It Was 31-3

[oldunclemark]

We play seven yards off the wide receivers.

Brady should have been 30 of 30,,,

We make no attempt to cover WRs until they get 5 yards off the line..

I was hoping for tighter coverage today (new DC) and I didnt see it

[Phil J]

we don't have a new DC. We have a new puppet who was moved up, but Bill Polian is still the defacto DC, and right now he ain't goin no where.

[Coltsman1788]

We play seven yards off the wide receivers.

Brady should have been 30 of 30,,,

We make no attempt to cover WRs until they get 5 yards off the line..

I was hoping for tighter coverage today (new DC) and I didnt see it

Preach Unc. I'm with you on this one. If we were a little more aggressive defensively it may have made all the difference today. We just let Brady consistently dump off passes to receivers right at the cones and our corners were 3-5 yards away to make the tackle after the first down was obtained. They went on a 28-0 run and that was the game pretty much. Very frustrating to watch this continue to happen.

[dn4192]

How has Brady done this season vs other defenses? Did he torch the Colts worse then he did against the other 9 teams they have beaten this year?

[oldunclemark]

How has Brady done this season vs other defenses? Did he torch the Colts worse then he did against the other 9 teams they have beaten this year?

But dn...we could have won today...

We gained 400 yards.......Brady played catch with that big TE....

Our D is playing with handcuffs on

[Coltsman1788]

How has Brady done this season vs other defenses? Did he torch the Colts worse then he did against the other 9 teams they have beaten this year?

It's not just Brady that does this to our defense its pretty much EVERY FRIGGIN QB WE'VE FACED THIS SEASON! Our defense statistically has allowed opposing qb's to put up quarterback ratings that would rival the record breaking pace of 04 Peyton and 07 Brady. I posted an Washington Post article on that in a thread I put up awhile back.

[unitaswestand]

we don't have a new DC. We have a new puppet who was moved up, but Bill Polian is still the defacto DC, and right now he ain't goin no where.

So you really think Bill Polian is telling the coaches how to play defense? That they need to have the huge cushions? Even though it doesn't work, you think Polian is insisting that it continues to run like that? And if so, what would be the motivation behind that? After all, he criticizes the defense, but you say he is really running it? It just seems odd a guy who is close to retirement and who's son has to take over, would push to do something that is so ineffective. And what is the motive for that? Because everyone speculates Bill is hard headed and won't admit he is wrong?

[oldunclemark]

I dont understand why we're so far off..

We dont rotate up on the coverage to one side or another..

Everybody sees what we do..

....I dont get it...

[Coltsman1788]

I dont understand why we're so far off..

We dont rotate up on the coverage to one side or another..

Everybody sees what we do..

....I dont get it...

The question is who is responsible for us playing defense in this manner? I thought it was Coyer but he's gone and we are still doing it. So who is it and why when it has failed over and over again this season?

This is the kind of stuff that makes some in the media, fan base, etc. speculate that something foul is afoot in regards to tanking. Not saying that is what is happening but when you start running out of plausible explanations for continually slitting our own throats with this pathetic coverage scheme it really causes you to start wondering. Our players are playing their hearts out and I don't believe they would ever tank but it is really starting to appear like they are being coached in such a way as to prohibit them from achieving any kind of defensive success this season. Our coaches can't possibly be this stupid.

[dn4192]

It's not just Brady that does this to our defense its pretty much EVERY FRIGGIN QB WE'VE FACED THIS SEASON! Our defense statistically has allowed opposing qb's to put up quarterback ratings that would rival the record breaking pace of 04 Peyton and 07 Brady. I posted an Washington Post article on that in a thread I put up awhile back.

Well gee the Pats D made a backup look great today...do you think they cared? I keep hearing is all that matters is the points given up. We played probably one of the top 3 offenses today in their home stadium and gave up just 31 points, I can live with that....

[dn4192]

I dont understand why we're so far off..

We dont rotate up on the coverage to one side or another..

Everybody sees what we do..

....I dont get it...

