Thoughts and Review of Colts vs Giants

[Caleb3502]

*The following players were inactive for the game: Hilton, Howell, Havili (PUP), Bradshaw, Freeman, McNary, Holmes, Nixon, Mewhort, Wayne, Hughes, Mathis 

 

Offense

 

I thought our pass offense was really good yesterday.  Andrew Luck was 12 of 18 for 89 yards and one touchdown to Griff Whalen.  Hakeem Nicks is definitely what this Colts offense needed.  Nicks is a big receiver with good tackle shedding ability with good speed and has fine hands to haul in passes.  Griff Whalen is the Colts version of Wes Welker IMO.  All he does is make catches when they matter on third down and moves the chains.  Almost had another catch but couldn't get the second foot in bounds.  Griff had 5 catches for 32 yards, and Nicks had 5 catches for 53 yards.  Nicks could have had a 30+ yard reception on a 8-yard pass and was able to break tackles and gain yardage after the catch, but was called back due to a "taunting penalty", where he waved "goodbye" to a defender.  I thought that didn't deserve a penalty, but he still got the first down reception the following play.  Herron was decent out of the backfield with 3 grabs for 21 yards, and is good check down option coming out of the backfield.  Hasselbeck did fair, throwing for 39 yards and a touchdown to Da'Rick Rogers.  The TD catch was Roger's lone reception of the game.  He had another 25-yard catch but was called back to due pass interference on Rogers.  Tony Washington had a nice 33-yard catch where he jumped up and caught it in double coverage.  Harnish struggled a bit, was not able to put points on the board in the 4th besides a field goal, which allowed the Giants to make a comeback and win the game.  Harnish will end up on the PS for his performance the last two games.  12 of the 16 first downs were obtained by passing.  

 

Pass blocking looked decent when I watched the replay of the game, but run blocking needs to improve.  I know we were playing with a rookie center (Harrison) and a backup guard (Louis), but the run blocking needs to improve.  Richardson did not have much space to run through. The only negative I have on Trent is his stutter step/dancing around as he takes the hand-off.  He needs to work on just running straight forward and just find a hole and take it.  But in his defense, there was not many places for him to go.  He did have a few nice runs up the middle, but was limited to 21 yards on 9 carries.  Herron did not get many touches, gained 10 yards on 3 carries.  Zurlon Tipton had 18 yards on 7 carries, and 14 yards on 2 catches.  His performance the past two games might have earned him a spot on the PS.  Philip Tanner had 5 carries for -4 yards and a fumble on the goal-line that led to the NYG TD.  I don't see him making PS or the 53.  The starters on offense did well, but the third and fourth stringers failed to produce anything.  

 

Defense

 

Our starting defense did an excellent job yesterday.  The 4th quarter defensive players did really poorly, but the important thing is how well the First team players performed.  Eli was 1 of 7 for 6 yards the entire game.  He had a 50 yard pass to Victor Cruz, where Toler forced a fumble and Mike Adams recovered, but was called back on a penalty on Toler.  Darius Butler had an interception, but was called back on a penalty on Sheppard.  Davis and Toler did a great job shutting down the Giants passing attack, and can become a very good CB tandem, if they don't sustain any major injuries.  Not much of any spectacular from the safeties.  They did their job but didn't make any great plays. Sergio Brown nearly had an interception but couldn't hang on.  He can still make the 53 as a ST, but he will not be relied upon as a Safety. DB Kam Jackson had 6 tackles in the game, and might be able to make the 53 if he keeps up a good level of play.  His main competition to make the 53 is Louchiez Purifoy and Marcus Purley.  S Dewey McDonald had a decent game with 6 tackles, and will most likely be stashed away on the PS.  

 

Our starters did a very good job against the run, which is always a good sign.  Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings were held to 36 yards on 15 carries. The longest run of the game allowed was a 9-yard run.  Our defense is really moving quickly to the ball carrier and bringing him down.  Sheppard led the Colts linebackers in tackles with 5.  D'Qwell Jackson had a decent game with 4 tackles and a sack.  The Giants converted on only 4 out of 15 third downs.  I know it has been only two games and both against New York squads, but I think our defense is going to be aggressive and really good this year.       

