This is why the defense looked bad

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

This picture says it all. This play went for a TD. You can see Leonard going for the strip instead of just getting the tackle. That play should of been stopped.

 

 

[HOZER]

Yep trying to do too much, just take him down for Pete’s sake.

[Nickster]

That was a bad play for sure.  Gifted them 40 yds and a TD.  Can't do that.

 

I really don't remember a whole lot of other plays with terrible tackling though many have mentioned it.

[Fisticuffs111]

Yeah, most were calling out Leonard for focusing too hard on the strip right away.

I noticed a few times it seemed like our guys were going for the strip instead of a sound tackle. All those quotes about creating TO's being an emphasis came ot mind. And of course, generally week 1 is filled with poor tackling.

Just to add though, I don't think this is the only reason the defense looked bad. There were plenty of other reasons. One thing was our blitzes not getting to Rivers which left our DB's hanging. Some soft coverage at times. Screens continuining to be our kryptonite, etc.

[CaptainColt12]

14 minutes ago, Chloe6124 said:

This picture says it all. This play went for a TD. You can see Leonard going for the strip instead of just getting the tackle. That play should of been stopped.

 

 

I assume he was expecting Desir to finish the tackle

[SteelCityColt]

So one play is the entire reason? 

 

Outcome bias, how do you think he forced so many fumbles last year? 

[Nickster]

butt of you and me.

[HOZER]

14 minutes ago, SteelCityColt said:

So one play is the entire reason? 

 

Outcome bias, how do you think he forced so many fumbles last year? 

Definitely not the entire reason, but I did see a lot of strip attempts vs sound tackle. Guess it’s a gamble he takes, it payed off last year, hope it continues this year.

 

17 minutes ago, CaptainColt12 said:

I assume he was expecting Desir to finish the tackle

Makes sense to assume that, hopefully they clean that up going forward.

[SteelCityColt]

2 minutes ago, HOZER said:

Definitely not the entire reason, but I did see a lot of strip attempts vs sound tackle. Guess it’s a gamble he takes, it payed off last year, hope it continues this year.

 

Makes sense to assume that, hopefully they clean that up going forward.

 

It is fair that stripping is a risky option, that’s a tenant that holds across life. 

 

However I think he saw cover behind and felt the risk was mitigated somewhat. 

 

I’d rather the D all round was more aggressive in seeking turnovers than safety first in some respects as a general philosophy.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

This is why Lewis didn’t play.

 

 

[Four2itus]

I think the title of the thread might have come across different as "This added to the defensive challenges of the game".

 

One play did not make the defense look bad. 

[Stephen]

He'll get it cleaned up

[Goatface Killah]

Yeah sometimes I wonder if Darius Leonard's instant success last year is gonna be good for him this year. Hes made a name for himself now, and teams are gonna prepare for him differently moving forward. And this play shows he is always thinking big, when sometimes you just need to be solid. 

 

But, he says all the right things and seems to be very critical of himself, so I think he will learn from his mistakes. Watching the game I felt like it was one of his worst performances so far, and I think he still had 8 tackles. So I am always optimistic when it comes to the Maniac.

 

Be solid, secure the tackle first, pick your spots when it comes to going after the turnover.  I thought he was very good at that, last year. I'm sure Eberflus let him know about that play. He will be fine. 

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

Colts for the most part IMO were GASHED up front! The Lbers had little chance and the Db's had to make to many tackles in the run game. Also to much time for Rivers, he is VERY accurate when given time!! also I thought the rookie DB's very exposed in coverage. They have to play to get better, but they have to play better to contunie to get time.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

7 minutes ago, GoatBeard said:

Yeah sometimes I wonder if Darius Leonard's instant success last year is gonna be good for him this year. Hes made a name for himself now, and teams are gonna prepare for him differently moving forward. And this play shows he is always thinking big, when sometimes you just need to be solid. 

 

But, he says all the right things and seems to be very critical of himself, so I think he will learn from his mistakes. Watching the game I felt like it was one of his worst performances so far, and I think he still had 8 tackles. So I am always optimistic when it comes to the Maniac.