Because you are a fan. You don't have all the information on why we are playing the style we are playing. There is no way any fan can know fully a teams strategy or game plan since we are not involved in the day to day operations.

[MB-ColtsFan]

Polian has sated in one ofhis shows that the corners aren't doing a good job of recognizing down and yardage to go so they are playing too far off the receiver. He stated (if i remember correctly) that this was something that would get fixed.

I'm just. not seeing/hearing of it happening. I'm left to wonder if they are capable of close man coverage??

[Coltsman1788]

Well gee the Pats D made a backup look great today...do you think they cared? I keep hearing is all that matters is the points given up. We played probably one of the top 3 offenses today in their home stadium and gave up just 31 points, I can live with that....

They will gladly take the win but actually yeah I am sure Belicheck does care because he knows that a defensive lapse like that in the playoffs could ultimately be their undoing. See that is what good coaches do...they find things to nitpick even in victory to get better because the goal is to win championships not just games. We haven't had one of those around here for the past 3 seasons so I guess you can be forgiven for not being able to recognize their traits.

[dn4192]

They will gladly take the win but actually yeah I am sure Belicheck does care because he knows that a defensive lapse like that in the playoffs could ultimately be their undoing. See that is what good coaches do...they find things to nitpick even in victory to get better because the goal is to win championships not just games. We haven't had one of those around here for the past 3 seasons so I guess you can be forgiven for not being able to recognize their traits.

But the Pats sec has been bad all season...so is it bad coaching I mean how do you allow a QB like ours carve you up today? It's not like the Pats D has been strong all season and just had one bad game. So I guess Bill really isn't the coach we thought and if not for Tom Brady saving his butt they would be having a losing season and he would be on the firing line right?

[Coltsman1788]

But the Pats sec has been bad all season...so is it bad coaching I mean how do you allow a QB like ours carve you up today? It's not like the Pats D has been strong all season and just had one bad game. So I guess Bill really isn't the coach we thought and if not for Tom Brady saving his butt they would be having a losing season and he would be on the firing line right?

Except that Belicheck has already proven his worth that season when Brady went down and he coached them to an 11-5 record. Same can't be said for Caldwell who is winless absent Peyton.

[oldunclemark]

Because you are a fan. You don't have all the information on why we are playing the style we are playing. There is no way any fan can know fully a teams strategy or game plan since we are not involved in the day to day operations.

DN..I dont even know that is true...and neither do any of us..

....Everyone who calls our games (Ex players and coaches) says we stay off the WRs too much and give too much of cushion...

Why do we basically give the other passer five yards to complete a short one...

I understand the Tampa 2..and the style..but the Bears play much of the same style and they mix it up...

what prevents us from rotating coverage on the weak side WR once in while..

..and why are we off the WRs..but rarely blitz...the two things would be compatible...

IF you know why we do this...tell me..because I've lost faith in our coaching and management genius

[John Dee]

But dn...we could have won today...

We gained 400 yards.......Brady played catch with that big TE....

Our D is playing with handcuffs on

huh? Are you serious? NE, once they "woke up"... DRILLED Indy.

Garbage points only make us fantasy FF owners happy... which I am...

[Dustin]

huh? Are you serious? NE, once they "woke up"... DRILLED Indy.

We could have recovered the onside kick.

[oldunclemark]

huh? Are you serious? NE, once they "woke up"... DRILLED Indy.

Garbage points only make us fantasy FF owners happy... which I am...

You tell me..62-7 or 31-24.....

[-JJ-]

But the Pats sec has been bad all season...so is it bad coaching I mean how do you allow a QB like ours carve you up today? It's not like the Pats D has been strong all season and just had one bad game. So I guess Bill really isn't the coach we thought and if not for Tom Brady saving his butt they would be having a losing season and he would be on the firing line right?

Because you don't respect your QB like NFL players do.

You look for yards up on the scoreboard and it's not there.

Forget the stats..watch the plays. Pats D has made plays all year. They've lost one game on them to the Bills.

Two offensive players playing defense..I'd say Belichick is coaching pretty good for a lot of no names.

