the NFC. 

[GoDeep]

Love it!

[Indi Warrior]

That's some great game time adjustments

[Nadine]

I was in awe the entire game

We are definitely seeing a new team

This must be the monster they were talking about

[Danfish98]

Great breakdown!  It certainly helped that the Niners decided to abandon the run, but I loved seeing tight coverage on the receivers all day.  Without the easy 5 yard completions that we'd been giving up the first 2 games, Kaepernick had nowhere to throw and we made him look absolutely awful.  Hope to see this same style of defense against better receivers the rest of the year!

[Hoosierdome93]

Sounds reasonable to me!

I believe the COLTS will win every week. It takes me an hour after a loss to give up on win.

I'm that guy (12th man) at the stadium.. still in his seat..yelling "we got this-dig in" with 2 minutes on the clock..in the 4th.. down by 50.

I love being a COLT fan. I have been from the first day they arrived on the Mayflower.

The pride they have given me over the years deserves my unwavering respect and loyalty. That includes the class they have shown as men off of the field too. I love being able to describe and use former and resent COLT players as roll models for my children and feel safe doing so.

They gave us a great win yesterday. Great total team effort.

Yep! Proud to be in the COLT NATION

GO COLTS

[Rich Cannon]

I watched NFL network after game show, they just called it a good game.  They refuse to acknowledge we have changed identities.  Which is fine.  We are a more physical team.  I might add i was surprised at how well McGlynn played at center.

[Coffeedrinker]

it was a good win no doubt.  The Colts were helped tremendously by two main things though; no speed at the receiving positions which allowed them to play 10 guys within a yard of the LOS and that SF decided to abandon the running game (because it proved to be too successful I guess).

[Jay Kirk]

it was a good win no doubt.  The Colts were helped tremendously by two main things though; no speed at the receiving positions which allowed them to play 10 guys within a yard of the LOS and that SF decided to abandon the running game (because it proved to be too successful I guess).

Disagree they benifitted from jamming recievers at the line except late when game was already over and camafouging blitz packages and not showing what they were doing .This game was well coached on both sides of the ball.Make excuses all you want but both lines manhandled S.F hands down ,you cant blame it on speed at WR

[TheJACKCOLT]

One of the best defensive efforts by a colts defense in a long time, just dominant in all areas. Great game, this defense should continue to get better as the season goes on and if they can play consistently near the level they were at on Sunday they would definetly be capable of winning it all.

[BOTT]

Not impressed. Don't you know that SF sucks now?

[Buck Showalter]

Not impressed. Don't you know that SF sucks now?

I guess for like 3-4 seasons Niners haven't covered the spread the week following a seahawk game...

 

BTW best avatars ever!!!!

[Jay Kirk]

One thing I forgot IMO Connor and Freeman had something to do with abandoning the running game !

[throwing BBZ]

One thing I forgot IMO Connor and Freeman had something to do with abandoning the running game !

 

They certainly did make a difference and neither of our lines played better than decent.

I did get off on Reddings great play.

[crazycolt1]

it was a good win no doubt.  The Colts were helped tremendously by two main things though; no speed at the receiving positions which allowed them to play 10 guys within a yard of the LOS and that SF decided to abandon the running game (because it proved to be too successful I guess).

Did the 49ers abandon the run or did the Colts make adjustments to alter the run? From what I could see the Colts made the adjustments and started to stack the LOS. Reread your comment and you answered yourself with the statement about the 10 guys within the LOS. 

[BrentMc11]

One thing I forgot IMO Connor and Freeman had something to do with abandoning the running game !

I have said over and over that Conner is the most effective against the run we have.  Freeman just keeps on playin on  Conner looked rusty on a couple of plays until he got into the flow, but made a couple of really nice stops!!  Still not liking Sheppard too much however.  

[Coffeedrinker]

Did the 49ers abandon the run or did the Colts make adjustments to alter the run? From what I could see the Colts made the adjustments and started to stack the LOS. Reread your comment and you answered yourself with the statement about the 10 guys within the LOS. 

