The sky is not falling, everyone relax [Mega-merge]

[ThatOneColtFan]

When was the last time we won an opener on the road? 

 

2006? 

[tfunky14]

Eagles, Steelers, Ravens, Seahawks and Colts all lost week 1.

 

 

All 5 are Super Bowl potential teams, I'm not worried either.  

 

 

To be worried means you have no clue.

[SilentHill]

Our coaches aren't the ones that got flagged for holding to negate a 30 yard completion, which ultimately put us in a position to start off losing the field position battle.  Holmes did that.

 

Our coaches didn't overshoot their gap and allow a 26 yard rushing touchdown.  Freeman did that.

 

Our coaches didn't underthrow a pass that got intercepted and lead to a Bills' touchdown.  Luck did that.

 

Our coaches didn't decide to run a kickoff out of the endzone and slip on the 3 yard line, putting us in terrible field position.  Moncrief did that.

 

Our coaches didn't muff 2 punts, one of them being recovered by another team.  Dorsett did that.

 

Our coaches didn't play terrible coverage on a 51 yard touchdown.  Butler did that.

 

Our coaches didn't terribly miss a 52 yard field goal, which put the Bills in good field position and lead to a touchdown.  Vinatieri did that.

 

Our coaches didn't drop a 2 point conversion that hit them right in the hands.  Andre Johnson did that.

 

Our coaches didn't hit the opposing QB high and late to move them from their territory to our territory.  Walden did that.  If not for that bone-headed play to give them 15 free yards, I'd say the only time we were 'outcoached' this game was when the Bills scored a TD on their first drive of the second half.

 

If we correct the mental mistakes and turnovers, we would have had a very good shot at winning that game.  That is the best defense we will probably face all season.  There is absolutely no reason to call for the coaches' heads or panic yet.  If we don't cut down on these mistakes and see improvements, then maybe we can start throwing the blame at the coaches.  It was week 1 in a 16 game season, I'm pretty sure we'll be just fine with the coaches we have.

 

 

Our coaches are the ones who were not prepared for this game

 

Our coaches are the reason why the players were not prepared for this game

 

Our coaches called plays that did not give us a reasonable chance to win the game until late into the 3rd quarter.

 

Our coaches are too soft

 

 

shal I continue?

[Rhane19]

I, for one, firmly believe this team is better than what we saw yesterday and that we've got a competent enough coaching staff to get our mistakes corrected moving forward.  I also think people are underestimating how good that Bills' D is (perhaps the best in the league).  For those reasons, I think it is way too early for anyone to start hitting the panic button.

 

This. Bills Def is great and don't get enough credit.  They did well to stop us a few years ago too.  Infuse Rex Ryan's passion and defensive mind with the already talented defense that they already had, and they are filthy. 

 

0-1 is way too early to panic.

[tfunky14]

We were outcoached the whole game. Its the coach's job to teach discipline and technique ... so a lot of the discipline mistakes/mental errors fall partly on the coaches.

 

Coaches decided to have AV go for that long FG in the wind and rain.  AV may have been the one that actually missed it, but the coaches were the ones that made the decision to gamble. 

 

Also up to the coaches to prepare a game plan ... ours was bad.

 

Unprepared players, a lot of mental mistakes, bad decisions, bad technique/poor execution, etc ... is often a reflection of the coaches and how well they prepared the players prior to the game. 

You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink...

[Deano1818]

I just watched Pagano's press conference from today and he says after looking at the tape, everything is fixable.

 

I meant to put that as a positive part in the 'positives and negatives thread'.

 

A few turnovers and penalties killed us.  Then a few big plays given up by the D killed us.  I agree with Pagano, though, just about everything we did wrong yesterday is fixable.  On K. Williams' big TD run, Freeman overran his gap and left a gaping hole in our defense.  On the big TD pass, Butler got burned when he was playing with a cushion, which shouldn't happen.

 

Let's not forget, we've only ever lost back-to-back regular season games once in the Pagano era.  That was last year when we started 0-2 -- and we had a very good game plan going into Philadelphia in week 2 -- Luck threw a very costly pick on a very poor decision late in that game when we had the lead and essentially just had to run some more time off the clock, otherwise we would have won that game.

 

I, for one, firmly believe this team is better than what we saw yesterday and that we've got a competent enough coaching staff to get our mistakes corrected moving forward.  I also think people are underestimating how good that Bills' D is (perhaps the best in the league).  For those reasons, I think it is way too early for anyone to start hitting the panic button.

