Colts need a WR!!

[Colt.45]

Dez Bryant? No. Did you guys not watch him with the Cowboys on and off the field? Did you not watch All or Nothing? Did you not learn the lessons with Andre Johnson a couple seasons back? Bryant isn't for this team. Maybe....MAYBE Rishard Matthews who's actually still productive and not disruptive.

 

The wideouts have been largely disappointing here. Marcus Johnson, Paschal and especially Chester who's been here a while but has never hit the next level, will all likely not be here next season. 

 

Looking at the way this draft class has performed, I think Deon Cain would really have been a star but we'll have to wait till midway next season to really find out. An early round wideout will probably get drafted. Fountain needs to step up too. There were too many holes to fill all at once and there're just growing pains that have to be taken in.

 

Next season will be a good one. Oh, and IF the Colts can get a run of good health this season, I think they win double digit games THIS season or close to it.

[DrWhom]

16 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

Time to bring up Ishmael and Fountain if are going to stand pat. 

 

Agree wholeheartedly! Many posters are assuming that we have a need for a WR, or that the rookies, by their nature, will have drops... BUT what if these two are different? Let's do some real-time, real-game testing of our draft picks! They're just sitting there, while others (e.g. Pascal) are showing us no special talent.

 

Otherwise, get on the phone and start making calls for Bell, Matthews, and even an OT...

[Colt.45]

11 hours ago, krunk said:

Chester Rogers is driving me nuts. I still would like to see Ishmael and Fountain brought up.

 

For me, Chester from Grambling is the biggest disappointment of the receiving corp. I know he's a small school guy and all but he's been around for a while. The team cut Dorsett loose partly because of belief in Chester. He's just teased and teased and never grown to be reliable. I think he'll be lucky to be a Colt next season.

[Colt.45]

11 hours ago, OLD FAN MAN said:

i concur

 

It's not a matter of being too good for him, it's a matter of Gordon being wholly unreliable. Colts couldn't afford that risk level. The Pats can.

 

Also, Gordon didn't show much last night on field. Sure he had a TD but you should be livid at those DBs for letting him come down with that ball, they were atrocious on that play.

[MPStack]

If Dez sits all year, I’d think about signing him next offseason. I think he’s lost any leverage he has in demands on contract and money.

[aaron11]

3 minutes ago, Colt.45 said:

 

It's not a matter of being too good for him, it's a matter of Gordon being wholly unreliable. Colts couldn't afford that risk level.

 why can we not afford it?  he makes minimum salary and our receivers are bad

[Colt.45]

5 minutes ago, aaron11 said:

 why can we not afford it?  he makes minimum salary and our receivers are bad

 

Before we even begin to look at his on-field performance, the Colts don't have the locker room strength or winning culture to withstand bringing in an element like him who has massive off-field issues. Same reason bringing in Dez would be a mistake. Chris Ballard has spoken time and again about getting the locker room right, that's his first concern, building guys who battle and fight....that's his foundation. Like it or not, Gordon doesn't fit that.

 

Onto the actual on-filed stuff, yes he's better than Dez, and yes he may still have ability but I've not really seen it this season with Cleveland or New England. If he stays focused and clean, I think he can probably dig deep to produce it over time but lets not act like right now he's a superstar WR, he isnt. 

[aaron11]

1 minute ago, Colt.45 said:

 

Before we even begin to look at his on-field performance, the Colts don't have the locker room strength or winning culture to withstand bringing in an element like him who has massive off-field issues. Same reason bringing in Dez would be a mistake. Chris Ballard has spoken time and again about getting the locker room right, that's his first concern, building guys who battle and fight....that's his foundation. Like it or not, Gordon doesn't fit that.

 

Onto the actual on-filed stuff, yes he's better than Dez, and yes he may still have ability but I've not really seen it this season with Cleveland or New England. If he stays focused and clean, I think he can probably dig deep to produce it over time but lets not act like right now he's a superstar WR, he isnt. 

you didnt see his catch in the steelers game then, he still has it but has had to learn two new systems this year

 

he was open for what could have been the game winning td too in that game, but the qb missed him 

[Colt.45]

Just now, aaron11 said:

you didnt see his catch in the steelers game then, he still has it but has had to learn two new systems this year

 

he was open for what could have been the game winning td too in that game, but the qb missed him 

 

He can be a star. I'll leave it at that. Let's see how it all shakes out. 

