The Colts biggest weakness

[ClaytonColt]

Depth at OT is tempting, but I feel like that's a general problem across the NFL and we should be able to get around that drop off with scheme help and player development. 

 

#1 though is pass rush. We get into little spells in games where the opposition QB just sits there for as long as they want and I never feel like we're going to get close. For the amount of cash and 2nd/3rd round picks we have tied into to D line its disappointing but for me it's definitely the obvious weakness.

[compuls1v3]

3 hours ago, Myles said:

I want to agree, but I just don't know about Mo.  He has looked very good in limited action this year.  I don't understand why Reich doesn't have him in more.   The potential seems to be there.     He seems like an untapped talent.  

I feel like he's been hurt, or playing hurt, much of the year.  He looked slow out there to me yesterday.   I could be wrong though.

[compuls1v3]

3 hours ago, Mr.NotSoCreative said:

Burton is Reich guy. Had him in at the most critical point of the game. 

Didn't he drop a crucial pass too?

[compuls1v3]

2 hours ago, King Colt said:

I have said all season they are a two quarter team. I think Costanzo's absence yesterday hurt Rivers' comfort about protection but this team is swelling with talent on both sides so it is not the players when they are schizophrenic like 21 points if the first and 3 in the second quarter.

Holden was actually doing pretty well from what I could tell (until he got hurt in the 3rd).  It was the right side that was having issues when left one on one vs. Watt.

[chad72]

It seems like ever since they took deep shots, we backed off. We should have forced them to go deep again and see if they could thread the needle over and over again.

[Douzer]

Offense - OT

 

Defense - DE

 

 

[luv_pony_express]

8 minutes ago, compuls1v3 said:

Didn't he drop a crucial pass too?

 

I'd be interested to know if the statisticians counted that as a drop.  I seem to remember it being a bit off target -- one of those that was on the low probability of the catchable scale.  We had a few of those yesterday...which seems to happen more often with Rivers than what Colts fans became accustomed to over almost 20 years of Manning and Luck. 

[Fluke_33]

2 hours ago, yankeeclipper said:

Wide receiver is not a major need. Pascal has grown into a very reliable receiver. Pittman has flashed and will get better. if Campbell can stay healthy he will be good. Colts have decision to make on TY but I believe they will bring him back. He has looked very good in the past several games . If anything we may see what we have with balance of receivers on roster or look at a FA  to fill out roster.  

 

We need to add depth at tackle with eye on eventual replacement for AC. our other needs are; pass rusher, CB and TE. I sense that Rivers will be back. Brissett is likely gone. Colts need to decide if Eason has a future or whether they need to bring in a FA QB or draft a QB. FA market is not good other than back up for Rivers.  We have too many other needs that are more critical. We might be able to nurse one more season out of Rivers.

nailed it.  well done!

[CamMo]

 

Interesting thread by Holder re: checking out of run plays.

[w87r]

Im going to go a little out of the box here.

 

 

I think offensive versatility is our biggest weakest.

 

As I posted yesterday, I love what Rivers has done for this team this year and think ge has done a great job.

 

However he limits the options of what we can do. 

 

Prime example is in the Titans Packers game last night. That Tannehill RPO keeper taken to the house.

 

 

I think that plays a lot in our offense getting stagnant at times. Rivers mobility is non existent. The thread of him using his legs isn't there and would supply a whole new element to the offense.

 

I will be 100% behind him if they bring him back, bit I see that as the teams biggest weakness. Offensive versatility.

[w87r]

3 minutes ago, CamMo said:

 

Interesting thread by Holder re: checking out of run plays.

My biggest gripe with abandoning the run is our possession after halftime. We ran down their throat then in red zone after 10+yd carry. Passed on 1st down, ran for 7yds on 2nd down then elected to pass on 3rd and 3 resulting in a sack. Followed by offsides penalty that would of been 1st down if not for the sack.

