The O-line has to be fixed

[jbaron04]

mcgylnn , satele are the worst to line men i have ever saw luck look like he was scared for his life , missing throws and reads etc... these guys have to go i could live with some struggle in the pass blocking if these guys were mauler but, they cant run block, or cant pass block matter fact they just cant block , dont get me wrong mcgylnn is a nice back up to have comes in back up center and guard when u really really in a pinch but as a starter , it really baffles me that he was starting over thorton when thomas was healthy , when its clear as day thorton is better , maybe they are doing the same thing with holmes??? he cant be any worst then satele 

[jbaron04]

not to big that guy but , we have seen some of the most horrible linemen in the last few yrs, from link, satele, mcgylnn, ugoh, ...the list goes on, they need to find out what the pat and them teams are doing to get good lines year in and yr out....

[Gavin]

I think we go forward next year with:

 

LT-Castonzo

LG-Thomas

C-Holmes (maybe we try to make a trade using Satele? but dont expect to get anything higher then a 6th or absolute best a 5th for him.....very unlikely though so dont be surprised if he starts next year)

RG-Thornton

RT-Cherilus

 

 

Maybe we make a run for Chad Rinehart if Thornton ( to play RG)has not progressed or John Asamoah (at LG if Thomas does not come back strong...although I suspect staff would try Holmes at LG before they did that...Holmes strength is his mobility right now, he is not a mauler or a power guy)

[Coffeedrinker]

I think it's funny that people are trying to knock Thornton, especially after Collinsworth made a comment about him last night.  He makes some rookie mistakes but outside of that one play where Collinsworth pointed out Thornton getting beat, the other times he got beat was when they overloaded his side and he and Satele were trying to block three guys.  If you actually watch the online Thornton has been playing at a very good level.

 

The person that said the Colts should move AC to guard... I'm sorry but you have no understanding of oline play and what is good, what is bad nor what each position requires.

[HtownColt]

I think that's why Pep keeps trying to push the running game every week, because he is trying to mask his OL biggest weakness and that's pass protecting, he simply can't let Luck sling it like most of us want because Luck will end up taking a beating like he did yesterday and look like the Arians era again. Luck was sacked 4 times, hit another 11 times.

Pep even had to consistently put Linkenbach in as a 6th blocker in the second half to help protect Luck to help out his line, it got that bad for the line in protection

[McGrit]

I think it's funny that people are trying to knock Thornton, especially after Collinsworth made a comment about him last night.  He makes some rookie mistakes but outside of that one play where Collinsworth pointed out Thornton getting beat, the other times he got beat was when they overloaded his side and he and Satele were trying to block three guys.  If you actually watch the online Thornton has been playing at a very good level.

 

The person that said the Colts should move AC to guard... I'm sorry but you have no understanding of oline play and what is good, what is bad nor what each position requires.

 

Not to mention that Thornton was matched up against the Texan's second best pass rusher* all night.  He had his hands full in the first half but after they made some adjustments he played very well.  Everyone needs to bear in mind that he is only a rookie who was injured early and saw little playing time until DT went down.  Don't they say the O-Linemen generally see great strides in effectiveness from their 1st to 2nd year?  I think he is already playing pretty well.  His ceiling is quite high.

 

* which would put him in the running for best pass rusher on most teams.

[Colts_Fan12]

I think we go forward next year with:

LT-Castonzo

LG-Thomas

C-Holmes (maybe we try to make a trade using Satele? but dont expect to get anything higher then a 6th or absolute best a 5th for him.....very unlikely though so dont be surprised if he starts next year)

RG-Thornton

RT-Cherilus

Maybe we make a run for Chad Rinehart if Thornton ( to play RG)has not progressed or John Asamoah (at LG if Thomas does not come back strong...although I suspect staff would try Holmes at LG before they did that...Holmes strength is his mobility right now, he is not a mauler or a power guy)

I thought they could cut satele after this year and it wouldn't hurt us

[CopenhagenColt]

Alex Mack would be great for us, but let's see if he's available when we get to the FA-season.

[throwing BBZ]

Link probably isn't any better than McGlynn

Donald Thomas was big loss

 

 

Link probably isn't any better than McGlynn

Donald Thomas was big loss

 

You know Donald T just got started, but he was keeping his man in front of him and had some nice pulls.

Watching Thornton whiff on that one pull was a gagger, and not the first time he has done that.

 He will improve in year two, cross our fingers.

 I`m thinking we need a Howard Mudd Jr. to help build a line.

  A good thing Andrew is SPECIAL in the pocket and getting out!!

