Hooker didn't if make a tackle

[mirobi48 38]

He was the only Colt defender not to have a grass stain,  Hmmm 

[jameszeigler834 967]

3 minutes ago, mirobi48 said:

He was the only Colt defender not to have a grass stain,  Hmmm 

He is shaping up to be a total bust.

[1959Colts 1,172]

He stands so far back from the line that he's unable to tackle

[MPStack 3,486]

Is it me, or do Ballard’s drafts seem to be, well not as great as some made them out to be?

 

The easy reply, is give them three years, I know. 
 

I’m concerned! 
 

Go Colts! 

[GoColts8818 4,688]

Overrated

[Fisticuffs111 1,994]

Is this the Hooker thread?

 

He ended the season pretty poorly. He’s gotten better at tackling, being more physical, but man has he had some problems in coverage.

[Blueblood23 340]

21 minutes ago, 1959Colts said:

He stands so far back from the line that he's unable to tackle

He defends the end line of the end zone better than any safety in the game.

[DougDew 2,597]

Hooker won't have an impact because Minshew is not a long bomber.  Most good QBs aren't anymore, so it will be tough for Hooker to have much impact much of the time. 

[Mr.Debonair 1,722]

He’s Elite. The other teams don’t throw is way so he can’t affect the game any other way. At least that’s what I heard lol

[Colt1977 1]

Definitely regressed this year, not as good

 

[Jdubu 1,268]

Yeah, Hooker has been pretty much a non factor this season. Again, you just have to ask, is it the players or is it the scheme? Either it’s the scheme or Hooker has continued to decline throughout this season along with several others 

[GoColts8818 4,688]

3 hours ago, Mr.Debonair said:

He’s Elite. The other teams don’t throw is way so he can’t affect the game any other way. At least that’s what I heard lol

Except when they do and he takes a bad route to cover it and the guy ends up wide open which has happened way too much this season.

 

i know you were saying that with sarcasm, just responding because I know really think what you said.

[ReMeDy 432]

Whats it take to get a roaming Strong Safety, like Troy Polamalu, who has the free reigns to hurdle over o-linemen? I want to see Hooker run wild. No more of these watch-and-wait zone shenanigans. Let's play some real football and hit some fools.

[Thunderbolt 454]

You win some and you lose some.  I think Ballard needs fire his scouts and hire new ones.

Another TJ Green clone....

[ColtV 241]

3 hours ago, MPStack said:

Is it me, or do Ballard’s drafts seem to be, well not as great as some made them out to be?

 

The easy reply, is give them three years, I know. 
 

I’m concerned! 
 

Go Colts! 

Burn the heretic!!!!!!!!!

[Wentzszn 10,021]

Let’s be fair hooker was drafted before any of the current coaches were here. He may not be the guy to fit the coaches schemes.

[CR91 6,931]

Guys I'm telling you it's the scheme. If the colts wanna play like the 2013 Seahawks, they need to play cover 1 not cover 2. Yes that is more aggressive and requires more man coverage, but we need to do something to help our dline. They were a complete liability since the first game of the season

[GoColts8818 4,688]

4 hours ago, MPStack said:

Is it me, or do Ballard’s drafts seem to be, well not as great as some made them out to be?

 

The easy reply, is give them three years, I know. 
 

I’m concerned! 
 

Go Colts! 

I don’t think they are as good as some made them out to be but they were never going to be.  He could pretty much do no wrong when it came to the draft in many peoples minds going into the season and that’s an unrealistic view.  

 

Hes a long away from being Grigson though.

 

here are his classes:

 

17

Hooker

Wilson

Bashem

Banner

Mack

Stewart 

Hairston

Walker

 

18

Nelson

Leonard

Smith

Turay

Lewis

Hines

Fountain

Wilkins

Cain

Adams

Frankin

 

19

Ya-Sin

Banogu

Campbell

Okereke

Willis

Tell

Speed

Green

Barton

Patterson

 

Of those I think he’s gotten four homerun picks in Mack, Nelson, Leonard, Smith.  That’s more than Grigson had combined the whole time he was here.

 

Hes gotten solid picks out of Stewart, Walker, Hines, Wilkins, Okereke, and Willis.

 

Turey was doing well this year until he got hurt so I say he’s an incomplete right now but there is reason to be excited.  Hooker has been good up until this year so I think we have to wait and see if this was just a bad year which happens.  

 

Tell and Banogu have shown signs of promise this year so I would put them in the wait and see category.

 

Ya-sin was up and down this season which isn’t all that strange for rookie corners, especially when you consider he was asked be the number one corner for a lot of the season due to injuries.  So way too early to call him a bust.

