Double A Breakdown: Week 11 vs Titans

[Andy]

Thursday night games is a writer's hell.

 

 

The 6-3 Indianapolis Colts will travel to Tennessee to play the 4-5 Titans. Both teams are coming off bad losses, the Colts to the Rams, and the Titans to the Jaguars. Both are looking to it around. The Colts have a 2 game lead on the Titans in the division. A win for the Colts puts them ahead by 3, whereas a loss brings them within 1. There is a lot on the line this game and it should be fun to watch on Thursday night.

 

 

What the Colts have to do to Win

The Colts are coming off a terrible loss and are only 4 days removed from the game. The first thing they need to do is put that game in the past and be ready for this game. Thursday night games are not easy.

On offense, they’re going to need better production from Andrew Luck. With the exception of the 2nd half in Houston, Luck has been horrendous the last 2 games. He’s been making a lot of overthrows and has been making a lot of terrible decisions. He just doesn’t look the same, and that can definitely be attributed to not having Reggie Wayne. He needs to become more comfortable with the other receivers, other than TY Hilton. If TY is taken out, what’s going to happen. He needs to go into this game, thinking that he’s going to target other receivers. He cannot overly rely on TY. On top of that, he’s going to have to make the best decision and not force throws.

The running game has been silent the last month and a half. With the exception of a few big runs (all from Donald Brown), it just hasn’t been there. There going to have to wake up sometime. The running game is dependent on the blocking of the interior O-line. They need to step it up. If they can step it up and open up some holes, I can almost guarantee that the running game will have a big impact. If the running game does not get going in between the tackles, the coaches should not continue to pound it there. They should try to get it to the outside by doing some stretch plays, or some tosses. They need to mix up the play calling more in the running game, because in between the tackles has not worked all year. So, the interior O-line has to wake up and if they don’t, I strongly recommend that the coaches push it out to the outside.

The offensive line must also be able to give Andrew Luck some time. The one thing that has really hurt the Colts over the last 2 weeks has been the protection of Andrew Luck. He’s been getting battered and has made a lot of bad throws because of the protection. The good news is the Titans defensive line is nowhere near as good as the Rams’ or Texans’ defensive line, but as you last year in the 2nd Colts-Titans matchup, they have the potential to create a good amount of pressure. The tackles, Anthony Castonzo and Gosder Cherilus, must be able to seal off their defensive ends and push them outside. They aren’t speed rushers, but more bull rushers, so both tackles will need to have good balance throughout the game.

The offensive philosophy should be to evenly mix up the pass and the run. If Luck were on a hot streak, I’d say give him the ball, but he has not being doing much lately, so because of that, they should not overly rely on him. In the passing game, they should mix it up with aggressive and conservative play calling (rather than doing one or the other), and in the running game, they should start running more to the outside.

As for the defense…

The defensive line has been below average recently, so they’ll need a bounce back performance. They’ll need to penetrate the interior part of the Titans’ offensive line and to do that the nose tackle (whether it be Franklin or Chapman) will need to draw double teams and give Redding and Francois single teams. If you can get the 5 tech defensive ends to have one on one matchups, you’ll be able to get some inside penetration. They will not hugely important in this game.

The linebackers will have a big role in this game. When dealing with a very quick running back, you’re going to need quick inside linebackers, and the outside linebackers setting the edge. I’d like to see the Colts blitz the linebackers, especially Freeman, who has 3 sacks this year. When they blitzed Freeman, they were able to effectively get pressure on the quarterback. They haven’t been doing it recently, and they haven’t been able to get pressure from players other than Robert Mathis. They should blitz the linebackers, and have them contain Chris Johnson.

The secondary will have to have a good game, especially Vontae Davis, who has had 2 bad weeks. They have some speedy guys on that core, but they don’t tend to be overly aggressive in the passing game. Vontae Davis should go up against Kendall Wright, who has Tavon Austin like potential (in terms of having a big game). They need to find the best matchups when it comes to receivers vs cornerbacks. I think unless Johnson is having a big start, I think Landry should be in coverage too, and play as that last line of defense. So, be aggressive with the cornerbacks and have the safeties play over the top.

The defensive philosophy should be to shut down Chris Johnson by sealing up the outside and penetrating each inside gap with attacking inside linebackers or have the inside linebackers scrap over the outside linebackers and play contain to stop the outside runs. To defend the passing game, the Colts should play man to man with safety help over the top. Their problem last week was that they played too much man-to-man WITHOUT safety help and that hurt them badly. Play aggressively on defense is the mentality.

 

 

 

What the Titans have to do to Win

The Titans are also coming off a tough loss, at home no less, and will need to look past that loss in order to win this game.

On offense, they’ll need to have a good balanced attack that keeps the Colts off the field. The teams that have beaten the Colts have done this strategy (last week was a bit different). Fitzpatrick will need to play a conservative game. Even back to his days in Buffalo, when he played very aggressively and went vertical a lot of the time, it did not work. If they want to have a balanced conservative attack, he’ll need to just find the short-to intermediate receiver. He doesn’t need to go deep in this game. He should target Wright, Washington and Walker, who have been solid in terms of possession this year.

When it comes to Chris Johnson, they need to mix it up. The problem they’ve had with Johnson is that they either run it too much up the middle, or try too much to the outside. In the Rams game, they effectively mixed up running it to the outside and the inside and he was able to get 150 yards on the ground. They need to mix it up for him to have a big game. They should also give Johnson some opportunities as a receiver, and give him some dump off or some screen passes. This is a guy who in space, is one of the best players in the game. Give the man opportunities.

On defense, they’ll need to get pressure on Luck. The biggest problem the Colts have is protecting Andrew Luck. When they get pressure on Luck, he will make mistakes, and in the case of last week’s game, could cause turnovers and a touchdown. To bring additional pressure, they could blitz Zach Brown down and have him go through the A or B gap.

They can stop the run by stacking the inside. The Colts are a power running team, and if they have their linebackers take inside gaps, they’ll be able to shut down their running game.

Their defensive philosophy should be to blitz their outside linebackers on the inside and have 5+ players rushing the quarterback. They must generate pressure. As for stopping the run, they should stack the middle and have inside gap control.

 

 

 

Intriguing Matchup

The most intriguing matchup has to be TY Hilton vs Alterraun Verner. For the majority of the match, you can expect to see big playmaker TY Hilton vs underrated star cornerback Alterraun Verner. TY Hilton has been the only receiver on the Colts that has done anything and has been putting up big numbers. Verner is playing like one of the best cornerbacks in football and has been a shutdown corner all season. The winner of this battle will have a huge say in how the passing offense does, because Hilton is a big part of that offense (especially without Reggie).

 

 

 

Bold Prediction

Trent Richardson will have over 80 yards rushing.

 

 

Prediction

Indianapolis Colts 23 vs Tennesee Titans 19

[jameszeigler834]

Hilton will make some plays likely but you are right luck needs to look elsewhere with the football and not throw picks and also not fumble.

[WastedColt]

If the OL can do anything at all to keep Luck upright, I feel that he will improve. Reggie was pretty much always open so the OL wasn't a huge issue. Now that he is gone Luck has to scan the field more but the OL doesn't give him time to do that.

[TKnight24]

If the OL can do anything at all to keep Luck upright, I feel that he will improve. Reggie was pretty much always open so the OL wasn't a huge issue. Now that he is gone Luck has to scan the field more but the OL doesn't give him time to do that.

You know for you to be intoxicated, you sure make some sensible posts