Re-evaluate Eberflus

[Mr.Debonair 1,677]

Defense has been bad! Spent most of the draft on that side of the ball and it took a step back. The scheme sucks. We gave up big plays everywhere. Down the sideline, middle of the field, we never cover the back out the backfield. Blitzes were obvious and didn’t hit home often enough. A bunch of issues. 

 

Either there is a disconnect with what is being taught or Eberflus is getting out coached. I know wasn’t a Reich guy. We made a lot of average QBs look great.

[csmopar 6,725]

Not disagreeing but I wonder how much of it goes to being on the field forever during a game. 3 and outs, fumbles etc tend to wear even the most conditioned Defenses out

[Dogg63 1,925]

Lots of rookies on the field, too.

[ClaytonColt 275]

It's tough to defend him but the level of talent on the defense is dire.

[waittilnextyear 32]

Just now, Mr.Debonair said:

Defense has been bad! Spent most of the draft on that side of the ball and it took a step back. The scheme sucks. We gave up big plays everywhere. Down the sideline, middle of the field, we never cover the back out the backfield. Blitzes were obvious and didn’t hit home often enough. A bunch of issues. 

 

Either there is a disconnect with what is being taught or Eberflus is getting out coached. I know wasn’t a Reich guy. We made a lot of average QBs look great.

 

 Uh, he is Ballard's guy, coaching Ballard's preferred defense.

They will be standing side by side looking in the mirror.

[CR91 5,973]

I'm gonna give the defense a pass this year. The offense didn't do them any favors

[MTC 1,590]

Kind of hard to assign fault on one person.

 

The youth in the secondary and lack of pass rush really hurts the defense. I also am not a big fan of the zone scheme. 

 

 

[1959Colts 1,143]

His defense stinks. period

 

[Mr.Debonair 1,677]

2 minutes ago, ClaytonColt said:

It's tough to defend him but the level of talent on the defense is dire.

Pretty much the same talent that everyone was crowning him with last season

[pacolts56 3,906]

1 minute ago, 1959Colts said:

His defense stinks. period

 

 

 

[Chloe6124 9,149]

Autry, Willis and Moore were out today. We have a very young defense. He is still safe. The secondary will look bad until we get a better dline.

[Fisticuffs111 1,965]

I’m still behind Flus.

 

There’s been a lot of things going against him. He’s been forced to play a ton of young guys. Plus, when the running game hasn’t gotten going the D has been put in a bad situation. 

 

We’ve definitely missed Moore and even Turay to some extent. Plus we need better talent on the DL, not to mention the backfield.

[NewColtsFan 7,499]

21 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

Defense has been bad! Spent most of the draft on that side of the ball and it took a step back. The scheme sucks. We gave up big plays everywhere. Down the sideline, middle of the field, we never cover the back out the backfield. Blitzes were obvious and didn’t hit home often enough. A bunch of issues. 

 

Either there is a disconnect with what is being taught or Eberflus is getting out coached. I know wasn’t a Reich guy. We made a lot of average QBs look great.

Oh, Dear God, here we go....

 

It'll be the off-season from hell!

 

Everyone who was so smart last year, suddenly they are all suspect and incompetent.    Ballard, Reich and Flus.
 

I don’t suppose anyone might guess that because of injuries we are playing inexperienced guys who are learning on the job.   No, it can’t be that!   It has to be the front office and the coaching!

 

Once again the fans are smarter!

 

It’s going to be a long, LONG off-season.     

 

[1959Colts 1,143]

Eberflus  perhaps is good at coaching the players to run to the ball, play with enthusiasm, go for the strip...etc.

But frankly, his zone coverage scheme is terrible.

I can't remember ever watching any defense... where opposing teams wr's are always so wide open. 

[CR91 5,973]

6 minutes ago, 1959Colts said:

Eberflus  perhaps is good at coaching the players to run to the ball, play with enthusiasm, go for the strip...etc.

But frankly, his zone coverage scheme is terrible.

I can't remember ever watching any defense... where opposing teams wr's are always so wide open. 

 

Well when players can't leave their zone and pressure hasn't gotten to the QB, there's not much the secondary can do. Zone schemes don't work unless you get pressure.

[zibby43 1,098]

9 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Oh, Dear God, here we go....

 

It'll be the off-season from hell!

 

Everyone who was so smart last year, suddenly they are all suspect and incompetent.    Ballard, Reich and Flus.
 

