Handcuffing Andrew Luck

[OJl]

Why put training wheels on a guy who can win the Tour De France?  Why make a chess master only play checkers?  Why force a 3 point shooter to shoot only 2 ft layups?  None of it makes sense. 

 

Just like this offense doesn't make sense for Andrew Luck.  Luck is a superstar.  Luck is one of the 4 or 5 best QBs in the NFL right now.  But Pep's offense takes the game completely out of Luck's hands.  It's not until the game is out of hands that they ask Luck to take over.  wth?!!  Let Luck do his thing from the get-go!  I know today's game is a bad example because Luck did come out slinging from the no-huddle and was doing well until Costanzo's horrific whiff of a block.  But I am talking about in general this year. 

 

You can complain about Peyton's Colts not winning more Super Bowl.  But I'll tell you what, the organization never wasted an ounce of Peyton Manning's talents.  Every single thing the organization ever did was to maximize Peyton's abilities because they saw clearly that doing so gave the Colts the best chance to win.  And think about it.  Peyton's Colts had HoFer Marshall Faulk and future HoFer Edgerrin James running the ball.  Luck may never have RBs who could even hold those two guy's jocks.  Yet we slam our RBs into the line over and over again every week to set up our passing game?  Right...

[ColtJ82]

Why put training wheels on a guy who can win the Tour De France?  Why make a chess master only play checkers?  Why force a 3 point shooter to shoot only 2 ft layups?  None of it makes sense. 

 

Just like this offense doesn't make sense for Andrew Luck.  Luck is a superstar.  Luck is one of the 4 or 5 best QBs in the NFL right now.  But Pep's offense takes the game completely out of Luck's hands.  It's not until the game is out of hands that they ask Luck to take over.  wth?!!  Let Luck do his thing from the get-go!  I know today's game is a bad example because Luck did come out slinging from the no-huddle and was doing well until Costanzo's horrific whiff of a block.  But I am talking about in general this year. 

 

You can complain about Peyton's Colts not winning more Super Bowl.  But I'll tell you what, the organization never wasted an ounce of Peyton Manning's talents.  Every single thing the organization ever did was to maximize Peyton's abilities because they saw clearly that doing so gave the Colts the best chance to win.  And think about it.  Peyton's Colts had HoFer Marshall Faulk and future HoFer Edgerrin James running the ball.  Luck may never have RBs who could even hold those two guy's jocks.  Yet we slam our RBs into the line over and over again every week to set up our passing game?  Right...

No doubt they need to adjust to the deficiencies of the O-Line. We also continued to run play action passes when it was blatantly obvious we couldn't run the ball. I'm just not sure we have any more options given the state of our receiving corps and the lack of time to throw.

[SilentHill]

I am a hardcore Luck supporter, but if you are making this statement because of the loss vs STL you need to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate.

 

Trust me, if I think this is going too far, you know your way off in outer space.

[chad72]

First, we don't have the high first rounder draft picks like Jim Harbaugh had to run a replica of the Standord offense out here with the Colts like Harbaugh could with the 49ers.

But then, we also need to have an offensive line whose strength is geared towards either running or passing, I'd take passing with situational running all day. With Peyton, we knew the line could not run block but his accuracy and quick release augmented the pass blocking strengths of O-line.

At some point, we need to decide what our identity is and Luck needs to get more accurate too. Our D cannot be hit and miss either.

[Gabriel Alexander Morillo]

Why put training wheels on a guy who can win the Tour De France?  Why make a chess master only play checkers?  Why force a 3 point shooter to shoot only 2 ft layups?  None of it makes sense. 

 

Just like this offense doesn't make sense for Andrew Luck.  Luck is a superstar.  Luck is one of the 4 or 5 best QBs in the NFL right now.  But Pep's offense takes the game completely out of Luck's hands.  It's not until the game is out of hands that they ask Luck to take over.  wth?!!  Let Luck do his thing from the get-go!  I know today's game is a bad example because Luck did come out slinging from the no-huddle and was doing well until Costanzo's horrific whiff of a block.  But I am talking about in general this year. 