Please dont start being reasonable..... this is a "sky is falling forum"!!!

 

 

 

Please take that half full approach someplace else!

 

 

We all know that we need to:

 

Fire the Coach

Fire the GM

Fire the OL coach

Fire the OL

Fire the DL

Fire the ILBs

Trade Luck

Get rid of ALL the older FAs that we picked up

Quickly sign the named FA.... that hasnt played for 3 years

Close the roof

Open the roof

 

 

All at once!!

 

People like you need to get on board....... this is a doom forum

 

 

Sarcasm........ off

[IndyD4U]

I disagree. We made stupid mistakes in every phase of the game, and you fix that by not making stupid mistakes. Credit to them, and it's not like we would have obliterated them otherwise. But better execution on a handful of plays changes the look of that game.

 

↑↑ This ↑↑

 

Luck missed several throws yesterday, including what should have been a TD to TY and a screen to Gore that would have went big. Stupid penalties killed the first two drives and the on several occasions DQ was seen with his back to the play...The only thing that concerns myself is the ILB play.

 

Everything else is "fixable"

[1959Colts]

They always say the poor tackling is fixable.

How do you fix that? Either the players are good at tackling... Or they are not.

[Defjamz26]

The mistakes we made come down to discipline. I'm not sure discipline is fixable at this point. It's been 4 years. While I don't really think we got stomped like some people say, the way we lost was ugly. A lot of the issues were coaching issues. Pagano even said during the press conference that with some things he has to "coach em up better ".

[CoachLite]

"We just have to go out there and keep chopping the wood"

 

It's unfortunate that we are supposed to be playing football instead of chopping wood.

[CoachLite]

The mistakes we made come down to discipline. I'm not sure discipline is fixable at this point. It's been 4 years. While I don't really think we got stomped like some people say, the way we lost was ugly. A lot of the issues were coaching issues. Pagano even said during the press conference that with some things he has to "coach em up better ".

 

I agree. In order to "coach 'em up better", we may need better coaches that can recognize the problems and provide solutions the players can execute. Since this hasn't happened in the past couple of years, what makes us think it will happen in the near future?

[Bravo]

It was raining.

Everyone knows the Colts can't play in the rain!

[csmopar]

Our coaches aren't the ones that got flagged for holding to negate a 30 yard completion, which ultimately put us in a position to start off losing the field position battle.  Holmes did that.

 

Our coaches didn't overshoot their gap and allow a 26 yard rushing touchdown.  Freeman did that.

 

Our coaches didn't underthrow a pass that got intercepted and lead to a Bills' touchdown.  Luck did that.

 

Our coaches didn't decide to run a kickoff out of the endzone and slip on the 3 yard line, putting us in terrible field position.  Moncrief did that.

 

Our coaches didn't muff 2 punts, one of them being recovered by another team.  Dorsett did that.

 

Our coaches didn't play terrible coverage on a 51 yard touchdown.  Butler did that.

 

Our coaches didn't terribly miss a 52 yard field goal, which put the Bills in good field position and lead to a touchdown.  Vinatieri did that.

 

Our coaches didn't drop a 2 point conversion that hit them right in the hands.  Andre Johnson did that.

 

Our coaches didn't hit the opposing QB high and late to move them from their territory to our territory.  Walden did that.  If not for that bone-headed play to give them 15 free yards, I'd say the only time we were 'outcoached' this game was when the Bills scored a TD on their first drive of the second half.

 

If we correct the mental mistakes and turnovers, we would have had a very good shot at winning that game.  That is the best defense we will probably face all season.  There is absolutely no reason to call for the coaches' heads or panic yet.  If we don't cut down on these mistakes and see improvements, then maybe we can start throwing the blame at the coaches.  It was week 1 in a 16 game season, I'm pretty sure we'll be just fine with the coaches we have.

   

[Jason_]

Our coaches are the ones who were not prepared for this game

 

Our coaches are the reason why the players were not prepared for this game

 

Our coaches called plays that did not give us a reasonable chance to win the game until late into the 3rd quarter.

 

Our coaches are too soft

 

 

shal I continue?

 

 

We were outcoached the whole game. Its the coach's job to teach discipline and technique ... so a lot of the discipline mistakes/mental errors fall partly on the coaches.

 

Coaches decided to have AV go for that long FG in the wind and rain.  AV may have been the one that actually missed it, but the coaches were the ones that made the decision to gamble. 

