Such a winnable game. Pats did not really "wow" me.

[Superman]

U forgot another Blount power TD as usual.

 

No I didn't.

[Superman]

Edelman was hot early with the TD but then the finger which is why Amendola was targeted more. Martin. Thanks. Could not remember his name for some reason. Great catch by him.

 

I agree you don't let Gronk beat you like Pitt allowed. Overall I liked your defensive game plan. There were some big plays in there and broken coverages but the Pats had to work for their scores. Third down conversion really killed you guys as Brady converted all of them I believe in the first half as the Pats never punted.

 

They kicked two field goals in the first half. 

 

I'm fine with the defensive game plan. Brady did a great job of moving to buy time, which is something he hasn't had to do this season. Our initial coverage was pretty good, but as always, zones get stretched the longer the play goes, and we zoned up the middle a little too much, which led to Blount's receiving TD and Edelman's. I'll take that, though, rather than letting him pick us apart quickly, with no chance of a pass rush having any impact.

[dw49]

There were two on Ninck too that were wrestling moves.

 

 

If you didn't think Indy took it on the chin from the officials , you are pretty biased. What did you think of the pseudo kick off recovery   by NE? I'm not saying Indy outplayed NE but that was a huge call. Crazy that all they have to do to get that right is ask the official if he awarded the ball to NE on the first NE O lineman recovering it. The ball squirted out to his left and the official evidently didn't see what the replay clearly showed.

[coltsfanatic89]

I have no idea what they were thinking with the fake punt.

[dw49]

They kicked two field goals in the first half. 

 

I'm fine with the defensive game plan. Brady did a great job of moving to buy time, which is something he hasn't had to do this season. Our initial coverage was pretty good, but as always, zones get stretched the longer the play goes, and we zoned up the middle a little too much, which led to Blount's receiving TD and Edelman's. I'll take that, though, rather than letting him pick us apart quickly, with no chance of a pass rush having any impact.

 

Couple big plays plus all the penalties cost the game. The insides kick , the 28 holding calls plus one other huge play nobody has mentioned. When NE went for it from our 42 with a minute left in the half , we had the play just killed. Eldleman just spins out of the tackle. Brutal big play as it could have ben anywhere between a 3 ad 10 point swing. I believe we had all 3 time outs. Make that tackle and we aren't doing crazy fake punts later in the game, Plus the Colts 100 % recovered that onside kick. Just a bad rule that they couldn't overturn that one.

[Restored]

We didn't abandon the run, until the 4th quarter down 13 points.  Gore had 4 carries for 23 yards in the 3rd quarter, that doesn't include an 11 yard run that was nullified by a Castonzo holding penalty.  Bradshaw had 2 carries for 3 yards in the third quarter.

 

Colts first drive after New England went up 6: pass, pass, pass and punt.

 

4 of those run you mentioned came in one drive (Punt gaff drive).

[Superman]

Couple big plays plus all the penalties cost the game. The insides kick , the 28 holding calls plus one other huge play nobody has mentioned. When NE went for it from our 42 with a minute left in the half , we had the play just killed. Eldleman just spins out of the tackle. Brutal big play as it could have ben anywhere between a 3 ad 10 point swing. I believe we had all 3 time outs. Make that tackle and we aren't doing crazy fake punts later in the game, Plus the Colts 100 % recovered that onside kick. Just a bad rule that they couldn't overturn that one.

 

Yeah, that Edelman move was huge. I can't even get mad at Jackson for overrunning the play, Edelman just made a great move. 

[ColtsBlueFL]

Colts first drive after New England went up 6: pass, pass, pass and punt.

 

4 of those run you mentioned came in one drive (Punt gaff drive).

And following that, here are the Colts next two possessions after your example above-

 

 

 

After that fake punt, we then abandoned the run.  Not until then. Period.

[Restored]

And following that, here are the Colts next two possessions after your example above-

 

 

 

After that fake punt, we then abandoned the run.  Not until then. Period.

 

Even at 13 points, you shouldn't be completely compelled to abandon the run. The Colts still had an entire quarter to make up two scores. Gore busting off another long run or two could've helped the Colts instead of playing right into New England's hands with the non-stop passing.