They ran the ball 4 times in the 2nd half most of which the score was within 6 points... they abandoned the run.  And they started off the 2nd hafl with a 7 yard Gore run and then a 5 yard Gore run... and then a Gore run for 0 yards, there was no reason to stop running the ball at that point and yet they ran the ball only one other time the rest of the game.

 

 

[Coffeedrinker]

I have said over and over that Conner is the most effective against the run we have.  Freeman just keeps on playin on  Conner looked rusty on a couple of plays until he got into the flow, but made a couple of really nice stops!!  Still not liking Sheppard too much however.  

Angerer was more effective against Miami than the combination of Conner and Shepp.  I agree I think Conner was trying to get his NFL legs under him again and I don't understand Sheppard making the team.

[BrentMc11]

Angerer was more effective against Miami than the combination of Conner and Shepp.  I agree I think Conner was trying to get his NFL legs under him again and I don't understand Sheppard making the team.

To my knowledge Conner did not play against Miami...I believe he was still inactive.  Angerer WAS solid as you say...Sheppard was dreadful in the first two games, and did not kill us yesterday.  

 

Speaking of Angerer, I never saw the inactive sheet.  Was he dressed yesterday?  I have liked Harvey's hitting and wrapping up better than Sheppard's 'chasing.'  

[crazycolt1]

They ran the ball 4 times in the 2nd half most of which the score was within 6 points... they abandoned the run.  And they started off the 2nd hafl with a 7 yard Gore run and then a 5 yard Gore run... and then a Gore run for 0 yards, there was no reason to stop running the ball at that point and yet they ran the ball only one other time the rest of the game.

It's pretty standard for a team to air the ball out when the LOS is stacked. Our D backs covered the 49ers WRs pretty good after that. Is it possible the Colts played a great game rather than what the 49ers did and didn't do?

[BrentMc11]

To my knowledge Conner did not play against Miami...I believe he was still inactive.  Angerer WAS solid as you say...Sheppard was dreadful in the first two games, and did not kill us yesterday.  

 

Speaking of Angerer, I never saw the inactive sheet.  Was he dressed yesterday?  I have liked Harvey's hitting and wrapping up better than Sheppard's 'chasing.'  

I answered my own question.....yesterday's injury report...Angerer...knee...

 

http://www.colts.com/team/injury-report.html

[Jay Kirk]

It's pretty standard for a team to air the ball out when the LOS is stacked. Our D backs covered the 49ers WRs pretty good after that. Is it possible the Colts played a great game rather than what the 49ers did and didn't do?

Think your on to something now

[Jay Kirk]

Really believe sticking Receivers at the line had more to do with it than lack of speed.and they did a great job on Boldin,Howell put him on his butt .LOVED IT !!!

[chad hugo]

its sad though, people still refuse to give the colts the respect they deserve, i've only been hearing about how SF just had a bad gameplan and werent quite ready or whatever...excuses

[FastStarts]

Just watched the game again.. The 49ers didn't abandon the run, we stopped it! They had success on their TD drive, but after that we pretty much just stopped it..

The Colts can apparently never win without having critics, but I dont understand how you can say that it is the 9ers losing the game, when we hold them to just 7 points and lead a 7-minute drive to go up by 13. I'd call that impressive and dominant!

[Coffeedrinker]

To my knowledge Conner did not play against Miami...I believe he was still inactive.  Angerer WAS solid as you say...Sheppard was dreadful in the first two games, and did not kill us yesterday.  

 

Speaking of Angerer, I never saw the inactive sheet.  Was he dressed yesterday?  I have liked Harvey's hitting and wrapping up better than Sheppard's 'chasing.'  

I should have clarified... I thought Angerer was more effective against Miami than Conner was against SF.

[OffensivelyPC]

They ran the ball 4 times in the 2nd half most of which the score was within 6 points... they abandoned the run.  And they started off the 2nd hafl with a 7 yard Gore run and then a 5 yard Gore run... and then a Gore run for 0 yards, there was no reason to stop running the ball at that point and yet they ran the ball only one other time the rest of the game.

