Takeaway from Ravens game.

[Fisticuffs111]

Weird that Simon was still playing in the 4th. Showcasing him for a trade?

I hope not, I think he's done a really good job transitioning and I'm not big on our pass rush the first two games. Not to mention he's been part of the only bright spots in that pass rush.

[TheMose]

I'm not concerned about last nights game. Any worry about play calling during preseason is absurd. Luck had some real nice passes and some real bad throws. But what better time to take chances than preseason? Its not like the INT hurts anything. That's like gambling with fake money, all in every time. lol. But the defense looked solid for the most part, offensive line was pretty good against a strong defense (even without AC), and Wilkins is stepping up. I think Luck's performance during joint practices was more important than preseason. Teams can study preseason games, I'm pretty sure they can't study practices.

[ColtsLegacy]

When will they start working someone else at return? Hines has taken every return, as far as I can remember, and he's looked terrible on every one.

 

Start working other guys back there please.

 

And then cut Hines.

[Dingus McGirt]

Ismael.

[ProblChld32]

9 hours ago, Rackeen305 said:

I absolutely hate it when the C doesn't put some speed on the ball when snapping the ball to the QB. It's like Joe Haeg was underhand pitching (passing) the ball to the QB. By the time the QB has to look the ball into his hands, The DE is almost in his grill, Thus the QB cannot read the freaking defense. Why haven't we signed a decent center instead of using an OT in Haeg?

 

Secondly, WE NEED to sign another WR like now. Grant has been horrible plain and simple through 2 games. And he's supposed to be a veteran dropping crossing routes under 5 yards? smh. I could continue but ill digress.

 

On the positive end of things, DE/DT Ridgeway and Audry have played really well through 2 games. Simon too. I like RB Wilkins who's running style reminds me of Bears Jordan Howard. He runs with a glide. I see why some compared him to RB Arian Foster. But it was a sloppy game with multiple fumbles and multiple penalties. Thoughts?

 

You know something...When I think about it.... WHERE IS SHEARD?? Colts are paying him like $8+ million and not one time has he flashed on the screen. He (SHEARD) is my biggest disappointment TBH. where is his leadership/veteran presents when you need him?

 

Coach Reich, Don't ever call a QB sneak on a 2 pt conversion.

 

My opinion, 

 

Castonzo needs to hurry up and heal ASAP because Clarke cant even hold water, he might get Luck Killed out there.

 

Wilkins as i mentioned in another post is the real deal, the kid grinds out the tough yards in between the tackles and has a knack for making people miss has some good wiggle to him. They say he isn't the fastest back out there but from the looks of it he plays fast has good burst and lateral quickness he needs to get more carries.

 

Hines hasnt showed me the playmaking ability that everyone has hyped up, all of seen from him is dropped passes and fumbles. The kid has blazing straight-line speed but i haven't seen much wiggle. He hasn't shown me any ability to make a defender miss thus far.

 

Our lack of depth & play makers at WR scares me, if Hilton goes down we are in some trouble. as you seen last night no one really made any big plays offensively. Chester had a huge play, a few back ups made some splashes here and there. The coaches talked up Ryan Grant but i havent seen much from the guy. No one really made much of an impact which is scary.

 

Our Defense played like complete Garbage, the ravens ran the ball at will on us gashing the defense for big gains and tons of first downs. The front 4 isn't generating much pressure, Why is Margus Hunt slated as a starter at RE? I think his skill set is better suited as an interior rusher i dont see him as a pass rushing RE. I would rather see John Simon get the start he has flashed more than any other DE on the roster in game. I'm not going to lie i am a tad worried about our LB core, with so much youth an inexperience that could possibly hinder us. Geathers looked solid last night in his few snaps he played, Mathias is a huge bright spot at safety as well. With Hooker back i think that the secondary will be somewhat Ok. 

 

[ProblChld32]

Put Chester Rogers back on return duties

[aaron11]

hard to do much on offense when you dont have talent at the tackle, WR and running back spots 

 

hines cant catch or protect the ball well enough to be a return man.  he didnt look good at rb either 

[Fisticuffs111]

Some have already said it, but yeah, I hope Pascal and Ishmael have a realistic chance to make the roster. Pascal was making plays and Ishmael seems really sure handed. 

Grant, eh, even in most of his highlights from Washington it just doesn't seem like he gets any separation and relies on tough catches.

[John Waylon]

3 hours ago, stitches said:

 

 

 

 

I know, I know... it's still pre-season but... ^ still worth pointing out. 

 

 

I was honestly thinking the same. The play-calling was very Pagano-ish to the point of predictability. 

 

I was hoping to see something encouraging from the O line. I did not.  

