To all the people blaming the defense

[alexpr]

We had 8 turnovers in 2 game, what was the defense supposed to do??

[Dustin]

Not give up 89 points?

[House]

Stop putting us behind?

[Dustin]

As i noted in another thread, 6 of our turnovers (all Luck INTs) were when we were trailing by more than 2 scores:

 

15, 21, 21, 9, 14, 21. Those are the deficits at the times of the INTs.

 

So House is right. The defense needed to stop putting the team behind.

[Indygal1218]

I dunno.  Play defense, maybe?

 

And I'm not really picking on the D.  The team as whole didn't really do much to help themselves.

[coltsfanatic24]

When the defense keeps letting other teams move the ball and score at will, it puts too much pressure on the offense. Yes, Luck turned the ball over but he wasn't the reason we loss he also had some great plays. The defense is the reason we loss, 88 points in 2 games is inexcusable. What makes it worse is that we have a defensive minded coach,

[jvan1973]

As i noted in another thread, 7 of our turnovers (all of Luck's INTs) were when we were trailing by more than 2 scores:

15, 21, 21, 14, 9, 14, 21. Those are the deficits at the times of the INTs.

So House is right. The defense needed to stop putting the team behind.

The first pick last night was on the opening drive

[Dustin]

The first pick last night was on the opening drive

 

You're correct. That '14' in between 21 and 9 is incorrect. That should be a 0.

[krunk]

The Patriots had no less than 4 three and out drives last night.  We were in the red zone several times last night and came up with field goals or no points at all because the ball was picked off.  We should have been winning that game somewhere in there.  I agree there were sometimes where they(the D) gave up the big play, but I also feel they did their job on a number of occasions last night as well. I don't think we have a bad unit, just inconsistent at times in terms of execution and tackling.  I think the turnovers were a bigger problem....

[superrep1967]

As i noted in another thread, 6 of our turnovers (all Luck INTs) were when we were trailing by more than 2 scores:

 

15, 21, 21, 9, 14, 21. Those are the deficits at the times of the INTs.

 

So House is right. The defense needed to stop putting the team behind.

The defense this offseason has a lot of improving to do in free agency.

[imacoltsfan]

Sometimes the offense puts the defense in a bad position as in the NE game. The defense put the offense in a bad position as in the KC game...its a push. Both sides of the ball needs to dramatically improve this offseason. I also think we need a new strength coach, both sides of the line are getting blown off the ball.

[ColtJ82]

There is no defending the Defense in my opinion. Last night, we were handily beaten in the trenches......flat out, no denying it. They have to improve the defensive line along with the offensive line. There are a lot of holes on this team still.

 

I will say that, in my opinion, it was both an issue of a poor defensive scheme and some personnel issues. Manusky was always known as an attacker in his philosophy.....I don't necessarily feel that his philosophy here is that of an attacking defense. However, that may simply be because of Pagano of lack of the necessary personnel to achieve this. We need to find a way to create more turnovers as well. 

 

One last things.......Laron Landry was just putrid last night. He actually got worse as the season progressed. You may as well just forget about him in pass coverage.....his run support wasn't any better last night. He wasn't laying the wood.....coming up soft and trying to arm tackle.

[sfergson727]

I blame everybody and everything, 'cause that's how I roll.

 

The defense was horrible for most of the season.  We made opposing quarterbacks look like Joe Montana, or Peyton Manning.  

 

Unfortunately, our offense was not potent enough to make up the difference one too many times.

[CS Colts Fan]

will be interesting to see the changes in the off-season.... additions, subtractions,,releases 

[Moose Of Woe]

We had 8 turnovers in 2 game, what was the defense supposed to do??

Suck less.

[Hilton'sHeroes13]

`the defense was put in bad spots but they were gouged to death the whole time. The first possession the chiefs got was a td and the pats got 2 tds off the bat. the defense is the major reason why this team got off to slow starts. they are a sieve and its been that way for years. Hopefully they can put it together in a couple of seasons considering pagano is a defensive mind. Wade Phillips did wonders in Houston, maybe he can coach here in some capacity. (dcoordinator maybe?). 

[COLTSFAN12to13]

Honestly, in my opinion, the player that was really underwhelming this season was Laron Landry. For the first part of the season, he was actually doing pretty well. As we entered the final weeks and the playoffs, he just wasn't all that great. He missed tackles and didn't make any good plays.