 

Also up to the coaches to prepare a game plan ... ours was bad.

 

Unprepared players, a lot of mental mistakes, bad decisions, bad technique/poor execution, etc ... is often a reflection of the coaches and how well they prepared the players prior to the game. 

 

so we're not gonna hold the players accountable...at all?  gotcha

[Smash Mouth]

Our coaches aren't the ones that got flagged for holding to negate a 30 yard completion, which ultimately put us in a position to start off losing the field position battle.  Holmes did that.

 

Our coaches didn't overshoot their gap and allow a 26 yard rushing touchdown.  Freeman did that.

 

Our coaches didn't underthrow a pass that got intercepted and lead to a Bills' touchdown.  Luck did that.

 

Our coaches didn't decide to run a kickoff out of the endzone and slip on the 3 yard line, putting us in terrible field position.  Moncrief did that.

 

Our coaches didn't muff 2 punts, one of them being recovered by another team.  Dorsett did that.

 

Our coaches didn't play terrible coverage on a 51 yard touchdown.  Butler did that.

 

Our coaches didn't terribly miss a 52 yard field goal, which put the Bills in good field position and lead to a touchdown.  Vinatieri did that.

 

Our coaches didn't drop a 2 point conversion that hit them right in the hands.  Andre Johnson did that.

 

Our coaches didn't hit the opposing QB high and late to move them from their territory to our territory.  Walden did that.  If not for that bone-headed play to give them 15 free yards, I'd say the only time we were 'outcoached' this game was when the Bills scored a TD on their first drive of the second half.

 

If we correct the mental mistakes and turnovers, we would have had a very good shot at winning that game.  That is the best defense we will probably face all season.  There is absolutely no reason to call for the coaches' heads or panic yet.  If we don't cut down on these mistakes and see improvements, then maybe we can start throwing the blame at the coaches.  It was week 1 in a 16 game season, I'm pretty sure we'll be just fine with the coaches we have.

Sure sounds like a team that's not ready to play.  That is Pagano's fault.  Pagano teams are 6-10 on the road outside of the South Division.  That's not good enough. This is the issue that costs him his job

[SilentHill]

so we're not gonna hold the players accountable...at all?  gotcha

 

Ok well, 2013 I was saying maybe the players just aren't getting it, then 2014, I was like well, maybe the players just aren't getting it, but i had suspicions. Now in 2015 i'm starting to look at the coaches, at some point you can only blame the players so far.

[ColtsFanMikeC]

We were outcoached the whole game. Its the coach's job to teach discipline and technique ... so a lot of the discipline mistakes/mental errors fall partly on the coaches.

 

Coaches decided to have AV go for that long FG in the wind and rain.  AV may have been the one that actually missed it, but the coaches were the ones that made the decision to gamble. 

 

Also up to the coaches to prepare a game plan ... ours was bad.

 

Unprepared players, a lot of mental mistakes, bad decisions, bad technique/poor execution, etc ... is often a reflection of the coaches and how well they prepared the players prior to the game. 

 

AV has hit plenty of 52 yarders in his career.  He was not even close on that kick, it's not like he hit the upright or missed by a yard or 2, he totally shanked that.  Sure it was the coaches decision to gamble, but given his track record that is a fairly safe bet.

 

I don't think we were outcoached the whole game.  Sure, some of the mental mistakes/discipline etc. are a reflection of coaching and to be honest, we didn't have a whole lot of discipline errors but rather the ones we did came at very bad times.  For example, Holmes' holding penalty would potentially not have hurt us so bad if it came at a different time.  I don't know what Moncrief was thinking, and the coaches removed him from his return duties after that mistake.  Phillip Dorsett was playing his first NFL game, so hopefully his nerves calm down and he gets it fixed.  As for some mistakes Luck made -- he is a 4 year veteran who has been in this offense for 3 years, you can't blame under thrown passes, high passes or inaccurate passes on the coaches when it comes to your franchise player.  Andre Johnson's drop -- not on the coaches, he is a top 10 all-time WR in this league -- the coaches had a play designed to have him wide open and he dropped it.  Jerrell Freeman, Darius Butler and D'Qwell Jackson are all veterans -- at this point their mental errors/mistakes shouldn't be on the coaches -- in man coverage against Percy Harvin, Butler was playing about 8 yards off and he got burnt, no reason for that in the NFL -- that may be on the coaches for having him lined up outside, but did we honestly have a better option? 

