Colts Defense

[Jay Kirk]

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.

Good read Warhorse ,because that's exactly where we are heading,and Pagano has not hidden the fact he wants to play smashmouth football.Wasnt it refreshing to see our CBs jamming receivers instead of playing 7 to 8 yards off ?Dont care what anyone says ,if you have talented CBs to do it,and we do, it disrupts the passing game.It wasn't about lack of speed  at WR.It was about disrupting routes and giving DL more time to disrupt QB.The DL and LBs did a fine job of containment and pursuit in these situations.You are right about the swagger ,its called confidence and belief in self and system as well as trusting your teammates to do the job they are to do ! Doesn't matter offense or defense its still the same. If people don't believe this about CBs ,they need to remember why NE had success against our pass game when Peyton and company were here.  Tom Brady didn't beat us in those playoff games the D  NE played did.

[OffensivelyPC]

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.

 

Completely agree with this.  Even my dad, an old man, used the word "swagger" when watching the Colts this Sunday.  And that's exactly what I saw.  It reminds me of back when the kickoff coverage would play that song and they had a dance or whatever that they would do before kickoff and the NFL made us stop.  That's the swagger I saw Sunday, and I hope it sticks.  Because if it does, being a Colts fan just became that much better.

[crazycolt1]

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.

I can very much agree with your comment. Me and my grandsons were watching together and we just kept looking at the game and then looking at each other. We all 3 were just plain stunned at was taking place. Last season was exciting but in a pins and needle type of feeling because of all the comebacks. This game was a total different type of excitement. Once the Colts made their adjustments and started kicking tail I had to calm my grandsons down or I wouldn't have had a hand left because of the high fives. It was not only stunning it was a thing of beauty. 

[Coffeedrinker]

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...

I agree about that pass play and he admitted he blew it.  Part knocking off the rust and part him not being great in pass coverage.  I like Conner a lot, last year I figured it would be he and Angerer filling the middle but injuries and Freeman exceeding expectations(at least mine, I have no idea what the coaches expectations were) really made the ILB spot a battle.

[Coffeedrinker]

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.

Your numbers are wrong.  Outside of the TD drive they carried the ball for 38 yards not 28.  And they first three runs of the 2nd half netted 12 yards and a 1st down, that's 4 ypc.  That was when they abandoned the run.  Allow 4 ypc on the first three runs is not stopping the run.  Additionally if you look at just the RBs and not CK running(which the D did a great job of limiting his effectiveness running the ball) the Colts rarely stopped the running backs.

[OffensivelyPC]

Your numbers are wrong.  Outside of the TD drive they carried the ball for 38 yards not 28.  And they first three runs of the 2nd half netted 12 yards and a 1st down, that's 4 ypc.  That was when they abandoned the run.  Allow 4 ypc on the first three runs is not stopping the run.  Additionally if you look at just the RBs and not CK running(which the D did a great job of limiting his effectiveness running the ball) the Colts rarely stopped the running backs.

Dude, they ran for 87 yards on 8 attempts in the first two drives which is what I said.  They had 115 rushing yards total on 23 attempts.  115 yards minus 87 yards is...28 yards.  23 attempts minus 8 attempts is 15.  So that means, after the first two drives, they had 28 yards on 15 attempts.  But fine, I'll play your game. 

 

RB ONLY After that 2nd drive.

 

1st Qtr at 2:53

 

1st and 10 at 50 (Shotgun) F.Gore up the middle to IND 45 for 5 yards (J.Freeman).    

2nd and 5 at IND 45 F.Gore left guard to IND 44 for 1 yard (A.Franklin).

 

2nd Qtr at 13:38

 

1st and 10 at SF 8 F.Gore up the middle to SF 11 for 3 yards (J.Freeman, J.Chapman).

 

2nd Qtr at 7:00

 

2nd and 7 at SF 23 (Shotgun) A.Dixon right end to SF 22 for -1 yards (K.Sheppard).

1st and 10 at SF 46 F.Gore up the middle to SF 46 for no gain (J.Chapman).

 

3rd Qtr at 15:00

 

1st and 10 at SF 20 F.Gore left tackle to SF 27 for 7 yards (R.Mathis).

2nd and 3 at SF 27 A.Snyder reported as eligible.  F.Gore right guard to SF 32 for 5 yards (A.Franklin).

2nd and 4 at SF 38 (Shotgun) F.Gore up the middle to SF 38 for no gain (J.Freeman).

 

3rd Qtr at 6:46

 

2nd and 15 at SF 44 (Shotgun) K.Hunter up the middle to SF 46 for 2 yards (A.Franklin).