[Rackeen305]

8 hours ago, Superman said:

 

You should watch again, Sheard played well.

Did Sheard have any sacks,collapse the pocket, or had any tackles for loss? Ijs

[John Waylon]

And Ryan Grant is starting to look like another Grigson WR whiff. I liked the signing at first, but he just hasn’t showed much of anything to even be optimistic about to this point. Doesn’t get separation, struggles to make catches in traffic... That kind of play will help keep Hilton locked down in double coverage. 

[MikeCurtis]

I dont know if I am ready to cut Hines yet, or not

 

I havent seen anything from him in the games

 

Blazing speed only, will get you somewhere in college

 

Blazing speed only in the pros doesnt account for much

 

He was split second away from having at least two more fumbles last night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeCurtis]

I couldnt watch the whole game, how did our Braden Smith look at RT?

 

[needanoline63]

Ya. We need to trade or sign a wide receiver who can help us now. I think the scariest thing about this team is the corners. Hooker and geathers can only do so much for them. A corner and wide receiver are concerns that have to be addressed before regular season. Waiting for teams to start making cuts!

[P'Son]

9 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Positives: 

Loved Wilson, Ridgeway, Simon, and Leonard and Geathers. These 5 will really help our defensive unit come week 1 when the 1st string is in all game.

Lewis, Turay and Hooker didn't play. The defense can actually get a lot better when these 3 are in and we have yet to see the outcome of that. Lot of hope during game 3 when that happens.

Wilkins looked very good besides a fumble that really wasn't his fault that much.

Ridgeway got two sacks for the 2nd preseason game in a row, had to mention this separately.

LeRaven Clark looked like a decent LT, which is a big deal if Constanzo misses any of the regular season.

 

Negatives:

Luck looked very rusty still. He needs to get better in a short amount of time.

Nyhiem Hines is awful. His ball protection is some of the worst I've ever seen. Like a 0 rated RB in Madden bad. 

Penalties were messing the game up on both sides, hopefully the helmet rule doesn't kill the game this year.

I didn't like coach Reich's playcalling at all. Two games now he's been unimpressive with the first team offensive unit. I get it's unscripted for the most part, but most other teams are still scoring with their first team units through two games to some degree. Very worrisome.

 

Great overall review.  Thank you!

[needanoline63]

1 hour ago, Fisticuffs111 said:

Weird that Simon was still playing in the 4th. Showcasing him for a trade?

I hope not, I think he's done a really good job transitioning and I'm not big on our pass rush the first two games. Not to mention he's been part of the only bright spots in that pass rush.

They better keep ridgeway and Simon. Like this team can afford to let go the only two guys getting to the QB

[TheRustonRifle#7]

Just now, needanoline63 said:

They better keep ridgeway and Simon. Like this team can afford to let go the only two guys getting to the QB

They were in the backfield quite a bit, same with Autry...

[needanoline63]

Oo and for you madden enthusiasts. If you played madden with colts or any other team. Did you realize that the colts cornerbacks are the lowest rated position group in all of madden? I don’t think there’s a corner on there team higher then 72-73

8 minutes ago, P'Son said:

 

Great overall review.  Thank you!

Le’Raven Clark did not have a good night. Only thing that guy got wrong

[Lawrence Owen]

I honestly do not think Luck Interception was on him near as much as it was on the RB.  Luck waited for the RB to come to the end of the route then threw the back to a place he could get it easily if the RB had turned around rather than loittered for a moment.  Instead, the RB seemed lost, and the CB was able to get  the easy pick.

[coltsfeva]

   Leonard impressed me. So did Simon, Ridgeway, Geathers, Wilson, Travis and Collins.

   As far as play calling; Reich said they are keeping things vanilla until the regular season.

  

[Chrisaaron1023]

Takeaways: 

 

Preseason Colts looked a like like last year regular season Colts lol. The o-line scared me for all the "improvments" they've gone through. And I know, it's preseason.. so the o-line doesn't need to show their hand with actually blocking people. Perhaps Costanzo, will be ready for the reg season. But in all honesty, I'm not counting on it shall see.

 

Seeing 26 on the field was awesome. The strip sack got me pumped. That didn't last long for obvious reasons haha. 

 

I quit watching after the fumble touchdown by Rogers. I was just exhausted. 

 

I was just happy to see Luck and the Colts playing a game that I really didn't have to care about.

 

Lets go Indy!

[Coffeedrinker]

I didn't get to see the first half (had my own football practice)  But here are some of my observations from the 2nd half.

 

Grover Stewart looked really good in there.  He is very quick off the ball for a big man and has very good field awareness.

 

Mathew Adams played a good game.  Excellent quickness and a sure tackler.