 

Special Teams

 

Loucheiz Purifoy did a very good job punt returning.  Had some nice returns and has the ability to be a good punt returner to get us good field position.  Griff Whalen didn’t have any long returns, but has sure hands and fields the ball cleanly.  McAfee did a good job punting, six punts with a 44.3 yard average, and had three punts inside the 20.  Even though he missed it, McAfee did a decent 64 yard field goal attempt.  He had plenty of distance on it, but missed it a little to the left. 

 

Adam Vinatieri was a perfect 2 for 2 on FG attempts, one of them he hit from 53 yards.  Herron had one kickoff return for 22 yards and Tony Washington had one kickoff return for 21 yards.  Herron could be a fair kickoff returner.  Colts just signed Deji Karim, who had a 101-yard KO return TD for us in 2012.  If he makes the team he would make a better KR than Herron, but Moncrief might give him some competition at KR.  Moncrief can be explosive and need to find ways to get him on the field and get him the ball.

 

Overall Performance 

I thought this was a really great game for the starters and showed that this will be a great Colts offense and our defense has potential to be really good.  Colts were penalized 13 times, but all teamd are being hit with a lot of penalties so I’m not going to put too much thought into that.  The Starters get an A from me, 2^nd string a B, and the final spots on the depth chart get a D+, for allowing the Giants to actually take this win from us.   

 

MVP Offense - WR Hakeem Nicks - Proved that he can be a valuable asset to this team 

MVP Defense -  Whole Starting Defense - They all played really well and I can't single out one player.

 

[Caleb3502]

Sorry for the long post lol

[Bobbycovert]

Nice review of the game.  Very thorough.  How did you like Richardson's performance in the pistol formation? I though those were his most successful runs of the night.  I watched the early part of the Broncos-Niners game and was reminded how often Denver runs out of shotgun. Maybe the Colts could do something similar.

[kjyb]

imo i thought Trich played great

[fatboy]

Long well thought out posts don't need an apology.

[Gabriel Alexander Morillo]

imo i thought Trich played great

Oh man oh man.

[chad72]

I don't think we took enough shots deep but that could be because T.Y. was not there and hence Luck looked underneath way more. I still think we could have taken a few shots. Also, the play calling did not involve TEs as much in the passing game (when the first string was there) despite a lot of underneath routes being called.

 

I also thought Joe Reitz played well even if it was against 2nd stringers. Bjoern is reading plays better and hustling better.

[chad72]

Nice review of the game.  Very thorough.  How did you like Richardson's performance in the pistol formation? I though those were his most successful runs of the night.  I watched the early part of the Broncos-Niners game and was reminded how often Denver runs out of shotgun. Maybe the Colts could do something similar.

 

I have been saying that for a while. TRich runs better out of 3 WR formations, so let us ditch the FB and go all in on 2 and 3 WR formations except for short yardage 3rd and 1/2 cases.

[BlueCollarColts]

Oh man oh man.

Are you one of the TRich played bad because the box score said so guys?

[bestQBever]

imo i thought Trich played great

wow. It seems us colts fan have lowered our standards to pure nothingness now in terms of the run game. 3 yards per carry from anyone now is great. 

[bestQBever]

Are you one of the TRich played bad because the box score said so guys?

Box score or not. T rich didn't play great. I did however see some improvement. But still the more than occasional hesitation behind the line.

[akcolt]

Box score or not. T rich didn't play great. I did however see some improvement. But still the more than occasional hesitation behind the line.

I would look at what he does compared to the formation we are in. When Pep brings in his FB power bull crap everything happens in our backfield.

[BlueCollarColts]

Box score or not. T rich didn't play great. I did however see some improvement. But still the more than occasional hesitation behind the line.

I get he didn't play great, but he busted some nice runs, and his YPC took a toll because he just had nowhere to run on other plays. Often times he was hit in the backfield, yes he needs to work on the hesitation problem, but he would have been stuffed with or without doing it most of the time. 

[Smonroe]

Box score or not. T rich didn't play great. I did however see some improvement. But still the more than occasional hesitation behind the line.

Forget the box score. Did you re-look at each run? Did you think another back would have gained more on each of those sets? IMO, he did very well on most of his attempts (got more than or as much as he should have), and as expected on a few when he had no blocking.

I'm not defending him or promoting him. Just trying to be fair.