 

 

Total RB numbers after teh second drive, 9 attempts for 22 yards.  2.44 YPC.  Hardly anything worth bragging about.  On the ONE drive you keep mentioning that was so successful, 3 attempts for 12 yards.  4.0 YPC and one first down.  Yeah, that's better, but taking everything into context, not really that great.  We were stacking guys in the box at that point, opening up the passing game, and we made plays.  You can call it abandoning the run game, and on that, we'll just have to disagree.  The run game wasn't effective enough for them after that second drive.  We started stacking guys in the box daring Kaep to beat us with his arm and he couldn't do it.  We didn't benefit from them abandoning the run game.  We forced that upon them.  Like I said, whether you want to talk just RB rushing or include Kaepernick's running stats along with it, you're looking at either 2.44YPC or 1.87 YPC respectively.  Call it whatever you want, it wasn't working for them so they "abandoned" the run game.

[Warhorse]

Completely agree with this.  Even my dad, an old man, used the word "swagger" when watching the Colts this Sunday.  And that's exactly what I saw.  It reminds me of back when the kickoff coverage would play that song and they had a dance or whatever that they would do before kickoff and the NFL made us stop.  That's the swagger I saw Sunday, and I hope it sticks.  Because if it does, being a Colts fan just became that much better.

They called it "doin the Krunk".

[OffensivelyPC]

They called it "doin the Krunk".

Man that was so awesome.  I was pretty upset when they shut that down.  Called it "taunting"... you shouldn't get shutdown for doing something called "doin the Krunk".  Ever.

[Coffeedrinker]

Dude, they ran for 87 yards on 8 attempts in the first two drives which is what I said.  They had 115 rushing yards total on 23 attempts.  115 yards minus 87 yards is...28 yards.  23 attempts minus 8 attempts is 15.  So that means, after the first two drives, they had 28 yards on 15 attempts.  But fine, I'll play your game. 

 

RB ONLY After that 2nd drive.

 

1st Qtr at 2:53

 

1st and 10 at 50 (Shotgun) F.Gore up the middle to IND 45 for 5 yards (J.Freeman).    

2nd and 5 at IND 45 F.Gore left guard to IND 44 for 1 yard (A.Franklin).

 

2nd Qtr at 13:38

 

1st and 10 at SF 8 F.Gore up the middle to SF 11 for 3 yards (J.Freeman, J.Chapman).

 

2nd Qtr at 7:00

 

2nd and 7 at SF 23 (Shotgun) A.Dixon right end to SF 22 for -1 yards (K.Sheppard).

1st and 10 at SF 46 F.Gore up the middle to SF 46 for no gain (J.Chapman).

 

3rd Qtr at 15:00

 

1st and 10 at SF 20 F.Gore left tackle to SF 27 for 7 yards (R.Mathis).

2nd and 3 at SF 27 A.Snyder reported as eligible.  F.Gore right guard to SF 32 for 5 yards (A.Franklin).

2nd and 4 at SF 38 (Shotgun) F.Gore up the middle to SF 38 for no gain (J.Freeman).

 

3rd Qtr at 6:46

 

2nd and 15 at SF 44 (Shotgun) K.Hunter up the middle to SF 46 for 2 yards (A.Franklin).

 

 

Total RB numbers after teh second drive, 9 attempts for 22 yards.  2.44 YPC.  Hardly anything worth bragging about.  On the ONE drive you keep mentioning that was so successful, 3 attempts for 12 yards.  4.0 YPC and one first down.  Yeah, that's better, but taking everything into context, not really that great.  We were stacking guys in the box at that point, opening up the passing game, and we made plays.  You can call it abandoning the run game, and on that, we'll just have to disagree.  The run game wasn't effective enough for them after that second drive.  We started stacking guys in the box daring Kaep to beat us with his arm and he couldn't do it.  We didn't benefit from them abandoning the run game.  We forced that upon them.  Like I said, whether you want to talk just RB rushing or include Kaepernick's running stats along with it, you're looking at either 2.44YPC or 1.87 YPC respectively.  Call it whatever you want, it wasn't working for them so they "abandoned" the run game.

Okay, this is the last I am going to say about this, it won't make a difference I know but I am going to say it and you can reply or not after it doesn't really matter.  4 carries in the 2nd half when the score is within a TD is abandoning the run when the running game was the only thing working half way consistently for them.  The Colts D showed that they could not stop it consistently, the D had some great plays and they had some bone headed plays in the run game.  The Colts were not stacking the box, the box is an area from tackle to tackle and within 4 yards of the LOS, whether a team is running a 4-3 or a 3-4 there are normally 7 players in this area, thus stacking it is 8 or more players in that area, the Colts did not do that.

 

Whether or not it would have made a difference in the outcome... I don't know, probably not, the Colts were playing tough.  But that does not negate the fact that the Colts were helped by poor coaching and game calling by the 49ers.