Colts: Stats so far show promise for future.

[Lawrence Owen]

Indy is better than the national media beleives. At least stat wise.  I know the only stat that REALLY matters is the 2W 3 L record But let us take a look at actuall stats:

 

Offense:  Colts are middle of pack at 17th in rushing YPG at 100 even.  This is only truly hampered by o-line issues that may become fixed with the return of Kelly, and possibly even more when Good gets back.  Passing is where I (and probably many others) am suprised.  202 Passing YPG is good for 22nd.  Now, much of this can be gifted to the first 2 weeks with Tolzien at the helm.  Brissett has played admirably and averaged more than 250 YPG in his starts.  And when Luck gets back, we all know this number will go back up and we will end up top 10 passing like we have year in and year out with Luck. (at least we hope his injury/recovery allows this).

 

Defence: Rushing, again 17th, allowing 103.4 YPG, and a 3.9 YPC average.    Middle of the pack is a good sign. especially where we were the last few years.  Passing on the other hand has killed us.  We are 3rd worst in the NFL in pass defense yardage.  Giving up 294 YPG.  only TB and NE having given up more.  but there is also good news on this front.  !st, much of our secondary consist's of rookies.  Whom will begin to settle down and get the hang of NFL. (which they have shown signs of already, just have yet to hold it together for 4 quarters.)  2nd, though we have given up so many yards, the QBR we have allowed says a different story.  contrary to NE's 109.2 QBR allowed, Indy's allowed QBR is only 88.6, which is 11th best in the league.  This shows the truth in Indies pass defence.  The have rookie misscue's and will give up chunk plays from time to time, but for a majority of a game play quite solid.  As i said earlier, once these rookie mistakes are put in check for the most part, (and geathers returns) you will begin to see the YPG total start to drop.

 

In conclusion, key injuries, and relying of rookies and hurt us in many aspects of the game.  But the good news is, the injured players are coming back, (or already have in Kelly and Davis' case).  And The playing time for talented rookies are allowing them the experience to grow from and become solid, consistant performers for us in the future.  If we can be 3-5 or even possibly 4-4 by mid season, I beleive we are not only playoff bound, but if the rookies continue to grow, have a real chance again the top tier teams.  Not saying we're going to win the SB. (we are not complete enough for that), but making the playoff's and turning a few heads from team growth is not out of the question.

(i mean, we are only 1 whole game out of 1st place somehow.  And the powerhouses such as the Patriots and the Steelers whom we have had our problems with are not playing like the same teams they used to be.)

[akcolt]

Man I love the positive attitude. I agree we are better than some think. We have a couple of glaring holes. The OL while every position could stand to be upgraded minus C. We still have a problem at G maybe Kelly can bring it together. We can't afford another injury there depth will be a problem. We still can't find a WR2 on offense. The D is certainly cause for hope. The major problem is our ILB's can't cover and unless we figure that out we will be exposed to every week. 

 

I don't think the playoffs are out of the question. We will need things to break our way. We have to avoid injuries and the rookie wall. The division games coming up will play a big part in where we go this year.  I think we can make some noise and that starts with winning in the division. We have wins against 2 of the 3 winless teams. These next couple of weeks are important. 

[zibby43]

And a not-so-good stat:

 

Entering the 49ers game, the 67-point differential for the Colts in second halves.

 

That was the third worst margin in NFL history. 

 

 

[ColtsBlitz]

Can't be worse than what the Steelers have going for them, 5 picks from Big Ben with no decent backup QB 

[ColtsBlitz]

2 hours ago, zibby43 said:

And a not-so-good stat:

 

Entering the 49ers game, the 67-point differential for the Colts in second halves.

 

That was the third worst margin in NFL history. 

It's a problem no doubt. Our offense without Luck is always pretty conservative. However last year vs the Texans our offensive game plan when we had the lead lost us that game too so I think we need a new o-Coordinator I'm just glad Brissett found the deep ball in key moments. He balled out until that pick. Right read, wrong throw in that situation. 

