Colts at Bears: The good, the bad, and the ugly (and bonus "the silly")

[EastStreet]

Before I get into the GB&U.... I'm going to start with "The Silly"

 

 

The Silly

-If you didn't expect an ugly game travelling to Soldier Field, you might be silly.

-All the stuff about Rivers from some of you is just silly. Did he look great today? No. But he did however have the highest QBR and Passer Rating than any QB that has faced the Bears so far this year. And Rivers did it on the road in Soldier Field. An 82.5 QBR for comparison sake, would be 5th best vs the league average right now. Calm down, have a chaser of context with your beers lol.

 

 

                  QBR      Passer Rating
Rivers          82.5          86.9
Ryan            38.0          67.7
Jones           43.6          68.9
Stafford       52.9          77.2

 

 

 

Good
-While I'm not a "W is the only thing that matters" kind of guy, beating an undefeated Bears with a good D in Soldier Field is pretty darn good.
-While the OL struggled early, Rivers was only sacked once all game. Yes there were a few batted balls and QB Hits (3), but not bad if you give any credit at all to the Bears' front 7.
-Our run D held the Bears to 1.8 AVG
-While we allowed Foles to throw for 200+, we picked him once, held him to a sub 6 AVG, and a sub 50 QBR.
-Even with the Bears selling out vs the run, Taylor still managed a 4.0 AVG. He also had a nice 11 yard catch and run. More Taylor please.
-Another great flash from Mo with that TD. He did have a bad mis-timed jump for a 50/50, but he'll learn from that I'm sure and come back beastly. Why only 2 targets.
-Blackmon can sure lay the wood. He INT'd one that was gifted to him, and dropped another. Had some good PDs too, but was also short to help deep a few times. Great start from the young pup. 
-CB in general. Another pretty good effort by Rhodes with a few PDs. Rock looked pretty decent returning to the lineup and had a key PD. Even Rodgers had a few nice plays. Moore looked better than last week, and led the DBs in tackling. 
-Houston looked really good. The sack was nice, but some of the athletic contain/pursuit/tackles were fantastic. 1 sack, 2 TFLs, 4Ts and 2 QBHs.
-Buckner earning his contract. Batted ball/PD, and 3 QBHs. Need to get home more big fella.
-While I noted Rodger for his CB play above, he did great KRing today. 2/56yards. NICE.
-Blank didn't Clank.
-Sanchez with a 50.4 AVG, and one monster punt when we needed it.
-Dulin on STs. Caught one of Sanchez's punts lol, and made a nice hit. Always hustling.
-Was that Glasgow on a big hit?

 

 

Bad 
-Way too many designed / first read play calls to Pascal who was 3/8 and Burton 2/5. Other than that, pass catchers had a good x/y.
-Willis struggled a bit, with some uncharacteristic poor tackles and penalties.
-Oke still struggling in coverage. Totally blew a handoff. Not sure if it's the new C3/Match pains or just him. Had a nice TFL and made some tackles, but looked poor in coverage and overall.

-Hines and Wilkins AVG

 

 

Ugly
-Play calling #1. Again, way too much Hines up the gut. And why in the redzone. SMH
-Play calling #2. What happened to the sail routes that were so successful last week to Mo?
-Paly calling #3. Why the multiple early forces to Burton in his first game back from injury with all the success from other TEs. S.l.o.w.l.y. work him in.
-Play calling #4. TE Targets. 5 for Burton, 2 for Mo, 1 for Doyle.... Yes, I'm beating the TE stuff like a dead horse.
-Adjustments - Bears seem to sell out vs the run, and play calling didn't change to exploit
-Game Plan #1. I'm OK with a RB rotation, but the last two weeks have been way over-rotated. How can any RB get in a groove like this.  

[GoColts8818]

The good

the defense

special teams

rookie play, not only are Blackmon, Taylor and hot rod making plays but Glassgow helped out on special teams today.
pascal just keeps making plays.  Where would the Colts WRs be without him the last couple of years?

ball control offense.  They might have not scored a lot of points but they had several long time consuming drives that lead to points and they didn’t turn the ball over for the second straight game.  

Might Mo!  You can’t stop him only hope to contain him!  
 

bad

Rivers had a couple of ugly throws and continues to play like a game manger but with this Colts team that’s all they need him to be.

