Indianapolis @ Denver (9-6-14)

[Superman]

It can have some impact.....     but not 53/14.....  

 

Think about other games where the Colts have been down....

 

Have we ever had a 53/14 pass/run ratio before?    No.

 

The score was A factor....   but that's not the whole story.....

 

Not far off. The Chiefs comeback was 45/19, with 7 runs by Luck.  Against the Texans, it was 40/14, with four sacks. Against the Rams, 47/14, with four carries by Luck (and one by Hasselbeck), and 3 sacks (so more like 54/9). Similar breakdown against the Cards.

 

Of course, like you said, we couldn't run early in most of those games. But I don't think that was the problem tonight. I think Luck threw the pick, then play calling went sideways on the next two series, and then we were down 24-0. I think it was all about the deficit, not the offensive line.

[NewColtsFan]

and being down 14 or more points most of the game still accounts for most of the pass to run ratio. You don't run when down that much very often.

 

I don't know why you're arguing?    There's no history on your side.

 

The Colts have come from behind in roughly a dozen games in the last two years.    NOT ONCE have we had a 53/14 pass/run ratio.      Not once.

 

This offensive line is not ready to run block yet.    It may someday soon.   But it's not ready now.   And that's why we're throwing 53 passes and only running 14 times.

 

I don't expect Chuck Pagano to publicly admit it.....    but I think this is the truth.....

[Shive]

Also we need to stop giving the defense praise for finally doing what it's supposed to do, but super late in the game.

It doesn't help when your offense keeps going 3 and out and putting you right back on the field. They were out there WAY too much the first half. When the offense started sustaining drives, the defense wasn't nearly as gassed and actually looked really solid.

[GoColts8818]

I don't know why you're arguing? There's no history on your side.

The Colts have come from behind in roughly a dozen games in the last two years. NOT ONCE have we had a 53/14 pass/run ratio. Not once.

This offensive line is not ready to run block yet. It may someday soon. But it's not ready now. And that's why we're throwing 53 passes and only running 14 times.

I don't expect Chuck Pagano to publicly admit it..... but I think this is the truth.....

disagree there is a lot of history of when teams are down as much as the Colts were tonight they abandon the run.

Just last year in Houston the Colts ran the ball 14 times and passed it 40.

They threw it 39 times against the cardinals and ran it 15

Chargers games 30 passes 17 rushes

KC game 45 passes 19 rushes

Colts Rams 52 passes 14 runs. 52/14 might not be 53/14 but it's about as close as you can get.

That's just the Colts and that's just last year.

[Defjamz26]

It doesn't help when your offense keeps going 3 and out and putting you right back on the field. They were out there WAY too much the first half. When the offense started sustaining drives, the defense wasn't nearly as gassed and actually looked really solid.

 

You're not wrong. It was a culmination of things. It was a bad performance on all accounts. From coaching, all the way down to the QB. But D started off bad regardless. I don't think they were that gassed because Denver was scoring relatively quick. But Denver scored easily on their first 3 pocessions.

[NewColtsFan]

Not far off. The Chiefs comeback was 45/19, with 7 runs by Luck.  Against the Texans, it was 40/14, with four sacks. Against the Rams, 47/14, with four carries by Luck (and one by Hasselbeck), and 3 sacks (so more like 54/9). Similar breakdown against the Cards.

 

Of course, like you said, we couldn't run early in most of those games. But I don't think that was the problem tonight. I think Luck threw the pick, then play calling went sideways on the next two series, and then we were down 24-0. I think it was all about the deficit, not the offensive line.

 

Hmmmmm......    interesting.....    hmmmm......          

[Superman]

You're not wrong. It was a culmination of things. It was a bad performance on all accounts. From coaching, all the way down to the QB. But D started off bad regardless. I don't think they were that gassed because Denver was scoring relatively quick. But Denver scored easily on their first 3 pocessions.

 

Denver wasn't scoring quick, and we had three short possessions in a row. They had over 19 minutes TOP in the first half. And that first possession was 16 plays and over six minutes. Started off all bad. So I think the defense was definitely gassed. Plus, the altitude.

[amfootball]

The good news is Denver will still struggle defensively which gives AFC teams some hope. The first pick by Luck was a momentum changer. Down three and threw it right into a blanket of coverage. Bounced off one Denver's defenders hands into another defender for the pick. Manning took it down for a 10-0 and it got ugly after that.

[Coltsman1788]

Andrew Luck is going to keep the Colst from those blowouts they had the last couple of years...He;s better than ever..,.,.a couple of bad tosses early but the 2nd half was top flight

Luck helped to put us in the big hole though and then had to try to rally us out of it. This time he was unable to pull it off. He is good but needs to play more consistently for four quarters particularly in the first half of games. Too many interceptions of late.

[sweetsurrender]

Luck helped to put us in the big hole though and then had to try to rally us out of it. This time he was unable to pull it off. He is good but needs to play more consistently for four quarters particularly in the first half of games. Too many interceptions of late.

We needed him to play clean and force turnovers of our own. 24-0 was too big of a hole to climb out of.

 

The play call that bothers me the most is the fourth and one at the 37 on the first drive. Have TO GO FOR it there. Have to! We were running well and inside their 40. Trying a FG was silly as we missed it (penalty aside) which would have given Manning the ball on the 45. I don't get it all. Send a message early and go for it. You pick it up. Who knows. Maybe a quick 7-0 lead. We were cruising down the field and had the momentum with the hurry up. 