[ColtsBlueFL]

Even at 13 points, you shouldn't be completely compelled to abandon the run. The Colts still had an entire quarter to make up two scores. Gore busting off another long run or two could've helped the Colts instead of playing right into New England's hands with the non-stop passing.

I

 agree.  That's when Pep and Luck panicked and went back old, bad habits- deeper pass routes.  And we got the same results as before.  Ineffective. The only difference than before?  At least no interceptions this time.  Those potential interceptions found the turf yesterday.

[lollygagger8]

I

 agree.  That's when Pep and Luck panicked and went back old, bad habits- deeper pass routes.  And we got the same results as before.  Ineffective. The only difference than before?  At least no interceptions this time.  Those potential interceptions found the turf yesterday.

 

Luck owes Griff a beer or three for saving one of the would be INT's. 

[JimJaime]

They kicked two field goals in the first half.

I'm fine with the defensive game plan. Brady did a great job of moving to buy time, which is something he hasn't had to do this season. Our initial coverage was pretty good, but as always, zones get stretched the longer the play goes, and we zoned up the middle a little too much, which led to Blount's receiving TD and Edelman's. I'll take that, though, rather than letting him pick us apart quickly, with no chance of a pass rush having any impact.

I think Brady internal clock was running faster with Cannon going down. Which is logical you would expect less time with your 3rd option at tackle.

[JimJaime]

Luck owes Griff a beer or three for saving one of the would be INT's.

There was one pass that went right through chandler jones hands ( a DE) and the colt WR still made a great catch on the tipped ball. Luck got away with a couple of mistakes,but most QB's do.

[Johnny Bui]

Leave it up to pep to ruin his own game plan. But i guess its not really on him.  I really wish moncrief and hilton dove for the first down on 3rd and 3, so we can keep the chains moving earlier on. "Sacrifice your bodies dammit."

 

We really need to improve our pass rush and 3rd down efficiency.  We should make that a major priority and emphasize it.

 

Those damn holding calls are killing us.

[Smash Mouth]

This Pats team is very beatable.

 

But for handing the Pats the game with a baffling ST play, the Colts absolutely stood toe-to-toe with New England.

They're 5-0 and they put up 34 points on us in our building.  We scored 7 points the whole 2nd half.  Toe-to-toe is a little bit of a stretch.  I would say that we went the distance though.  That's an improvement.

[lollygagger8]

There was one pass that went right through chandler jones hands ( a DE) and the colt WR still made a great catch on the tipped ball. Luck got away with a couple of mistakes,but most QB's do.

 

Oh ya, he threw it directly to Jones. 

[throwing BBZ]

This Pats team is very beatable.

 

But for handing the Pats the game with a baffling ST play, the Colts absolutely stood toe-to-toe with New England.

 

 Silliness. The game was not nearly as close as the score. Brady toys with us.

[JimJaime]

The ST trick play was dumb, but I have also read that Ty TD catch he dropped?? Is that true?

[johnshell]

The onside kick. Why do that at that point in the game? There was no point in trying to be tricky or cute.

 

When we aggressively made the gutsy play calls and they worked out, everybody said we were standing toe to toe with NE. When they didn't work out, everybody said what bad decisions they were. Hindsight will always be 20-20. I don't fault the coaches' play calling, but I do fault their preparation of the team for the play-calling. It just didn't look like everyone was clued into how to pull these calls off. It shows in the penalties. If the fake punt had worked as designed, I guarantee there would be a lot of comments on here about how gutsy of a play call it was and how stupid NE was for letting that happen. It always happens that way, we were just on the losing side of the gambles this night and lacked good preparation.

 

You're sadly mistaken if you think GB is a lock to come out the NFC. Carolina can & will give them a run for their money should they meet in January(especially if they play in Carolina) along with Atlanta. Yes tonight's loss stung like hell, but we've proven we can hang with them & quite frankly, I'm praying we do see them again.

 

Yeah, the NFC race is much closer than the AFC race.  There is no way that GB is even close to locking the NFC right now with how the Panthers and Falcons are playing. And yeah, losses sting, but they teach us things as long as the players are receptive to the lessons learned.  I don't know what I learned except gambles are just that, gambles. You play hard and take risks and the game can go either way. We are no worse a team with no less talent than NE, they just take gambles intelligently and minimize their risks. We've gotta get there if we want to be competitive with the big guns outside our division.

