I think I’m Out on Ya-Sin

[shasta519]

21 hours ago, Four2itus said:

Aren't all 2nd rounds picks a project in some manner?

 

They are...but some are definitely more of a projects than others. I was more referring to either being drafted for a position change...a player that is athletic but really raw...and/or a player that played against lesser competition. Like I don't consider Pittman or Taylor to be projects...but the rest largely have fit under the "project" description.  

[CurBeatElite]

7 hours ago, Nesjan3 said:

Seems like he is always getting spotlightled whether it be for a dumb mistake, getting burned, or a nice play. Either way a good trait of a corner is when you dont hear about him. That means he is doing his job. Rock is getting targeted as a weak spot on our team for sure.

 

I'm not really sure that Rock is a 'weak link.'  Personally, I think Willis is the 'weak link' of our secondary.  That said, Rhodes seems like he's back to probowl form after a down year last year and I imagine after his pick six and other INT that teams are more likely to pick on Rock that Rhodes.

 

7 hours ago, Two_pound said:

I don't think any of our defensive backs look very good when they are playing stand around zone defense. The more aggressive they play the better they are(Kenny Moore especially). We actually have a pretty solid group of db's.

 

Agreed -- though, the problem with Kenny Moore is he is really not very good when he has to line up outside.  I know he typically only does that if an injury happens, but he becomes a liability out there (IMO).  However, as a nickelback, I think he's one of the best in the entire NFL.  Just hoping we don't have any injuries to Rhodes or Rock so that Kenny can stay on the inside, which is where I think he belongs.

 

Overall, I'm happy with our starting secondary.  I think Willis is the week link in the backfield, but he's a pretty solid 'weak link' (much like Glow on the OL).  I have liked what I've seen from Tavon Wilson at S and trust Odum.... I also have liked most of what I've seen from Carrie.. but do think we'll have to continue addressing CB depth this off season.

 

6 hours ago, Coffeedrinker said:

Two weeks in a row now the Colts defensive has played poorly in the 1st half only to come back and allow only a FG in the 2nd half.  The defense is for real but they need to come out of the gate faster.  To me it shows that Flus is not a very good game planner but he is good and reading the game and making adjustments.  I'm sure they do this but if not, I think Flus needs to figure out how other teams are going to game plan against his defense and then develop the game plan on that.  It seems like all he does his look at the opposing team film and develops his game plan from that, he does not take into account the adjustments the other team will make based on the Colts game film.

 

The D definitely seemed to be much better in the 2nd half the past two weeks.  To 'Flus (and the D's) credit - the offense did them no favors by fumbling on our own 43 last week on the opening drive, aside from killing momentum, that gave Cincy a short field to start with.  The Browns were averaging 39.3 points per game the 3 matchups prior to the game against Indy and they have a very solid O (two pro-bowl caliber WRs in OBJ, Landry, a solid OL and a solid running attack).  

 

I agree with you, the D needs to start out faster, but I don't know that I credit the slower starts to Flus' game plan the past two weeks as much as I do to they started in very poor field position against Cincy and the Browns area legitimate offense when Mayfield's healthy and on his game.

[Defjamz26]

5 hours ago, CurBeatElite said:

I'm not really sure that Rock is a 'weak link.'  Personally, I think Willis is the 'weak link' of our secondary.  That said, Rhodes seems like he's back to probowl form after a down year last year and I imagine after his pick six and other INT that teams are more likely to pick on Rock that Rhodes.

I’ve actually noticed that Willis doesn’t seem to be particularly good in coverage either but he’s a solid tackler. My issue with him is he doesn’t make as many negative plus as he did last year. I’d still say Ya-Sin is a the weak link. Bengals game gave me flashbacks of that game he had against the Broncos last year. Funny enough, the same excuses about officiating that were made then are being recycled again. Rhodes is now playing well but Blackmon has been the standout in the secondary for me.