 

The Defense didn't play well at all. We got run all over by Blount, and we could not get any push whatsoever. We need a better D line and someone to compliment VD (assuming we resign him). Toler was not impressive either, was also injuried for a long time though

[gacoop1]

The Defense Suck, it's obvious, I don't understand why the coaches, HC doesn't see this and make immediate adjustment......They need to have a "Belicheck Mentality" to succeed in this league.....Pagano, just wants to be buddy buddies with these players, which you can't have b/c they (players) think they can make mistakes and it's ok, and we're back in the field anyway.  Just ask TRich....Sad Defensive team...

[Superman]

The Defense Suck, it's obvious, I don't understand why the coaches, HC doesn't see this and make immediate adjustment......They need to have a "Belicheck Mentality" to succeed in this league.....Pagano, just wants to be buddy buddies with these players, which you can't have b/c they (players) think they can make mistakes and it's ok, and we're back in the field anyway. Just ask TRich....Sad Defensive team...

Seriously, where does this idea come from?

[1yrdandacloudofdust]

When Luck throws multiple ints, it takes away from just how bad the d is. Those are a lot of ints. No way to overlook it. The 3rd one was the killer. They were still in the gm, no real pass rush, and he forces a throw into coverage. The d gave the team a chance to win for the most part. Until the 3rd int

[Superman]

I thought the defense was doing a pretty good job. The tackling was sloppy, and that was a problem because it was allowing the Pats to extend drives. But the run fits were good, we weren't allowing big gains, and we even got some stops. Then we got punched in the mouth for 73 yards.

[SLILLINGTON10]

The defense did let blount have a monster game, the worst part we knew they were going to run, run, and run some more. Yet we still couldn't stop them instead we left a 250lb back break one 70+ yds to the house.

[Surge89]

Seriously, where does this idea come from?

 

The lack of accountability he shows on the field.  Players have done something in the game that most coaches would sit them down at the very least.  And our staff (mainly the HC puts them right back out.  Just an observation.

[Jules]

While the turnovers were/are a problem and I believe very fixable.....

 

I have felt personally let down by the D since they played Denver. Of course they did okay vs. some of our division rivals and in the game in KC. But, after the Denver game where I felt our schedule was more front loaded early on I feel as if we let our guard down a bit. Especially in the secondary where I was very high on them post Denver.

 

I was pretty excited earlier in the season thinking this would become a top notch D and it seemed to go down hill. We have too many points given up at times vs. better teams.....in Cincy, vs. KC at home, vs. NE and overall I just feel as if they declined since Denver.

 

Not their whole problem, I consider most of our losses team losses in the end and the turnovers sucked. But, this D has not been the same to me consistency wise all year which is baffling.

 

It's almost like we lost Reggie Wayne and the entire TEAM became inconsistent.......

[Jules]

I blame everybody and everything, 'cause that's how I roll.

 

The defense was horrible for most of the season.  We made opposing quarterbacks look like Joe Montana, or Peyton Manning.  

 

Unfortunately, our offense was not potent enough to make up the difference one too many times.

 

This too. I don't think our offense is as good as people like to think it is at times. If we were healthy and had Wayne/Allen/Ballard maybe it could be. But, with Hilton as the #1 and a bunch of kids and a struggling running game I think we got over inflated at times with how good they could be, especially with an inconsistent o line. Luck is a good QB IMO and can sometimes perform miracles but in a way but you can only overcome so much talent loss before it starts to creep up on you.

 

I mean look, I am not trying to make excuses for Luck's picks because even he would fault himself. But, in no way is this any sort of loaded offense lately either. They had been doing the best they could and it was often either boom or bust......

[jb17]

Offence is perfectly fine 24.4 points per game. But our D gives up 21.0 points per game. In the playoffs we gave up way too many points and yards... we're very soft against the run. Patriots didnt deviate away from their running attack because they knew we wouldnt be able to stuff the running backs for losses or no gain on a continuous basis. We need to draft DT, ILB and Cb..... Im sure next year our offensive production will only increase with T.Y' emergence, Darick learning the system, Lavonn and Griff being able to contribute, Dwayne allen coming back, Donald Thomas coming back, and finally Reggie Wayne.