 

I would agree we recovered it, but they gave it to NE. Even though that should have been our ball, I don't think that was a good call, maybe gutsy, but not good. And unnecessary.

 

Probably not necessary, but had it panned out, we would have had a more frazzled NE offense throwing a heck of a lot more and giving our defense an easier time with reads. Every team makes more mistakes when they are behind. Just look at the Falcons' last game. When a team gets too used to coming from behind, they become what Peyton became for a good while and what Luck is becoming: way too unilateral. Keep Gore going and doing what he knows how to do and we have a much better chance of winning this game. But like I said before, hindsight is 20-20.

[amfootball]

If you didn't think Indy took it on the chin from the officials , you are pretty biased. What did you think of the pseudo kick off recovery   by NE? I'm not saying Indy outplayed NE but that was a huge call. Crazy that all they have to do to get that right is ask the official if he awarded the ball to NE on the first NE O lineman recovering it. The ball squirted out to his left and the official evidently didn't see what the replay clearly showed.

I thought the officiating was awful all around. The onside kick should have been Indy's. They took a TD off at the end of the half with the bogus PI on Chandler. They also had a clock mgmt. issue as well. But I am used to it as the whole league this year has been down from the QB play to the kickers to the officiating. Just have to fight through.

[krunk]

Chuck Pagano on abandoning the run in the fourth quarter:
 

“Did we get away from it a little bit too soon? Yeah.

“There was a point where I told Pep we have to go up-tempo, we’ve got to get this thing down field in a hurry.”

 

Looks like the culprit was Pagano and not Pep

[Kyle234]

I thought the officiating was awful all around. The onside kick should have been Indy's. They took a TD off at the end of the half with the bogus PI on Chandler. They also had a clock mgmt. issue as well. But I am used to it as the whole league this year has been down from the QB play to the kickers to the officiating. Just have to fight through.

The refs called TY Hilton's TD catch a catch even though he dropped it. Even if you think the refs botched the onside kick call, it's not as bad as ruling a dropped pass as a touchdown. I agree that it was just subpar officiating all around.

[dw49]

I thought the officiating was awful all around. The onside kick should have been Indy's. They took a TD off at the end of the half with the bogus PI on Chandler. They also had a clock mgmt. issue as well. But I am used to it as the whole league this year has been down from the QB play to the kickers to the officiating. Just have to fight through.

 

 

I don't think the Colts outplayed the Pats. I also think the Colts held more than NE did. Where we disagree is I thought Chandler no doubt deserved the PI. Try to look at that gain if you can find it.

[amfootball]

I don't think the Colts outplayed the Pats. I also think the Colts held more than NE did. Where we disagree is I thought Chandler no doubt deserved the PI. Try to look at that gain if you can find it.

Eh, I don't feel like arguing over it. There was contact by both players and no push off that warranted a penalty IMO as both were fighting for the ball and Chandler came down with it. It took 4 points off that could have end up costing us the game but luckily it didn't.

[aaron11]

Luck owes Griff a beer or three for saving one of the would be INT's.

griff made a big mistake himself that ammounted to a turn over

[18Manning]

 Silliness. The game was not nearly as close as the score. Brady toys with us.

 

Perhaps towards somewhere in the 3rd quarter, but I don't think he was toying with the Colts up to that point.

[18Manning]

Perhaps towards somewhere in the 3rd quarter, but I don't think he was toying with the Colts up to that point.

 

That didn't sound right. What I meant is maybe starting somewhere in the 3rd, but I don't think he was "toying" with the Colts when the game was tight, or they were behind. Personally, I don't think they ever relaxed, coasted, took their foot off the throttle, etc. And no team, especially the Pats, is going to be so lax to allow the opposition to get within a successful onside kick to have a legitimate shot of tying the game.

[Jules]

I know in the past many used to criticize Dungy for being too conservative but often against a team like NE that could work eventually and it did when we actually did manage to get some wins over NE when our teams were finally getting better then theirs.

 

Just play smart clean football. Don't try to pull out magic tricks. Don't turn it over and get turnovers. 

 

Yes it was a very winnable game but we need more brains on this team.

 

And do not panic. Stay calm.