 

Steve Ismael (sp?) has a veteran presence out there and excellent hands.  I just don't know if he has enough speed and quickness to make in the NFL.

 

Wilkins.  I have to admit I was wrong about him, he is a better runner than I thought after he was drafted.  He runs tough but he is not a tough runner (if that makes sense).  What I mean is he does a good job of lowering his shoulder and falling forward but he goes down on first contact a lot.  That being said he does a great job of finding the hole and getting through it and getting those hard 3-4 yards.  He needs to get a bit more under control so when he gets to the 2nd level he can make that move and bust a long one.

 

Hines:  Looked pretty good as a running back ( I was more impressed with Wilkins than Hines) but Hines showed some good toughness running between the tackles, did a good job of getting skinny in the hole and picking up some 1st downs on 3rd and 4th down.  As a returner though he's scary.... and not scary good.

 

Brissett is good but he still can't handle situational pressure very well.  I don't mean pressure from a rush but he is not the guy who is going to will his team to a TD when it's needed most.

 

I thought it was interesting, late in the game the Ravens get the ball on a punt and with the penalty have the ball at the 10.  Colts send in Ridgway and first play he gets a tackle for a 4 yard loss.  The guy is going to be a load this year.  Hopefully with a rotation he can stay strong throughout the game.

[P'Son]

30 minutes ago, needanoline63 said:

Oo and for you madden enthusiasts. If you played madden with colts or any other team. Did you realize that the colts cornerbacks are the lowest rated position group in all of madden? I don’t think there’s a corner on there team higher then 72-73

Le’Raven Clark did not have a good night. Only thing that guy got wrong

 

Clark had as about a good of night as he could.  Don't expect more.

[chad72]

Our offense needs T.Y. in a baaaddd way!!!

 

Our WRs outside T.Y. still cannot separate that it seems like we are due for a T.Y., TEs or RBs show.  There is no sudden twitch to separate that I noticed in our wide outs. I was disappointed with Fountain. I thought the route running would have improved with Reggie helping with the WRs but they don't seem to beat sticky coverage well enough, which the Ravens have to run a lot because they bring the heat enough. A lot of our offense stalling was when Luck had to scramble and the WRs were not scrambling or coming back to the ball or bailed on the route. I miss the days of the automatic comeback route that Reggie and Marvin had a fantastic connection with Peyton for. The ball was in the air before the break that the DB couldn't break early most of the time.

 

I did like Chester's speed with the slants and other routes that I think he should play at #2 and let Grant be the slot guy underneath as a #3. I loved the fact that most of the initial blitzes were all picked up well by our OL, that is a sign of an OL that communicates well. Once LeRaven Clark came in, it seemed like a weak link immediately appeared.

 

[Fisticuffs111]

4 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

Grover Stewart looked really good in there.  He is very quick off the ball for a big man and has very good field awareness.

 

Mathew Adams played a good game.  Excellent quickness and a sure tackler.

 

Steve Ismael (sp?) has a veteran presence out there and excellent hands.  I just don't know if he has enough speed and quickness to make in the NFL.

Had pretty much the exact same observations you did.

Stewart was just all over the place, and physical. Wasn't too high on him when we drafted him or in his rookie year but he sold me on his potential last night. Noticed the same thing about Adams, solid tackler. Also thought Ishmael showed some good hands, especially in a game where there wasn't much of that being shown by the wide outs.

[stitches]

42 minutes ago, coltsfeva said:

   Leonard impressed me. So did Simon, Ridgeway, Geathers, Wilson, Travis and Collins.

   As far as play calling; Reich said they are keeping things vanilla until the regular season.

  

You can keep it vanilla and still not put your QB in compromised position of having to throw on obvious passing 3d and long situations. The playcalling has not been good by Reich... independent of whether he wants to reveal some secrets or not. 

[Coffeedrinker]

8 minutes ago, Fisticuffs111 said:

Had pretty much the exact same observations you did.

Stewart was just all over the place, and physical. Wasn't too high on him when we drafted him or in his rookie year but he sold me on his potential last night. Noticed the same thing about Adams, solid tackler. Also thought Ishmael showed some good hands, especially in a game where there wasn't much of that being shown by the wide outs.

What impressed me about Ishmael, even more than his hands on that sideline catch, was the way he got separation, he put his hand on the defender and pushed off just enough to get the separation he needed without drawing a flag.  To me that is a veteran move that will serve him well in the NFL.  And then his body control and field awareness to come down with the catch.  It was impressive.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

1 hour ago, John Waylon said:

 

I was honestly thinking the same. The play-calling was very Pagano-ish to the point of predictability. 

 

I was hoping to see something encouraging from the O line. I did not.  