Leonard’s injury.  Groins tend to linger

Giving Wilkins and Hines 18 carries and Taylor only 17, Taylor was effective at 4.0 ypc while Hines was 2.7 ypc and Wilkins was 1.7.  Trust Taylor and feed him the ball and stop trying to force the ball into Hines hands and stop trying to make him a between the tackles runner.  

take the second and long shotgun draw to Hines out back and shoot it.

lack of the play action pass.  The couple of times the Colts ran it it was effective and those plays will back teams off the run game.

 

ugly

the second down and long draw to Hines.  Yes I know I already mentioned It but I hate that play so much I brought it up again.

Burton looked really sloppy his first game back.  That should change in time.  
The red zone offense both execution and play calling.  
goaline fades that never work and nearly ended in a costly pick today.

ya-sin’s no contact injury.  Hopefully it’s not serious.  

Colts were sloppy with penalties early but cleaned it up as the game went along.

[AZColt11]

To add to the good:  The defense STILL has not allowed 300 total yards in a game this year.  And if you factor in that the Bears gained 90 yards on their last drive in garbage time against our prevent D, they only had 179 total yards meaning this defense has now held TWO of it's first 4 opponents under 200 total yards (when it mattered).  THAT is damn impressive in the NFL.  I don't care what team you are, 

 

Scoring?  They allowed 8 points in garbage time to the Vikings and 8 today in garbage time vs. the Bears.  Take those out and, since giving up 27 to the Jags (some of which came as a result of offensive turnovers), this defense has really only given up 3, 7, and 3 points in the last three games when it really counted.  Again, you can choose to discount them or not believe or whatever, but that is very difficult to do even if you are playing the #32 ranked offense for three straight weeks.  This is the NFL and those guys are pros too so give the D their props.  And it sure beats the heck outta the defense we've gotten around here the last 10 years or so, eh?  So I'm going to beat that drum for'em.

[GoColts8818]

4 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

To add to the good:  The defense STILL has not allowed 300 total yards in a game this year.  And if you factor in that the Bears gained 90 yards on their last drive in garbage time against our prevent D, they only had 179 total yards meaning this defense has now held TWO of it's first 4 opponents under 200 total yards (when it mattered).  THAT is damn impressive in the NFL.  I don't care what team you are, 

 

Scoring?  They allowed 8 points in garbage time to the Vikings and 8 today in garbage time vs. the Bears.  Take those out and, since giving up 27 to the Jags (some of which came as a result of offensive turnovers), this defense has really only given up 3, 7, and 3 points in the last three games when it really counted.  Again, you can choose to discount them or not believe or whatever, but that is very difficult to do even if you are playing the #32 ranked offense for three straight weeks.  This is the NFL and those guys are pros too so give the D their props.  And it sure beats the heck outta the defense we've gotten around here the last 10 years or so, eh?  So I'm going to beat that drum for'em.

The stat today that the Cowboys gave up more points today than the Colts had all year was pretty telling.

[EastStreet]

8 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

The stat today that the Cowboys gave up more points today than the Colts had all year was pretty telling.

And we will play the team next week that put up those points today on the Cowboys.

Good test for our #1 D......

[GoColts8818]

Just now, EastStreet said:

And we will play the team next week that put up those points today on the Cowboys.

Good test for our #1 D......

Yes I agree.  I think this is the first real test the D has had.  These aren’t the Browns of the past this is a good team.

[AZColt11]

Just now, EastStreet said:

And we will play the team next week that put up those points today on the Cowboys.

Good test for our #1 D......

Hell the Vikings have scored on everybody too.  Not against the Colts.  I would not foresee the Browns getting 49.

[EastStreet]

15 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

To add to the good:  The defense STILL has not allowed 300 total yards in a game this year.  And if you factor in that the Bears gained 90 yards on their last drive in garbage time against our prevent D, they only had 179 total yards meaning this defense has now held TWO of it's first 4 opponents under 200 total yards (when it mattered).  THAT is damn impressive in the NFL.  I don't care what team you are, 

 

Scoring?  They allowed 8 points in garbage time to the Vikings and 8 today in garbage time vs. the Bears.  Take those out and, since giving up 27 to the Jags (some of which came as a result of offensive turnovers), this defense has really only given up 3, 7, and 3 points in the last three games when it really counted.  Again, you can choose to discount them or not believe or whatever, but that is very difficult to do even if you are playing the #32 ranked offense for three straight weeks.  This is the NFL and those guys are pros too so give the D their props.  And it sure beats the heck outta the defense we've gotten around here the last 10 years or so, eh?  So I'm going to beat that drum for'em.