[EastStreet]

8 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

I’ve actually noticed that Willis doesn’t seem to be particularly good in coverage either but he’s a solid tackler. My issue with him is he doesn’t make as many negative plus as he did last year. I’d still say Ya-Sin is a the weak link. Bengals game gave me flashbacks of that game he had against the Broncos last year. Funny enough, the same excuses about officiating that were made then are being recycled again. Rhodes is now playing well but Blackmon has been the standout in the secondary for me.

Keep in mind Rock was out with whatever mystery injury/illness. 

Not saying he's playing great or anything, but not sure he's back to 100%. 

 

I'd also note that Kenny Moore has played as bad if not worse. Both have given up the same %, both have given up similar passer ratings, and both have 3 missed Ts.

 

Willis is a liability in deep coverage, but they seem to be keeping him closer to the box this year. He's got about the same DADOT (average depth of target) as Moore. 

 

Rock, Kenny, and Xavier look to all get about 5-6 targets per game.

[PRnum1]

Love the Rock. A young second year player with an attitude hence the suplex. 

 

Cornerbacks are going to get torched. He got torched twice in the Bengals game but kept his head up and kept playing.

 

Dion Sanders once said the greatest asset a CB can have is a short memory. 

 

As Colts fans let's be patient with the Rocks development.  The raw talent is obviously there 

[a06cc]

1 minute ago, PrNum1 said:

Love the Rock. A young second year player with an attitude hence the suplex. 

 

Cornerbacks are going to get torched. He got torched twice in the Bengals game but kept his head up and kept playing.

 

Dion Sanders once said the greatest asset a CB can have is a short memory. 

 

As Colts fans let's be patient with the Rocks development.  The raw talent is obviously there 

I couldn’t agree more. He was covering AJ Greene last game. He was going to get beat. 

[Dark Superman]

I would love to see a bit more consistency from him. I feel like he's either solid or really bad. He's only in his second year and the transition to playing corner in the NFL is very difficult. I'll wait and see how he plays the rest of the season before making an opinion on him. At least he's not as bad as Wilson.

[EastStreet]

He was playing at a high level the last half of 2019, and has been injured/sick to start 2020. He's still similar in stats (completion % allowed, passer rating allowed, yards allowed) to Moore. So if you're done with Rock, are you done with Moore too?

[NorthernColt]

Personally, I think what will ultimately cap Ya Sins potential, is his ball playing ability. Its just not his game. He'll rarely ever actually turn to find the ball and make a play, always the man. With the league the way its going, thats just going to lead to more and more penalties (although he's kept those in check this season).

 

Plus, think logically. If you're a QB, and you got a sticky man CB against one of your best WR, but you know he's not a real threat to pick you off, are you scared to throw there? No, probably not. But if you have a ball hawk against your WR, you're going to think twice about making that throw. Against the 1st CB, its likely worst case an incompletion. 2nd CB, a potential pick.

[07dleigh]

Really wish Marvell Tell was in the mix to apply some pressure. I was very fascinated by him. He looked very promising at corner!

[NorthernColt]

2 hours ago, 07dleigh said:

Really wish Marvell Tell was in the mix to apply some pressure. I was very fascinated by him. He looked very promising at corner!

Same. I liked what I saw out of him last year. His combine stats were ridiculous too.

[Fluke_33]

3 hours ago, 07dleigh said:

Really wish Marvell Tell was in the mix to apply some pressure. I was very fascinated by him. He looked very promising at corner!

Wow.  I forgot about him.  He was surprisingly good last year 

[Defjamz26]

4 hours ago, 07dleigh said:

Really wish Marvell Tell was in the mix to apply some pressure. I was very fascinated by him. He looked very promising at corner!

Yeah I thought he was solid depth too. He opted out due to Covid-19, which I have no issues with. One of Ballard’s projects that I actually liked the upside.