[NewEra]

It's not the oline Trent just sucks. /s

[swflacoltsfans]

Houston players were blasting through the line and it took our coaches until the 3rd quarter to figure out a screen pass would work!!

That is terrible coaching!

[GoColts8818]

the line will be fixed next year. our starting line will be castanzo thomas holmes thornton cherlius

at thus point we have no idea if Holmes is better than Satele or not we all just want him to be.

[GoColts8818]

Houston players were blasting through the line and it took our coaches until the 3rd quarter to figure out a screen pass would work!!

That is terrible coaching!

they did try some WR screens before that. Luck one hoped one, another the texans were all over and the third DHB dropped.

[Surge89]

I've been a Colts fan since 1955 and this is the worst O line I've seen on a Colts team.

The only one I have hope for is thornton at least he will get better.

Castonzo should be a guard because he can't passblock for poop.

The rest stink they're no good and they'll never make it. I read what you all wrote about 3/5 of a good

O line WRONG the only thing this O line will do is get LUCK Killed.

Just one other thing Andre Johnson has been in this NFL for what 10 years and is 33yrs old.

he sure made chumps of Bethea and V.Davis didn't he!

 

Wait what?!? ...(insert facepalm GIF here)

[HarassedOffTheSite]

It's pretty simple. The FO has to be whatever they can to get a good or great O-line. The rest of the team will fall into place after that. Luck's numbers and the flow of offense when the O-line gives him any protection has been incredible. There has to be a consistency there. This team with a great offensive line would hardly lose. 

 

Was being said in the offseason when all the cornerbackites swore DBs would lead us to the promised land.

 

This Oline is marginally better then it was last season. It MUST be our offseason focus.

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

the line will be fixed next year. our starting line will be castanzo thomas holmes thornton cherlius

You have NO idea if Holmes is any good. He hasn't even played a down!

[CR91]

You have NO idea if Holmes is any good. He hasn't even played a down!

 

cant be any worse then salate

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

cant be any worse then salate

Unfortunately for us he could?

[chrisfarley]

more than the o-line needs fixed (because that is impossible at this point in the season) , the sluggish, dreadfully slow starts have to get fixed.  

[CR91]

Unfortunately for us he could?

 

his contract is up after next year so we have to see what we have in holmes before we instill him as our new center.

[George Costanza III]

Hey Coffeedrinker Castonzo should be a matador because the crowd goes OLE when the pass rusher gets by him.

But I'm not on AC terms with him like you.

But I've watched Jim Parker/ Hall of Fame and George Kunz/ long time All/Pro play left tackle for the Colts for their whole careers

while you were probably in diapers. So maybe your the one that does'nt know Bad OL play when he sees it.

The whole off season all we heard was we must protect Luck better. NOT.

Maybe you should read the scouting report on your pal AC before he was drafted.

I Don't want to see Luck get hurt do you?

HMMMMM how many OT come out of college and get switched to Guard, maybe you should tell everyone their doing it wrong.

[Warhorse]

I'm just glad someone realized the OLine needs to be fixed. I wonder why no one brought that up before?

Notify Grigson immediately!

Thank you, Captain Obvious. ;)

[Warhorse]

Hey Coffeedrinker Castonzo should be a matador because the crowd goes OLE when the pass rusher gets by him.

But I'm not on AC terms with him like you.

But I've watched Jim Parker/ Hall of Fame and George Kunz/ long time All/Pro play left tackle for the Colts for their whole careers

while you were probably in diapers. So maybe your the one that does'nt know Bad OL play when he sees it.

The whole off season all we heard was we must protect Luck better. NOT.

Maybe you should read the scouting report on your pal AC before he was drafted.

I Don't want to see Luck get hurt do you?

HMMMMM how many OT come out of college and get switched to Guard, maybe you should tell everyone their doing it wrong.

Diapers? Eeewwwwwww. 

[austriancolt]

Even with Thomas back next year we are just one injury away from Oline trouble again. 

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

Hey Coffeedrinker Castonzo should be a matador because the crowd goes OLE when the pass rusher gets by him.

But I'm not on AC terms with him like you.

But I've watched Jim Parker/ Hall of Fame and George Kunz/ long time All/Pro play left tackle for the Colts for their whole careers

while you were probably in diapers. So maybe your the one that does'nt know Bad OL play when he sees it.

The whole off season all we heard was we must protect Luck better. NOT.

Maybe you should read the scouting report on your pal AC before he was drafted.

I Don't want to see Luck get hurt do you?

HMMMMM how many OT come out of college and get switched to Guard, maybe you should tell everyone their doing it wrong.