 

You can complain about Peyton's Colts not winning more Super Bowl.  But I'll tell you what, the organization never wasted an ounce of Peyton Manning's talents.  Every single thing the organization ever did was to maximize Peyton's abilities because they saw clearly that doing so gave the Colts the best chance to win.  And think about it.  Peyton's Colts had HoFer Marshall Faulk and future HoFer Edgerrin James running the ball.  Luck may never have RBs who could even hold those two guy's jocks.  Yet we slam our RBs into the line over and over again every week to set up our passing game?  Right...

Luck handcuffed himself fine today. In my honest opinion Luck is proving to me that he is not top 4-5 yet, as I may have thought. Just a disappointing few weeks. 

[Ohio Colt]

I am a hardcore Luck supporter, but if you are making this statement because of the loss vs STL you need to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate.

 

Trust me, if I think this is going too far, you know your way off in outer space.

 

I get what the OP is saying though.

 

Our coaching staff, our owner, etc. has had a fixation with being a power running team since the beginning. That's not happening now with this line, and this RB stable. its just not. They can force it, but what its going to do is put is in early holes, and third and longs, and the D will tee off and they will get pressure and then we're going to have starts like we have today, and play from behind. This team has zero run game. Its going to be that way. We need to pass to set up the run. we are not a power running team and its not going to happen at any point this year. Our feature RB is absolutely horrible and the line is not playing well.

[SilentHill]

I get what the OP is saying though.

 

Our coaching staff, our owner, etc. has had a fixation with being a power running team since the beginning. That's not happening now with this line, and this RB stable. its just not. They can force it, but what its going to do is put is in early holes, and third and longs, and the D will tee off and they will get pressure and then we're going to have starts like we have today, and play from behind. This team has zero run game. Its going to be that way. We need to pass to set up the run. we are not a power running team and its not going to happen at any point this year. Our feature RB is absolutely horrible and the line is not playing well.

 

It's a learning experience, eventually Pep will come around, we need more quick screens and slants instead of outside run's and power runs up the middle, especially to develop a rhythm with these inexperienced receivers, I'll just wait until it happens, me complaining about it isn't helping.

[Tark The Shark]

I hate the fact that we try to run the ball right up the gut for no gain almost every rushing play.

 

And Castonzo has played well so far and the one block he misses ends up getting him burned badly. 

 

Take more shots deep with TY and DHB. Hit short and intermediate passes with Fleener, Brazill, Whalen, and Richardson.

 

Run stretch plays and pitch plays with Thornton getting out in front. 

 

Or at least that is my game plan as offensive coordinator.

[GoColts8818]

What's getting lost here is that Luck has not played well for the past couple of games.  I think a lot of that comes from the fact he's just not comfortable.  Some of that has to do with the line some of that has to do with not having Reggie.  We have to figure out a way to get Luck comfortable again and in part that starts with him playing better. 

[GoColts8818]

I hate the fact that we try to run the ball right up the gut for no gain almost every rushing play.

 

And Castonzo has played well so far and the one block he misses ends up getting him burned badly. 

 

Take more shots deep with TY and DHB. Hit short and intermediate passes with Fleener, Brazill, Whalen, and Richardson.

 

Run stretch plays and pitch plays with Thornton getting out in front. 

 

Or at least that is my game plan as offensive coordinator.

We tried pitching the ball to Richardson and Brown today and he was getting stuffed when we did that as well. 

 

I like what I've seen out of Castonzo this season but he got man handled today. 

 

I think we need to do more things like running draws, screens, and misdirection plays.  I don't think the line can hold up well enough to take more deep shots at this point.  We need to focus on getting the ball out quick and telling Luck to dump it fast.  Part of the problem is he is holding the ball way too long.

 

Luck has to get his passes down.  Guys can't make plays for you if you don't give them a chance. 

 

I am all for getting the ball in TY's hands as many times as we can as many ways as we can.  Good things happen when the ball is in his hands. 

 

I'd run some reverses with DHB.  You have to find the right time to run them but he has shown his speed can be deadly if you get the ball in his hands. 

 

I think we need to throw to open up the run rather than running to set up the pass like we have been trying to do. Our best game all year was the 49ers game.  What did we do in that game?  Luck came out firing when the 49ers were expecting run and it put them on their heals for the rest of the game. 