 

As for our game plan, I am not quite sure what it was, so that may well be on our coaches.  It sounds like Luck has the ability to check in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage - so he may have been responsible for a lot of the way things went with abandoning the run.  If Luck is going to be our franchise QB, and if he is as cerebral as everyone says he is, this is something he should be able to figure out how to fix by looking at the film and talking things through with his coaches - and this is something we might just have to live with for a while, as Luck is too talented and too smart to be babied through games, we need him to make decisions for us.  Our defensive game plan, IMO, was just fine -- but it is not easy on any defense when they are consistently defending a short field -- 2 of the TDs came after our offense left them in bad shape (Luck's underthrown INT, which is certainly not on the coaches and Vinatieri's FG miss, which I still don't think is on the coaches) and 1 of the TDs came after Walden gave them 15 free yards to allow them into our territory (the only long drive Buffalo had -- Walden is a vet who has been in this defense for 3 years, there was no reason for him to get a roughing the passer and that is not something you can blame on the coaches).  Otherwise, our defense played pretty darn well.

 

 

Our coaches are the ones who were not prepared for this game

 

Our coaches are the reason why the players were not prepared for this game

 

Our coaches called plays that did not give us a reasonable chance to win the game until late into the 3rd quarter.

 

Our coaches are too soft

 

 

shal I continue?

 

We should have scored 2x in the first quarter if not for Holmes' penalty and Luck's under thrown INT.  At this point in Luck's career, if he is the franchise QB everyone thinks he is (I think he is), the coaches can't be held accountable for him making throws like that, TY was in position to make a big play (maybe because of the way the coaches designed that play) had Luck not underthrown that ball.  As I listen to the press conferences, it sounds like Luck made a lot of the calls at the line, so maybe he is in part to blame for the play calling -- which is something we have to live with  -- if we want him to be our franchise QB, we have to take his training wheels off.

 

I agree. In order to "coach 'em up better", we may need better coaches that can recognize the problems and provide solutions the players can execute. Since this hasn't happened in the past couple of years, what makes us think it will happen in the near future?

 

We won 11 games each of the past 3 years.  We lost in the AFC Championship game last year -- there are 29 other teams in this league with as much or more to complain about than our team.  We lost our opener last year and still won 11 games.  Really, if you are using your logic, your question should be stated as "We are the 4th winningest team in football since Pagano took over as head coach, and have advanced 1 round further in the playoffs each year he has been here, what makes us think that our season is over and we need to fire the coaches after 1 game?"

 

Ok well, 2013 I was saying maybe the players just aren't getting it, then 2014, I was like well, maybe the players just aren't getting it, but i had suspicions. Now in 2015 i'm starting to look at the coaches, at some point you can only blame the players so far.

 

Seriously, we won 11  games in 2013 and 11 games in 2014.  We lost in the AFC Championship game to the eventual Superbowl winners last year.  The Patriots won the Superbowl last year because they were the best team in the NFL, they were a better team than us both on paper and on the field.  This is one game, the first game of the season, our players made a lot of critical mistakes and based on our coaches' track records, there is no reason to think that we won't get a lot of those mistakes corrected and improve moving forward.

[Grigs build the lines plz.]

Our coaches aren't the ones that got flagged for holding to negate a 30 yard completion, which ultimately put us in a position to start off losing the field position battle.  Holmes did that.

 

Our coaches didn't overshoot their gap and allow a 26 yard rushing touchdown.  Freeman did that.

 

Our coaches didn't underthrow a pass that got intercepted and lead to a Bills' touchdown.  Luck did that.

 

Our coaches didn't decide to run a kickoff out of the endzone and slip on the 3 yard line, putting us in terrible field position.  Moncrief did that.

 

Our coaches didn't muff 2 punts, one of them being recovered by another team.  Dorsett did that.

 

Our coaches didn't play terrible coverage on a 51 yard touchdown.  Butler did that.

 

Our coaches didn't terribly miss a 52 yard field goal, which put the Bills in good field position and lead to a touchdown.  Vinatieri did that.

 

Our coaches didn't drop a 2 point conversion that hit them right in the hands.  Andre Johnson did that.

 

Our coaches didn't hit the opposing QB high and late to move them from their territory to our territory.  Walden did that.  If not for that bone-headed play to give them 15 free yards, I'd say the only time we were 'outcoached' this game was when the Bills scored a TD on their first drive of the second half.