I saw Kunz play, Chris Hinton & tarik Glynn And although AC isn't at their level, he is improving & And getting better. I think he has played much better this year. IMO he has been better than just OK. He is by far the best OL men we have. Thats not saying much, but I believe a fact. Tackle play has been good. Houston did get a lot of pass rush this week I believe a lot of it was due to Wyatt, Houston was moving him around a lot & he got the better of everyone on the line at one time or another. The week spots are McGylnn & Satile!

[Kenny]

Not sure if it has been addressed, but our line is fine just banged up in key places. Satele needs to go. Our starting line should be Castonzo-Thomas-McGlynn/Holmes-Thornton-Cherilus. That is a line I would tip my hat too. McGlynn is turrible at G, but is a very formidable center.

[Superman]

I thought they could cut satele after this year and it wouldn't hurt us

 

Short answer, that's mostly true. Releasing Satele before the start of the 2014 season would result in a 2014 cap penalty of just over $1m.

 

More details, per Spotrac: Satele's cap hit for 2014 will be $5.37m. That includes a non guaranteed base salary of $4.2m, and an offseason bonus of $100k. So if we release him prior to that bonus (which is probably a March or June bonus, or maybe a workout bonus), we save $4.3m in cash and against the cap. If we release him after that bonus, but prior to the start of the regular season, we save $4.2m in cash and against the cap. The cap penalty to release him would be either $1.07m or $1.08m, depending on when the release comes. If he's on the roster for the start of Week 1, his entire base salary goes guaranteed, and releasing him would result in a cap penalty of $5.37m. I'm sure there are offsets in the contract, so if he's claimed off waivers, that guarantee comes off our cap and gets prorated onto his new team's cap. If he's not claimed off waivers, but is signed by another team, his new compensation gets reduced from our cap penalty.

 

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/indianapolis-colts/samson-satele/

[Balzer40]

Hey Coffeedrinker Castonzo should be a matador because the crowd goes OLE when the pass rusher gets by him.

But I'm not on AC terms with him like you.

But I've watched Jim Parker/ Hall of Fame and George Kunz/ long time All/Pro play left tackle for the Colts for their whole careers

while you were probably in diapers. So maybe your the one that does'nt know Bad OL play when he sees it.

The whole off season all we heard was we must protect Luck better. NOT.

Maybe you should read the scouting report on your pal AC before he was drafted.

I Don't want to see Luck get hurt do you?

HMMMMM how many OT come out of college and get switched to Guard, maybe you should tell everyone their doing it wrong.

 

 

 

That must be an awful quiet crowd, because if you knew what you were watching you would know Castanzo has played pretty freaking good this yr..

[LockeDown]

I think he meant allen will do wonders for blocking.. fleener is still ridiculously bad at blocking..

Fleeners hands were meant for jazz, not blocking.

[Coffeedrinker]

Hey Coffeedrinker Castonzo should be a matador because the crowd goes OLE when the pass rusher gets by him.

But I'm not on AC terms with him like you.

But I've watched Jim Parker/ Hall of Fame and George Kunz/ long time All/Pro play left tackle for the Colts for their whole careers

while you were probably in diapers. So maybe your the one that does'nt know Bad OL play when he sees it.

The whole off season all we heard was we must protect Luck better. NOT.

Maybe you should read the scouting report on your pal AC before he was drafted.

I Don't want to see Luck get hurt do you?

HMMMMM how many OT come out of college and get switched to Guard, maybe you should tell everyone their doing it wrong.

Wow, in one post we have a bad analogy, age insults, an 80's style "not", a red herring and non sequitur.  The only thing lacking is, well football knowledge.  But let me address each point one by one.

 

1)  Matador comment is just stupid.

2)  Good for you. 

3)  Perhaps I don't know bad oline play, through 12 years of playing oline and an additional 20 years coaching the line I'm sure I have not learned a thing.

4)  And he is being protected better than last year.  Still room for improvement.

5)  I read several scouting reports.  Nothing in any of the ones I read indicated he should be moved to guard, just the opposite in fact because many talked about how he could struggle against the bigger DEs in the league.  Perhaps you are getting a bit senile and think that DTs in the NFL are smaller than DEs.

6)  Nope, don't want to see Luck get hurt.

7)  Quite a few college tackles get moved to guard.  99 times out of 100 it's because they don't have the footwork to play tackle in the NFL.  That is not ACs problem, his problem his strength, mainly upper body strength.  And your brilliant solution is to move him inside where upper body strength becomes a top 3 needed attribute. 