[Andy]

They have to look at the positive from this game, and this is something they should definitely look at!

[JCPatriot]

But the Pats sec has been bad all season...so is it bad coaching I mean how do you allow a QB like ours carve you up today? It's not like the Pats D has been strong all season and just had one bad game. So I guess Bill really isn't the coach we thought and if not for Tom Brady saving his butt they would be having a losing season and he would be on the firing line right?

You could make an argument that it is due to poor drafting. The Pats have not had a dominant defense since they lost most of the core veteran players from Parcells' tenure. I don't think you can question Belichick's coaching abilities, but you can question his drafting. I'm not sure if I really believe this to be true, but you could make the argument.

[GoColts8818]

We play seven yards off the wide receivers.

Brady should have been 30 of 30,,,

We make no attempt to cover WRs until they get 5 yards off the line..

I was hoping for tighter coverage today (new DC) and I didnt see it

you aren't going to see it because Mike Murphy is still a cover-2 coach and that is part of the base cover-2 coverage that the Colts use. He is not our long term answer at DC either though. He is just going to get use threw the end of the year and then I think you can expect total changes in the defensive coaching staff at least if not more. Murphy might try some new things but he wasn't going to be able to change the defense with three days of practice.

With that said if you listen to Polian on Monday he singled out that the defense did not come out and cover the option for the first three plays against the Panthers despite working on it in practice and went on to say they were having a problem getting the message across. Then they fired Coyer. That tells me the fired Coyer because they didn't think he could get the message across. Fans aren't going to like this and I don't know if I agree with this but frankly I don't think Polian has a major issue with the message that is being delievered.

[GoColts8818]

Because you don't respect your QB like NFL players do.

You look for yards up on the scoreboard and it's not there.

Forget the stats..watch the plays. Pats D has made plays all year. They've lost one game on them to the Bills.

Two offensive players playing defense..I'd say Belichick is coaching pretty good for a lot of no names.

Lamey said it best the Pats are 32nd in the league in yards but were 11th going into today in giving up points. They are playing bend don't break.

[nitecrawler]

Well gee the Pats D made a backup look great today...do you think they cared? I keep hearing is all that matters is the points given up. We played probably one of the top 3 offenses today in their home stadium and gave up just 31 points, I can live with that....

[Fr33UpFr33ney]

I've been saying this since Nick Harper.

Out 3rd down defense is terrible...third and short and third and long.

It literally loss us at least 4 trips to the superbowl.

[Blue Horseshoe]

So you really think Bill Polian is telling the coaches how to play defense? That they need to have the huge cushions? Even though it doesn't work, you think Polian is insisting that it continues to run like that? And if so, what would be the motivation behind that? After all, he criticizes the defense, but you say he is really running it? It just seems odd a guy who is close to retirement and who's son has to take over, would push to do something that is so ineffective. And what is the motive for that? Because everyone speculates Bill is hard headed and won't admit he is wrong?

I hope he gets closer to retirement. Very much closer.

[wercolts]

Polian doesn't come to practice and tell the defense to let the receivers catch the ball in space, then tackle them. The coaching staff shows no faith in anyone's ability to cover in man or zone so they keep telling them just don't let them get behind you.

[LUVTHESHOE]

Well gee the Pats D made a backup look great today...do you think they cared? I keep hearing is all that matters is the points given up. We played probably one of the top 3 offenses today in their home stadium and gave up just 31 points, I can live with that....

Clueless comment, they could have scored 48 on us. They shut it down in the second half. They played our defensive, week and yard yielding. Wake up!

[doogansquest]

We have an interim DC who has had the title for less than a week and you guys are wondering where the big changes are? You dont up and jump schemes mid-season, and Murphy is currently stuck with Coyer's personnel. Tom Brady will get his yards, because he's an elite QB. Mike wasn't DC for any other games, so what other QB's did isn't on him. If he's still in charge next year, we will know more.

Assuming we don't waste our first pick on a back up QB that is...