[Superman]

Something I just thought of is that this was the Giants third preseason game. They started camp a week before the Colts, have had more practices, etc. Their third string ought to be better than our third string.

 

As a matter of fact, their first string should be better than our first string. Yet we dominated them up until the fourth quarter. They weren't even close to scoring. Our offensive line still didn't do a great job creating running lanes, and there are some schematic issues. For instance, if we're going to throw quick hitters to the outside, we have to cut the outside pass rusher or blitzer so he can't knock down the pass. We must have had at least 5 quick passes knocked down because of this. There was also a blitz that Luck failed to adjust to, even though he saw it right at the snap and rolled away from it. So there's still some tuning up to do, and hopefully that happens quickly.

 

I'm looking forward to the Saints game. They're going to gameplan, and Brees is going to play. He's really going to test our defensive discipline.

[buccolts]

I'm most impressed with the fact that we're not talking about who went on the IR this week.

[dudeski]

Whalen sucks

[Gabriel Alexander Morillo]

Are you one of the TRich played bad because the box score said so guys?

No I'm one of the "he played bad because Oline is bad and because he lacks vision/dances guys". I don't know how his performance could be counted as good yesterday. But that's just me...

[imacoltsfan]

I was impressed by the first and second teams on both sides of the ball. That being said I just wonder how the coaching staff can evaluate the third team when the offensive coodinator puts them in a bad position? The play calling in the 4th quarter was predictable and horrible! We should always be trying to close out games regardless whether its preseason or the regular season. JMHO

[buccolts]

Whalen sucks

 

Interesting

[oldunclemark]

Did everyone get the feeling of size and power of our defensive line.?

We cant really rush the passer without Robert but we seemed physically dominant up front

[lollygagger8]

Interesting

 

 

Interesting is what people say when they aren't interested. lol 

[jvan1973]

Whalen sucks

Yeah, he's terrible huh. Catches everything thrown his way

[Jason_]

Did everyone get the feeling of size and power of our defensive line.?

We cant really rush the passer without Robert but we seemed physically dominant up front

 

Really?  Did you watch either preseason game?

[husker61]

i thought it was a great performance. the only negative was richardson, nothing has changed and i have been saying this for a long time. admit it was a terrible trade and move on. i was never worried about the offense with luck, but the defense REALLY impressed me. i could care less what the 3rd and 4th string players do against each other since most will not be on any nfl roster when the games count and the ones that do will be special team players.

[Narcosys]

Whalen sucks

That's deep bro.

[OffensivelyPC]

I thought the penalty on Nicks was deserved, even though the intent behind it really didn't deserve the penalty.  Just a lapse in judgment on Nicks part, because unless I missed something, it seemed to me that the taunt was really just playing around with an old teammate.  Obviously, I would expect those antics to stop during the regular season (and they really have no place in the preseason either).

[James Ducheteau]

Everyone is always worried bout T-Rich, and the "trade"...it happened, gotta get over it. In my opinion as long as he blocks when hes supposed to block and continues to at least get 2 or 3 yac then he is doing great. I mean really, with the way this team is built we do not need him to be beast mode, he probably will not get the carries for that to happen anyways, what we need from him is to stay healthy for  the next 3 to 4 years and and do what he does, which is block and get short yardage..period. We have plenty of other players that can become superstars, as long as he is their every week in the line up and doing the "blue collar" work then im fine with him, position addressed and we can worry bout other things, like o-line and secondary .

[buccolts]

Everyone is always worried bout T-Rich, and the "trade"...it happened, gotta get over it. In my opinion as long as he blocks when hes supposed to block and continues to at least get 2 or 3 yac then he is doing great. I mean really, with the way this team is built we do not need him to be beast mode, he probably will not get the carries for that to happen anyways, what we need from him is to stay healthy for  the next 3 to 4 years and and do what he does, which is block and get short yardage..period. We have plenty of other players that can become superstars, as long as he is their every week in the line up and doing the "blue collar" work then im fine with him, position addressed and we can worry bout other things, like o-line and secondary .

 

Don't forget his pass catching ability.

The rub will always be the money. We gotta get over the 1st round pick eventually, I'd hope. It's gone, done.

But, what would we have to talk about then. Meaningful games?