[CoachLite]

That was a stupid play. You could see they knew it was coming. When will people admit, Luck has a lot to learn? A lot of the slow starts and issues on O are on him

 

Sure, Luck has a lot to learn. That will always be the case. The question is: How will Luck learn?  By making a bunch of mistakes on the field? That means losing a lot. Or by being taught through good coaching? The answer must be both - a collaboration. BTW, this doesn't mean simply watch hours of game film and analyzing game play, but abstracting the opponents strengths, weaknesses, tactics and strategies, and understanding how that opponent can be defeated long before the first snap.

 

The slow starts reflect a "dazed and confused" approach to the game by the entire team - players and coaches. I once thought it was a lack of emotion and energy. But if you're confused, lots of emotion and energy will only make the game play worse.

[#12]

Luck helped to put us in the big hole though and then had to try to rally us out of it. This time he was unable to pull it off. He is good but needs to play more consistently for four quarters particularly in the first half of games. Too many interceptions of late.

 

The thing about that is, if Wilson, Kaepernick or some QB with a real defense turns the ball over, his defense gets off the field or holds the opposing team to a FG, and it's still just a normal football game.  It's been the same story watching Luck and Manning over the past 16 years.  If they make a mistake, the game might be over in 10 minutes.  If our defense could get off the field, force turnovers or score occasionally, it would certainly help the QB.  A big special teams play or a long run by a RB once a year wouldn't hurt either.  Unfortunately, in Indianapolis, it always rides 100% on the QB, and that's just how we're used to watching football.  But it's a no-win situation for the QB.  If the Colts try to play like Seattle or SF, they're down by 2-3 TDS every week because they don't have the personnel to pull it off.  So, you're forced to ride Luck because he's your best chance to win, but in the process he's bound to make some mistakes.  He's human. 

[dgambill]

I want to say that was a tale of two halves. If we put a complete game together we can be very hard to beat. A tough matchup for us and we had brilliant moments and some bad ones.

 

Luck had to throw the ball entirely too much but being down causes that. Obviously you throw the ball almost 60 times you are going to have a couple get away from you like the one in the second half did. The first one was just a bad throw to a covered man. Talib really lured him into that pass and made a great play on it. The game was really kinda ugly. Typical first game of the year. Bad penalties on both sides, bad drops (especially denver that got them into long yardage situations), and missed opportunities. I think if we played in week 6 we would have saw a much cleaner game. The big takeaways are that we really look exposed when our backers are in coverage....unless its Freeman its ugly. Also that without Bethea our safeties in coverage are awful too. I liked how Butler and Davis played....they were awesome. I think Toler did ok...he got picked on a lot but didn't get overly abused. We had to blitz A LOT to get pressure so hopefully once Mathis is back we can generate a rush without that. I liked our receivers in bunch formations...it worked well in getting separation. We looked ok running when we tried. We abused their LBs too but didn't go after them enough (especially early) imo. Overall it was a poorly executed game for long stretches on both sides. We started slow and shot ourselves in the foot...don't forget Denver did too...how many passes did DT drop...Caldwell too. They weren't sharp so don't mistaken bad holding penalties and dropped passes for how much that halted their drives...we contributed sure...second half we figured out what was going to be called and what wasn't and we played much more aggressive. I think once we mugged them on the goal line on that 3rd and goal pass and it wasn't called we should have realized that the rules initiative was simply all talk in the preseason. I think if we play again we have a TON of potential to beat them. At least in obvious run downs we shut that down...I think if our secondary holds up we can commit more on stopping that against teams that don't throw as much...so it should improve.

 

Overall plenty of positives and negatives to take away. Colts just didn't do enough to earn that win. On hostile territory we had a lot of good moments so hoping we grow from the experience.

[dgambill]

We needed him to play clean and force turnovers of our own. 24-0 was too big of a hole to climb out of.

 

The play call that bothers me the most is the fourth and one at the 37 on the first drive. Have TO GO FOR it there. Have to! We were running well and inside their 40. Trying a FG was silly as we missed it (penalty aside) which would have given Manning the ball on the 45. I don't get it all. Send a message early and go for it. You pick it up. Who knows. Maybe a quick 7-0 lead. We were cruising down the field and had the momentum with the hurry up. 

Thats a possibility....or perhaps our kicker pins them inside the 10 and they are forced to try to run the ball out (like we saw them in the second half backed up all quarter). Plenty of blame to go around. We could just easily get stopped on that play like we did on the goal line. Its very early to give the ball to them around mid-field. He trusted our defense...and Macafee punted it into the endzone. Bad punt. If we pin them deep there a lot of times we take the ball out of Peyton's hands. We do need to clean up the bad passes. First int Luck made a terrible read...Talib baited him into that throw. That said we had some play calls that were working. Screens and shallow crossing routes and passes out of bunch formations...we just didn't go to them until the second half more and it hurt us. Plenty of blame to go around...we just weren't consistant in any phase for 4 quarters. We had chances...some of our own making...some from gifts from Denver...muffed onside kick...lots of dropped passes early in the 1st and 3rd quarter that stalled drives. We just have to be ready to jump on opportunities and we need to be consistant in our play...if we do that...we can beat ANYONE.