[OLD FAN MAN]

I agree, my thoughts on how to fix the offense with the current o-line, use 6 men on the o-line so luck can have time to pass. then use more short passes,also short passes to the running backs out of the backfield,pass, pass, pass,  play the whole game like we do in the fourth quarter every week.

[GoColts8818]

I agree, my thoughts on how to fix the offense with the current o-line, use 6 men on the o-line so luck can have time to pass. then use more short passes,also short passes to the running backs out of the backfield,pass, pass, pass,  play the whole game like we do in the fourth quarter every week.

You can play with a nine man front if guys are winning individual match ups like they were today it doesn't matter how many linemen you have out there, your QB is going to face heat. 

[chad72]

We need a 2nd TE to emerge as a receiving option, no 2 ways about it

[Coltswarriors]

Bad day to have this thread.

 

Luck was bad today. Very bad. There was no handcuffing during this game, IMO.

[cmgww]

Exactly...Luck threw it like 55 times today! Handcuffed? Don't think so.

[Johnny Bui]

Our Receiving core isn't that talented.  With reggie down, T.Y is the only consistent one.  We need more play makers on offense, including the Oline. But i guess it doesn't help when a lot of our offensive starts went down to season ending injuries.  Hope we get a big strong guy with good hands during the off season

[Gavin]

If we lose to the Titans then I'd start to get nervous(I dont think we will), right now were playing as should be expected, Luck severly relied on Waynes play (many circus catches) to carry the team in most games, Even with him in if teams played phsyical with our receivers they have trouble getting separation...Take Reggie out and your really going to have alot of ups and downs. The best we can hope for is we do enough to stay ahead in our division and hope that our defense bounces back because some areas of the team just wont get right this year (O Line......a certain WR)

[Ryan Pelley]

Why put training wheels on a guy who can win the Tour De France?  Why make a chess master only play checkers?  Why force a 3 point shooter to shoot only 2 ft layups?  None of it makes sense. 

 

Just like this offense doesn't make sense for Andrew Luck.  Luck is a superstar.  Luck is one of the 4 or 5 best QBs in the NFL right now.  But Pep's offense takes the game completely out of Luck's hands.  It's not until the game is out of hands that they ask Luck to take over.  wth?!!  Let Luck do his thing from the get-go!  I know today's game is a bad example because Luck did come out slinging from the no-huddle and was doing well until Costanzo's horrific whiff of a block.  But I am talking about in general this year. 

 

You can complain about Peyton's Colts not winning more Super Bowl.  But I'll tell you what, the organization never wasted an ounce of Peyton Manning's talents.  Every single thing the organization ever did was to maximize Peyton's abilities because they saw clearly that doing so gave the Colts the best chance to win.  And think about it.  Peyton's Colts had HoFer Marshall Faulk and future HoFer Edgerrin James running the ball.  Luck may never have RBs who could even hold those two guy's jocks.  Yet we slam our RBs into the line over and over again every week to set up our passing game?  Right...

 

This is one of the smartest posts I've ever seen on here, which is why I'm not surprised to see the first few replies being so negative about the point you were trying to make. It seems like nearly every week it's a conservative and slow start offensively. Now today, Luck just did not play well. Sure, the offensive line was atrocious early on, but when he had enough time and protection, he missed several open throws (Fleener and Hilton both wide, then Brazill with a chance to go up, all overthrown) and made several bad reads (the first 2 interceptions). My concerns and questioning about Pep's play calling stem from the slow starts early on in comparison to the strong 2nd halves where Luck looks like he is just taking over the game like we saw a season ago, which is what the OP alluded to in "handcuffing Andrew Luck".

 

Doesn't it seem strange that the offense was nearly perfect in the biggest games of the season (San Fran, Seattle, Denver), games that not many people outside of the fan base gave the Colts much of a chance of winning. But when it comes to teams that you see on the schedule and think "that's an easy win", why are the Colts completely falling flat and looking the exact opposite as they did against the 2 best teams in the league (Seattle / Denver)? To me, that points heavily to the coaching staff failing to prepare as much for losing teams as they would with the top tier teams. It's just speculation on my part, since I'm not part of the team meetings or organizations. But simply as a fan making observations from watching the games, it just doesn't add up.