 

I really don't care how long you claim to have watched the Colts.  I really don't care what tackles you claim to have watched (although I am curious as to how you watched Kunz play his whole career witht he Colts when his first 5 years in the league were with the Falcons.) You obviously know very little about the offensive line play and what it takes to play the different positions.  And all your matador comments and name throwing does not change nor hide that fact.

[OffensivelyPC]

The OL needs some tweeking for sure.  But I keep coming back to this play calling.  Look, we're winning.  And by design, our Colts take a lot of beating in the 1st quarter, sometimes longer, to learn as much about our opponent while simultaneously slowing them down.  This team employs the Ali approach.  Survive long enough and strike when the iron's hot.  So while it's easy to say that the OL needs to block better, or that Trent needs to improve his yard per carry, we aren't doing bad on purpose...there is a method to the madness.  Most people say we're winning in spite of Pep.  I myself included have my doubts.  But it's working, we're winning, and all is right in the world.  So, crappy blocking aside, crappy running aside, crappy defense aside, crappy passing aside, our first half failures somehow set up our second half success.  I don't get it, and I certainly can't explain it.  But...it is what it is.

[SkyBane]

The OL needs some tweeking for sure. But I keep coming back to this play calling. Look, we're winning. And by design, our Colts take a lot of beating in the 1st quarter, sometimes longer, to learn as much about our opponent while simultaneously slowing them down. This team employs the Ali approach. Survive long enough and strike when the iron's hot. So while it's easy to say that the OL needs to block better, or that Trent needs to improve his yard per carry, we aren't doing bad on purpose...there is a method to the madness. Most people say we're winning in spite of Pep. I myself included have my doubts. But it's working, we're winning, and all is right in the world. So, crappy blocking aside, crappy running aside, crappy defense aside, crappy passing aside, our first half failures somehow set up our second half success. I don't get it, and I certainly can't explain it. But...it is what it is.

Essentially, what you describe above is the coaching staff playing a game of chicken with the opponent. Either show your gameplan early so we can adjust to it, or be beaten down with the run game.

[danlhart87]

Draft Richardson OG from Baylor and Sign Alex Mack. There you go! OL much better!

[dudeski]

The OL needs some tweeking for sure. But I keep coming back to this play calling. Look, we're winning. And by design, our Colts take a lot of beating in the 1st quarter, sometimes longer, to learn as much about our opponent while simultaneously slowing them down. This team employs the Ali approach. Survive long enough and strike when the iron's hot. So while it's easy to say that the OL needs to block better, or that Trent needs to improve his yard per carry, we aren't doing bad on purpose...there is a method to the madness. Most people say we're winning in spite of Pep. I myself included have my doubts. But it's working, we're winning, and all is right in the world. So, crappy blocking aside, crappy running aside, crappy defense aside, crappy passing aside, our first half failures somehow set up our second half success. I don't get it, and I certainly can't explain it. But...it is what it is.

i wish I shared your faith. I just don't believe a coach would purposely have his team play horrible for 3 quarters on purpose

[coltsfanatic24]

I think Grigson's first off season priority will be to replace Satele and Mcglynn, no explanations needed. Alex Mack is a top 5 C in the league would be a huge upgrade to the interior of the o-line. Even if Donald Thomas comes back i wouldn't be surprised to see us go G in the 2nd round. Thomas has had two season ending injuries in the past 2 seasons and has only played more then 12 games once in six seasons. The reason the Dolphins released him is because he was injury prone. He's a good player but were gonna need more depth at that position because it's more then likely he'll get hurt again.

[GoColts8818]

cant be any worse then salate

yes he could. Just because Satele is bad doesn't make Holmes better automatically.

[BleedBlu8792]

more than the o-line needs fixed (because that is impossible at this point in the season) , the sluggish, dreadfully slow starts have to get fixed.  

 

100% to the bolded.

[Smonroe]

You have NO idea if Holmes is any good. He hasn't even played a down!

This is true. I'm hoping the reason he's not playing is more to do with his lack of experience rather than his lack of talent.

[Gavin]

This is true. I'm hoping the reason he's not playing is more to do with his lack of experience rather than his lack of talent.

He actually logged some downs earlier this season if I remember right. I doubt he is getting much do to lack of experience......How can he get that experience if he is not playing? ;) Watching how he performed earlier this season he showed a lack of strength and his technoque needed to be refined some. Those were both also a knock on him in scouting reports

[GoColts8818]

This is true. I'm hoping the reason he's not playing is more to do with his lack of experience rather than his lack of talent.

me too but we are half through a season and he's not even active on game days that bothers me. He's had enough time to over come the time he missed in camp so I don't think that's it. I am hoping it's they just don't want two center active when McGlynn can play it if they need him too.