 

"The preseason games mean nothing, so we show nothing in preseason,’’ Reich told season ticket holders at a February town hall. “We show nothing in preseason. We don’t want to give anybody any competitive advantage."

 

I mean, I know February seems like an eternity ago, but Reich literally said he wasn't going to open up the playbook at all in the preseason, so I don't know why anyone was expecting otherwise.

 

https://fox59.com/2018/04/11/colts-open-nothing-preseason-at-seattle/

[richard pallo]

I have to say one player who caught my eye on the Ravens was their Backup RT Orlando Brown Jr.  I remember his father and he was a great player.  Too bad Ballard couldn't swing a trade for this guy but he's a rookie so he isn't going anywhere.  I'm expecting a few new OL on cutdown day. 

[MikeCurtis]

Any update / views on Braden Smith at RT?

[Everyone]

11 hours ago, Rackeen305 said:

So what was it? That play was just as bad as the failed pagano fake run on 4th down. I havent spoken harshly about the coaching at all until that stupid play call. lets go 5 WR on the 2nd yardline. Thats not a QB fake/Sneak run? go ahead John Madden.

There's a big difference between a QB sneak and a designed run, you should probably learn the difference. I didn't like the call either but who cares, its preseason. 

[chad72]

11 minutes ago, MikeCurtis said:

Any update / views on Braden Smith at RT?

 

Grabby, needs another year of strengthening on the NFL regimen, has the base traits you want but needs more strength. He does not get into his stance fast enough to get leverage fast enough against NFL speed.

 

This article illustrates some of it:

 

https://www.stampedeblue.com/2018/8/15/17686906/film-room-braden-smith-at-guard-vs-seattle-seahawks-preaseason-week-1

 

[Steamboat_Shaun]

Just gonna leave this here...

 

http://www.titansreport.com/topic/33092-is-it-time-to-panic/

[Mr.NotSoCreative]

Certainly no knee jerk reactions to the second preseason game. Fully agree on the posts that AL will take more time than we think to knock off the rust. My concerns are that there isn't anybody stepping up to really help the dude out. We all know TY is a stud but we also know how teams take him out of the equation. I would think that they can also try to reign in Doyle. Where does AL turn to after them? Our running game? I hope the Wilkins fumble was a fluke because Hines acts like the ball is a greased pig. Major disappointment thus far. Mack could be out for a while guys, hammys are tricky. See AC. We cannot roll with Michael as a feature back. I also don't quite understand such vanilla play calling if that's what it is. New offense, new coordinator, new coach, etc. seems they should be getting all of the real game reps they can get. If you know your offense in and out, shouldn't matter if the defense has a clue whats coming. Our defense is going to be fun to watch with the speed and should be a solid unit. Potential has been a common term used though, and doesn't always translate, and really hasn't for the Colts. I remain optimistic and expect good football to be played. 

[Superman]

1 hour ago, stitches said:

You can keep it vanilla and still not put your QB in compromised position of having to throw on obvious passing 3d and long situations. The playcalling has not been good by Reich... independent of whether he wants to reveal some secrets or not. 

 

I'll worry about the playcalling if bad patterns carry over to the regular season. To this point, I assume Reich is focusing on evaluating individual play, and he's treating preseason as an extension of practice rather than a dress rehearsal. 

 

The penalties contributed to the long third downs, also. 

[Steamboat_Shaun]

For all the griping I've seen about the offense, after 2 games, we've scored more points thus far than any other team in our division:

 

IND: 38pts scored

JAX: 34pts scored

HOU: 33pts scored

TEN: 31pts scored

[Superman]

2 hours ago, Rackeen305 said:

Did Sheard have any sacks,collapse the pocket, or had any tackles for loss? Ijs

 

If you rewatch, you'll see. 

[stitches]

 

 

This might be a bit weird but what I can say after the first 2 pre-season games is that I'm pleasantly surprised by the defense, and mildly disappointed by the offense. 

[Btown_Colt]

2 hours ago, Lawrence Owen said:

I honestly do not think Luck Interception was on him near as much as it was on the RB.  Luck waited for the RB to come to the end of the route then threw the back to a place he could get it easily if the RB had turned around rather than loittered for a moment.  Instead, the RB seemed lost, and the CB was able to get  the easy pick.

Luck said he was trying to hit Doyle but just made a bad throw.

[Superman]

6 minutes ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

For all the griping I've seen about the offense, after 2 games, we've scored more points thus far than any other team in our division:

 

IND: 38pts scored

JAX: 34pts scored

HOU: 33pts scored

TEN: 31pts scored

 

This isn't even remotely encouraging. 19 points a game. And the first team offense hasn't threatened the end zone on a real offensive possession. 

 

I'm not worried about the offense, but this isn't making me feel any better.