 

If we correct the mental mistakes and turnovers, we would have had a very good shot at winning that game.  That is the best defense we will probably face all season.  There is absolutely no reason to call for the coaches' heads or panic yet.  If we don't cut down on these mistakes and see improvements, then maybe we can start throwing the blame at the coaches.  It was week 1 in a 16 game season, I'm pretty sure we'll be just fine with the coaches we have.

I'm not beating the drum for the coaches heads but they are responsible for their team's 

mental toughness. Once this team gets punched in the teeth they get cow eyes, and it has

been that way for the last four years.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

Well of course eveything is fixable. It starts with firing the coaches.

 

Dude, stop. If you really think firing coaches and starting over after week 1 would somehow benefit this team, when they've been running and practicing all of these schemes and systems since OTAs and training camp, you've gone mental.

[ColtsFanMikeC]

I'm not beating the drum for the coaches head but they are responsible for their team's 

mental toughness. Once this team gets punched in the teeth they get cow eyes, and it has

been that way for the last four years.

 

This is only the coaching staff's 4th year with the team so not sure what 4 years ago has to do with anything.

 

I think you might be forgetting that we've lead the league in comeback victories over the past 3 years, the comeback over KC in the playoffs 2 years ago, etc.   If anything, this team has shown a lot of toughness and resiliency under this coaching staff and has played with a never-say-die attitude. 

[Steamboat_Shaun]

The mistakes we made come down to discipline. I'm not sure discipline is fixable at this point. It's been 4 years. While I don't really think we got stomped like some people say, the way we lost was ugly. A lot of the issues were coaching issues. Pagano even said during the press conference that with some things he has to "coach em up better ".

 

How many players that are currently starting for the Colts, that made mistakes on Sunday, have actually been on the team for 4 years?

[ColtRider]

This is only the coaching staff's 4th year with the team so not sure what 4 years ago has to do with anything.

 

I think you might be forgetting that we've lead the league in comeback victories over the past 3 years, the comeback over KC in the playoffs 2 years ago, etc.   If anything, this team has shown a lot of toughness and resiliency under this coaching staff and has played with a never-say-die attitude.

Correct. In addition, Pagano has only coached this team _ 2 _ full years! First, Divisional Win. Second, AFCCG.

Yeah, let's fire this cat! I mean, he's done nothing to catapult this team. Uh-huh ... How 'bout buying a bridge? I've got several.

[Defjamz26]

How many players that are currently starting for the Colts, that made mistakes on Sunday, have actually been on the team for 4 years?

I meant it's been 4 years of the current coaching regime. If the team is still undisciplined as a whole, then that might not be fixable. It's not just the rookies.

[ColtsFanMikeC]

The mistakes we made come down to discipline. I'm not sure discipline is fixable at this point. It's been 4 years. While I don't really think we got stomped like some people say, the way we lost was ugly. A lot of the issues were coaching issues. Pagano even said during the press conference that with some things he has to "coach em up better ".

 

The major discipline issues in the game were Holmes' holding -- this was Holmes' first ever season opening start, by the way.  This is fixable, and should be less likely when we aren't playing the best DL in football.  The other was Walden's roughing the passer.  Walden's been around this team a while now, and there is no excuse for that play.  He is a veteran and should know better.  To me, you can't blame the coaching staff for Walden's stupidity on that.  Other issues might include Freeman's crappy play -- and this, IMO, might be because Freeman is a crappy player -- I am hoping after Irving and Moore get a bit more time to familiarize themselves with our D that they will have a shot to replace Freeman.  Moncrief's decision to take the ball out of the end zone -- I'm pretty sure that was Moncrief's first time in a regular season game as a KR, and the coaches removed him from those duties right after that play.  Butler's poor coverage on Harvin's TD -- Butler simply shouldn't be playing outside, but with Toler and Smith hurt, I'm not sure we had any better options.

 

The other issues we had in the game that were very costly were -- Dorsett's muffed punt.  This was Dorsett's first ever regular season NFL game, either he (with the coaches help) will get that issue fixed soon or he won't be our PR any more.  Luck's interception -- TY was in position to make a play had Luck put the ball on the money, so to me that is on Luck and not on the coaches.  Vinatieri's missed field goal -- AV has been Mr. Clutch his whole career, that was just a bad kick.

