Andrew Luck's health

[The Fish]

Anytime 12 gets hit more often than not, it's on all accountable parties. The energy and intensity wasn't matched.

 

This isn't the worst thing in the world. We all knew the D had a nice stretch, but it wasn't the whole picture. I don't think the D will be giving up 51 a week because of this either. Just a tough loss, and you've gotta hand it to the Steelers. They played darn good most of the game.

[ColtsBTM12]

Cherilus is really terrible this year

I've lost count how many times I've seen edge rushers just run right around him and get to the QB this year.

[Fx Stryker]

Next off season Costonzo needs to go to RT, Gos needs to go to G and Indy NEEDS to finds a legit LT.

This line was exposed today. They are good ... but not nearly good enough.

Castonzo has been great this year.

[GoColts8818]

No one likes to see the QB hit like Luck was today. Still it's one game and frankly it's the first game other than the first half of the Denver game he's taken a pounding like this. Compare that to the past two years when more games than not were like this and that's progress. Frankly , outside of the first half of the Denver game the line had played well this year going into today.

Sometimes the other team wins and that's what happened today. They had a great game plan sending seven and sometimes eight guys on blitzs knowing that was more than we were keeping in to protect and they over whelmed out protection. Tip your cap to them, study the film and learn from it and move on.

[James Harden]

I wonder why Luck didn't run outside the pocket more. On some plays, there were space right in front of him to run but he just stood in the pocket until he gets hit. He had that mentality to run for the 1st down when no body is open but it never really show up in this game. I only saw he ran once. I think Hamilton is trying to completely transform him into a pocket passer and that is going to regress his skills set. If the man is going to get hit anyway, might as well allow him to run for the 1st down.  

[GoColts8818]

I wonder why Luck didn't run outside the pocket more. On some plays, there were space right in front of him to run but he just stood in the pocket until he gets hit. He had that mentality to run for the 1st down when no body is open but it never really show up in this game. I only saw he ran once. I think Hamilton is trying to completely transform him into a pocket passer and that is going to regress his skills set. If the man is going to get hit anyway, might as well allow him to run for the 1st down.

luck has always tried to pass and only runs if he feels he has no other option.

[James Harden]

luck has always tried to pass and only runs if he feels he has no other option.

If only Pep would create read options plays for Luck. I'll feel it would work tremendously with Luck, T.Y and Bradshaw. 3 way options to run. I always prefer a dual threat QB instead of just pocket presence. With Luck's body build for taking beatings, the colts must take advantage of all his skills set.

[adamthyst]

Reminiscent of last season. The OL got manhandled today. It scares me to see Luck take hits like that no matter how big he is, he can't keep taking those or he won't last.

[Superfly Jay]

Luck gets hit waaaay too much. It seemed like he was hit after every throw he made today. That's unacceptable.

[Superman]

I think the Steelers hit him late every chance they got, and it was never called. Harrison got him from behind when he had clearly thrown the ball, Worilds got him from straight ahead on the Hilton TD, etc. Lots of late hits that should have been flagged, IMO. The offensive line wasn't good in protection, but Luck took some extra punishment that probably isn't the fault of the line.

 

Maybe someone should have popped Harrison after one of those hits, though. 

[Superfly Jay]

I think the Steelers hit him late every chance they got, and it was never called. Harrison got him from behind when he had clearly thrown the ball, Worilds got him from straight ahead on the Hilton TD, etc. Lots of late hits that should have been flagged, IMO. The offensive line wasn't good in protection, but Luck took some extra punishment that probably isn't the fault of the line.

 

Maybe someone should have popped Harrison after one of those hits, though. 

I know I saw that too with the late hits. It kind of reminded me of the bounty gate game Saints Vs. Vikings. Luck was getting lit up. I'm glad he can take those licks unlike most qbs but someone on the o line should've retaliated. 

[Lef]

Never adjusted to the pressure. He held the ball too long. Seemed like mid to late 3rd q is when he started getting rid of ball earlier, but too little, too late.