[bestQBever]

This game was extremely reminiscent of the jets game last year. We are not a contender yet guys and you have to face it. Until we fix the offensive line and get any pass rush outside of robert mathis, there's no way we can win against the playoff broncos or chiefs. BTW the only teams that beat us had stingy defenses and a efficient to great running game with a mediocre QB.... That chiefs game week 16 is looking like a disaster waiting to happen.

[Gavin]

To be blunt......Andrew and his tunnel vision at times does an excellent job of handcuffing himself

[coltsfanatic24]

Pep's play calling has been awful he call run plays on almost every first down. Luck needs to start off with 3 to 4 passes to open up the run. The interior of the o-line is a joke there should be more stretch runs and hb tosses to Castonzo side. Maybe Pep still thinks he's at Stanford but he needs to wake up and realize we don't have the o-line to be a power running team.

 

I'm not gonna blame Pep for all of the offensive struggles because 75% of it goes to Grigson. He over pays for RJF, Walden but doesn't sign Louis Vasquez who many of us wanted. Walden has played decent at times so as Toler but RJF has been terrible this year. . Moala is a better player and Hughes could have done better even as a rookie if he had more reps. There was no need for RJF he was a backup and Grigson payed top money for him when he could have got Vasquez.

[crestmount]

Andrew is a Superstar in the making--today was just one of those shockers that come along now and then.  The key is to put it in the past and move forward to next week's game.

[ColtKangaroo]

People need to try and stay objective when talking about our offensive problems, and that includes placing critcism on Andrew Luck when he deserves it. He was awful last week and pretty bad against the Rams, and he deserves a lot of blame for our offense today. Probably not anymore than the offensive line or our running game or our recievers but today is on him and he's gonna have to show more than he has in the past two games.

[ColtKangaroo]

So let me get this straight.... most here agree that our recievers aren't good enough, and I think we can agree that Luck is in a temporary slump, and people can't see why Pagano keeps it on the ground? I think a sober realistic look on of our team has us as a 1 and out playoff team, at best we'll go out at the divisionals.

[ruksak]

I believe it is time to take a long, serious and honest look at what Arians did for Luck's game and figure out how the new system is betraying the progress Luck made last year. 

 

There is much to be said about passing to set up the run. We're butt-backward with our approach. 

[SilentHill]

Bad day to have this thread.

 

Luck was bad today. Very bad. There was no handcuffing during this game, IMO.

 

Well he was kinda handcuffed by his o-line and BTW his OC did not dial up any plays to help the situation, but Luck did play real bad with the overthrows.

[#12]

Luck threw 12 times to the backs yesterday.  I don't know why it took a 35-0 deficit, 20 some sacks and a ridiculous amount of hits to start doing so, but with a pourous O-line and no Wayne, a short passing game should be the basis of the offense.  Drop the power running game, which you do not have the personnel to pull off, and which is putting you in a hole week in and week out, and go with a true West Coast, short passing game as the bread and butter of your offense.  Pass early, get a lead, run later... not vice versa.  That's what your current talent will allow you to do.  Stop beating your head against the wall and putting the team in a hole every game.    

[amfootball]

Why put training wheels on a guy who can win the Tour De France?  Why make a chess master only play checkers?  Why force a 3 point shooter to shoot only 2 ft layups?  None of it makes sense. 

 

Just like this offense doesn't make sense for Andrew Luck.  Luck is a superstar.  Luck is one of the 4 or 5 best QBs in the NFL right now.  But Pep's offense takes the game completely out of Luck's hands.  It's not until the game is out of hands that they ask Luck to take over.  wth?!!  Let Luck do his thing from the get-go!  I know today's game is a bad example because Luck did come out slinging from the no-huddle and was doing well until Costanzo's horrific whiff of a block.  But I am talking about in general this year. 

 

You can complain about Peyton's Colts not winning more Super Bowl.  But I'll tell you what, the organization never wasted an ounce of Peyton Manning's talents.  Every single thing the organization ever did was to maximize Peyton's abilities because they saw clearly that doing so gave the Colts the best chance to win.  And think about it.  Peyton's Colts had HoFer Marshall Faulk and future HoFer Edgerrin James running the ball.  Luck may never have RBs who could even hold those two guy's jocks.  Yet we slam our RBs into the line over and over again every week to set up our passing game?  Right...