 

It is week 1, we only had 5 penalties (only 8 teams had less).  The problem was, 2 of them came at very bad times and cost us big (i.e., Holmes' holding and Walden's personal foul).  Last year, we were the 15th least penalized team in the league (one third of our penalties were on our offensive line, which was makeshift and constantly changing all year).  In 2013, we were the least penalized team in the NFL.  In 2012, we were the 8th least penalized team.  In all, this coaching staff has a pretty good track record when it comes to discipline.

[Hoosiernsavga]

I agree a lot is fixable. This team will improve. But let's face it Buffalo is the better team. They will improve also. If their QB can just play within himself by not turn the ball over and making critical mistakes. Then the Bills can be a very good team with their defense leading the way. I still think they will finish third in their division behind the Pats and Dolphins though.

We have along way to go as everyone knows we are loaded at skill positions. But we are either young and inexperienced, really bad, or mediocre everywhere else.

[Narcosys]

I just watched Pagano's press conference from today and he says after looking at the tape, everything is fixable.

 

I meant to put that as a positive part in the 'positives and negatives thread'.

 

A few turnovers and penalties killed us.  Then a few big plays given up by the D killed us.  I agree with Pagano, though, just about everything we did wrong yesterday is fixable.  On K. Williams' big TD run, Freeman overran his gap and left a gaping hole in our defense.  On the big TD pass, Butler got burned when he was playing with a cushion, which shouldn't happen.

 

Let's not forget, we've only ever lost back-to-back regular season games once in the Pagano era.  That was last year when we started 0-2 -- and we had a very good game plan going into Philadelphia in week 2 -- Luck threw a very costly pick on a very poor decision late in that game when we had the lead and essentially just had to run some more time off the clock, otherwise we would have won that game.

 

I, for one, firmly believe this team is better than what we saw yesterday and that we've got a competent enough coaching staff to get our mistakes corrected moving forward.  I also think people are underestimating how good that Bills' D is (perhaps the best in the league).  For those reasons, I think it is way too early for anyone to start hitting the panic button.

 

I firmly believe that the Bills is just a legit team.  Especially their defense.  Im picking them to beat the Pats and especially cover the spread.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

I meant it's been 4 years of the current coaching regime. If the team is still undisciplined as a whole, then that might not be fixable. It's not just the rookies.

 

Lots of teams are undisciplined in week 1. Opening week is notoriously sloppy every year, league-wide. But I seriously doubt they're still making these same stupid penalties down the road a few weeks. I'd wouldn't be surprised if they cut penalties in half by next week's game.

[ColtStronger]

They always say the poor tackling is fixable.

How do you fix that? Either the players are good at tackling... Or they are not.

That is funny because it's true!  I suppose the coaches are referring to technique and positioning, however that also is more on the player.  They've made that excuse for YEARS now.  Instead of saying "it's fixable", I would suggest we just need to scrap our LB's who just can't tackle/cover.  AKA DQ and (I hate to say it) Freeman.  Add Bjoern Werner to the list as well (although he was demoted).  How many times are they going to allow average at LB'ers (at their very best) be starters and a huge part of our defense.  The staff hasn't put forth any solid ILB corp during this era, it's time THAT is what they focus on in the offseason, instead of adding another weapon for Luck (Dorsett sitting on the bench, Carter getting cut), and not even getting Frank Gore going. 

 

I understand it's still extremely early in the season, but I'm looking at the whole picture, this is the 4th season in the new era!  Time to wake up and FIX the problem not PATCH the hole...  I wouldn't mind spending the first 2 draft picks next year on ILB's, if that's what it takes.  One thing is for certain, that is a weakest link in our defense, despite other problems DL problems in the past, this is the most glaring.

[Deano1818]

It was raining.

Everyone knows the Colts can't play in the rain!

The sad thing is

 

I would hate to see the Colts record in snow/rain and temperature under 25 degrees

(yes we won a SB in the rain)

 

But

 

We would probably have a record of 10-50

 

(There is a message there somewhere   )

[throwing BBZ]

I thought #25 Jalil Brown held up pretty well.
 

 We had no QB Hits. Legal that is! Sad!!

[JPFolks]

Our coaches aren't the ones that got flagged for holding to negate a 30 yard completion, which ultimately put us in a position to start off losing the field position battle.  Holmes did that.

 

Our coaches didn't overshoot their gap and allow a 26 yard rushing touchdown.  Freeman did that.

 

Our coaches didn't underthrow a pass that got intercepted and lead to a Bills' touchdown.  Luck did that.