In spirit, I'm with you. But all teams give up garbage points late, so you have to count it.

 

We have been darn impressive for sure, but we also have played some bad OLs and bad Os. Next week will really be a good indicator just how good our D is. The team that put up all those points on the Cowboys is up next. Super excited.

[EastStreet]

1 minute ago, GoColts8818 said:

Yes I agree.  I think this is the first real test the D has had.  These aren’t the Browns of the past this is a good team.

Browns O was very good two year ago. The fell apart under Kitchens. Great OL, good weapons. Should be a great game.

If our D looks good against them, I'll be all in on the hype.

[AZColt11]

1 minute ago, EastStreet said:

In spirit, I'm with you. But all teams give up garbage points late, so you have to count it.

 

We have been darn impressive for sure, but we also have played some bad OLs and bad Os. Next week will really be a good indicator just how good our D is. The team that put up all those points on the Cowboys is up next. Super excited.

Yeah I read ya.  Even with those garbage points it's a 14 ppg average.  Still pretty dang good.  

 

Where I'm fuzzy is we keep saying "Wait until next week when they play a good offense....."  So we are saying that again about the Browns now.  So if they hold them down do we officially believe in this defense?  Where does the doubt stop and we begin to believe?

[EastStreet]

20 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

The good

the defense

special teams

rookie play, not only are Blackmon, Taylor and hot rod making plays but Glassgow helped out on special teams today.
pascal just keeps making plays.  Where would the Colts WRs be without him the last couple of years?

ball control offense.  They might have not scored a lot of points but they had several long time consuming drives that lead to points and they didn’t turn the ball over for the second straight game.  

Might Mo!  You can’t stop him only hope to contain him!  
 

bad

Rivers had a couple of ugly throws and continues to play like a game manger but with this Colts team that’s all they need him to be.

Leonard’s injury.  Groins tend to linger

Giving Wilkins and Hines 18 carries and Taylor only 17, Taylor was effective at 4.0 ypc while Hines was 2.7 ypc and Wilkins was 1.7.  Trust Taylor and feed him the ball and stop trying to force the ball into Hines hands and stop trying to make him a between the tackles runner.  

take the second and long shotgun draw to Hines out back and shoot it.

lack of the play action pass.  The couple of times the Colts ran it it was effective and those plays will back teams off the run game.

 

ugly

the second down and long draw to Hines.  Yes I know I already mentioned It but I hate that play so much I brought it up again.

Burton looked really sloppy his first game back.  That should change in time.  
The red zone offense both execution and play calling.  
goaline fades that never work and nearly ended in a costly pick today.

ya-sin’s no contact injury.  Hopefully it’s not serious.  

Colts were sloppy with penalties early but cleaned it up as the game went along.

IMO Rivers only had 1 ugly throw, and that was the short arm to the right. The 50/50 to Mo was more than fine (Mo mistimed his jump). It's the exact play you want when a guy like Mo is singled. The miss to Hilton, if you rewatch, Hilton alters his route a bit to sidestep a defender when Rivers was in the motion. I missed parts of a few drives, but those are the only 3 I saw people mention.

[EastStreet]

2 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

Yeah I read ya.  Even with those garbage points it's a 14 ppg average.  Still pretty dang good.  

 

Where I'm fuzzy is we keep saying "Wait until next week when they play a good offense....."  So we are saying that again about the Browns now.  So if they hold them down do we officially believe in this defense?  Where does the doubt stop and we begin to believe?

I've never said wait till next week for our D. I've been saying wait till we play the Browns who have a top 10 OL and good weapons. All the OLs we've played so far are sub 20. IF we shut down Cleveland, I'm all aboard the hype train.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I will keep it short and sweet,

 

The Silly:

Some thinking winning this game against a 3-0 team on the road would be automatic. We didn't beat an elite team but did beat a good team. Enjoy a solid win forum people.

 

The Good:

Taylor 4.0 a carry, Rivers no Turnovers, the defense only giving up 11 points, we are 3-1.

 

The Bad:

Not scoring more TD's and getting held to FG's when driving deep. 