[keverton]

We have one of the best qbs in.the game. With a poor o line look what a good o line can do make o no tony. Romo look good. Needs to be addressed in the draft

[backshoulderfade]

He just is not very good bottom line. He holds the ball for 20 seconds and expects not to get hit. That might have worked at Stanford and in the crappy pac 12 but not in the NFL. When you look at a wr from the snap off the ball and you eye him the whole way and then end up going t him, NFL db's are going to pick 6 it every time. Again Luck thinks he can do stuff he did at Stanford and get away with it

Did you get hit on the head as a child.

[sweetsurrender]

I think the Steelers hit him late every chance they got, and it was never called. Harrison got him from behind when he had clearly thrown the ball, Worilds got him from straight ahead on the Hilton TD, etc. Lots of late hits that should have been flagged, IMO. The offensive line wasn't good in protection, but Luck took some extra punishment that probably isn't the fault of the line.

 

Maybe someone should have popped Harrison after one of those hits, though. 

yeah, it was obvious they wanted to hit often even after the play. What is frustrating is we kept having him take deep drops and hold the ball. We needed to do plays were the ball came out quicker. I remember a screen in the second half that was brilliant. We have to be smarter with him especially when a team sells out to blitz all day like Lebeau is famous for doing. I think our game plans on both sides of ball were very suspect. The Steelers are who they are and I felt like we played their game.

[sweetsurrender]

He just is not very good bottom line. He holds the ball for 20 seconds and expects not to get hit. That might have worked at Stanford and in the crappy pac 12 but not in the NFL. When you look at a wr from the snap off the ball and you eye him the whole way and then end up going t him, NFL db's are going to pick 6 it every time. Again Luck thinks he can do stuff he did at Stanford and get away with it

The plays they are running at times call for him to hold the ball. They need to come up with quicker plays and also take advantage of his ability to run with some roll outs like Seattle does with Wilson.

[CoachLite]

I'm not sure exactly what the other fans were expecting. I thought the Colt's played OK (400 yds passing is very good), they were just beat by a much better team, and certainly out-coached yet again by more experienced coaches. By out-coached, I don't mean complaining what plays they called or what tactics they used, it was staying too long with a weak and failed strategy. Nothing new here.

For example, it's not that Cherilus got beat, it's why he got beat, and what was - or wasn't - done to help correct the problem. If you don't have a deep understand why the strategy isn't working, there is no way you can go about fixing the problem.

In the pre-season, I predicted the Colts would be a 9-7 or 10-6 team. That is the record of a good team, but not great one. So, what were the other fans were expecting? We ARE a good team!

[BOTT]

How about getting rid of the ball quicker? The OL is not going to stop 7-8 guys. Luck HAS to see this and audible to something quicker developing so he can get rid of it quicker. He's still wanting to hold onto it too long. Expecting the line to hold up for any length of time in those situations is asinine.

Regardless, the defense did him very little favors, so his back was against the wall for 55 minutes of the game.

When you are down big the offense needs big chunk plays and that's what he did.

[BOTT]

I think the Steelers hit him late every chance they got, and it was never called. Harrison got him from behind when he had clearly thrown the ball, Worilds got him from straight ahead on the Hilton TD, etc. Lots of late hits that should have been flagged, IMO. The offensive line wasn't good in protection, but Luck took some extra punishment that probably isn't the fault of the line.

 

Maybe someone should have popped Harrison after one of those hits, though.

I think Gosder pointed at Harrison once. Kyle Turely he is not.

[dw49]

I think the Steelers hit him late every chance they got, and it was never called. Harrison got him from behind when he had clearly thrown the ball, Worilds got him from straight ahead on the Hilton TD, etc. Lots of late hits that should have been flagged, IMO. The offensive line wasn't good in protection, but Luck took some extra punishment that probably isn't the fault of the line.

 

Maybe someone should have popped Harrison after one of those hits, though. 