[EastStreet]

4 hours ago, Fluke_33 said:

Wow.  I forgot about him.  He was surprisingly good last year 

He had both good and bad moments. Still not sure where he fits in. The position change leads to even more questions. Regardless, he should be good depth if nothing more.

[AZColt11]

I'm not worried about Kenny, no matter what the numbers might say.  I think he'll be fine.  Still the best slot in the league IMHO.

 

Rock, as East said, had the illness which probably didn't help him.  I'm still in wait-and-see mode with him.  

 

Rhodes I think is going to be boom or bust by design.  He is physical and very gifted, maybe to a fault.  I think he uses those traits to play aggressive and sometimes it will pay off like in the Jets game and sometimes it will not like in the Jags game.  I think he's been mostly good to this point though.

[EastStreet]

4 hours ago, NorthernColt said:

Same. I liked what I saw out of him last year. His combine stats were ridiculous too.

His shuttle and cone were great, but he didn't do all the combine drills. His 40 was pretty pedestrian that he did at the pro day for a corner. So he's really quick, but not fast. Bodes well for NB or SS, but not a CB1/2. And one of the biggest knocks on him is toughness/physicality, which are big factors for NB and SS. He does have an interesting mix of measurables if he can improve in some areas. 

[EastStreet]

10 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

I'm not worried about Kenny, no matter what the numbers might say.  I think he'll be fine.  Still the best slot in the league IMHO.

 

Rock, as East said, had the illness which probably didn't help him.  I'm still in wait-and-see mode with him.  

 

Rhodes I think is going to be boom or bust by design.  He is physical and very gifted, maybe to a fault.  I think he uses those traits to play aggressive and sometimes it will pay off like in the Jets game and sometimes it will not like in the Jags game.  I think he's been mostly good to this point though.

I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm not worried about Kenny, cause I've seen some bad play from him. But I'm not overly concerned about it. Part of the issue is also that Kenny has been playing CB (not NB) sometimes (when Rock was out, and some when Rock returned in base D). Not sure if that is a perm thing, or just something we're doing until Rock is back to 100%. We should have those answers after the bye. 

 

Either way, there's enough to think they will both be fine once Rock is back to 100%, and Kenny is back to playing only NB. If Kenny can get back to doing what he does best, and Rock returns to his form from the second half of 2019 (he graded out top 10 CB), the DBs could be formidable with Rhodes playing the way he is playing.

[AZColt11]

4 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm not worried about Kenny, cause I've seen some bad play from him. But I'm not overly concerned about it. Part of the issue is also that Kenny has been playing CB (not NB) sometimes (when Rock was out, and some when Rock returned in base D). Not sure if that is a perm thing, or just something we're doing until Rock is back to 100%. We should have those answers after the bye. 

 

Either way, there's enough to think they will both be fine once Rock is back to 100%, and Kenny is back to playing only NB. If Kenny can get back to doing what he does best, and Rock returns to his form from the second half of 2019 (he graded out top 10 CB), the DBs could be formidable with Rhodes playing the way he is playing.

Agreed.  And safety looks to be one of the strengths of the team right now.  So much so that we may not even bring back a first round pick from just a few years ago.  Blackmon has been a (I say this cautiously) revelation thus far.

[EastStreet]

33 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

Agreed.  And safety looks to be one of the strengths of the team right now.  So much so that we may not even bring back a first round pick from just a few years ago.  Blackmon has been a (I say this cautiously) revelation thus far.

I love what Blackmon has done, but I'm still a bit cautious long term. When we play a good QB with legit deep capability, we'll see. So far, Blackmon's plays have been mostly "help", and things in front of him. And they've been great. Still we haven't seen him challenged deep in single coverage. 

 

I still think Willis is our weak link. When in cover 2 and he is playing split S, he struggles outside of the box. He's much better as a SS, or as more LBish in rip/liz. His coverage stats have improved a lot this year, but IMO it's more a product of scheme, than actual improvement. It's still an issue, just masked.