 

Thats the biggest play calling that I see affected things.

[chad72]

6 minutes ago, w87r said:

My biggest gripe with abandoning the run is our possession after halftime. We ran down their throat then in red zone after 10+yd carry. Passed on 1st down, ran for 7yds on 2nd down then elected to pass on 3rd and 3 resulting in a sack. Followed by offsides penalty that would of been 1st down if not for the sack.

 

Thats the biggest play calling that I see affected things.

 

If we do pass, we can still dink and dunk with routes that don't take time to form. How come we never do comeback routes like Peyton did with Harrison and Wayne? Is it because Rivers cannot zip it to the sidelines? I understand Minkah is in the middle and we want to avoid turnovers but the perimeter where we had 1-on-1s constantly, we never design those plays that could get us valuable yards of the short kind. 

[Fisticuffs111]

There’s something about our offense/play calling in the second half. Our scripted plays usually work out very well, but as the game goes on...

 

Colts have scored 3 or fewer points in the 2nd half like 4 times now. 

 

[aaron11]

2 minutes ago, Fisticuffs111 said:

There’s something about our offense/play calling in the second half. Our scripted plays usually work out very well, but as the game goes on...

 

Colts have scored 3 or fewer points in the 2nd half like 4 times now. 

 

i agree, they do seem good at scripting plays early. Reich is dangerous when going off the cuff

[colts8718]

NO Andrew luck

[w87r]

1 minute ago, chad72 said:

 

If we do pass, we can still dink and dunk with routes that don't take time to form. How come we never do comeback routes like Peyton did with Harrison and Wayne? Is it because Rivers cannot zip it to the sidelines? I understand Minkah is in the middle and we want to avoid turnovers but the perimeter where we had 1-on-1s constantly, we never design those plays that could get us valuable yards of the short kind. 

I think the options we have as a team on offense are limited with Rivers. And again Im not trashing him in the slightest, but there are some things he just cant do. We could be a much more dynamic offensive unit I think.

 

 

Do we not call.those plays because he can't, or are those plays just not in the playbook? Idk?

 

Like I said my issue was abandoning the run on that specific drive because we were rolling down hill on them at this point and the throw away on 1st down stalled the drive, even more so with the 8yd loss on the sack on 3rd and 3 after 7yd Carey on 2nd down. Just line up and smash them in the mouth.

[IinD]

Too many one half wonders this year.

 

If anyone knows why it'd be great to let Frank & co know why.

 

Frustrating how we go dead for halfs at a time.

[Mr.Debonair]

37 minutes ago, w87r said:

I think the options we have as a team on offense are limited with Rivers. And again Im not trashing him in the slightest, but there are some things he just cant do. We could be a much more dynamic offensive unit I think.

 

 

Do we not call.those plays because he can't, or are those plays just not in the playbook? Idk?

 

Like I said my issue was abandoning the run on that specific drive because we were rolling down hill on them at this point and the throw away on 1st down stalled the drive, even more so with the 8yd loss on the sack on 3rd and 3 after 7yd Carey on 2nd down. Just line up and smash them in the mouth.

100%%%% with what you are saying.

 

I see the "stacked boxes" comments also but a few of Taylor's runs on the drive you're talking about were against 8 in the box and we were still picking up 4+ yards 

[coming on strong]

3 hours ago, coltfaninnewyork said:

I know this isn’t popular but I would be for changing our defensive coordinator and hire Wade Phillips .He has a remarkable resume as a d coordinator.

Ballard would never let us go back to 3 - 4 defense .    I love the 3-4 but when we played it with chuck colts had no outside linebackers or front 3 the talent was Terrible.    I love aggressive defenses like the ravens or 2015 Broncos .   Colts only rush 4 when they blitz it works but almost never do it. 

[indyagent17]

Lack of focus at times. on the final drive Burton caught a 2 yard pass and went straight out of bounds and he could have gotten at least 5 more yards and still got out of bounds. This is an example of boneheaded plays that kill this team every week. It starts with coaching and trickles down.  We also had time to work the middle better too on that last drive but we looked confused. 