I don’t suppose anyone might guess that because of injuries we are playing inexperienced guys who are learning on the job.   No, it can’t be that!   It has to be the front office and the coaching!

 

Once again the fans are smarter!

 

It’s going to be a long, LONG off-season.     

 

While your point about youth and injuries is reasonable, the Colts are 30th in the league in opponent completion percentage on the year.

Opposing QBs are *averaging* a 70% completion rate against the Colts.  That’s not kind of bad; that’s alarming.  That’s not going to get it done, ever.

 

That does speak to scheme.  And in today’s NFL, you can’t allow teams to complete passes at such an unbelievably high rate.  You’ll never get off the field.  
 

I think even the Colts’ staff will have to take some hard looks at their scheme and whether they need different personnel to play more man.  That completion percentage needs to drop significantly.

[Jdubu 1,268]

30 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

Defense has been bad! Spent most of the draft on that side of the ball and it took a step back. The scheme sucks. We gave up big plays everywhere. Down the sideline, middle of the field, we never cover the back out the backfield. Blitzes were obvious and didn’t hit home often enough. A bunch of issues. 

 

Either there is a disconnect with what is being taught or Eberflus is getting out coached. I know wasn’t a Reich guy. We made a lot of average QBs look great.

I certainly think it’s a fair question to evaluate the entire coaching crew. Eberflus hasn’t wowed me at all though. 

[Mr.Debonair 1,677]

8 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Oh, Dear God, here we go....

 

It'll be the off-season from hell!

 

Everyone who was so smart last year, suddenly they are all suspect and incompetent.    Ballard, Reich and Flus.
 

I don’t suppose anyone might guess that because of injuries we are playing inexperienced guys who are learning on the job.   No, it can’t be that!   It has to be the front office and the coaching!

 

Once again the fans are smarter!

 

It’s going to be a long, LONG off-season.     

 

The fans are smarter thing is old and tired. The D-line has plenty of experience and so did the LB core beside Bobby. The secondary outside of Ya-Sin and Tell isn’t young. Oh and Willis. 
 

The scheme is weak and easy to play against. Even against better competition in Year 1 the cracks were evident. The defensive woes weren’t just because of age

[DougDew 2,270]

Its the personnel.

[Tombstone 110]

50 minutes ago, CR91 said:

I'm gonna give the defense a pass this year. The offense didn't do them any favors

And the same can said for defense that really didn't do the offensive any favors.....

[FRW 117]

How many double digit leads have we given up in the second half? I think we were out scored 25-0 in this game after being up 20-13. That has been a theme all year. We start well, get a lead and then the defense and the Oline disappears.

[CR91 5,973]

28 minutes ago, Tombstone said:

And the same can said for defense that really didn't do the offensive any favors.....

 

Do you know how many times I've seen the defense get a stop or a turnover and the offense goes three and out

[Thunderbolt 440]

We need new blood on the defense, replace the DC. The team has regressed miserably, with the old scheme and other defense have caught on...Very vanilla, need better minded DC.

[Fisticuffs111 1,965]

Here's a tweet/take that I esentially agree with. Didn't know where this belonged but I figure a thread questioning our DC was as good as any (the second, main highlighted tweet):
 

 

Not so much the whole “jury is out on Ballard” part, just the fact that our defensive success is highly dependent on a really good success rate through the draft.

[richard pallo 2,346]

Great QB's like Brees have career days and average QBs like Minchew and Winston look like world beaters.  This zone and soft coverage is awful.  As soon a the ball is snapped we are dropping back into coverage and giving up easy throws with huge cushions.  Pretty hard to stop an offense that way.  This defense has regressed and Flus shouldn't get a pass.  We have some very strong players there.  They shouldn't look this bad.  Flus might not be as safe as a lot of people think.   

[Chloe6124 9,149]

13 minutes ago, Thunderbolt said:

We need new blood on the defense, replace the DC. The team has regressed miserably, with the old scheme and other defense have caught on...Very vanilla, need better minded DC.

It’s up to ballard to get him the right players. He can’t do much when the dline is so bad. Turay was a huge loss and Autry has been bad. It needs to be upgraded.

[CheezyColt 551]

18 minutes ago, FRW said:

How many double digit leads have we given up in the second half? I think we were out scored 25-0 in this game after being up 20-13. That has been a theme all year. We start well, get a lead and then the defense and the Oline disappears.