[zibby43]

So many unfathomable coaching decisions in the 2nd half of that game.

 

Offense reverted to vertically-oriented passing attack.

 

No threat of a run game.  Although, the fake punt fiasco somewhat damaged Pep's ability to be balanced with the play calling. 

[JH8788]

 

 

 

Yeah, the NFC race is much closer than the AFC race.  There is no way that GB is even close to locking the NFC right now with how the Panthers and Falcons are playing. And yeah, losses sting, but they teach us things as long as the players are receptive to the lessons learned.  I don't know what I learned except gambles are just that, gambles. You play hard and take risks and the game can go either way. We are no worse a team with no less talent than NE, they just take gambles intelligently and minimize their risks. We've gotta get there if we want to be competitive with the big guns outside our division.

 

 

We have 2 big AFC games left on the schedule, and that's Denver & Pittsburgh. Both are winnable games & I expect to win them both even though Pittsburgh can go either way since Ben will be back by then. Denver's offense doesn't scare me because Peyton just has fallen off the cliff & unless he gets it together by the time we meet, we're gonna win the game. Plus after we play NO(hopefully we win) I'm glad we have Carolina & Denver back to back because we have to learn how to play against the elite defenses since the Bills & Jets games were absolute disgraces.

 

Back to last night's game. Chuck coached his behind off up until the fake punt & I disagree with anybody who says the onside kick was a bad decision even though we recovered it cause NE was lined up perfectly for us to try it & while it's no guarantee that we would've scored a TD, by how we were rolling, I find it hard to believe that we wouldn't have scored 7. 

[lollygagger8]

griff made a big mistake himself that ammounted to a turn over

 

We all know that, but he still saved an INT 

[krunk]

I know in the past many used to criticize Dungy for being too conservative but often against a team like NE that could work eventually and it did when we actually did manage to get some wins over NE when our teams were finally getting better then theirs.

 

Just play smart clean football. Don't try to pull out magic tricks. Don't turn it over and get turnovers. 

 

Yes it was a very winnable game but we need more brains on this team.

 

And do not panic. Stay calm.

 

I agree with you my sista!

[PeterBowman]

I agree with you my sista!

that's the key to beating NE, be patient and be virtually mistake free because they rarely make big mistakes. But you need to capitalize when they do..ie the pick 6.

[blueHippo]

Absolutely! Going to be tough wacthing this one in the film room. Let's see how the pats do later in the season. They're beatable

So far five teams have thought they are beatable...

[krunk]

that's the key to beating NE, be patient and be virtually mistake free because they rarely make big mistakes. But you need to capitalize when they do..ie the pick 6.

 

Everybody has their own opinion but I didn't like the onside kick and I didn't like the stupid fake punt.  I just didn't like giving New England a starting field position of the 35 or better coming right off of us scoring a TD.  Yeah it would have been good for us if we had recovered the kick, but I just think overall the onside kick is such a low percentage success play to where you honestly have a better chance of getting the ball back by just simply kicking off and playing sound defense.  I don't think we lost the ball game with that play, but overall I'm not a real big fan of stuff like that against an offensive juggernaut. To me I feel like each and every time you have an opportunity to pin a team like that back on the 20 yard line or less then you do it and make them drive the field.   I suppose if you are going to do an onsides kick it's better to do it real early with the lead or a really close score like we did.  I'm not going to harp that long on that one because it didn't really lose us the game.

 

I just didn't think and still don't think we needed any tricks to beat them.  There's nothing magical about New England, all you need is solid square up fundamental tackling/blocking, smart, tough, consistent offensive and defensive football to beat New England.  Teams that play this way have shown to be able to win against that team.   Things that make sense please lets do them, things that don't make any sense please let's not do them.  I thought my plan for the game would work out best for us and we played that way for most if not all the first half.   And then we come out in the second half and just get away from everything we did well.   How long can this brand of inconsistent football last is my question?  When will the changes we make be permanent and not something we do in one game and not in the other?  I know we'll be a hell of an unstoppable football team if we can, but I can't understand what is driving the thinking process of our coaches to not immediately see where this thing needs to go.  Ya'll know I don't get too much on the "Fire this Person" and "Fire that Person" train so it's not what I'm advocating.  However I do have some questions and hopefully I'll see what I want to see over the rest of the season.