Yes there was reason to stop running the ball.  In their first possession, they ran the ball 3 out of 5 plays, got one first down.  In the second set of downs, Gore got stuffed on 2nd and 4 and then they decided to throw a pass.  Completely passing down territory.  Result - Punt

 

Second possession, at 6:46 in the 3rd, got two quick first downs passing the ball, then ran the read option for -5 yards, then another running play for 2 yards, making it 3rd and 13.  Obvious passing down.  Result - Punt

 

Third possession, at 12:41 in the 4th.  Here's where the tide shifted to predominantly passing.  To this point, the 49ers were averaging about 1.8 yards in the second half and the 49ers needed a score.  And you can say that they should have kept with the running on this drive, but when you go 3 and out, you dont' really get much time to set up anything, whether it's passing to set up the run, or running to set up the play action.  Could they have run the ball?  Sure.  But everyone's argument about "abandoning the run" would be moot if we stopped kept our defensive average of 1.8 YPC ongoing.  But at this poitn, that's all speculation and you cant' really say they abandoned the run game until the 4th quarter.  Because after this, they didn't get the ball back until there was 4:13 left in teh game and they were down 13.  Very obvious to anyone at this point that its' going to be all passes and screens.  It was made worse with the fumble we converted into a touchdown.

[BrentMc11]

Really believe sticking Receivers at the line had more to do with it than lack of speed.and they did a great job on Boldin,Howell put him on his butt .LOVED IT !!!

it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO refreshing to see press coverage.

 

I was beginning to have flashbacks to 2011 with the infamous Larry Coyer "Bend but don't win," Cover 'Nobody' "Prevent a Win" defense with CBs and safeties 11 yards off of the line of scrimmage and LBs 7......OK...just got sick typing that...

[BrentMc11]

I should have clarified... I thought Angerer was more effective against Miami than Conner was against SF.

I agree in the run game...Conner was rusty early...great to have him back....Wish Pat could stay on the field.  I was not thrilled with Pat's play on the 57 yard pass play to Clay in the Dolphin loss, but it was not just his fault he should have had support...

[Coffeedrinker]

It's pretty standard for a team to air the ball out when the LOS is stacked. Our D backs covered the 49ers WRs pretty good after that. Is it possible the Colts played a great game rather than what the 49ers did and didn't do?

 

 

Just watched the game again.. The 49ers didn't abandon the run, we stopped it! They had success on their TD drive, but after that we pretty much just stopped it..

The Colts can apparently never win without having critics, but I dont understand how you can say that it is the 9ers losing the game, when we hold them to just 7 points and lead a 7-minute drive to go up by 13. I'd call that impressive and dominant!

Wow, you guys are really reaching.  1)  It's typical to air it out when there are 7 or more in the box (tackle to tackle and within 4 yards of the LOS) not just because they are playing bump and run on the receivers.  For a good running team that is when you get the big yards because if the back breaks a tackle at the 2nd level there is no one else there to stop him.

 

And again the 49ers came out in the 2nd half with a run of 7 yards, a run of 5 yards and a run of 0 yards... that is not stopping the run (that is a 4 ypc average)  for most teams that is proof enough that they need to continue running the ball, yet they ran it one more time after that for the entire half.  That is abandoning the run.

Let's look at it one other way, at the start of the last drive by SF they had more rushing yards than receiving yards, so if they wanted to go away from something that wasn't working then why didn't they go away from the passing game?  That was being stopped. 

 

But hey, you guys will believe what you want to believe.

 

For the rest of it don't put words in my mouth (or in my typing hands).  I have not been critical of the Colts performance (I've been critical of a couple of players but not of the team and their win) nor did I say that the 49ers lost the game vs the Colts winning the game, nor did I claim the Colts were not dominant.  All I stated was that the defense was helped by the fact the 49ers abandoned the running game when it was working for them.  4 carries in a 6 point game is abandoning the running game, no matter how you try to spin it.

[weslo1812]

its sad though, people still refuse to give the colts the respect they deserve, i've only been hearing about how SF just had a bad gameplan and werent quite ready or whatever...excuses

Yep!!! I knew that was coming. But had we lost this game the talk would be about how bad we are and that were probably not gonna make the playoffs and so on. They wouldn't have talked about injuries we had or whatever. It we be the colts lost and they are just not a good team. Any other team its excuses galore for them.They never fail to always just jump on the negative and assume the worst with us. I think their afraid to finally start giving us credit because they haven't been for so long. They're afraid to look bad because they have generally always been wrong.