 

Our coaches didn't decide to run a kickoff out of the endzone and slip on the 3 yard line, putting us in terrible field position.  Moncrief did that.

 

Our coaches didn't muff 2 punts, one of them being recovered by another team.  Dorsett did that.

 

Our coaches didn't play terrible coverage on a 51 yard touchdown.  Butler did that.

 

Our coaches didn't terribly miss a 52 yard field goal, which put the Bills in good field position and lead to a touchdown.  Vinatieri did that.

 

Our coaches didn't drop a 2 point conversion that hit them right in the hands.  Andre Johnson did that.

 

Our coaches didn't hit the opposing QB high and late to move them from their territory to our territory.  Walden did that.  If not for that bone-headed play to give them 15 free yards, I'd say the only time we were 'outcoached' this game was when the Bills scored a TD on their first drive of the second half.

 

If we correct the mental mistakes and turnovers, we would have had a very good shot at winning that game.  That is the best defense we will probably face all season.  There is absolutely no reason to call for the coaches' heads or panic yet.  If we don't cut down on these mistakes and see improvements, then maybe we can start throwing the blame at the coaches.  It was week 1 in a 16 game season, I'm pretty sure we'll be just fine with the coaches we have.

You pretty much made a great case for us having terrible coaches.  No player discipline (dumb penalties, poor technique), Bad tackling and Gap responsibility performance, etc. etc. etc.  The only thing I don't blame the coaches for is the missed field goal, although perhaps that was too long for the wind conditions, so even that could have been the wrong decision but I give them a pass on it.  Mental mistakes and turnovers are affected by coaching.  Great coaches teach players to make the right decision at the right time.  It also teaches them how to field a punt or what coverages you can throw into.  Why you hold the coaches responsible almost nothing is puzzling.  Then why should we have coaches if they do not impact these things? 

[2006Coltsbestever]

The penalties killed us, I agree. Having said that a lot of making mental mistakes is on the Coaching. To me it's SB or bust now. After making the AFC Title Game anything less is a failure.

Edited September 15, 2015 by 21isSuperman

[CoachLite]

Ok well, 2013 I was saying maybe the players just aren't getting it, then 2014, I was like well, maybe the players just aren't getting it, but i had suspicions. Now in 2015 i'm starting to look at the coaches, at some point you can only blame the players so far.

 

Especially when we change the players, but the results are the same - unacceptable. Kinda makes you wonder.

[CoachLite]

How many players that are currently starting for the Colts, that made mistakes on Sunday, have actually been on the team for 4 years?

 

Yeah .... these are totally new mistakes, made by totally new players. Ignore the fact that they closely follow the historical pattern ...

[SilentHill]

Dude, stop. If you really think firing coaches and starting over after week 1 would somehow benefit this team, when they've been running and practicing all of these schemes and systems since OTAs and training camp, you've gone mental.

 

Actually I wanted to fire them after the blowout loss last January, this just reaffirms my thoughts.

[bleevit]

If not for Holmes' hold on our first drive, we would have most likely scored on the first drive, with a first and 10 on Buffalo's 36.  Instead, we wound up punting from our own 37 -- immediately putting us in a losing battle for field position.

 

If Luck puts a little more air on the INT, that would have been a complete pass landing us near the Buffalo 15, which would have been our 2nd scoring drive of the 1st quarter.  Instead, they returned an interception to just about mid-field to give them a short field to score on.

 

If Vinatieri makes that 52 yard FG (something he's always been capable of doing in the past), we have our 3rd scoring drive of the first half.  Instead, we left them in good field position.

 

Those 3 plays alone are responsible for ruining 3 scoring drives in the first half.  They may be more responsible than that, as who knows what Buffalo would have done had we scored and had them starting on their own 20 instead of leaving them in good field position.

I agree with the theme that in reality there were a half a dozen plays in the game that the Colts didn't make that swung the whole game.  The Bills appear to be very good and I thought the Colts hung in there pretty well considering all the adverse plays.

[12dalegend]

I disagree. We made stupid mistakes in every phase of the game, and you fix that by not making stupid mistakes. Credit to them, and it's not like we would have obliterated them otherwise. But better execution on a handful of plays changes the look of that game.