[RandomFan]

I'll reply to my own post here. If not for, at least one stupid play, this game could have been a Colts victory. Personally, I didn't like the onside kick either (even though that should have been our ball). So, take away those 2 plays, I'm not conceding the Pats were the better team. We played lights out a good part of this game.

 

If the pats don't throw a fluke pick 6 this wouldn't have been as close as it was. Goes both ways..... I agree we played them better than the last several meetings.... That's not saying much tho.

[18Manning]

If the pats don't throw a fluke pick 6 this wouldn't have been as close as it was. Goes both ways..... I agree we played them better than the last several meetings.... That's not saying much tho.

 

A pick 6 is a pick 6, doesn't matter that it was a Brady pick 6. There are many interceptions and pick 6s due to a receiver tipping or bobbling a pass. We don't give those QBs a pass because they're not named Brady. Receivers don't catch balls, lineman don't block, players play injured, etc. It's all part of the game. I'm not saying the Pats didn't outplay the Colts, but the Colts played quite well for more than a half. I'm suggesting this was a winnable game as the OP stated. And it was a close game considering the score. It was unlikely, but not impossible for the Colts to win at the end. There are teams that play a terrible game and come away with a win. That could have been the Colts (playing terribly part of the game). The Pats won, but they did not put a whipping on the Colts like they did in the AFCCG. I disagree that this game didn't say much about the Colts. Aside from at least 1 stupid play, the Colts did well. We stopped NE on a few of their drives. LOL, we basically spotted them 7 points because of the stupid trick play. Punt the ball instead, we very well could have stopped them again as before. The game might have turned out differently.

 

Regarding, "Goes both way", IMO, a pick 6 and a stupid call for a trick play are not equal comparisons (not that that's what you were suggesting). The pick 6 took skill to execute. The trick play that gave the Pats EXCELLENT field position was just...stupid. Even if they pulled it off, I would still say it was too risky. We were down less than a TD at that point.

[18Manning]

A pick 6 is a pick 6, doesn't matter that it was a Brady pick 6. There are many interceptions and pick 6s due to a receiver tipping or bobbling a pass. We don't give those QBs a pass because they're not named Brady. Receivers don't catch balls, lineman don't block, players play injured, etc. It's all part of the game. I'm not saying the Pats didn't outplay the Colts, but the Colts played quite well for more than a half. I'm suggesting this was a winnable game as the OP stated. And it was a close game considering the score. It was unlikely, but not impossible for the Colts to win at the end. There are teams that play a terrible game and come away with a win. That could have been the Colts (playing terribly part of the game). The Pats won, but they did not put a whipping on the Colts like they did in the AFCCG. I disagree that this game didn't say much about the Colts. Aside from at least 1 stupid play, the Colts did well. We stopped NE on a few of their drives. LOL, we basically spotted them 7 points because of the stupid trick play. Punt the ball instead, we very well could have stopped them again as before. The game might have turned out differently.

 

Regarding, "Goes both way", IMO, a pick 6 and a stupid call for a trick play are not equal comparisons (not that that's what you were suggesting). The pick 6 took skill to execute. The trick play that gave the Pats EXCELLENT field position was just...stupid. Even if they pulled it off, I would still say it was too risky. We were down less than a TD at that point.

 

Just realized I said that wrong, but you know what I meant.

[throwing BBZ]

Still way too many penalties. We negated some good gains with holding tonight, killing our own drives.

We're almost halfway into this season. Why are those things still an issue?

 

 Castonzo isn`t that good for one. Now that it isn`t such easy pickins abusing the rest of the O-Line they are coming after him. And it looks mighty iffy.

 That is, more like his 1st 3 years.

  Funny how Andrew has gotten to play good teams right after after our opponents lose their LT.  Denver with the Mathis strip to start the game, Seattle (both tackles and they still rushed for over 200).

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

Got away from the balanced offense....... like always

Pep just doesn't learn. Your QB just got back and you out here having him throw 80 times

Run the ball!!!!

But defense was beautiful. Glad we're healthy aside from Geathers & Adams getting hurt. Proud of this team, disgusted with the coaches

There is some truth here. But I believe the team is playing better and headed in the right direction!