These comparisons to Manning are shocking to me. I really like Luck and think he will emerge as the top young QB in the league in the next few years, but he is not Manning. His game is nothing like Manning and he is not capable of carrying the team like Manning. He may be more that guy down the road but right now he is lost without Reggie understandably and the Oline is not very good. He threw a ton yesterday and most of it was awful. He needs time to develop and to push him to carry the team now would only get him injured.

[cmgww]

I believe it is time to take a long, serious and honest look at what Arians did for Luck's game and figure out how the new system is betraying the progress Luck made last year.

There is much to be said about passing to set up the run. We're butt-backward with our approach.

Arians did so much for Luck...so much he also nearly got him killed. Losing Wayne has betrayed Luck's development. He was playing much better before Wayne went down. He only had 4 INTs before yesterday's disaster. Geez people over react so much.

[deedub75]

Luck threw 12 times to the backs yesterday.  I don't know why it took a 35-0 deficit, 20 some sacks and a ridiculous amount of hits to start doing so, but with a pourous O-line and no Wayne, a short passing game should be the basis of the offense.  Drop the power running game, which you do not have the personnel to pull off, and which is putting you in a hole week in and week out, and go with a true West Coast, short passing game as the bread and butter of your offense.  Pass early, get a lead, run later... not vice versa.  That's what your current talent will allow you to do.  Stop beating your head against the wall and putting the team in a hole every game.    

 

I don't think the attempt to run the ball got us behind in this game.  The team just played like crap and was 21 points behind before they even knew what hit them.  A sack fumble and Austin's career day did us in.  Reed's kickoff returning kept us on the wrong side of the 20 yard line every time we got the ball. 

 

I hate the read option but I really think we need to implement a few of them in the playbook.  We could also move Luck outside of the pocket so he can have more time to throw.  Just my two cents....

[ruksak]

Arians did so much for Luck...so much he also nearly got him killed. Losing Wayne has betrayed Luck's development. He was playing much better before Wayne went down. He only had 4 INTs before yesterday's disaster. Geez people over react so much.

I'm not sure I'm "overreacting"?

 

Can you not handle some honest discussion? 

 

Luck is getting pounded anyway. Only now he's flipping poor numbers and we're having far more "empty" quarters than we should be. 

 

Much could be said about yesterdays....*ahem "performance". Nothing could be more accurate than to simply state, something isn't working. I'm not suggesting we abandon our playbook and schemes. That would be nonsense. It is time, however, to evaluate our philosophy and figure better ways to make the system that is in place work for us, not against us. 

[Valpo2004]

This game was extremely reminiscent of the jets game last year. We are not a contender yet guys and you have to face it. Until we fix the offensive line and get any pass rush outside of robert mathis, there's no way we can win against the playoff broncos or chiefs. BTW the only teams that beat us had stingy defenses and a efficient to great running game with a mediocre QB.... That chiefs game week 16 is looking like a disaster waiting to happen.

 

I think if we had Reggie Wayne we might be a contender.  The bad receiving corps is getting to Andrew, no one can go out there and make a play for him other then TY.

 

Not that I think Reggie would have led to victory over the Rams, because lets face it, it's obvious that no one on the Colts came to play on Sunday.

[jwilli69]

We tried pitching the ball to Richardson and Brown today and he was getting stuffed when we did that as well. 

 

I like what I've seen out of Castonzo this season but he got man handled today. 

 

I think we need to do more things like running draws, screens, and misdirection plays.  I don't think the line can hold up well enough to take more deep shots at this point.  We need to focus on getting the ball out quick and telling Luck to dump it fast.  Part of the problem is he is holding the ball way too long.

 

Luck has to get his passes down.  Guys can't make plays for you if you don't give them a chance. 

 

I am all for getting the ball in TY's hands as many times as we can as many ways as we can.  Good things happen when the ball is in his hands. 

 

I'd run some reverses with DHB.  You have to find the right time to run them but he has shown his speed can be deadly if you get the ball in his hands. 