[John Hammonds]

I think that when we're answering the OP's question "what is the team's greatest weakness", we need to be careful not to add to that question "in the game yesterday".  We need to answer the question, overall, regardless of how the last game turned out.

 

Our greatest issue with the team is that we have no answer at LT behind Castonzo.  And we're not talking about his backup.  We're talking about his replacement.  He's got one year left on his contract, and he was already thinking about retiring.  Above all else, we have to get that solved first.

 

Our second greatest issue is what we're going to do at the quarterback position going forward.  Props to Rivers for playing as well as he has been.  But the bottom line is, he's 39 years old, is a statue, and has no zip on the ball.  We're in win-now mode, so we'll never be in a position to draft a franchise QB.  Who is going to play QB for us?  Is it Rivers until he collapses from old age?  Will we make an offer for Wentz?  Are we going to take a chance on Eason?  What are we planning on doing?  We cannot ignore this.

 

Our third greatest issue is that our best DB is our nickel.  Rhodes is doing a fine job trying to recapture old glory.  But that act won't last long.  RYS has not progressed.  I'm convinced that had Marvell Tell opted to play this year, he would already be starting in place of RYS.  The bottom line is, it's not difficult to reliably move the ball down the field on us by throwing.  This needs fixing.

 

Our fourth greatest issue is that our pass rush isn't reliable.  Yes, we can sometimes make something happen.  But it's not happening often enough.  I lay that squarely on the lack of progression/injury issues by Banogu and Turay.  They were supposed to be the guys to give us that extra high octane 3rd down pass rush.  It ain't there.

 

We have a lot of good players on this team.  We have a lot going for us.  And we've landed just about where we predicted we would be:  roughly 10 wins, right on the edge of the playoffs.  And in the top half of the league in nearly every measurable category.  Good for us.  But we have to take the next step.  And there seems to be too many steps to take all at once.

[Four2itus]

Situational pass rush

Offensive Tackle depth

TE who can block & break down defenses

 

[DougDew]

The pass defense is not really playoff caliber.  The pass offense is barely playoff caliber.

 

The defense seems to want to be like Seattle back in the day.  Switching from zone to man and back again.  We don't have the players for that.  Rock can't cover/stay with his man deep.  He is strictly a zone corner.  Seattle had that defense only...and only.....because they got LUCKY with a few mid round draft picks in a few drafts.  That defense will not be repeated.

 

We should keep it simple.  Play zone.  Draft another Blackmon (maybe Tell will work out there).  Get a better Mike and play nickel more with Willis in the box....or simply get a better, faster, and more athletic Mike.

 

Our corners are fine, if we actually play zone and stop trying to be the SEA defense that no team will ever build again.

[Mr.Debonair]

1 minute ago, DougDew said:

The pass defense is not really playoff caliber.  The pass offense is barely playoff caliber.

 

The defense seems to want to be like Seattle back in the day.  Switching from zone to man and back again.  We don't have the players for that.  Rock can't cover/stay with his man deep.  He is strictly a zone corner.  Seattle had that defense only...and only.....because they got LUCKY with a few mid round draft picks in a few drafts.  That defense will not be repeated.

 

We should keep it simple.  Play zone.  Draft another Blackmon (maybe Tell will work out there).  Get a better Mike and play nickel more with Willis in the box....or simply a better, faster, and more athletic Mike.

 

Our corners are fine, if we actually play zone and stop trying to be the SEA defense that no team will ever build again.

You can play zone and be effective. We play zone where we give a 6 yard cushion, allow free releases, and do not get our hands on the WRs. We don't the pass rush and vice versa the rush helping DBs. Our zone is not a good one

[coming on strong]

1 hour ago, w87r said:

Im going to go a little out of the box here.