[Jason_]

The lack of accountability he shows on the field. Players have done something in the game that most coaches would sit them down at the very least. And our staff (mainly the HC puts them right back out. Just an observation.

Care to provide any specific examples?

[Jason_]

`the defense was put in bad spots but they were gouged to death the whole time. The first possession the chiefs got was a td and the pats got 2 tds off the bat. the defense is the major reason why this team got off to slow starts. they are a sieve and its been that way for years. Hopefully they can put it together in a couple of seasons considering pagano is a defensive mind. Wade Phillips did wonders in Houston, maybe he can coach here in some capacity. (dcoordinator maybe?).

So the offense has been humming out of the gate all season?

[Jason_]

Seriously, where does this idea come from?

 

[jvan1973]

The lack of accountability he shows on the field. Players have done something in the game that most coaches would sit them down at the very least. And our staff (mainly the HC puts them right back out. Just an observation.

any examples you can refer to?

[bertjones#1]

I agree Laron Landry had terrible game and a terrible season.Now I can see why this is his 3rd different team.I think he just missed another tackle.

[krunk]

I thought the defense was doing a pretty good job. The tackling was sloppy, and that was a problem because it was allowing the Pats to extend drives. But the run fits were good, we weren't allowing big gains, and we even got some stops. Then we got punched in the mouth for 73 yards.

 

Thank You! You're on the money Superman

[Jay Kirk]

Well people you can take one thing from this thread,we have holes to fill on both sides of the ball.Lets quit pointing fingers.It was a pretty good season in all,now lets take the next step !

[adamthyst]

Well, Landry missed the tackle on Blount's long TD run and the tackling was bad in general. They should've forced turnovers because that helps get us back in the game.

[Jay Roland]

Both sides didn't paly well but When your d gets torched in the running game that is bad. Brady won that game with less than 150 yards passing and no TD's Blount ran for 166 yards alone. D had a large part in the loss. yes we stopped them a few times but for the most part our D got smoked plain and simple. and Yes the Offense at times didn't help including the !st int of the game. but that was only 7 points. Playing from behind has been a problem all year some of it was just the Offense could get teh ball moving other times turnovers but the d has to step up and not allow what happened in the Arizonia, Rams, KC playoff game and NE playoff game to happen.

[Jason_]

Both sides didn't paly well but When your d gets torched in the running game that is bad. Brady won that game with less than 150 yards passing and no TD's Blount ran for 166 yards alone. D had a large part in the loss. yes we stopped them a few times but for the most part our D got smoked plain and simple. and Yes the Offense at times didn't help including the !st int of the game. but that was only 7 points. Playing from behind has been a problem all year some of it was just the Offense could get teh ball moving other times turnovers but the d has to step up and not allow what happened in the Arizonia, Rams, KC playoff game and NE playoff game to happen.

 

While technically true, Brady may not have beat us with his arm for the most part, but his presence on the field is enough to keep the defense from being able to sell all out to stop the run. ;)

[Archangel]

I Watched the season after Reggie went down the offense had to find ways of adjusting with out him and it took a few games remeber the colts had 14 turnovers during the season. So this was the time for the defense to make their mark and come up big and they did not. All I saw was the defense go into the wrong direction. Yes give them credit in some games they did show up but when you are 14 to 21 points in the 3rd quarter in almost every game that is a promblem. I do not know what happened but after the Denver game put they feel apart and giving up over 88 points in the playoffs is flat out wrong. The coaches did not prepare for the game because if we were blogging about what the pats were going to do why did the coaches not see this if they did well then your right the players are at fault, but I will put the blame on the last 2 games on the coaches for not scouting and properly preparing the players.

[OffensivelyPC]

Defense absolutely needed to play better.  Giving up 160 yards to Blount is inexcusable.  But lets not act like 4 interceptions doesn't hurt hte defense when 2 of the 4 resulted in possessions with the Patriots starting inside the redzone and which they turned into 14 points.

[TAPLOOK]

As i noted in another thread, 6 of our turnovers (all Luck INTs) were when we were trailing by more than 2 scores:

 

15, 21, 21, 9, 14, 21. Those are the deficits at the times of the INTs.

 

So House is right. The defense needed to stop putting the team behind.

 

Playing from behind especially late increases turnovers without question. Luck did throw so really dumb ones though. Not all but some.

[Malakai432]

Turnovers killed the Colts Sat, that being said they still dominated the D w the run.