 

[GoColts8818]

7 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

IMO Rivers only had 1 ugly throw, and that was the short arm to the right. The 50/50 to Mo was more than fine (Mo mistimed his jump). It's the exact play you want when a guy like Mo is singled. The miss to Hilton, if you rewatch, Hilton alters his route a bit to sidestep a defender when Rivers was in the motion. I missed parts of a few drives, but those are the only 3 I saw people mention.

There were a few ugly throws however I am not going to press the panic button over one game against the number three defense in the nfl.  

[AZColt11]

8 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

I've never said wait till next week for our D. I've been saying wait till we play the Browns who have a top 10 OL and good weapons. All the OLs we've played so far are sub 20. IF we shut down Cleveland, I'm all aboard the hype train.

Oh I wasn't saying you in particular, just some folks on the board.  But it's nice to know where you stand sir/madame.  I will believe even more if it happens, but I wouldn't let what happened in Dallas today influence me too much.  That Dallas D is scary bad.  That run Odell had near the end it looked like nobody even had any interest in tackling him.

 

For me, I think if they can hold the Browns to 20 or less that is a pretty good day.

[EastStreet]

3 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

There were a few ugly throws however I am not going to press the panic button over one game against the number three defense in the nfl.  

Yep. No need for the panic button. Like I listed above, he had the best performance vs the Bears by far compared to the other 3 QBs so far this year.

2 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

Oh I wasn't saying you in particular, just some folks on the board.  But it's nice to know where you stand sir.  I will believe even more if it happens, but I wouldn't let what happened in Dallas today influence me too much.  That Dallas D is scary bad.  That run Odell had near the end it looked like nobody even had any interest in tackling him.

 

For me, I think if they can hold the Browns to 20 or less that is a pretty good day.

I'm not putting too much into the Dallas game, but it was on the road to Dallas, so I give them that. Dallas did hold the Rams to sub 20 though, and played Seattle close in Seattle. 

 

The big thing is, our DL hasn't faced a top 20 OL. Our DBs haven't faced guys like OBJ, Landry, or Hooper.

I'm more confident in our DL at this point than our DBs. I also have a sneaky feeling we're going to play Charmin soft coverage vs the Browns. 

[AZColt11]

2 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

Yep. No need for the panic button. Like I listed above, he had the best performance vs the Bears by far compared to the other 3 QBs so far this year.

I'm not putting too much into the Dallas game, but it was on the road to Dallas, so I give them that. Dallas did hold the Rams to sub 20 though, and played Seattle close in Seattle. 

 

The big thing is, our DL hasn't faced a top 20 OL. Our DBs haven't faced guys like OBJ, Landry, or Hooper.

I'm more confident in our DL at this point than our DBs. I also have a sneaky feeling we're going to play Charmin soft coverage vs the Browns. 

Yeah it should be a terrific matchup.  Their strength vs. our strength.  I would give their pass D the edge over our passing game though.  I haven't looked yet but I would guess they would be about a FG favorite or so.

[GoColts8818]

6 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

Yep. No need for the panic button. Like I listed above, he had the best performance vs the Bears by far compared to the other 3 QBs so far this year.

I'm not putting too much into the Dallas game, but it was on the road to Dallas, so I give them that. Dallas did hold the Rams to sub 20 though, and played Seattle close in Seattle. 

 

The big thing is, our DL hasn't faced a top 20 OL. Our DBs haven't faced guys like OBJ, Landry, or Hooper.

I'm more confident in our DL at this point than our DBs. I also have a sneaky feeling we're going to play Charmin soft coverage vs the Browns. 

Yeah I didn’t have an issue with him today, I think sometimes we won’t don’t give enough credit to the team the Colts are playing to say when they are good at something.  I just listed as a bad because it was his worst game as a Colt, however it’s easy to understand why and once you do you realize it’s nothing to be concerned about and even his worst game was still good.  He avoid the big mistake and chewed up the clock by moving the ball down the field.  against the bears I’ll take that.  

[CurBeatElite]

Nice post, @EastStreet  - I'm in basic agreement... though, I thought Okereke played his best game of the year.  I'm 100% with you on Hines' role in the offense.. he had a really nice~12 yard run when we were backed up and followed it up with a nice catch where he shook some tackles and got another first down... otherwise, he gets stuffed pretty often when we use him as a running back in the shotgun formation.  

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Taylor had some plays today where it looked like his vision and patience is improving.

 

We have to get more creative on offense. I want to see Taylor and Hines on the field at the same time. Gives us lots of options. What about some jet sweeps. This offense looks bad once in the red zone. This is one thing Jacoby was very good at last year. 