[ProblChld32]

Good write up man, Quick question has anyone heard about anything from Swoope? i havent seen him much this pre-season. He isnt injured is he?

[Jason_]

Good write up man, Quick question has anyone heard about anything from Swoope? i havent seen him much this pre-season. He isnt injured is he?

 

He played some in the 4th quarter against the Giants.  Didn't see any passes thrown his way but he did a decent job of blocking for a guy who's never played football before.

[ProblChld32]

He played some in the 4th quarter against the Giants.  Didn't see any passes thrown his way but he did a decent job of blocking for a guy who's never played football before.

 

ok thanks...im rooting for the kid, i think he can turn out to be a gem.

[braveheartcolt]

Nicks taunting penalty, and his first down gesture on the TD drive makes me think he needs some strong management. We can do without the 'punk' attitude for sure. Pagano should have pulled him out after the penalty. His behaviour set off a few mild alarm bells.....

But he looked impressive doing his job.

[Caleb3502]

Nice review of the game.  Very thorough.  How did you like Richardson's performance in the pistol formation? I though those were his most successful runs of the night.  I watched the early part of the Broncos-Niners game and was reminded how often Denver runs out of shotgun. Maybe the Colts could do something similar.

I think him running out of the pistol was successful.  When we run those jumbo formations, the defense knows we are running so they attack him as soon as he gets the ball.  In the pistol they have to go after Luck and still defend the pass, which allows Trent with a better chance to face less defenders and gain yardage.    

[Caleb3502]

Good write up man, Quick question has anyone heard about anything from Swoope? i havent seen him much this pre-season. He isnt injured is he?

I saw him playing out there when Harnish was playing but he didn't get any receptions.  I doubt he would make the 53 but the Colts will probably keep him on the PS because of his potential.   

[jameszeigler834]

*The following players were inactive for the game: Hilton, Howell, Havili (PUP), Bradshaw, Freeman, McNary, Holmes, Nixon, Mewhort, Wayne, Hughes, Mathis 

 

Offense

 

I thought our pass offense was really good yesterday.  Andrew Luck was 12 of 18 for 89 yards and one touchdown to Griff Whalen.  Hakeem Nicks is definitely what this Colts offense needed.  Nicks is a big receiver with good tackle shedding ability with good speed and has fine hands to haul in passes.  Griff Whalen is the Colts version of Wes Welker IMO.  All he does is make catches when they matter on third down and moves the chains.  Almost had another catch but couldn't get the second foot in bounds.  Griff had 5 catches for 32 yards, and Nicks had 5 catches for 53 yards.  Nicks could have had a 30+ yard reception on a 8-yard pass and was able to break tackles and gain yardage after the catch, but was called back due to a "taunting penalty", where he waved "goodbye" to a defender.  I thought that didn't deserve a penalty, but he still got the first down reception the following play.  Herron was decent out of the backfield with 3 grabs for 21 yards, and is good check down option coming out of the backfield.  Hasselbeck did fair, throwing for 39 yards and a touchdown to Da'Rick Rogers.  The TD catch was Roger's lone reception of the game.  He had another 25-yard catch but was called back to due pass interference on Rogers.  Tony Washington had a nice 33-yard catch where he jumped up and caught it in double coverage.  Harnish struggled a bit, was not able to put points on the board in the 4th besides a field goal, which allowed the Giants to make a comeback and win the game.  Harnish will end up on the PS for his performance the last two games.  12 of the 16 first downs were obtained by passing.  

 

Pass blocking looked decent when I watched the replay of the game, but run blocking needs to improve.  I know we were playing with a rookie center (Harrison) and a backup guard (Louis), but the run blocking needs to improve.  Richardson did not have much space to run through. The only negative I have on Trent is his stutter step/dancing around as he takes the hand-off.  He needs to work on just running straight forward and just find a hole and take it.  But in his defense, there was not many places for him to go.  He did have a few nice runs up the middle, but was limited to 21 yards on 9 carries.  Herron did not get many touches, gained 10 yards on 3 carries.  Zurlon Tipton had 18 yards on 7 carries, and 14 yards on 2 catches.  His performance the past two games might have earned him a spot on the PS.  Philip Tanner had 5 carries for -4 yards and a fumble on the goal-line that led to the NYG TD.  I don't see him making PS or the 53.  The starters on offense did well, but the third and fourth stringers failed to produce anything.  