 

To this point his biggest misses are Wilson and Basham.  Lewis is starting to trend that way.

 

All and all he doesn’t walk on water like many thought but he’s still been pretty good.  Also let’s not forget he turned one pick into four pretty good players including Nelson and Smith I believe.

[Shadow_Creek 711]

3 hours ago, Mr.Debonair said:

He’s Elite. The other teams don’t throw is way so he can’t affect the game any other way. At least that’s what I heard lol

then how come earl Thomas has more success at being more dangerous than hooker. seems like Earl is around the ball alot

[Thunderbolt 454]

I think it comes down to the scheme or the right DC to infuse these fundamentals...I've seen DCs that would come in their first year and make a difference....So it's time to call out Fluls to get these guys step up to the next level or he'll be changing Zip Codes.

[CurBeatElite 1,341]

We also have a very weak pass rush (maybe a healthy Turay changes that?) and are banged up pretty bad in the secondary (plus we lack skill guys at CB).  

 

Our offense also sputtered out most of the 2nd half of the season, meaning other teams can play very conservatively against us when they've got the ball.  

 

I have faith in Hooker, I think he needs a better supporting cast and he'll be fine.

[runthepost 799]

11 hours ago, Mr.Debonair said:

He’s Elite. The other teams don’t throw is way so he can’t affect the game any other way. At least that’s what I heard lol

Remember he’s a top 5 safety 

[aaron11 1,680]

he was good last year, this year teams didnt have to throw it deep to beat us and when they did hooker was late

[indyagent17 800]

Real football fans understand that Hooker is not a bust. Quarterbacks do not throw his direction. He's a very solid safety

[Defjamz26 2,126]

2 hours ago, aaron11 said:

he was good last year, this year teams didnt have to throw it deep to beat us and when they did hooker was late

No. The narrative that was preached hear last year was that he was still getting back to speed from his ACL tear and wasn’t fully healthy. That’s what I was told lol.

[twfish 1,123]

A free safeties job has never been and will never be to crowd the line and be a stat stuffer tackling machine. That's never been that positions game and if you believe that you don't understand football at all so this entire thread is really a joke. You want to see him play to his strengths? Utilize cover 3 and let him roam, that's what he was drafted for anyways. Our entire defense has looked absolutely abysmal and to blame one guy is laughable especially when you're wanting him to do something he isn't supposed to do when guys like Grover Stewart don't even log a tackle. Could Hooker play better at times? Absolutely, but he is still one of the better young Free Safeties in the league and far from being a bust.

[Mr.Debonair 1,722]

6 minutes ago, twfish said:

A free safeties job has never been and will never be to crowd the line and be a stat stuffer tackling machine. That's never been that positions game and if you believe that you don't understand football at all so this entire thread is really a joke. You want to see him play to his strengths? Utilize cover 3 and let him roam, that's what he was drafted for anyways. Our entire defense has looked absolutely abysmal and to blame one guy is laughable especially when you're wanting him to do something he isn't supposed to do when guys like Grover Stewart don't even log a tackle. Could Hooker play better at times? Absolutely, but he is still one of the better young Free Safeties in the league and far from being a bust.

No one here, blamed just Hooker. Stop it. You guys get so defensive. He has had

very little impact on the game. It’s not solely his fault that the D stinks but he isn’t doing much out there 

[runthepost 799]

10 minutes ago, twfish said:

A free safeties job has never been and will never be to crowd the line and be a stat stuffer tackling machine. That's never been that positions game and if you believe that you don't understand football at all so this entire thread is really a joke. You want to see him play to his strengths? Utilize cover 3 and let him roam, that's what he was drafted for anyways. Our entire defense has looked absolutely abysmal and to blame one guy is laughable especially when you're wanting him to do something he isn't supposed to do when guys like Grover Stewart don't even log a tackle. Could Hooker play better at times? Absolutely, but he is still one of the better young Free Safeties in the league and far from being a bust.

Honestly if we were to run a zone scheme like prime Seattle I would enjoy it. We are missing the coverage linebacker, defensive lineman and a hybrid safety. This free agency class we need to sign Armstead and Byron Jones.

[DougDew 2,597]

An elite player.....maybe even simply a good football player...should be able to contribute in a meaningful way no matter what scheme is being played.  Some players are better at some things than other things, but still....

 

If you have to tailor the play calls to accommodate a player who can only contribute in one way, that player pretty much stifles the ability to do anything else. 