[LockeDown]

I'm confused by the Good and Haeg situation.  I always thought Good was going to be great.  I read that Howard Mudd was impressed with Haeg, so I thought he would be great.  since then nothing makes sense anymore.  And I'm not even mentioning Clark...the whole thing is crazy.  Are they just young or not well rounded or not strong enough?  I'm no line expert so I don't get it.

[DaColts85]

26 minutes ago, LockeDown said:

I'm confused by the Good and Haeg situation.  I always thought Good was going to be great.  I read that Howard Mudd was impressed with Haeg, so I thought he would be great.  since then nothing makes sense anymore.  And I'm not even mentioning Clark...the whole thing is crazy.  Are they just young or not well rounded or not strong enough?  I'm no line expert so I don't get it.

Good had promise for a small school, 7th round pick.  He had ups and downs but this year showed he had some promise.  Haeg has to me not been that bad.  He has become our new Joe Reitz, and is tasked with knowing and trying to solid at every spot but Center.  I think Haeg still has some good potential.  Clark was a project that is looking like a loss.  His technique towards the end of last year looked to improve, then this year happened.  He has regressed for sure and looks to have little confidence.  Not sure what to do with him but if we grab a few guys via draft/FA (I truly hope we do) he looks like a roster cut for sure.

[richard pallo]

2 hours ago, LockeDown said:

I'm confused by the Good and Haeg situation.  I always thought Good was going to be great.  I read that Howard Mudd was impressed with Haeg, so I thought he would be great.  since then nothing makes sense anymore.  And I'm not even mentioning Clark...the whole thing is crazy.  Are they just young or not well rounded or not strong enough?  I'm no line expert so I don't get it.

I think Good could still be great.  They tried moving him to guard last year and this year back to tackle.  He won the job outright, looked solid, then the injury.  I think when he returns he's going to nail that spot down.  Haag shows flashes but until he can stop or at least slow down a bull rush he is just a backup IMO and I have to believe we can find a better backup.  Ballard found Vuj and he beat out Haag.  Clark appears to be a wasted pick.  No real progress.  I don't forsee Haag or Clark on the roster next year. 

[DaColts85]

13 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

Ballard found Vuj and he beat out Haag.  Clark appears to be a wasted pick.  No real progress.  I don't forsee Haag or Clark on the roster next year. 

Grigson found Vuj and he was on the PS last year.  I disagree about Haeg.  He is a serviceable backup who shows improvement.  He is to me the next Joe Reitz.

[pappy_t]

It comes down to playing a full 60 minutes. The team must not slow down and give up the big plays that allow other teams to make a comeback with minutes or seconds left to play. I BELIEVE! The team will continue to get better and better barring any more serious injuries. Get well Andrew and the rest, the season isn't even half over yet. Never give up, never surrender! That's what makes this country the best country in the world. I am proud to be a COLTS FAN! 

[GoColtsWin]

On 10/10/2017 at 11:52 AM, pappy_t said:

It comes down to playing a full 60 minutes. The team must not slow down and give up the big plays that allow other teams to make a comeback with minutes or seconds left to play. I BELIEVE! The team will continue to get better and better barring any more serious injuries. Get well Andrew and the rest, the season isn't even half over yet. Never give up, never surrender! That's what makes this country the best country in the world. I am proud to be a COLTS FAN! 

Good post. Like the positivity.

[Superman]

Ballard said before the season that he thought it would take this team a month or two to start playing to their potential. That's understandable, given the roster turnover, youth at various positions, and injuries to some of our best players.

 

So, while I particularly haven't expressed much optimism about this team getting better, I can potentially see them getting better as time goes on. I'm not sure what could be done about the OL, but I could see Vontae getting it going, the rookie DBs getting better, the DL getting a little better as Ridgeway and Stewart get acclimated, and the receivers warming up to the new QB. 

 

And then, at some point, we get our best player back. And while I don't think he's going to solve all our issues overnight, and he might not even be fully up to speed, that should be a huge boost to everyone.

 

We've played two absolute stinkers so far; I think we know the floor, and it's depressingly low. I'm not sure the ceiling is very high. But there's definitely potential for the team to get better overall.