Totally. I always blame the defense when the offense has multiple turnovers leading directly to points. Buncha bums.

[Hoose 1,032]

53 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Oh, Dear God, here we go....

 

It'll be the off-season from hell!

 

Everyone who was so smart last year, suddenly they are all suspect and incompetent.    Ballard, Reich and Flus.
 

I don’t suppose anyone might guess that because of injuries we are playing inexperienced guys who are learning on the job.   No, it can’t be that!   It has to be the front office and the coaching!

 

Once again the fans are smarter!

 

It’s going to be a long, LONG off-season.     

 

Honestly, though, the lack of pass rush is hurting the secondary. And the secondary has truly struggled in the second half. Turay's injury had a bigger impact than one might have suspected, and additionally,  there has been little if any pressure from the D-tackle position this year.  So Turay returning healthy along with getting somebody to bring pressure up the middle from the D-line is essential. This is the area where the Colts can cure some of their defensive woes. Flus will keep his job, IMO. He needs a few more pieces to make things gel .

[mahagga73 209]

Just now, CheezyColt said:

Totally. I always blame the defense when the offense has multiple turnovers leading directly to points. Buncha bums.

They gave up 30 plus on average last 7 games. 

[Chloe6124 9,149]

Let’s not forget how valuable Kenny Moore is either. He has missed the last four games. The entire defense is filtered through Moore and Leonard. We need to find  way to play without him if he is injured. He is elite and it’s hard to replicate his play.

[Mr.Debonair 1,677]

2 minutes ago, Chloe6124 said:

Let’s not forget how valuable Kenny Moore is either. He has missed the last four games. The entire defense is filtered through Moore and Leonard. We need to find  way to play without him if he is injured. He is elite and it’s hard to replicate his play.

Kenny Moore is elite? Oh boy

[Chloe6124 9,149]

3 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

Kenny Moore is elite? Oh boy

Yes and almost every colt fan knows that. All those plays we have given up in the middle of the field probably don’t happen with him.

[Colts_Fan12 1,803]

1 hour ago, csmopar said:

Not disagreeing but I wonder how much of it goes to being on the field forever during a game. 3 and outs, fumbles etc tend to wear even the most conditioned Defenses out

bingo!!!!!

[Fisticuffs111 1,965]

9 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

Kenny Moore is elite? Oh boy

 

Well, at the very least he’s pretty vital to our defense.

 

Outside of coverage (which, he’s much better than most everybody else on the team), he makes a lot of key tackles in space, and is good for a pretty clutch corner blitz every now and then. 

[CheezyColt 551]

6 minutes ago, mahagga73 said:

They gave up 30 plus on average last 7 games. 

I think it's closer to 25 over the last 7 games, but again, that's only taking into consideration total points, not how those points were scored. Sure our defense needs to tighten up, but there were so many 3 and outs this year. I know I was pleasantly surprised many times this year with how the D stood up in the redzone.  We give up a lot of yards but if we stop them from scoring touchdowns, then that's all good. (Especially when you have an elite QB that can throw up points, like we did when the decision to build this team in that image was made).

[Thunderbolt 440]

Bottom line is we need offensive firepower, that can only come from the QB, right??

[Mr.Debonair 1,677]

1 minute ago, Fisticuffs111 said:

 

Well, at the very least he’s pretty vital to our defense.

 

Outside of coverage (which, he’s much better than most everybody else on the team), he makes a lot of key tackles in space, and is good for a pretty clutch corner blitz every now and then. 

He is good player in this defense but to call Kenny Moore elite is really reaching 

[Chloe6124 9,149]

2 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

He is good player in this defense but to call Kenny Moore elite is really reaching 

Ballard made him the highest paid at his position for a reason. I actually think he is more important then Leonard. When Moore doesn’t play we become very vanilla because we don’t have anyone that can do what he does.

[Two_pound 250]

This is pretty much the same players and coaches who last year over the last 11 weeks of the season gave up the fewest points in the league. They didn't suddenly forget how to coach and play did they? Justin Houston, Okereke, Willis, Ya-Sin, Banagu, are all upgrades over guys we had at their positions last year. Autry and Hunt did not play near as well this year, but I thought Stewert played better than last year. This collapse in the final nine games is due to a completely ineffective offense.

[Flash7 1,077]

Look, the zone defense is fine....as long as you have All-Pros at every position.