 

 

I think offensive versatility is our biggest weakest.

 

As I posted yesterday, I love what Rivers has done for this team this year and think ge has done a great job.

 

However he limits the options of what we can do. 

 

Prime example is in the Titans Packers game last night. That Tannehill RPO keeper taken to the house.

 

 

I think that plays a lot in our offense getting stagnant at times. Rivers mobility is non existent. The thread of him using his legs isn't there and would supply a whole new element to the offense.

 

I will be 100% behind him if they bring him back, bit I see that as the teams biggest weakness. Offensive versatility.

The colts lack the ability to come back when down more then 1 score .  If the colts can’t run the ball the offense struggles . We are much like the Titans if Henry gets stopped tannehill struggles .  Even the packers come back got started with Taylor’s run game . The two minute offense is the problem .  If the colts are down a touchdown with 2 minutes left I have no faith in getting a touchdown. From the jags game to this game and many others if the offense can’t be balanced it’s over . 

[The Fish]

1 hour ago, colts8718 said:

NO Andrew luck

In a macro sense, this.

 

I think we're still in the wake of all of that and probably will be for a few seasons more.

[DougDew]

2 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

You can play zone and be effective. We play zone where we give a 6 yard cushion, allow free releases, and do not get our hands on the WRs. We don't the pass rush and vice versa the rush helping DBs. Our zone is not a good one

You can't really play zone by having the DBs on the LOS chucking the WR.  That's man. They have to be off.

 

Especially when they bunch the receivers or load a zone. 

 

We get beat deep when we have little safety help.  The two safeties need to help deep. That D will be susceptible to getting burned in the middle, but that's why we need better Mike or SSs.

[GoColts8818]

Pass rush/secondary.

[Myles]

Lots of good responses in this thread.

I will stick with coaching/play calling.  Both offense and defense.  The Colts blitz the second least in the NFL.   Since pass rush is many peoples major weakness, it doesn't make sense that more blitz packages are not put in.  

has the soft zone worked on defense at all this season.  It seems Reich and Eberflus use it for at least a half each game.  It always seems to be a disaster.  Heck, that started in the first game (loss to Jags).  

[Mr.Debonair]

1 minute ago, DougDew said:

You can't really play zone by having the DBs on the LOS chucking the WR.  That's man. They have to be off.

 

Especially when they bunch the receivers or load a zone. 

 

We get beat deep when we have little safety help.  The two safeties need to help deep. That D will be susceptible to getting burned in the middle, but that's why we need better Mike or SSs.

Man is following one guy where he goes, has nothing to do with what happens at the LOS. 

[Flash7]

The narrative is that we primarily went into soft zone coverage in the second half, but in reality, we continued to mix up the coverage.

 

1. Rock was beat in man coverage because he fell for a slo-go. The safeties had other responsibilities and did not come over to help, and Rock trailed the receiver the entire time. He got beat for a long TD, sparking the comeback for the Steelers.

 

2. When the Colts played man defense, The Steelers ran from bunch formations or Ben immediately threw the ball to the RB out of the backfield. Each time it resulted in at least 8 yards, putting them in great down and distance, and putting the Colts defense in a bad spot.

 

3. Because the Steelers scored so fast and we showed that we could not keep up in man coverage, Flus changed the coverage to zone. Big Ben saw this and on the next drive, he pump faked to his receiver running a 10-yard in, which made the Colts safety, T. Wilson, who was in coverage over-the-top on that side freeze, allowing the Steelers other receiver to get over the top of him in the end zone. On both occasions, the Steelers made the better play. Big Ben was in control and accurate, mainly because there was absolutely no pressure on him.

 

The bottom line is that the Steelers had an answer for whatever we decided to do -- man or zone coverage. And the Colts continued their trend of untimely penalties to bail out the other team.

[life long]

53 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

Man is following one guy where he goes, has nothing to do with what happens at the LOS. 