[Jay Kirk]

Yep!!! I knew that was coming. But had we lost this game the talk would be about how bad we are and that were probably not gonna make the playoffs and so on. They wouldn't have talked about injuries we had or whatever. It we be the colts lost and they are just not a good team. Any other team its excuses galore for them.They never fail to always just jump on the negative and assume the worst with us. I think their afraid to finally start giving us credit because they haven't been for so long. They're afraid to look bad because they have generally always been wrong.

Yes and we are not on the left or right coast and not a major media market.Let them keep neglecting us ,they will respect us before its all said and done

[husker61]

I have said over and over that Conner is the most effective against the run we have.  Freeman just keeps on playin on  Conner looked rusty on a couple of plays until he got into the flow, but made a couple of really nice stops!!  Still not liking Sheppard too much however.  

 

One thing I forgot IMO Connor and Freeman had something to do with abandoning the running game !

 

 

They certainly did make a difference and neither of our lines played better than decent.

I did get off on Reddings great play.

 

 

I agree in the run game...Conner was rusty early...great to have him back....Wish Pat could stay on the field.  I was not thrilled with Pat's play on the 57 yard pass play to Clay in the Dolphin loss, but it was not just his fault he should have had support...

 

conner only played 16 plays (two in the 1st half) and most were at the end. he had 4 tackles and a fumble recovery. all of the plays were obvious passing situations. i have always liked him, and don't understand why he doesn't play more.

[OffensivelyPC]

Wow, you guys are really reaching.  1)  It's typical to air it out when there are 7 or more in the box (tackle to tackle and within 4 yards of the LOS) not just because they are playing bump and run on the receivers.  For a good running team that is when you get the big yards because if the back breaks a tackle at the 2nd level there is no one else there to stop him.

 

And again the 49ers came out in the 2nd half with a run of 7 yards, a run of 5 yards and a run of 0 yards... that is not stopping the run (that is a 4 ypc average)  for most teams that is proof enough that they need to continue running the ball, yet they ran it one more time after that for the entire half.  That is abandoning the run.

Let's look at it one other way, at the start of the last drive by SF they had more rushing yards than receiving yards, so if they wanted to go away from something that wasn't working then why didn't they go away from the passing game?  That was being stopped. 

 

But hey, you guys will believe what you want to believe.

 

For the rest of it don't put words in my mouth (or in my typing hands).  I have not been critical of the Colts performance (I've been critical of a couple of players but not of the team and their win) nor did I say that the 49ers lost the game vs the Colts winning the game, nor did I claim the Colts were not dominant.  All I stated was that the defense was helped by the fact the 49ers abandoned the running game when it was working for them.  4 carries in a 6 point game is abandoning the running game, no matter how you try to spin it.

You're still not helping your argument.  1.8 YPC in the 2nd half.   If I'm coaching against you and yo uwant to keep running the ball...I'll stuff it down your throat.  Because you're forcing an issue that clearly wasn't helping the 49ers.  Stop reaching.  You're trying to hard...Colts kicked the heck out of the 49ers run game.  So by all means...make the argument, 1.8 yards per carry in the 2nd half.  Period.

[crazycolt1]

Wow, you guys are really reaching.  1)  It's typical to air it out when there are 7 or more in the box (tackle to tackle and within 4 yards of the LOS) not just because they are playing bump and run on the receivers.  For a good running team that is when you get the big yards because if the back breaks a tackle at the 2nd level there is no one else there to stop him.

 

And again the 49ers came out in the 2nd half with a run of 7 yards, a run of 5 yards and a run of 0 yards... that is not stopping the run (that is a 4 ypc average)  for most teams that is proof enough that they need to continue running the ball, yet they ran it one more time after that for the entire half.  That is abandoning the run.

Let's look at it one other way, at the start of the last drive by SF they had more rushing yards than receiving yards, so if they wanted to go away from something that wasn't working then why didn't they go away from the passing game?  That was being stopped. 

