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ballards new defense


OLD FAN MAN

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All 11 starters were new at their positions from opening day last year.

 

http://m.colts.com/news/article-1/Colts-Release-2016-Regular-Season-Depth-Chart/b0d13328-534f-488f-9845-abc94298b12a

 

I'm far, far more worried about the offense...though that largely depends on vontae getting healthy and at least one but preferably 2 out of Wilson, desir and hairston become starters

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Well, I felt that Steve Spags used Jonathan Hankins better than Monachino did. You can see the best OL draftees and defensive players signed but at some point, the coaches have to develop and put the players in the best position to succeed. Based on what I have seen so far, I don't think our set of coaches can do that consistently. That is the true problem, IMO. 

 

Football is very much complementary, you can have the Seahawks' or Giants' D but if the O leaves the D hung out to dry, there is only so much the D can do.

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Pagano was regarded as a defense minded coach yet their defense has never been tops since he blew in. During a recent pre-game broadcast one of the announcers said "no one wants to win more than Jim Irsay". I never believed that of him but if it is true then he is just without a clue on how to do it.

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20 minutes ago, gacoop1 said:

Let's steal Rod Marinelli from the Cowboys and make him head coach......He can teach Pagano about not letting your opponent score in the 40s.  

 

Yeah Ballard should hire the only HC to ever make it through an entire 16 game season without winning a game.  That would ramp up the fan base for sure :P

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3 hours ago, OLD FAN MAN said:

only 46 pts allowed, is that better than last year

 

Can you do simple math?

 

46 minus 14.(Defensive TDs)

 

Lets see, start with the tens. So take 40 and subtract 10.  That gives you 30 okay?

 

Now take the 4 and subtract that from 6. That gives you 2 okay?

 

Now add 30 and 2. That gives you.......... 32

 

Now subtract 2 points from the safety, K? 

 

32-2+46 right? Nope.... it gives you 30. The defense gave up 30 points. 

 

Thanks for participating in our weekly math lesson.

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13 minutes ago, lollygagger8 said:

TJ Green is trash. Maybe his neck is broken from all those missed tackles.....or hitting his own teammates. 

Butler is a liability at safety. 

Why were Hooker and Wilson not played the entire game? 

Doyle, Simon and Woods looked like the only legit starters.

 

Oh and Lolzein.......wow.

 

Both hooker and Wilson did play. At least I'm pretty sure I saw Wilson a few times. I know I saw hooker and not just in garbage time.

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-Butler should not be playing safety. When Green got beat for the touchdown over the middle, Butler was 10 yards in front of the play and completely out of position.

 

-Speaking of Green, there is no logical reason to put a "project" in at CB. If you want to give him some reps in the slot during the game then thats fine. But don't start him at a primary position for a large part of the game.

 

-Hooker and Wilson should've played a bit more, if not the whole game. Wilson was once again in good position but didn't make a play on the ball. Hooker wasn't involved in too many plays to warrant judgement.

 

-Woods, Simon and George play admirably. Bostic looked lost in coverage. Hankins didn't contribute much which was very disappointing given the money he was paid.

 

Overall, the pass rush showed little improvement from last year while the run defense appeared to be somewhat better. The secondary is still in bad shape and the LB's still look bad in pass defense.

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9 hours ago, OLD FAN MAN said:

we started 10 of 11 new faces on defense, did they look better  than last year, grigs guys are gone, these are ballards is it talent or coaching

Can't fault the defense when the offense literally was putrid 

 

I'll cut them slack. Ask again when Andrew Luck plays. 

 

Run defense was great & Bostic made me forget about Spence. 

 

 

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well the offense was responsible for 19 of the points scored

2 pick 6's

the FG from TYs fumble

the safety

 

plus the countless other times the O put the D in bad position.

 

The run D was very solid.....holding a pro offense to 1.9 yards a carry on 33 carries is a great sign no matter who it is.