 

Some good I think Reich is learning that kicking the FG is ok. When the defense is playing like that and your on the road take the points.

[EastStreet]

25 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

Yeah it should be a terrific matchup.  Their strength vs. our strength.  I would give their pass D the edge over our passing game though.  I haven't looked yet but I would guess they would be about a FG favorite or so.

I'm going to dive into the matchups and stats tomorrow or Tuesday. Let me know if there's anything specific you want to see. If it's free, I'll find it 

[EastStreet]

23 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

Yeah I didn’t have an issue with him today, I think sometimes we won’t don’t give enough credit to the team the Colts are playing to say when they are good at something.  I just listed as a bad because it was his worst game as a Colt, however it’s easy to understand why and once you do you realize it’s nothing to be concerned about and even his worst game was still good.  He avoid the big mistake and chewed up the clock by moving the ball down the field.  against the bears I’ll take that.  

I think his worst game was G1, but I also think that the game plan was super bad then too.

 

That's why I always like to dig into the stats before the game. It sets pretty good expectations, and keeps me from over reacting or being surprised lol.

[EastStreet]

21 minutes ago, CurBeatElite said:

Nice post, @EastStreet  - I'm in basic agreement... though, I thought Okereke played his best game of the year.  I'm 100% with you on Hines' role in the offense.. he had a really nice~12 yard run when we were backed up and followed it up with a nice catch where he shook some tackles and got another first down... otherwise, he gets stuffed pretty often when we use him as a running back in the shotgun formation.  

Thanks CBE. Between the film rewatches, PFF, and stats, just not sure about Oke so far this year. I'm interested to see what the advanced stats say though. My biggest issue is, he's supposed to be a coverage improvement, and that's where he seems to be struggling most this year. His passer rating allowed was barely better than Walker's last year, and it's not good thus far this season. Hope he finds his groove as we need him badly next week.

 

I love Hines a ton, I just think we're using him all wrong. I'm tired of hearing Reich talk about him as between the Ts RB. He's a freaking APB, and should be used as a satellite guy. Total waste IMO.

[DontEverGiveUp]

Coming into the game, the Bears defense was #1 in completion percentage allowed and #5 on third down conversion percentage.

 

With the WR corp banged up and still not in sync yet, I thought Rivers did a great job of managing the game.  Got that early TD and then the defense took it from there.  Rodrigo was also huge by taking care of business.

 

Colts were at 30% on third downs coming into the game and went 8/19 (42%) in this one.  A sign of improvement, especially against that defense.

[EastStreet]

12 minutes ago, Chloe6124 said:

Taylor had some plays today where it looked like his vision and patience is improving.

It just takes time. Too many folks expect Barkley after 3 games.... 

12 minutes ago, Chloe6124 said:

We have to get more creative on offense. I want to see Taylor and Hines on the field at the same time. Gives us lots of options. What about some jet sweeps. This offense looks bad once in the red zone. This is one thing Jacoby was very good at last year. 

I would love this. I'd also love to see Hines running out of slot with JT in the backfield. And anything misdirection, or simply more creative.

12 minutes ago, Chloe6124 said:

Some good I think Reich is learning that kicking the FG is ok. When the defense is playing like that and your on the road take the points.

Yep, but I think he knew simply it's not smart to do that stuff vs a good D on the road.

2 minutes ago, DontEverGiveUp said:

Coming into the game, the Bears defense was #1 in completion percentage allowed and #5 on third down conversion percentage.

 

With the WR corp banged up and still not in sync yet, I thought Rivers did a great job of managing the game.  Got that early TD and then the defense took it from there.  Rodrigo was also huge by taking care of business.

 

Colts were at 30% on third downs coming into the game and went 8/19 (42%) in this one.  A sign of improvement, especially against that defense.

Good points. And don't forget, top 5 in red zone D.

[DontEverGiveUp]

Just now, EastStreet said:

Thanks CBE. Between the film rewatches, PFF, and stats, just not sure about Oke so far this year. I'm interested to see what the advanced stats say though. My biggest issue is, he's supposed to be a coverage improvement, and that's where he seems to be struggling most this year. His passer rating allowed was barely better than Walker's last year, and it's not good thus far this season. Hope he finds his groove as we need him badly next week.