 

 

Good we agree on something. Not only did they have illegal late hits , they had a couple that were too low and another , I think Timmons , that looked to be helmet to helmet.

 

Ohh and I think the Newsome hit on Ben may have been an answer to this ...or maybe frustration.

[lollygagger8]

Gos needs to go

 

Fixed. 

[Superman]

Good we agree on something. Not only did they have illegal late hits , they had a couple that were too low and another , I think Timmons , that looked to be helmet to helmet.

 

Ohh and I think the Newsome hit on Ben may have been an answer to this ...or maybe frustration.

 

Several times they hit him below the knees. 

 

I don't remember the Newsome hit on Ben. Wish I did.

 

But this goes back to the Saints preseason game, when Hicks(?) took the cheap shot at Luck, and no one on the offensive line retaliated. That bugged me a little even then. After yesterday, it bugs me a lot. Someone has to make an issue of that when it's happening over and over again. And it started early in the game, so they had all four quarters to address it. 

 

The Falcons had this problem last year. Joe Hawley decided to get pretty aggressive about it, and set a tone in training camp. Everyone else picked up on it. I'm usually not the guy to make a big deal out of stuff like this, but I do think it's a flaw. You don't let your QB take cheap shots without retaliating. 

[dw49]

Several times they hit him below the knees. 

 

I don't remember the Newsome hit on Ben. Wish I did.

 

But this goes back to the Saints preseason game, when Hicks(?) took the cheap shot at Luck, and no one on the offensive line retaliated. That bugged me a little even then. After yesterday, it bugs me a lot. Someone has to make an issue of that when it's happening over and over again. And it started early in the game, so they had all four quarters to address it. 

 

The Falcons had this problem last year. Joe Hawley decided to get pretty aggressive about it, and set a tone in training camp. Everyone else picked up on it. I'm usually not the guy to make a big deal out of stuff like this, but I do think it's a flaw. You don't let your QB take cheap shots without retaliating. 

 

 

Agree with all of that.

 

The Newsome hit came with a minute left in the game on a 3rd and 2. BR faked the handoff to Bell and tried to run around right end. A defender made the initial hit and Newsome finished him off with a thundering belt. Not necessary at all and I think a couple of Colts apologized to Ben after the play. I was very glad to see it as it was legal and for the reasons we talked about. Was the second to last play of game and you probably stopped watching.

[Coaching sux]

I know we are all worried about Luck getting hit but I think some of that falls on him as well. Yesterday there were at least 5 plays where he held the ball for 5 seconds or more and ended up getting hit. Now  I mean if the O line can block for 5 seconds you should be able to make a play or toss the ball into the stands. Luck looks like he is trying to do things that he did at Stanford. You can't get away with that in the NFL

[chrisfarley]

I think he gets hit more than any other QB besides the read-option ones. Thankfully he is such a big man! Imagine Peyton getting those hits.

Peyton gets rid of the ball quicker

[dgambill]

He took a TON of hits...Pittsburgh was physical...and played THROUGH the qb. They weren't trying to hit Luck...they were trying to hit his soul it seemed. It was rough but I think thats just because we are used to watching most qbs today play with a clean jersey...get rid of the ball and not take those kind of shots. They are still part of football if a qb is going to hold onto the ball that long. Same with Cam yesterday when he was running the read option...he took some big hits. It seemed Pittsburg set the tone early and it progressively got just a bit later and harder and the refs let them do it. I dont think there was anything necessarily wrong with how it was called but we definately let Pitts set the tone and we just didn't match it.