 

and PS--Colts are #1 in the league based on Rush D yards per carry....now the pass rush is a different story and seemed to be lots of miscommunication in the secondary which could explain why some of the receivers were so wide open.

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10 hours ago, OLD FAN MAN said:

only 46 pts allowed, is that better than last year

 

You can take 16 points off the defense. Two pick for TD and a Safety after a fumble by Mack

 

I get your point though the defensive backfield was horrible and the team had a lot of mistakes and blown coverages. I hope though this is due to 11 new starters not just a talent issue

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7 hours ago, AustinnKaine said:

Can you do simple math?

 

46 minus 14.(Defensive TDs)

 

Lets see, start with the tens. So take 40 and subtract 10.  That gives you 30 okay?

 

Now take the 4 and subtract that from 6. That gives you 2 okay?

 

Now add 30 and 2. That gives you.......... 32

 

Now subtract 2 points from the safety, K? 

 

32-2+46 right? Nope.... it gives you 30. The defense gave up 30 points. 

 

Thanks for participating in our weekly math lesson.

32-2+46 = 76 not 30.

 

Just sayin'

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We had one sack, by Hunt in garbage time, with almost no pressure on Goff at all during most of the game. Can't play D in the NFL without some kind of pass rush. Again we made an average QB look great. Sheard had no pressure and we got nothing from any blitzes, which were too few. Nothing we did on D looked like anything, vanilla as could be. Looks like just about the same D as last year with maybe a little better run D. 

 

Simon was the only guy to me that seemed to shine at all. Well, I guess you can count the punter as part of our D and I thought Sanchez had a good game. 

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1 hour ago, lollygagger8 said:

The entire game.

 

No player plays the entire game.  First, they don't play offense.  Second, they need breathers...all players do.  Would have been much easier to say, Why didn't they get more playing time.  The way you worded it suggested that they didn't see the field at all. 

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2 minutes ago, OHColtfan said:

We had one sack, by Hunt in garbage time, with almost no pressure on Goff at all during most of the game. Can't play D in the NFL without some kind of pass rush. Again we made an average QB look great. Sheard had no pressure and we got nothing from any blitzes, which were too few. Nothing we did on D looked like anything, vanilla as could be. Looks like just about the same D as last year with maybe a little better run D. 

 

Simon was the only guy to me that seemed to shine at all. Well, I guess you can count the punter as part of our D and I thought Sanchez had a good game. 

 

That probably had a lot to do with them starting Green, Melvin and Farley in the secondary.  Melvin and Farley were expected but I was very surprised to see Green starting.  Would love to know why that wasn't Wilson...hell or even Milton, who I think would have at least been better than Green was.  I do think Green has potential at CB, but was waaaaay too early imo for him to be starting.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic about the defense but we definitely need to get some better starters into the secondary and quickly. 

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For a completely non emotional point of view, here's my take on the D.

 

The Good:

There did not seem to be a lot of players adlibbing.  Guys for the most part knew their assignment and stuck to it, especially the run defense.  At one point in the 3rd quarter Gurley was like 16 carries for 30 some odd yards.

 

the three downlineman are all stout on the line and don't get pushed back so that is good.

 

It looks like there are some good backups that can come in without a big drop in productivity, so that's good.

 

The bad

 

The Colts are still a bad tackling team, there were a few plays that would have been short losses but a missed tackle then lead to a big gain.

 

The DC is still horrible, it took the Rams OC about a quarter and a half to figure out the D and have plays that had one or more receivers wide open.

 

The DBs, Green was the best DB on the field for the Colts and he played just OK, the TD in front of him was not his fault, it looked like Butler should have dropped back to have inside coverage.  Farley did next to nothing, Hooker did not look good and Butler (as I've been saying all preseason) is a horrible safety.

 

Overall there are some things to build on from a defensive standpoint and it actually looks like they took a step in the right direction in a lot of ways.  Unfortunately when the change needed is the equivalent of climbing the Mt. Everest, so a step in the right direction means there is still a long ways to go. 

 

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