 

I love Hines a ton, I just think we're using him all wrong. I'm tired of hearing Reich talk about him as between the Ts RB. He's a freaking APB, and should be used as a satellite guy. Total waste IMO.

You'd think with Rivers' history with guys like Sproles, Woodhead, and Ekeler that Hines would be filling that same role.  Not really seeing it yet from a play design perspective as you mentioned.

 

This has been a weird season though.  I feel like our offense was vanilla against MIN and NYJ due to the blowout score, and it was bland/ugly today due to Chicago's stout defense.  Hope to see things open up more as the season progresses.  Happy for a win no matter what though.

[EastStreet]

8 minutes ago, DontEverGiveUp said:

You'd think with Rivers' history with guys like Sproles, Woodhead, and Ekeler that Hines would be filling that same role.  Not really seeing it yet from a play design perspective as you mentioned.

IMO, that's all on Reich for game plan and play calling. I'm really down on him thus far in 2020.

There's just so much we're not doing that would make things easier on both the O, Rivers, and the RBs.

8 minutes ago, DontEverGiveUp said:

 

This has been a weird season though.  I feel like our offense was vanilla against MIN and NYJ due to the blowout score, and it was bland/ugly today due to Chicago's stout defense.  Hope to see things open up more as the season progresses.  Happy for a win no matter what though.

Me too. I think Frank will have to open up the playbook if we can't shut down the Browns.

[AZColt11]

25 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

I'm going to dive into the matchups and stats tomorrow or Tuesday. Let me know if there's anything specific you want to see. If it's free, I'll find it 

The areas that worry me are the problems with the 3rd down % and redzone % of the offense.  How do the Browns defense stack up in those areas?  Thanks in advance.

[EastStreet]

3 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

The areas that worry me are the problems with the 3rd down % and redzone % of the offense.  How do the Browns defense stack up in those areas?  Thanks in advance.

Got ya AZ

[GoColts8818]

34 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

I think his worst game was G1, but I also think that the game plan was super bad then too.

 

That's why I always like to dig into the stats before the game. It sets pretty good expectations, and keeps me from over reacting or being surprised lol.

I think decision making week one was his worst.  I think throwing the ball it was the bears game.  Again it’s understandable why so nothing really to complain about.

[EastStreet]

3 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

I think decision making week one was his worst.  I think throwing the ball it was the bears game.  Again it’s understandable why so nothing really to complain about.

Agree on decision making W1. We should not have been tossing it all over the yard that game though. 

W4, he had better ratings by far than any QB to face the Bears in the first 4 weeks, so not unhappy at all given the context. 

[GoColts8818]

3 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

Agree on decision making W1. We should not have been tossing it all over the yard that game though. 

W4, he had better ratings by far than any QB to face the Bears in the first 4 weeks, so not unhappy at all given the context. 

Exactly it’s understandable when you look at who they were playing vs who they played the first three weeks.  Add in the WR injuries and working two of the tight ends back from injury plus TY either not being what TY was or in a major slump and yeah I get it.  With that said Rivers did exactly what the Colts asked him to be today and needed to be, a game manager.  He kept the offense on the field for long drives and got points, even if it was just 3, and didn’t make the costly mistake.  
 

I know some are upset because he’s not putting up Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck numbers but I think they are losing sight of the fact he’s not being asked to do that and more importantly he doesn’t need to do that for the Colts to win.  In fact the one game he tried to do that is when he made some really bad decisions with the ball that really hurt them.

[EastStreet]

5 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

Exactly it’s understandable when you look at who they were playing vs who they played the first three weeks.  Add in the WR injuries and working two of the tight ends back from injury plus TY either not being what TY was or in a major slump and yeah I get it.  With that said Rivers did exactly what the Colts asked him to be today and needed to be, a game manager.  He kept the offense on the field for long drives and got points, even if it was just 3, and didn’t make the costly mistake.  
 

I know some are upset because he’s not putting up Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck numbers but I think they are losing sight of the fact he’s not being asked to do that and more importantly he doesn’t need to do that for the Colts to win.  In fact the one game he tried to do that is when he made some really bad decisions with the ball that really hurt them.

I agree with it all. Only thing I'd add is that I do think he could do more with a better game plan and better play calling, and still not be too risky. Same with the RBs. Just feel like play calling, game plan, and personnel usage is what is holding us back the most. It's still early in the season, so we'll see if we grow in that area.

