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CurBeat's takeaways - Browns game


CurBeatElite

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Sunday was not a fun day to be a Colts fan.  We beat ourselves again, similar to what we did against Jax.  Rivers' threw 2 picks which he should have held onto or chosen a different read, and both we very costly, as was a safety from an intentional grounding.  I don't think it's the end of the world, though.  Rivers had a couple nice deep balls to Marcus Johnson and Ashton Dulin (a PS guy and ST guy).  After allowing a couple of big drives, the D stepped up against a very good O.  Aside from the odd fair catch inside the 5 by Hines, our STs played well and I. Rodgers broke out a 101 KR for a TD.

 

Offense:

 

We got off to a fast start again, which was nice.  We were definitely inconsistent, but we weren't absolutely 'terrible' aside from a handful of plays.

 

QB - Rivers had two very bad passes on the interceptions.  The one where he tried to force to TY, it looked like he could have looked right and dumped it off to the RB fairly easily (maybe not for a first down as the Browns had a guy closing in, but likely for a completion and no risk of INT or a pick 6).  The other INT was also a bad choice and he didn't have much zip on that ball (he had Pascal wide open out to the right, could've maybe dumped it to Taylor or just ran and slid).  Not sure on the intentional grounding/safety... it was obviously not thrown near a receiver and he was under a lot of pressure.  He did get up and immediately tell the ref he thought a WR was breaking to that spot though, so whether that's the truth or not, who knows... regardless it was a bad play call that deep in our own zone with the pressure they were getting and it was a bad decision for Hines to fair catch that ball so close to the goal line.  Otherwise, I thought Rivers played pretty well, he had two nice deep balls (Johnson and Dulin) and was more in sync with TY than he has been all year.  Rivers didn't play great, by any means, but aside from 3 very bad plays (almost a 4th as the same DB who had the pick 6 almost had another on a similar throw to Doyle), he wasn't that bad.  To his credit, his WR 3 (maybe 2) was pulled up from the practice squad and his pro-bowl LT was out in a game where we were playing the best DE in the NFL (Garrett).  It's obvious, Rivers doesn't like getting pressured or hit (no QB do, as far as I can tell), and he's playing without the intended #2 and #3 WRs (Campbell and Pittman) -- we've got to do two things moving forward -- protect Rivers better and get our WRs in positions for him to be able to dump it off as a security blanket (I'm thinking this wouldn't be as big an issue with Campbell and Pittman in the lineup, as Pascal, Fountain and others behind TY - and even TY himself - seem pretty inconsistent this year).  In summary, it wasn't Rivers best game and yes he did make a few bone-headed decisions.  Do I think Jacoby would've been an upgrade on Sunday? Absolutely not.  

 

RBs - Taylor's best YPC of the year (4.8).  Unfortunately, we got in an early hole and with Rivers' pick 6 to start the 2nd half, we had to pretty much abandon the run game.  Wilkins was barely used and I was really not impressed (again) with how Hines was used in the run game.  Had we been in a closer game (score wise), I think we could have gotten the run going. If we came out and scored instead of throwing a pick 6 on the first offensive drive in the 2nd half, my feeling is that our game plan would have been much different.. oh well, like Forest Gump said 'Ish Happens'.

 

WRs - TY had his best statistical game, though I wasn't overly impressed with him.  Thought he could've caught at least one more ball his way, but overall I'm glad he and Rivers seem to be getting more on the same page.  Marcus Johnson caught all 3 balls his way including a nice 36 yarder.  Dulin made a nice catch on the 34 yarder (the only ball thrown his way, I'd like to see him more, at least until Pittman and maybe Campbell return).  Pascal caught both balls his way, but was underwhelming, he didn't seem to be getting open consistently.  I didn't notice Fountain if he was on the field, but I know he wasn't targeted at all.  I really think this group is suffering with injuries.  I mean our 2nd best WR on Sunday has been sent to the practice squad after the past two games, it may be worth trying to make a trade for a WR if we don't get Pittman back soon or if things don't start changing -- TY doesn't look like a #1 and nobody currently looks like a valid #2.

 

TEs - MAC was not really used much (only target was the 2nd INT thrown by Rivers).  Burton, I don't dislike, but I thought our offense was more explosive the way we were using MAC  in Burton's absence than we are using Burton on short dump offs.  Doyle was 0 receptions on 2 targets... overall, an underwhelming performance by our TEs, but then again Doyle and MAC were forced to help block against the CLE d-line in multiple instances.