 

I think we need to throw to open up the run rather than running to set up the pass like we have been trying to do. Our best game all year was the 49ers game.  What did we do in that game?  Luck came out firing when the 49ers were expecting run and it put them on their heals for the rest of the game.

I agree, Luck is holding that ball too long and the hits are getting to him. Pep needs to devise those slants and curl routes and more screens. The running game is just not there with this oline. Quit doing things that are not working and won't work with this horrible guard to guard line. Luck has to make better throws too, he is high too often but I think so much of it is his shoddy oline not allowing him to feel comfy.

[lollygagger8]

It's a learning experience, eventually Pep will come around, we need more quick screens and slants instead of outside run's and power runs up the middle, especially to develop a rhythm with these inexperienced receivers, I'll just wait until it happens, me complaining about it isn't helping.

 

Well Pep's taking too long to figure it out. 

 

When we were blitzing St. Louis, it took them all of 3 plays to figure it out. They started throwing screens, slants, and a few passes to the RB's out of the backfield. Pep doesn't figure it out for 2 to 3 quarters. We've been doing this all season. Not showing up until the 2nd half. It drives me insane. 

 

He also need to quit running up the middle. Our interior O-Line can't block for it. It's painfully obvious to everyone watching. I don't understand why we keep trying it?  

[ColtsBlueFL]

I didn't get to see the game on TV (not on in SW Florida). But It sounded like for the second straight week, the O line wasn't creating any running or passing lanes. Just acting as a turnstile that hardly impeded the D line.  The problem is, when a QB gets pounded over and over, then he eventually feels pressure all the time,  even when there isn't any.  This affects every throw and inhibits going through progressions, thus missing open receivers.  Not too long ago Luck was kept clean enough that he could take an occasional hit in pocket when it did break down and still still deliver a pass to the right target on time.  Now, it appears he cannot with any consistency .  He's having to release early and the ball is also sailing on him.  I will bet it is hard to go through progressions when there is barely time to see if the primary target has got any separation yet. 

 

I'm also not happy that while the O falters getting anything going, the D lets the other team run away with the game before halftime.  Since we came back from the Bye week, we have scored 3 points in two games in the first half!  3!!  The D has allowed 49 in the same time frame!!  49!!

 

So we beat Peyton led Broncos, and had a week off. Either they got full themselves after the Colts third quality win, or have now found Reggie Wayne is the kingpin to making the O go.  Or it is a combo.  Either way, the club should be humbled and serious about the business of improving- getting better.  Good teams win vs. quality opponents. Great teams win vs. quality opponents on the road.  Poor teams lose at home to teams they should handle.  We are all of the above- wildly inconsistent and not solid enough to make a serious run in tough post season play yet.  I'll be watching the 1st and second quarter scoreboard on Thursday night.  I'm tired of being behind 3 or 4 touchdowns with only half a game left to play. Especially if we have to kickoff after the half.

[OLD FAN MAN]

Luck threw 12 times to the backs yesterday.  I don't know why it took a 35-0 deficit, 20 some sacks and a ridiculous amount of hits to start doing so, but with a pourous O-line and no Wayne, a short passing game should be the basis of the offense.  Drop the power running game, which you do not have the personnel to pull off, and which is putting you in a hole week in and week out, and go with a true West Coast, short passing game as the bread and butter of your offense.  Pass early, get a lead, run later... not vice versa.  That's what your current talent will allow you to do.  Stop beating your head against the wall and putting the team in a hole every game.    

very good post. I agree and maybe take out the fullback and put in 6 on the o-line to pass block

[pacolts56]

Pep's play calling has been awful he call run plays on almost every first down. Luck needs to start off with 3 to 4 passes to open up the run. The interior of the o-line is a joke there should be more stretch runs and hb tosses to Castonzo side. Maybe Pep still thinks he's at Stanford but he needs to wake up and realize we don't have the o-line to be a power running team.

 

I'm not gonna blame Pep for all of the offensive struggles because 75% of it goes to Grigson. He over pays for RJF, Walden but doesn't sign Louis Vasquez who many of us wanted. Walden has played decent at times so as Toler but RJF has been terrible this year. . Moala is a better player and Hughes could have done better even as a rookie if he had more reps. There was no need for RJF he was a backup and Grigson payed top money for him when he could have got Vasquez.