[GoColts8818]

1 minute ago, EastStreet said:

I agree with it all. Only thing I'd add is that I do think he could do more with a better game plan and better play calling, and still not be too risky. Same with the RBs. Just feel like play calling, game plan, and personnel usage is what is holding us back the most. It's still early in the season, so we'll see if we grow in that area.

I agree with that for sure.  I’d like to see some more play action.  Could you picture how wide open someone would be if on 2nd and long they faked the hand off to Hines and threw down the field?

[EastStreet]

3 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

I agree with that for sure.  I’d like to see some more play action.  Could you picture how wide open someone would be if on 2nd and long they faked the hand off to Hines and threw down the field?

Yup, need way more play action.

 

Fun fact - Rivers is #2 in completion % in play action passes.

[shasta519]

2 hours ago, DontEverGiveUp said:

You'd think with Rivers' history with guys like Sproles, Woodhead, and Ekeler that Hines would be filling that same role.  Not really seeing it yet from a play design perspective as you mentioned.

 

This has been a weird season though.  I feel like our offense was vanilla against MIN and NYJ due to the blowout score, and it was bland/ugly today due to Chicago's stout defense.  Hope to see things open up more as the season progresses.  Happy for a win no matter what though.

Hines isn’t like those guys though...he doesn’t really make guys miss often or get yards after contact. I know people will disagree with me...but he has never been an efficient player...just look at his yards/touch (today and for his career). He’s a gadget player who can give you a handful of plays each game...and you hope you hit big on one of those plays...but over time his production likely won’t hold up over volume.

 

I think their approach with Hines is partly driven by this. His best attribute is speed...so they run him up the gut because the OL (in theory) is good enough to open a big enough hole to allow him to sprint through and pick up yards before getting hit. Hopefully...one of these times...he will have a straight lane to run it to the house. 

[Lancer1]

Here’s a quote from a Bears fan forum: “19-11 Colts is pretty funny though if you're a gun guy!”

 

Rather perceptive, and it’s nice to see that some of them are maintaining their sense of humor! They play the Bucs on Thursday, so they may go from 3-0 to 3-2 in less than a week’s time.

[Nickster]

4 hours ago, EastStreet said:

IMO, that's all on Reich for game plan and play calling. I'm really down on him thus far in 2020.

There's just so much we're not doing that would make things easier on both the O, Rivers, and the RBs.

Me too. I think Frank will have to open up the playbook if we can't shut down the Browns.

iDK man.  I think so too but Hines is in a lot and runs a lot of patterns.  Maybe he’s not open?

 

we have limited weapons.  Ty is definitely Playing old.  Campbell’s speed was going to be utilized.  I think Mack skeptics should be able to,see how bland the running game looks without him.  He’s a versatile runner.  Very creative.
 

Everything right now.  The first seven weeks are cake as far as scheduling goes.  After that the schedule is Bahrootull.  We will know where we stand as a team by week 10 or so.

[lollygagger8]

Good: 

Defense as a whole played strong - esp against the run 

Taylor seems to be the real deal (JT needs more reps) 

 

Bad: 

Can't expect to keep winning games putting up one TD

Redzone play calling 

 

Ugly: 

Continually running Hines up the middle. STOP

Use him on wheel routes or line him up on the line as a slot receiver 

 

Weird: 

Idk if anyone else saw it, but after Rivers overthrew that pass to Hilton and TY ran to the bench and sat down. Rivers came up and sat down by him (further down the bench) and they didn't even speak a word to each other. I hope I'm reading too much into this, but that was very odd as they weren't at the very least talking over the play. 

 

[csmopar]

3 minutes ago, lollygagger8 said:

Good: F was

Weird: 

Idk if anyone else saw it, but after Rivers overthrew that pass to Hilton and TY ran to the bench and sat down. Rivers came up and sat down by him (further down the bench) and they didn't even speak a word to each other. I hope I'm reading too much into this, but that was very odd as they weren't at the very least talking over the play. 

 

Two thoughts on this: 

 

First, I’m not gonna read much into it, Marvin Harrison used to do the same thing with Peyton.

 

Second: the Colts O for years has been force it to TY, let him make a play. Most on here glamoured for the ball to be spread around. I think that’s what you’re seeing, especially compared to JB from last year. Now how much of that is hurting the ego of TY and contributing to his play? Or is it his play or lack thereof that is contributing to spreading it around?