 

OL - To be honest, I didn't think they were that bad.  It's the most pressure Rivers has faced so far, but he was only sacked once.  Considering Garrett is the top pass rushing DE in the league right now, Clark didn't do too bad against him.  Did we miss AC?  Yes, for sure.  We were still able to run the ball with Taylor and for the most part keep Rivers up right.  Rivers, IMO (haven't statistically broken it down - just going off the eyeball and memory), was getting similar pressure from the right as he was the left.  I was disappointed in Q's holding penalty, but overall I don't think our line was absolutely terrible.  CLE has a very good DL.

 

Play calling -- I liked the first drive a lot.  Otherwise, if we don't get a talent upgrade at WR, I think we need to change our play calling against teams that can pressure Rivers to make sure we've got shorter options for him (see the safety, if Rivers was lying to the ref about a WR running to the spot he was trying to throw to and the WRs actually ran their intended routes on that play, that was a bad call, especially that deep in our own territory).  Still not impressed with how they use Hines in the run game.  I don't mind Burton on the field and think Rivers is comfortable with him, but as I said earlier, I hope it doesn't mean MAC's reverted to #3 TE and will not be a consistent target going forward.

 

STs:

K- Blankenship was perfect again - leading scorer in the NFL.  Solid day from him.

P - Sanchez only had 1 punt and he boomed it 54 yards.  He did a nice job on kickoffs as well.

Return coverage - again solid, holding Poeples-Jones to a 19.8 yard per return on kickoffs and only 5 yards on his punt return.

Kickoff return - exceptional -- I. Rodgers (I said in last week's takeaways I would be surprised if he didn't take a kickoff to the house this year) is very fast, reads the field very well and just about always gets us to at least the 25 yard line.  Teams will start kicking away from him if he keeps this up.

Punt return - still not thrilled with Hines for faircatching that ball inside our own 5.  Seems like he's made at least a couple questionable fair catches this season.  I don't doubt his explosiveness, but I was not happy when he made that decision and was less happy when we gave up a safety right after.

 

Defense:

 

Gave up a couple big plays on the opening drive.  Impressed they held CLE to 3 on that drive.  Also gave up a couple big plays on the second drive, but several of them were exceptional plays by CLE (e.g., Landry's catch with Okereke right on him, Okereke really couldn't have played that much better).  After those drives, the D settled  down.  They were very solid in the 2nd half.  Without our D captain (Maniac) I thought Leonard and Walker both stepped up and had their best games of the year.  Still impressed with Blackmon, he's got good instincts and made a few nice plays (one was sniffing out the QB scramble and stuffing Mayfield deep in the red zone to prevent a TD).  Again, thought Willis was the weak link in the secondary, he just doesn't excel in pass coverage.  Our DL got pressure to Mayfield, but if he got out of the pocket, we weren't really doing much.  Unfortunately, although Mayfield is an athletic QB who can throw on the run, etc.. I don't think he holds a candle to Lamar Jackson or DeShaun Watson in terms of making plays with his legs (we have 3 matchups left combined between those 2) or to Mahommes or Josh Allen (who we'll likely have to face if we make it to playoffs and want to advance).  

 

Overall:

 

Not a good loss.  Again, I think we beat ourselves more than the Browns beat us.  We were without our D Captain and a stalwart of our O-Line.  I think our offensive play calling needs to adjust and we need to figure out how to get Rivers more in sync with the WRs.  I'd like to see more MAC than we did on Sunday and while I don't mind Burton, I'm hoping 6 targets to him and 1 to MAC isn't the ratio every week going forward.  

 

After 5 weeks, we're one of 8 teams in the AFC with a winning record.  The Jags and Texans are 1-4 and the Titans, though 3-0 are kind of a cluster***k right now with all the covid issues going on.  I expect Buffalo beats them Thursday night.  If that's the case they'll be 3-1.  We still have a good shot at controlling our destiny in the AFC South and have 2 very winnable games coming up against Cincy and Detroit.  

 

We need to get Maniac and AC back soon.  Ideally we'll see Pittman back soon, too.  I think Turay or another speedy guy on the DL would help as well.  Otherwise, we need to stay healthy.  I don't think we're as bad as everyone made Sunday out to be.  Some things to improve upon, for sure... and I don't see why we can't improve upon them.  If we're 5-2 in two weeks, we're in pretty good shape.  Let's keep the faith, fellow Colts fans.


For the record, I know everyone is bashing on Rivers -- but I have a hard time believing anyone really thinks that Jacoby gives us a better shot at winning right now.

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