 

But hey, you guys will believe what you want to believe.

 

For the rest of it don't put words in my mouth (or in my typing hands).  I have not been critical of the Colts performance (I've been critical of a couple of players but not of the team and their win) nor did I say that the 49ers lost the game vs the Colts winning the game, nor did I claim the Colts were not dominant.  All I stated was that the defense was helped by the fact the 49ers abandoned the running game when it was working for them.  4 carries in a 6 point game is abandoning the running game, no matter how you try to spin it.

I am not spinning anything. I know what I saw and the Colts were stacking the LOS. The less than 2 yards per carry speaks for itself. 

[BlueShoe]

PREFACE - I really don't care but think it is funny. Please read the first sentence before responding. Thanks.

 

I want to see how the Talking Heads in the media explain the Colts in all of the new power rankings that will be out for week 4. Do they dare put the 49ers ahead of us, after we went into the 49ers house and beat them like rented mules or do they drop the 49ers out of the top 10? I will be surprised if they move us up to the top 5, but we deserve to be there. 

[Kenny]

PREFACE - I really don't care but think it is funny. Please read the first sentence before responding. Thanks.

 

I want to see how the Talking Heads in the media explain the Colts in all of the new power rankings that will be out for week 4. Do they dare put the 49ers ahead of us, after we went into the 49ers house and beat them like rented mules or do they drop the 49ers out of the top 10? I will be surprised if they move us up to the top 5, but we deserve to be there. 

 

We might make top 10, but I doubt they put SF out of it.

[crazycolt1]

Yes there was reason to stop running the ball.  In their first possession, they ran the ball 3 out of 5 plays, got one first down.  In the second set of downs, Gore got stuffed on 2nd and 4 and then they decided to throw a pass.  Completely passing down territory.  Result - Punt

 

Second possession, at 6:46 in the 3rd, got two quick first downs passing the ball, then ran the read option for -5 yards, then another running play for 2 yards, making it 3rd and 13.  Obvious passing down.  Result - Punt

 

Third possession, at 12:41 in the 4th.  Here's where the tide shifted to predominantly passing.  To this point, the 49ers were averaging about 1.8 yards in the second half and the 49ers needed a score.  And you can say that they should have kept with the running on this drive, but when you go 3 and out, you dont' really get much time to set up anything, whether it's passing to set up the run, or running to set up the play action.  Could they have run the ball?  Sure.  But everyone's argument about "abandoning the run" would be moot if we stopped kept our defensive average of 1.8 YPC ongoing.  But at this poitn, that's all speculation and you cant' really say they abandoned the run game until the 4th quarter.  Because after this, they didn't get the ball back until there was 4:13 left in teh game and they were down 13.  Very obvious to anyone at this point that its' going to be all passes and screens.  It was made worse with the fumble we converted into a touchdown.

Thanks OPC. You explained into detail exactly what I was seeing. In the 2nd half not only was the 49ers running not working the passing game wasn't either. The Colts adjustments worked to perfection. This game was truly a team played game. Luck didn't have to have a great game because the whole team played as a team. Some whine about Luck not throwing for a bunch of yards but I am looking forward to more old fashion smash mouth football myself.

[Warhorse]

I don't need stats, disrespect or confirmation from an analyst, or fan opinion to filter what I saw. This defense looked like a defense that did not belong to the Colts. It looked like the defense of another team....a hard tough team. I dont know whether this is what the future holds, but for one Sunday, I saw a toughness, a swagger, and a relentlessness not displayed by the horseshoe in a long..............long.........time.

 

I felt similar things about the offensive line. I think some fans are having a hard time with this because of how different this from how we were built before....for so many years. Well, Colt fans, if high flying offenses and bend dont break defenses is what you need, you may not find it here anymore.

 

Maybe it will be bend them and break them defenses for a while.

[ColtsFreak]

I love the Smash Mouth version so much better.  I hope we can maintain that from here out.  I'm not overlooking the glitter kittens. But, If we can shutdown the Seahawks The media will have to recognize the Monster.