 

So he's great at playing prevent zone defense, and only when he lines up far enough away from the LOS.  I would think that it would open up the underneath pretty widely and forces the other players to be exceptionally good.  We don't have the elite underneath players to keep offenses from moving the ball at will.  And it will be tough to accumulate that many underneath players and still afford a QB, IMO.

[John Waylon 1,824]

12 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

Except when they do and he takes a bad route to cover it and the guy ends up wide open which has happened way too much this season.

 

i know you were saying that with sarcasm, just responding because I know really think what you said.

Oh there are definitely some who do. I still remember the post where someone said “he’s only been targeted 6 times and allowed 4 catches” to back up his claim of being an elite safety. 
 

Hooker has often been a darling of metric stats. There’s always been some way to spin a stat to make him seem like he’s having more of an impact than he has had. 

[waittilnextyear 32]

33 minutes ago, twfish said:

A free safeties job has never been and will never be to crowd the line and be a stat stuffer tackling machine. That's never been that positions game and if you believe that you don't understand football at all so this entire thread is really a joke. You want to see him play to his strengths? Utilize cover 3 and let him roam, that's what he was drafted for anyways. Our entire defense has looked absolutely abysmal and to blame one guy is laughable especially when you're wanting him to do something he isn't supposed to do when guys like Grover Stewart don't even log a tackle. Could Hooker play better at times? Absolutely, but he is still one of the better young Free Safeties in the league and far from being a bust.

 

  He appears to have a low FB IQ. 
  We played cover 2 31% of the time. The guy just never meets a receiver when the ball gets to him. And other teams never seem to throw into double coverage like i see all the time in other games. Eberflus can't be that bad.
 

[coltsfanatic24 107]

The defensive line isn’t getting enough pressure. Hooker isn’t being put in the best position to succeed. 

[AwesomeAustin 695]

Hooker is a solid starting FS in this league.  He isn’t a game changer but he won’t need to be replaced for another 5-7yrs.  This thread should be about the DL.  That is what needs to improve and drastically. 

[Pacergeek 355]

Hooker is one of the most overrated Indianapolis Colts I can remember. Yes, from time to time, he will make an interception. Most of the time, he is completely invisible. Mike Adams, and every other Colts free safety in our history, would also get a few interceptions over the course of an entire season. 

 

Can't wait to hear how "Hooker prevents the deep ball because of how great he is". If your pass defense is in the bottom quarter of the NFL, your free safety far from elite. 

[aaron11 1,680]

i have defended hooker but was a little disappointed this year.  he did nothing special besides that interception he got in the first week

 

the argument has always been are QBs avoiding him or is he not making an impact. this year i lean towards the later 

[will426 146]

i think a lot of you complain too much about the players and less about the scheme these SAME players have locked teams up when playing a specific scheme..but moment we moved away from that scheme we started giving up way too many free completions and we rarely blitz  i blame Flub no way we should be playing that far deep especially Hooker we need to be playing tight man coverage majority of the time and mix zone in When needed not every damn play 

[WarGhost21 947]

4 minutes ago, Pacergeek said:

Hooker is one of the most overrated Indianapolis Colts I can remember. Yes, from time to time, he will make an interception. Most of the time, he is completely invisible. Mike Adams, and every other Colts free safety in our history, would also get a few interceptions over the course of an entire season. 

 

Can't wait to hear how "Hooker prevents the deep ball because of how great he is". If your pass defense is in the bottom quarter of the NFL, your free safety far from elite. 

Stats don’t mean everything. Sure, Hooker isn’t Elite, but he is a good starter, and him being invisible isn’t a bad thing. If you aren’t hearing his name being called, he’s doing his job

[WarGhost21 947]

I’ll say this much about Hooker: he isn’t elite, but he also isn’t the problem. He was drafted for a scheme that we no longer run on defense, and he has improved in run support this season regardless of wether or not he made a tackle this past game. What we need is better pass rush, and that in turn will give our DBs more opportunity on the back end

[Pacergeek 355]

3 minutes ago, WarGhost21 said:

Stats don’t mean everything. Sure, Hooker isn’t Elite, but he is a good starter, and him being invisible isn’t a bad thing. If you aren’t hearing his name being called, he’s doing his job

I would agree with this take. He's a decent, middle of the road Safety. With all the attention he gets from the media, one would think he's the next Ed Reed. 

[indyagent17 800]

21 minutes ago, aaron11 said:

i have defended hooker but was a little disappointed this year.  he did nothing special besides that interception he got in the first week

 

the argument has always been are QBs avoiding him or is he not making an impact. this year i lean towards the later 

QB's do not throw his way very often