 

Be solid, secure the tackle first, pick your spots when it comes to going after the turnover.  I thought he was very good at that, last year. I'm sure Eberflus let him know about that play. He will be fine. 

He said today the coaches and himself gave him a F for the game. That should of been a easy tackle. He is right on the guy.

[indyagent17]

3 hours ago, Chloe6124 said:

This is why Lewis didn’t play.

 

 

Get well brother, we need you!

[SteelCityColt]

1 hour ago, Four2itus said:

I think the title of the thread might have come across different as "This added to the defensive challenges of the game".

 

One play did not make the defense look bad. 

 

It is a little click baity 

[Goatface Killah]

46 minutes ago, Chloe6124 said:

He said today the coaches and himself gave him a F for the game. That should of been a easy tackle. He is right on the guy.

Yeah I'm not surprised, he isn't a primadonna type of guy.

 

I feel sorry for the Titans because he will be ready to go on Sunday.

[zibby43]

4 hours ago, SteelCityColt said:

 

It is fair that stripping is a risky option, that’s a tenant that holds across life. 

 

 

How did this gem go unnoticed?  Post of the month.

[jameszeigler834]

5 hours ago, Nickster said:

That was a bad play for sure.  Gifted them 40 yds and a TD.  Can't do that.

 

I really don't remember a whole lot of other plays with terrible tackling though many have mentioned it.

The tackling was horrendous all day the secondary was garbage.

[Nickster]

 

38 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

The tackling was horrendous all day the secondary was garbage.

 

Just disagree.  They gave up 24 points in regulation to a great NFL offense with a HOF QB.  They had a few very unfortunate plays this t marred an otherwise OK defensive day.  

 

1.  4 points gifted on 1st drive on a apparent bad call.

 

2.  1st TD was covered and could have easily been INT or at least incomplete.  Not a high percentage play.

 

3.  Leonard play gifts 40 yds and TD.  Just before that had them stopped but offsides by Houston.

 

OT drive wasn’t great but even then pretty good throw or 2 by Rivers.

 

We are still bad at underneath coverage.  Our LBs are not good at coverage on backs and short stuff and this certainly includes Leonard.  That is the weakness.

 

we weren’t great today v run but even then only gave up125 and a couple 20 yd runs.  The other plays were contained ok.

 

totally incompetent covering receiving backs though.  Killed us

[JFreeman]

The game definitely reminded me of the Eagles game last year where the backup RBs absolutely killed us.

[Creekside]

5 hours ago, Nickster said:

That was a bad play for sure.  Gifted them 40 yds and a TD.  Can't do that.

 

I really don't remember a whole lot of other plays with terrible tackling though many have mentioned it.

 

If you go and look at the highlights, you only see maybe one other missed tackle in addition to Leonard's.

 

It was mostly wide open receivers and big holes to run through that did the damage.

[Nickster]

19 minutes ago, egg said:

 

If you go and look at the highlights, you only see maybe one other missed tackle in addition to Leonard's.

 

It was mostly wide open receivers and big holes to run through that did the damage.

 

Most of the damage was mistakes IMO.  They did ok until the last drive.

 

im not saying they were great but they were ok.

 

also held them to 7 2nd half pts 

[Two_pound]

People keep complaining about the defense Sunday. At the end of regulation the chargers had 360 yards. A 23 and 24 yard run and a dump off that went for 53 yards I believe. That's 100 yards out of the 360. Prevent the big plays. The defense overall was pretty good. And ofcourse the 45 year  achilles heal of the soft zone and not stopping dump offs to backs got us again. Tighten up the defense and this team will go a long way.

[Creekside]

1 hour ago, Nickster said:

 

Most of the damage was mistakes IMO.  They did ok until the last drive.

 

im not saying they were great but they were ok.

 

also held them to 7 2nd half pts 

 

and 20 total points.....unofficial, but real score was 24-20 Colts win.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

I think the chargers offense didn’t really have that many opportunities in the second half because we had long drives. So not sure I would say the defense had a great game. 