[LockeDown]

Ballards last interview revealed that he expected to win games this year.  He was tough on Basham and I think that's important because it's the one position that hasn't shown flashes as others have.  Our defense will be pretty good the last half of the season but the pass rushing position could be the bottleneck.  I would be very optimistic if TB started putting it together.  Either way, he addresses the position next season cause he he mentions often KC had several pass rushers and I think he wants to emulate that.

[Finball]

Looking at stats, it seems like we haven't been that bad covering WRs but backs and TEs have killed us. Footballoutsiders rank our pass D bottom 5 against them both. Matches the eye-test, ILBs can't cover and lack of Geathers hurts. Hooker usually plays single high and isn't matched up in man against backs or tight ends.

[Stephen]

On 10/10/2017 at 1:19 AM, Lawrence Owen said:

Indy is better than the national media beleives. At least stat wise.  I know the only stat that REALLY matters is the 2W 3 L record But let us take a look at actuall stats:

 

Offense:  Colts are middle of pack at 17th in rushing YPG at 100 even.  This is only truly hampered by o-line issues that may become fixed with the return of Kelly, and possibly even more when Good gets back.  Passing is where I (and probably many others) am suprised.  202 Passing YPG is good for 22nd.  Now, much of this can be gifted to the first 2 weeks with Tolzien at the helm.  Brissett has played admirably and averaged more than 250 YPG in his starts.  And when Luck gets back, we all know this number will go back up and we will end up top 10 passing like we have year in and year out with Luck. (at least we hope his injury/recovery allows this).

 

Defence: Rushing, again 17th, allowing 103.4 YPG, and a 3.9 YPC average.    Middle of the pack is a good sign. especially where we were the last few years.  Passing on the other hand has killed us.  We are 3rd worst in the NFL in pass defense yardage.  Giving up 294 YPG.  only TB and NE having given up more.  but there is also good news on this front.  !st, much of our secondary consist's of rookies.  Whom will begin to settle down and get the hang of NFL. (which they have shown signs of already, just have yet to hold it together for 4 quarters.)  2nd, though we have given up so many yards, the QBR we have allowed says a different story.  contrary to NE's 109.2 QBR allowed, Indy's allowed QBR is only 88.6, which is 11th best in the league.  This shows the truth in Indies pass defence.  The have rookie misscue's and will give up chunk plays from time to time, but for a majority of a game play quite solid.  As i said earlier, once these rookie mistakes are put in check for the most part, (and geathers returns) you will begin to see the YPG total start to drop.

 

In conclusion, key injuries, and relying of rookies and hurt us in many aspects of the game.  But the good news is, the injured players are coming back, (or already have in Kelly and Davis' case).  And The playing time for talented rookies are allowing them the experience to grow from and become solid, consistant performers for us in the future.  If we can be 3-5 or even possibly 4-4 by mid season, I beleive we are not only playoff bound, but if the rookies continue to grow, have a real chance again the top tier teams.  Not saying we're going to win the SB. (we are not complete enough for that), but making the playoff's and turning a few heads from team growth is not out of the question.

(i mean, we are only 1 whole game out of 1st place somehow.  And the powerhouses such as the Patriots and the Steelers whom we have had our problems with are not playing like the same teams they used to be.)

Colts are winning super bowl. You heard it from me first!

[King Colt]

40 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Colts are winning super bowl. You heard it from me first!

Yes, but what year?

[Lawrence Owen]

5 hours ago, LockeDown said:

Ballards last interview revealed that he expected to win games this year.  He was tough on Basham and I think that's important because it's the one position that hasn't shown flashes as others have.  Our defense will be pretty good the last half of the season but the pass rushing position could be the bottleneck.  I would be very optimistic if TB started putting it together.  Either way, he addresses the position next season cause he he mentions often KC had several pass rushers and I think he wants to emulate that.

The games i've seen, we have had quite a bit of QB pressures, but not sacks.  

[Stephen]

4 hours ago, King Colt said:

Yes, but what year?

This year will be surprise team. Then Gore retires.