[aaron11]

1 minute ago, Colt.45 said:

 

He can be a star. I'll leave it at that. Let's see how it all shakes out. 

fair enough, not the first time i have had this conversation

 

he made a really good catch in that game that shows me he still has it if he can stay on the field 

[NewColtsFan]

3 hours ago, John Waylon said:

 

This. 

 

The offensive line this year has given better pass protection than any line we’ve had since before 2010. And Luck has done a lot to learn to avoid the pressure. 

 

There’s just no one we can actually count on to catch passes and make plays while Hilton is draped in double coverage. When someone does it’s the exception and not the rule. 

 

We don’t see a lot of wide open catches because a receiver beat his man. It’s always Luck throwing into high traffic areas and DBs on receivers as they make the catch. 

 

Ramping up our air attack is also going to help open up the ground game. Get the defense worried about how to stop the pass. Get them backed out of the box. Make them commit to one or the other, and then burn them. It’s going to help our blocking, too. Once he has guys who can be hot reads based on the blitz teams are gonna be more hesitant to blitz as much, for fear of it backfiring. 

 

It’s just too easy to slow us down on offense. 

 

We’ve got a guy who can make all the throws, and when he’s had multiple guys who the defense has to account for (2012, 2013, 2014) he’s done really well. He needs a true #1 or #2 receiver now more than ever. 

I believe Luck has the lowest average per pass attempt in the NFL.   I think it’s under 6 yards per pass.   His typical number is up around 8.

 

We have what some call a dink and dunk offense.   If Andrew Luck could make all the throws,  he’d be making them.   Luck currrntly can not make all the throws.    He has a satisfactory arm, but he’s lost a lot off his fastball.    This is NOT the Andrew Luck of 12, 13 and 14.

 

[NewColtsFan]

2 hours ago, OLD FAN MAN said:

if the kids have to play we have to learn to be satisfied watching kids play against proven talent that is what we looked like tonight kids playing against men, like high school against nfl talent

 

I don’t know why you’re judging one program, in year two if a three year rebuild against a program that had the best record for 20 years in the HISTORY IF THE NFL. 

 

Why would you do that?

 

We’re not as good as they are.   Ok.   We’re not close to the Pats right now.  Ok.  

 

All I care about is getting better. Better during the course of the season and better next year.   Control what you can control. 

[ColtV]

12 hours ago, chad72 said:

Rishard Matthews has reliable hands, and he has hired Drew Rosenhaus who expects him to sign with another team soon (fingers crossed):

 

https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/wr_rishard_matthews_expects_to_sign_with_new_team_soon/s1_127_27432335

 

Timing would be nice with 10 days to get him accustomed to this offense. 

This has to be the first call Ballard makes today

[stitches]

18 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

I believe Luck has the lowest average per pass attempt in the NFL.   I think it’s under 6 yards per pass.   His typical number is up around 8.

 

We have what some call a dink and dunk offense.   If Andrew Luck could make all the throws,  he’d be making them.   Luck currrntly can not make all the throws.    He has a satisfactory arm, but he’s lost a lot off his fastball.    This is NOT the Andrew Luck of 12, 13 and 14.

 

To be fair his depth of target has been increasing in the last 2 games(8.1 and 8.2 yards last two games) and he's been making some throws down the field now and even some strikes with better velocity on intermediate routes. Maybe his arm is slowly getting back to what it used to be. It's still not all the way there but I've been encouraged the last couple of games. 

 

2 weeks ago I listened to a podcast with Dr Chao who used to be the Chargers head surgeon and he said that it's normal for the arm to not be all the way there in the beginning of the season and that he didn't see any reason why he couldn't get most if not all of his arm strength back with time. He said he expects it to get better throughout the season and for whatever it's worth he's been 100% on point with what has happened the last 2 games, both eye-test-wise and numbers-wise. 

 

I'm encouraged and much less anxious than I was before those two games. 

[NewColtsFan]

4 minutes ago, stitches said:

To be fair his depth of target has been increasing in the last 2 games(8.1 and 8.2 yards last two games) and he's been making some throws down the field now and even some strikes with better velocity on intermediate routes. Maybe his arm is slowly getting back to what it used to be. It's still not all the way there but I've been encouraged the last couple of games. 

 

2 weeks ago I listened to a podcast with Dr Chao who used to be the Chargers head surgeon and he said that it's normal for the arm to not be all the way there in the beginning of the season and that he didn't see any reason why he couldn't get most if not all of his arm strength back with time. He said he expects it to get better throughout the season and for whatever it's worth he's been 100% on point with what has happened the last 2 games, both eye-test-wise and numbers-wise. 

 

I'm encouraged and much less anxious than I was before those two games. 