[LUVTHESHOE]

We have an interim DC who has had the title for less than a week and you guys are wondering where the big changes are? You dont up and jump schemes mid-season, and Murphy is currently stuck with Coyer's personnel. Tom Brady will get his yards, because he's an elite QB. Mike wasn't DC for any other games, so what other QB's did isn't on him. If he's still in charge next year, we will know more.

Assuming we don't waste our first pick on a back up QB that is...

I agree with you to a point, but rolling some backfield coverages and maybe a tad bit of press coverages are basic adjustments that are made weekly even on the high school level.

[dn4192]

But dn...we could have won today...

We gained 400 yards.......Brady played catch with that big TE....

Our D is playing with handcuffs on

Our D gave up just 31 points to one of the top offensives in football in their stadium. I will be the first to say our defense could improve, but given everything, I have no real issues with how they or the entire team played yesterday. We showed that with a viable NFL QB we can move the ball and score. We made Bill and his boys sweat a bit and the game was fun to watch.

[dn4192]

huh? Are you serious? NE, once they "woke up"... DRILLED Indy.

Garbage points only make us fantasy FF owners happy... which I am...

They drilled us? Final score was 31 - 24 IN THEIR STADIUM. They beat us, but they did not "drill" us. We got drilled by Houston and NO this season, NE did not let up and did not "drill" us. Could you please explain "garbage" points...

[IndyTrav]

Our D gave up just 31 points to one of the top offensives in football in their stadium.

o 31, is that it?

[LUVTHESHOE]

They drilled us? Final score was 31 - 24 IN THEIR STADIUM. They beat us, but they did not "drill" us. We got drilled by Houston and NO this season, NE did not let up and did not "drill" us. Could you please explain "garbage" points...

Yes it is when the other teams play D like we do 12 yards off the ball, no pass rush, players playing out of position and basicly using the entire second half as a scrimmage game as the Pats did. I thought you said you watched the game.

[oldunclemark]

They drilled us? Final score was 31 - 24 IN THEIR STADIUM. They beat us, but they did not "drill" us. We got drilled by Houston and NO this season, NE did not let up and did not "drill" us. Could you please explain "garbage" points...

I dont get hat either.....Tim Tebow beats everybody in their division with 'garbage' points

...I thouohgt the Colts began the game strong and finished strong...

They dropped 31 on us in the middle but they scored 35 on us last year..same type of game

[IndyTrav]

They drilled us? Final score was 31 - 24 IN THEIR STADIUM. They beat us, but they did not "drill" us. We got drilled by Houston and NO this season, NE did not let up and did not "drill" us. Could you please explain "garbage" points...

They played WRs and LBs on our WR. They played a guy at Safety to 'see what he could do'.

When another team simply puts someone on the field to 'see what he can do', just out of curiosity, on the NFL level, well thats called garbage time.

[IndyTrav]

I dont get hat either.....Tim Tebow beats everybody in their division with 'garbage' points

No, the Broncos just happen to be in it once the 4th quarter rolls around. For us its generally 28+ to 3 once the 4th quarter rolls around. Big difference.

[dn4192]

Clueless comment, they could have scored 48 on us. They shut it down in the second half. They played our defensive, week and yard yielding. Wake up!

What proof do you have that they "shut" it down? If they "shut it down" they why was ole Tom still out there taking snaps till the end of the game? He came out with what like less then 4 minutes to go in the game, if they were shutting it down why not get your backup some experience? Fact is the Colts played a pretty decent game and all the "Caldwell" haters can't handle that and are doing their best to make up excuses as to explain away just a 7 point loss on the road to NE.

[oldunclemark]

No, the Broncos just happen to be in it once the 4th quarter rolls around. For us its generally 28+ to 3 once the 4th quarter rolls around. Big difference.

Tebow moves Denver against prevent defenses.....soft double safety

..like Orlovsky did at the end yesterday..in the 4th Q

Same thing..

But all credit to Danny OP and the line..and the receivers

We moved..and we scored...Before yesterday..we averaged 13 points a game