[jameszeigler834]

2 hours ago, JFreeman said:

The game definitely reminded me of the Eagles game last year where the backup RBs absolutely killed us.

The zebra's cost us that game though.

[wig]

In a read and react run to the ball defense, you want guys taking risks with the assumption there are others behind to clean up if needed. 

[ScotColt]

8 hours ago, egg said:

 

If you go and look at the highlights, you only see maybe one other missed tackle in addition to Leonard's.

 

It was mostly wide open receivers and big holes to run through that did the damage.

 

https://clutchpoints.com/colts-news-indianapolis-missed-more-tackles-than-any-other-team-in-sundays-games/

 

 

Fact of the matter is the tackling was poor as was the coverage, the only part of the defence that was good was the pass rush (and Hookers awesome INT)

[SteelCityColt]

7 hours ago, Chloe6124 said:

I think the chargers offense didn’t really have that many opportunities in the second half because we had long drives. So not sure I would say the defense had a great game. 

 

Ehh, outside the final drive in the 4th the TOP is pretty much even so I don't think this holds up. Before that they'd had 2 minutes more possession than us. 

 

We get it, you've got a bee in your bonnet about the D in the first game, in particular about the rookies playing. It wasn't as terrible as you make out. On the road against a strong AFC team, opening day, and we gave up 24. If you want to complain about Game 1 defense, go be a Browns fan, ouch. 

[Bravo]

Defense played terrible in my opinion. Completely gashed in the passing game besides an amazing Hooker INT, Dline was getting manhandled in the run game, and very poor tackling.

[coltsfeva]

Two glaring issues were:

1. Soft coverage underneath 

2. Not holding the gap against cutbacks (too many times, I saw DEs getting swallowed up on runs in the middle and there was no one there to prevent cutbacks).

[lollygagger8]

Almost none of the starters played during preseason. This was their first "real" game tackling again, of course it's going to sloppy. 

[Creekside]

7 hours ago, ScotColt said:

 

https://clutchpoints.com/colts-news-indianapolis-missed-more-tackles-than-any-other-team-in-sundays-games/

 

 

Fact of the matter is the tackling was poor as was the coverage, the only part of the defence that was good was the pass rush (and Hookers awesome INT)

 

If you go watch the 10 minute highlight you will see 20 + big chunk plays constituting about 80% of the Charger's total yards and all of their scoring. You will see Leonard's missed tackle and maybe one or two others. 

 

I'm not saying there weren't more missed tackles, just that they generally  weren't the reason for big plays and scoring, and the loss.

 

 

 

 

[CoachLite]

"Off with their heads!" Cut Darius Leonard and Adam Vinatieri!

 

This was a learning experience against a good team, and we showed quite well. Were there mistakes? Sure. Stay tuned. I think we're in pretty good shape.

[Valpo2004]

23 hours ago, Chloe6124 said:

This is why Lewis didn’t play.

 

 

 

Seems like an odd explanation.  You can always rotate him.

 

I suppose we will see.  If they have him as a major factor going forward then maybe it was the truth.  If he's a healthy scratch pretty often then there is something else. 

[Mr.Debonair]

15 hours ago, jameszeigler834 said:

The zebra's cost us that game though.

 You spelled ADAM VINATIERI wrong

[PeterBowman]

8 hours ago, SteelCityColt said:

 

Ehh, outside the final drive in the 4th the TOP is pretty much even so I don't think this holds up. Before that they'd had 2 minutes more possession than us. 

 

We get it, you've got a bee in your bonnet about the D in the first game, in particular about the rookies playing. It wasn't as terrible as you make out. On the road against a strong AFC team, opening day, and we gave up 24. If you want to complain about Game 1 defense, go be a Browns fan, ouch. 

Or Dolphins. 

[CoachLite]

2 hours ago, CoachLite said:

"Off with their heads!" Cut Darius Leonard and Adam Vinatieri!

 

25 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

 You spelled ADAM VINATIERI wrong

 

How would you spell it?