 

THIS!!!     Thank you!

 

I’ve been preaching this since early summer.    That Luck didn’t have enough time over the summer to get his arm all the way back.  That it might get stronger over the course of the season.   And it surely might get better by the time we reach September of 2019 and 20.

 

Whatever Luck's arm is today, I’m expecting it to get better over time.  Perhaps, if we’re lucky, perhaps much better...   let’s all hope so.

 

[John Waylon]

9 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

I believe Luck has the lowest average per pass attempt in the NFL.   I think it’s under 6 yards per pass.   His typical number is up around 8.

 

We have what some call a dink and dunk offense.   If Andrew Luck could make all the throws,  he’d be making them.   Luck currrntly can not make all the throws.    He has a satisfactory arm, but he’s lost a lot off his fastball.    This is NOT the Andrew Luck of 12, 13 and 14.

 

 

He placed basically a perfect deep ball (there was a slight wobble, if you want to nitpick) to Rogers last night, who... well, you know. 

 

Which comes right back into play when you bring up the low average. Receivers aren’t getting separation whether it’s on a 5 or 25 yard route. 

 

Since 5 yard passes have the higher percentage of completion we’re playing it safe and calling those rather than trying to play a deep pass vertical game and making it even harder yet on ourselves. 

 

Speaking to all of this is YAC. Passing yards are not just passing yards, they also include YAC. So a 2 yard pass and an 88 yard run is a pass of 90 yards. As I pointed out, we are getting very little in the way of YAC. Because no one is getting any kind of separation. Or catching balls when they do. 

 

We’re playing to what we have, throwing short passes to guys who are getting clobbered immediately after making a catch. 

[throwing BBZ]

12 hours ago, krunk said:

Luck would have destroyed the Pats defense tonight if the rest of that small time receiving corps showed up. Lucks improved a lot. He wasn't afraid or caught off guard at all. And imagine what we'd have if we found a running game? Wilkins popped a couple nice ones tonight. It's just every time we started digging out the hole we dragged ourselves back in it with untimely drops and turnovers.

 

Andrew has this new throwing motion. So many passes last night i was thinking he is aiming the ball. Then the camera angle changes and with great jubilation i am seeing these tight spiral, right on the money, in the bread basket lasers. THE DUDE is throwing BBZ just like i have always wanted/expected. 
 Our o-line put up a wall many many times last night. Andrew was seeing the field well with that time IMO. Give him a little time and some reliable pass catchers and whoopee.
 We will solidify that line, i mean Any line needs experience playing together, and yes it may take another off season to add a piece. Oh well. And bla bla bla we Must have a running game threat.
 5 games into this season, I am LOVING the progression of our Primary Weapon.  

[throwing BBZ]

12 hours ago, esmort said:

 

I agree, that is the point I was trying to make ... I am ot counting on Cain for anything at this point ... we need to spend a 2nd-3rd on a WR and pick up one(or more) in FA.

 

   Between now and next years FA period we will see a thousand+ such posts about our need for WR help, from everyone not in a coma.  Very interesting stuff.
 Hey, that kid from Michigan State is a big one that catches everything coming his way. I bet there are 10-20 more our scouts are seriously tracking.

 Next years FA. I wonder if Ballard would consider one of these? It was rumoured Ballard was in for the $15M per last season for Alshon Jefferey. I believe he knows the need, just gotta get the right guy, with the right coinage, to pick the Colts.
 Josh Gordan if he behaves well under BB.
 Golden Tate is a real play maker

John Brown is playing well as a Raven and big speed

Devin Funchess is 25 and pretty darn good.

[dgambill]

What I saw last night was some very very young guys being asked to do more than what should be expected of them. Trying to make big plays and be the go to guys. None of them are ready for that...but that doesn't mean they aren't ready to contribute. We missed TY and Doyle terribly. Ebron was Ebron...his talent is off the charts...but he is always going to drop some balls....we just have to hope it isn't in a big moment but clearly the guy can ball. Pascal and Roger are complimentary guys but asking them to carry the load on offense is just too much. Cain has some promise and I think Johnson and Pascal and Rogers are fine too. Honestly....lets wait til game 14-16 to decide what we need instead of game 4-6..young guys take time to mature and grow. I will say this....last year's team couldn't even get open....this years team IS....they just need to hold onto the ball....that's an improvement to me...and these young guys will learn and step up. I like the group! I don't think we need to overreact just yet.