Your Pagano quote says it all

[ColtsFanMikeC]

You pretty much made a great case for us having terrible coaches.  No player discipline (dumb penalties, poor technique), Bad tackling and Gap responsibility performance, etc. etc. etc.  The only thing I don't blame the coaches for is the missed field goal, although perhaps that was too long for the wind conditions, so even that could have been the wrong decision but I give them a pass on it.  Mental mistakes and turnovers are affected by coaching.  Great coaches teach players to make the right decision at the right time.  It also teaches them how to field a punt or what coverages you can throw into.  Why you hold the coaches responsible almost nothing is puzzling.  Then why should we have coaches if they do not impact these things? 

 

We don't have 'terrible' coaches.  I don't understand how anyone on this forum has that opinion.  We went from the laughing stock of the NFL to 3 straight 11 win seasons, advancing further in the playoffs each year while entirely rebuilding our team.  In fact, our player personnel may be better if we did have 'terrible' coaches because the majority of coaches coming into the situation that this group came into probably would have had us picking in the top 5 or 10 in the draft for 2 more years.

 

Sure, coaching has a lot to do with the performance of the game.  And the coaching staff should get these things fixed now that they are on tape and can be broken down.  It is week 1 of a 16 week season.  We went 0-2 to start last year and we wound up with 11 wins and in the AFC Championship game.  There is no need to panic yet, and certainly no need to be calling for our coaching staff to be fired.  We played a very good Bills team and we lost, in large part due to self-inflicted wounds.  The title of this thread is 'everything is fixable', which it is, now that the coaching staff knows what needs fixed.  Pagano, like I've stated a bunch of times before, has only lost back-to-back games 1 time in 3 years with us -- suggesting he and his staff do a pretty darn good job of correcting mistakes.

 

The interception Luck threw, was not thrown into poor coverage -- if he put that ball where it needed to be, that would have been a huge play.  That is on Luck for underthrowing it, not on the coaches for not 'teaching' Andrew what coverages he can throw into.  Luck knows what kind of arm he has, and he chose the right option to as to where to throw the ball, he just made a very bad throw.  If Pagano or Pep punched him in the arm as he was throwing, then yea, blame the coaches for that -- but they didn't.  That INT was strictly on Luck.  Luck's 2nd INT he threw the ball too high and Buffalo made a good play.  He puts that ball down 4-5 inches and that should be an easy catch by Andre.

 

Dorsett was doing fine fielding punts in pre-season, and I'm sure has been doing fine fielding them in practice, else the coaches wouldn't have him back there in a game -- that was his first real NFL game and he admitted he was thinking too much about trying to make a big play and took his eyes on the ball, sorry but that is on him for being an inexperienced rookie, that's not on the coaches who have watched him enough in preseason and practice to know he knows how to field a punt. 

 

We had 5 total penalties, only 8 teams had less than that this weekend.  This, by your logic (that every penalty is on the coaches), suggests 18 teams who had more penalties have worse coaches than us (that list would include the Patriots, the Broncos, the Packers, the Bills, the Seahawks, and many more), and that the other 5 teams have coaches who are just as bad as ours.

 

Walden is a veteran in this league.  He knows better than to hit a QB late, he is too old and experienced to have the coaches be his excuse.  Holmes' penalty came at a very bad time, otherwise we would probably not be talking about it -- to Holmes' credit, this was his first opening game experience in the league and he was up against the probably the best defensive line in the league.  Sure, we need to limit our penalties, but after week 1 I think every coach in the league is saying they also need to limit their penalties.

 

The reason I started this thread was not to blame everything on the players and excuse the coaches.  It was to try to bring some level-headedness to this forum by suggesting that we are not doomed yet.  Sure, the game plan could probably have been improved.  Sure, some techniques could be refined.  However, it is week 1 of a long season.  We made some timely mistakes that are evident in the film.  Pagano, wisely, stated that the best part is they are all fixable.  Now that we have seen our team in action, the coaches can analyze the tape and get these problems fixed.

 

If the coaching staff doesn't get these problems fixed, then we might have a problem.  Until then, for anyone to say that a coaching staff that took a 2-14 team in a complete rebuild to 3 straight 11 win seasons and an AFC Championship game should be fired is absolutely ridiculous.

 

As far as the Grigs/Pagano debate goes, the only problems that I see from this past game that may not be able to be fixed are inadequate players in certain positions -- that isn't on the coach, in my opinion. 

[deedub75]

Why weren't these problems fixed before the first game?

[Coltsman1788]

If "everything is fixable" then why hasn't it been fixed?  Griggs/Pags have had 4 years now to address our trench deficiencies on both sides of the ball.  Don't tell me how it's fixable just FIX IT!