 

Defense

 

Our starting defense did an excellent job yesterday.  The 4th quarter defensive players did really poorly, but the important thing is how well the First team players performed.  Eli was 1 of 7 for 6 yards the entire game.  He had a 50 yard pass to Victor Cruz, where Toler forced a fumble and Mike Adams recovered, but was called back on a penalty on Toler.  Darius Butler had an interception, but was called back on a penalty on Sheppard.  Davis and Toler did a great job shutting down the Giants passing attack, and can become a very good CB tandem, if they don't sustain any major injuries.  Not much of any spectacular from the safeties.  They did their job but didn't make any great plays. Sergio Brown nearly had an interception but couldn't hang on.  He can still make the 53 as a ST, but he will not be relied upon as a Safety. DB Kam Jackson had 6 tackles in the game, and might be able to make the 53 if he keeps up a good level of play.  His main competition to make the 53 is Louchiez Purifoy and Marcus Purley.  S Dewey McDonald had a decent game with 6 tackles, and will most likely be stashed away on the PS.  

 

Our starters did a very good job against the run, which is always a good sign.  Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings were held to 36 yards on 15 carries. The longest run of the game allowed was a 9-yard run.  Our defense is really moving quickly to the ball carrier and bringing him down.  Sheppard led the Colts linebackers in tackles with 5.  D'Qwell Jackson had a decent game with 4 tackles and a sack.  The Giants converted on only 4 out of 15 third downs.  I know it has been only two games and both against New York squads, but I think our defense is going to be aggressive and really good this year.       

 

Special Teams

 

Loucheiz Purifoy did a very good job punt returning.  Had some nice returns and has the ability to be a good punt returner to get us good field position.  Griff Whalen didn’t have any long returns, but has sure hands and fields the ball cleanly.  McAfee did a good job punting, six punts with a 44.3 yard average, and had three punts inside the 20.  Even though he missed it, McAfee did a decent 64 yard field goal attempt.  He had plenty of distance on it, but missed it a little to the left. 

 

Adam Vinatieri was a perfect 2 for 2 on FG attempts, one of them he hit from 53 yards.  Herron had one kickoff return for 22 yards and Tony Washington had one kickoff return for 21 yards.  Herron could be a fair kickoff returner.  Colts just signed Deji Karim, who had a 101-yard KO return TD for us in 2012.  If he makes the team he would make a better KR than Herron, but Moncrief might give him some competition at KR.  Moncrief can be explosive and need to find ways to get him on the field and get him the ball.

 

Overall Performance 

I thought this was a really great game for the starters and showed that this will be a great Colts offense and our defense has potential to be really good.  Colts were penalized 13 times, but all teamd are being hit with a lot of penalties so I’m not going to put too much thought into that.  The Starters get an A from me, 2^nd string a B, and the final spots on the depth chart get a D+, for allowing the Giants to actually take this win from us.   

 

MVP Offense - WR Hakeem Nicks - Proved that he can be a valuable asset to this team 

MVP Defense -  Whole Starting Defense - They all played really well and I can't single out one player.

Starting Unit A+ second unit B+ and third and 4th unit D- for allowing then to come back from  being down 26 to 0 in 10 minutes and 30 seconds that's unacceptable no matter what string that is.

[jvan1973]

Starting Unit A+ second unit B+ and third and 4th unit D- for allowing then to come back from being down 26 to 0 in 10 minutes and 30 seconds that's unacceptable no matter what string that is.

Actually, it's meaningless

[ruksak]

Studebaker looked great late in the game. There's great ferocity in that dude. Surprised I haven't seen any talk about him. 

[The Peytonator]

He played some in the 4th quarter against the Giants.  Didn't see any passes thrown his way but he did a decent job of blocking for a guy who's never played football before.

 

 

Do you think it's possible they aren't throwing to him because they don't want him to show much, so they can keep him on the PS? For all the positive reviews he was getting at TC, I would have thought he'd at least get a pass thrown his way.

[ProblChld32]

I saw him playing out there when Harnish was playing but he didn't get any receptions.  I doubt he would make the 53 but the Colts will probably keep him on the PS because of his potential.   

 

Agreed.