[throwing BBZ]

13 hours ago, a06cc said:

Regardless of who you guys think or feel we should draft or pickup. First things is the team needs to remain healthy. You can do nothing when the team around you is dropping like flies. It starts with the oline. Doesn’t matter if we had a WR. Can’t throw to him if Luck doesn’t have time. 

 

 77 completions over the last 2 games. And he had lots of time on many plays.
 This with a rag tag bunch of receivers in a new offense. 
 Pretty exciting stuff for so early in the season, Especially with Andrew GETTING IT with making quick reads and getting rid of the ball like the big boys do.
  One sack last night. This o-line will probably be pretty decent by December.

[Lawrence Owen]

Luck held the ball a LOT longer this past 2 games than the first 3.  And his numbers have shown it.  He is throwing it deeper, and with quite a bit more velocity than before.  I don't think it is all Andrew's arm/shoulder either. I think it has a lot to do  with his new throwing motion.  Getting it down, and having the time to go through it.  The throwing motion he has now takes more time to go through.  The first 4 games were against some of the best front 7's in the NFL, and to protect Luck, Reich has made him dink and dunk nearly every play to protect him. NE's front 7 is not top tier,...so he was allowed to hold it longer, and it showed.  That TD pass to Swoope in particular had some SERIOUS zip on it.  At least for Luck. He's never had the strongest arm in the NFL,..and never will.  But that was never his forte.  It was his intelligence, and physical ability to move and create time TO throw it deeper and make tight window throws. He doesn't have any 60 'in air' yard passes.....ever.  But he does have a crap ton of 40-50 yarders.  He has a couple of those right now this year...but just recently.  With him getting more familiar and comfortable with his new throwing motion, the new system, and the fact that his opponents aren't going to have the front 7 talent he's seen so far this year (except Jags), he'll add more and more through the season.

Too many drops.  Grante most were in the first 1/2, and then they began to shape up in the second.  They had all kinds of separation, and would drop it.  But in the second 1/2 they were making contested catches.  I think they were just not right in the head earlier in the game.

O-line played well last night. Even in the run game.  It's a shame our depleted defense gave up 21 so fast, otherwise i believe we had a chance to run it on NE.

I'm pretty proud how much we fought and kind of made it an interesting game the 2nd half.  I honestly thought we were going to loose by a lot more than what we did.  The first 1/2 score was my expectations.  The game final was not.

[Lawrence Owen]

1 hour ago, NewColtsFan said:

 

I don’t know why you’re judging one program, in year two if a three year rebuild against a program that had the best record for 20 years in the HISTORY IF THE NFL. 

 

Why would you do that?

 

We’re not as good as they are.   Ok.   We’re not close to the Pats right now.  Ok.  

 

All I care about is getting better. Better during the course of the season and better next year.   Control what you can control. 

I don't know why you're counting last year.  IMO, we are in year 1 of the rebuild.  Last year we ad all the old coaches, scheme's, and majority of personnel was for the scheme.  I think we are WAY further than we should be right now considering.

P.S.  I think if we had 1/2 of our injured starters playing last night,..the game could have gone in a different direction. That to me, speaks volumes.  But a loss is a loss.

[2006Coltsbestever]

5 minutes ago, Lawrence Owen said:

I don't know why you're counting last year.  IMO, we are in year 1 of the rebuild.  Last year we ad all the old coaches, scheme's, and majority of personnel was for the scheme.  I think we are WAY further than we should be right now considering.

P.S.  I think if we had 1/2 of our injured starters playing last night,..the game could have gone in a different direction. That to me, speaks volumes.  But a loss is a loss.

I have no doubt we will be Good next year record wise with another Draft and Free Agency. As long as Luck remains healthy it's Law of Averages as he is a Franchise QB. I said this year we would be 9-7 but I was thinking with Luck back we would've beat teams like Cincy and Houston. We still need another playmaker on Offense (possibly Bell or another impact WR) and a Good Cover Corner to be a threat against the better teams. I only had us at 9-7, so nothing silly because I know we are in rebuild mode. Having said that I am real positive about the future. Reich getting a year under his belt will be huge as well.

[richard pallo]

26 minutes ago, Lawrence Owen said:

I don't know why you're counting last year.  IMO, we are in year 1 of the rebuild.  Last year we ad all the old coaches, scheme's, and majority of personnel was for the scheme.  I think we are WAY further than we should be right now considering.

P.S.  I think if we had 1/2 of our injured starters playing last night,..the game could have gone in a different direction. That to me, speaks volumes.  But a loss is a loss.

We are in the 2nd. year of the rebuild.  He was the GM last year as well.  "Those are the facts and they are undisputed."