[CR91]

luck is superman. I have never seen someone take the beating he took and keep getting back up

[hoosierhawk]

I know we are all worried about Luck getting hit but I think some of that falls on him as well. Yesterday there were at least 5 plays where he held the ball for 5 seconds or more and ended up getting hit. Now  I mean if the O line can block for 5 seconds you should be able to make a play or toss the ball into the stands. Luck looks like he is trying to do things that he did at Stanford. You can't get away with that in the NFL

I must have been watching a different game. Five plays where he had five seconds? 95% of the time it looked like a jail break and several times he was hit by more than one defender before he could set up. The right side of our line was not good. They were around the RT before he could get two steps back. I said to my son that it looked like both our lines and LB were playing in lead shoes. Andrew got crucified. I doubt there is another QB in the league that could withstand the beating he took. I do agree they need a hot read on the blitz which they sent almost all day and we never beat it with a hot read once. Is this on Andrew or the coaching staff? I don't know.

[BOTT]

luck is superman. I have never seen someone take the beating he took and keep getting back up

You haven't watched football long then

[Malakai432]

Gosder is going to get him killed n

 

Yeah I noticed that a truck load of pressure seems to be coming from his side.  I have no clue how he goes from being what looked like pretty solid last year to garbage this year.

[Cynjin]

The interior of the Oline look like it had no idea how to handle a stunt.  The push up the middle by the Steelers was impressive, left no where for Luck to step up.

[colts8718]

Yeah I noticed that a truck load of pressure seems to be coming from his side.  I have no clue how he goes from being what looked like pretty solid last year to garbage th

 

I've lost count how many times I've seen edge rushers just run right around him and get to the QB this year.

Another great pickup by Grigson

[BleedBlu8792]

When you are down big the offense needs big chunk plays and that's what he did.

He did without a doubt, but my comment was more in referrence to people commenting how much he was hit. The OL was underwhelming for most of the game, but again people can't expect the line to hold off 6, 7, 8 guys consistently with 7 step drops and long developing routes. Luck performed well for the most part, but eventually the hits were starting to get to him a little. I wish they would have ran a little more than they did just so PA could have lessened the heat.

[GoColts8818]

I think the Steelers hit him late every chance they got, and it was never called. Harrison got him from behind when he had clearly thrown the ball, Worilds got him from straight ahead on the Hilton TD, etc. Lots of late hits that should have been flagged, IMO. The offensive line wasn't good in protection, but Luck took some extra punishment that probably isn't the fault of the line.

 

Maybe someone should have popped Harrison after one of those hits, though. 

They did get flagged for it right before half-time but it really didn't matter as there was only one second left and the Colts were already in field-goal range. 

 

Still the Steelers were holding WRs all day and hitting all day.  I think Tomlin adopted the they wont call everything approach for this game. 

[GoColts8818]

The interior of the Oline look like it had no idea how to handle a stunt.  The push up the middle by the Steelers was impressive, left no where for Luck to step up.

Look at the middle of the line.  Two rookies and a second year player.  There are going to be days where they get abused.  We would be naïve to think there wouldn't be some growing pains.

[GoColts8818]

Peyton gets rid of the ball quicker

This is true, Manning normally knows where he is going with the ball before the ball is snapped.  That's why if you confuse him he struggles. 

[superrep1967]

Is it scary to you to see him hit so hard so often?

Is there no way to protect him a little better without becoming more conservative on offense?

Its a little hard to watch

Well we got behind and had to throw on every down and they tee'd off on him. 

[superrep1967]

luck is superman. I have never seen someone take the beating he took and keep getting back up

Harbaugh took even some greater beatings and kept going in 96' and 97' seasons.

[superrep1967]

Our line got its butt kicked today. No doubt about it

The defense lost the game for us though no pass rush they manhandled us upfront.

[Cynjin]

Look at the middle of the line.  Two rookies and a second year player.  There are going to be days where they get abused.  We would be naïve to think there wouldn't be some growing pains.

I agree that they are young and will have growing pains, but they did not, IMO, adjust to the stunts during the game. It reminded me of when I was in college playing and the team we were playing ran the same combo play three straight times. My teammate played it the same way all three times and he was burned all three times. I finally looked him in the eye and asked when the heck he was going to adjust to that play, because what he was doing wasn't working. At some point you have to say, okay they are running this stunt maybe we should try something other than what was getting Luck hit.