CF24....you have the right idea in mind...our O-line is a work in progress, which given yesterday's futile, frustrating performance is being kind.

 

And I'd have liked to have Vasquez too....but as it turns out Denver's C Manny Ramirez and he were team mates at Texas Tech and Ramirez in fact helped recruit Vasquez there, so it sounds like the Broncos had the inside track to him all along because he signed very soon after free agency opened.

 

We're two years in to this edition of the Colts so patience, hard as it might be after a game like this...is in order.

 

But the execution level to overcome our comedy of errors and win yesterday wasn't anywhere near LOS.

[PatMcAfeeFan]

I recorded the game so that I could re-watch it closely today, but from what jumped off the screen at me is that TRich was not and is not the problem for our horrendous running game, whenever Trent is in the D loads the box and once the ball is snapped they set the edge, that's not good at all. If you want to be a power run team you can't allow the defense to get push up the middle and let them set the edge. This is coming from a person who isn't too thrilled about TRich anyway. The only two linemen I have no problem with are Cherlius and Thornton as Cherlius is playing like a RT should and sure Thornton gave  up a sack, but he is getting better. To me Costanzo needs to be told that this is his last shot and if he can't do it then we will find someone else. The way he plays sometimes is just pathetic. McGlynn is a joke at anything, but center. Satale needs to be gotten rid of as he is horrible in both pass and run protection. I also noticed one thing on passing plays Grif Whalen was getting open underneath, but Luck was looking deep every time. Luck needs to stop taking shots and help his Oline and run game by completing short passes and then once that opens up the running game that also will open up Play Action and the deep ball. 

 

Also DHB needs to work with Luck more and not the Jugs machine. It doesn't matter if he can catch everything the machine throws at him. He needs to get used to catching from Luck as that is a different animal all together. 

[Gavin]

I believe it is time to take a long, serious and honest look at what Arians did for Luck's game and figure out how the new system is betraying the progress Luck made last year. 

 

There is much to be said about passing to set up the run. We're butt-backward with our approach. 

Im thinking the new system is just fine considering Luck ran the majority of it under Pep at Stanford and it in part helped him to the top pick in the 2012 draft, Theres plenty of reasons for our bad play vs the Rams absolutely none of which involve the system, I seriously dont get why so many are so quick to jump all over Pep and refuse to admit Luck simply has alot he needs to work on, Combine that with our teams other problems and ya get a game like ya got vs the Rams sometimes...It may not be the last one......Losing Reggie was the 1 guy other then Luck that we could not lose at this stage, Our wr's simply are to young and inconsistent (I aint including DHB in that, thats just a whole nother problem on its own)

[Gavin]

I recorded the game so that I could re-watch it closely today, but from what jumped off the screen at me is that TRich was not and is not the problem for our horrendous running game, whenever Trent is in the D loads the box and once the ball is snapped they set the edge, that's not good at all. If you want to be a power run team you can't allow the defense to get push up the middle and let them set the edge. This is coming from a person who isn't too thrilled about TRich anyway. The only two linemen I have no problem with are Cherlius and Thornton as Cherlius is playing like a RT should and sure Thornton gave  up a sack, but he is getting better. To me Costanzo needs to be told that this is his last shot and if he can't do it then we will find someone else. The way he plays sometimes is just pathetic. McGlynn is a joke at anything, but center. Satale needs to be gotten rid of as he is horrible in both pass and run protection. I also noticed one thing on passing plays Grif Whalen was getting open underneath, but Luck was looking deep every time. Luck needs to stop taking shots and help his Oline and run game by completing short passes and then once that opens up the running game that also will open up Play Action and the deep ball. 

 

Also DHB needs to work with Luck more and not the Jugs machine. It doesn't matter if he can catch everything the machine throws at him. He needs to get used to catching from Luck as that is a different animal all together. 

You seriously used his 5 carries to determine he is not PART of the problem? Thats only 5 carries, If ya got Game Rewind I can give ya a few examples of what he needs work on (In other words part of the problem has been his vision at times)...Castonzo had a bad game in pass protection vs the Rams but he has actually been our best O Lineman this year all around