[Believe blue1306]

We have one on the practice squad! 

[Zoltan]

1 hour ago, richard pallo said:

We are in the 2nd. year of the rebuild.  He was the GM last year as well.  "Those are the facts and they are undisputed."

 

Yeah but we are in the 1st year of a new head coach with a new offensive and defensive system. Which with those changes pretty much restarts our rebuild, these are also facts 

[Zoltan]

Also a couple people have been mentioning Chester Rogers as being a rookie, he is in his 3rd season 

[NextGenerationLuck]

16 hours ago, tvturner said:

Dez Bryant

Dontrelle Inman

Rishard Matthews

Danny Amendola

Jeremy Maclin

Le'Veon Bell**

 

any of them please

Give me le’veon all day. We need a running back and a WR and does both very well. 

[richard pallo]

13 minutes ago, Zoltan said:

 

Yeah but we are in the 1st year of a new head coach with a new offensive and defensive system. Which with those changes pretty much restarts our rebuild, these are also facts 

He said we were in a three year rebuild when he took the job.  No qualifiers.  " Those are the facts and they are undisputed".  

[Zoltan]

4 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

He said we were in a three year rebuild when he took the job.  No qualifiers.  " Those are the facts and they are undisputed".  

That was with a different coach

[richard pallo]

2 minutes ago, Zoltan said:

That was with a different coach

It doesn't matter.  He mentioned no qualifiers.  Three year rebuild.  Third year coming up.  

[masterlock]

6 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

The passing game isn’t the problem.  Outside of the Eagles game Luck has thrown the ball all over the field and had multiple TD passes.  The problem on offense is the lack of a running game to go with it.

 

Yes there have been drops but every team will have drops.  The drops in the first half of the Texans game were out of control.  Maybe it’s just me but I didn’t think they were as bad against New England even if there were still one or two bad ones.  

Depends on how low you set your standards. We never had these kinds of drops with Marvin and Reggie. Hilton is a No. 1, but not truly "elite" in the same way those guys were. 

[Zoltan]

3 hours ago, richard pallo said:

It doesn't matter.  He mentioned no qualifiers.  Three year rebuild.  Third year coming up.  

 

that's ridiculous to not put things in perspective, that's like being mad because a QB got hurt during the season and your team didn't make the playoffs  yet they guaranteed a playoffs birth in the offseason. stuff happens plans change

[Rackeen305]

On 10/4/2018 at 11:45 PM, Luck 4 president said:

We could’ve gotten josh Gordon but lots of people on here think we’re too good for him and players alike

thats what i said.

[JR Indy]

Since this team decided to build through the draft. The Colts first selection should be Wide receiver. The Colts don’t need a receiver that takes him 50 days and 50 yards to get open. That may have been different 40 years ago. Today game has drastically changed. With today’s D ends, and olb. QB’s simply don’t have the time. They need a receiver that can get open right away and is strong enough to handle press coverage. And can make a play, when they are there to be made

[krunk]

Was listening to the Stephen Holder podcast on Stampede Blue. He says all the reports he's been getting on Reece Fountain indicate he has been getting it done in practice. He was advocating for Reece to be brought up from the PS. Also mentioned Ballard hasn't been too happy about the WRs either. Hopefully there will be some changes. I'd like to see Fountain and Ishmael brought up to be honest.

[IinD]

16 minutes ago, krunk said:

I'd like to see Fountain and Ishmael brought up to be honest.

I can get behind this. None of the current guys have locked down their spots. See what happens.

[ojsglove]

It' going to be another long season, but I see improvement.

 

I think we have a good coaching staff, and some good young players now, but is it to little to late?

 

My only regret is Andrew deserves more help then management has provided him.

 

I appreciate Jim for bringing us an NFL team, but due to mismanagement,

our once in a decade QB, has been unable to show his skills, and has suffered some pretty serious injurious.

 

Time to open the purse strings and bring in some players that can help us win now.

 

We have a great QB, time to stop with this rebuild crap, and bring some key players in to at least give Andrew a chance to win.

 

We can go through the rebuild crap in the future, but damn, at least give our QB a chance to earn his money.

[Pacergeek]

I do not want any washed up FA WR's. For this season, our WR group is not going to improve. This is what happens when you sign cab drivers in the off season. Colts should address this need in the draft by getting Hollywood Brown. If Ballard has to trade multiple picks to draft him, so be it. With Hollywood, our offense is as good as KC. Luck deserves a true number 1 WR

[lollygagger8]

It's be nice to see Fountain get on the field. 

 

I'd rather see him than Rogers