Agreed the bears and bucs used to press with zone coverage. They had dominant defenses. Either way the key with a 4-3 zone will always be on the DL. The cb would press and cover the flats. They need to be great tacklers. Lbs would need to cover better and safeties would need to know their assignments and rotations. With all that said it is definitely not a complex defense. I have always been a fan of the 3-4, if you can get the right players any scheme can be dominant. 

 

Play calling, I know we were up and this could back fire but I would like us to change tempo more often. The hurry up sometimes can spark an offense if you are willing to risk a potential quicker possession. 

 

For players or positions to target in the draft take BPA. I prefer filling holes through FA but you can't expect a household name.

 

Biggest weakness is IMO like many have said... no complete games. These guys need to bring the juice for 60 minutes.  Whether you are winning or losing you need conviction. That reflects on the players as well as the coaches. If we are down what player is walking the sidelines waking guys up? Rivers? Leonard? Houston? Frank? Flus? Hopefully we can squeak into the playoffs and play like a team for 60 minutes. If we do I think we could beat anyone. Do I expect a SB... no but even with this latest loss its not out of the question.  Go Colts!

[superrep1967]

Mine is coaching at least the play calling is terrible in my opinion. I mean it for both sides of the ball the defensive play calling is lustrous and I'm not a fan at of Eberflus as others seem to be. But I put this solely on Reich he's the head coach he's the boss of the players and the other coaches and I put this on him. He doesn't seem to want to change anything either. I really like Reich and have desperately wanted this to workout but it hasn't to this point. I wonder what Ballard really thinks because were never going to know he's not going to tell in public and maybe not even Reich but I'd like to know. 

[superrep1967]

1 hour ago, Myles said:

Lots of good responses in this thread.

I will stick with coaching/play calling.  Both offense and defense.  The Colts blitz the second least in the NFL.   Since pass rush is many peoples major weakness, it doesn't make sense that more blitz packages are not put in.  

has the soft zone worked on defense at all this season.  It seems Reich and Eberflus use it for at least a half each game.  It always seems to be a disaster.  Heck, that started in the first game (loss to Jags).  

I totally agree it seems sometimes there clueless to the insufficiencies to this scheme it almost like there trying to loss or something I know there not but come on. 

[DougDew]

3 hours ago, Mr.Debonair said:

Man is following one guy where he goes, has nothing to do with what happens at the LOS. 

The LOS is about having athletic and talented corners.

 

Highly talented corners is not how the zone defense puzzle is assembled. To bump at the LOS AND turn and run takes a top 20 talent.  We don't have that talent at CB.

 

That's why we play off the LOS.  Our corners are not very athletic, because we drafted them to play a zone defense most of the time.

 

Look at Baldys analysis in the other thread.  he says we played both man and zone and Pitt had an answer for both.  That's because Claypool and JuJu are better players than Rhodes and RYS.   Period.

 

Since we have a defensive talent deficiency, we should play off, invite  the short catch, then tackle for a short gain.  That's zone.  An offense has to string together 10 of those plays to score.   If they get an errant throw, a tipped ball, a drop, a fumble, then it breaks the completion pattern.   If they string 10 short passes together, well, they score.

 

Flus needs to cut out the wannabe-Seattle defense crap.  Ballard has not provided him with enough talent to play that scheme.

 

We should be running Tampa 2 full time with the mediocre talent we have.  We have the 2nd or third best 3T in the NFL, (after Aaron Donald and maybe Chris Jones) so we have the key piece in place to run that D. 

 

[BlueShoe]

4 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

I think that when we're answering the OP's question "what is the team's greatest weakness", we need to be careful not to add to that question "in the game yesterday".  We need to answer the question, overall, regardless of how the last game turned out.

 

Our greatest issue with the team is that we have no answer at LT behind Castonzo.  And we're not talking about his backup.  We're talking about his replacement.  He's got one year left on his contract, and he was already thinking about retiring.  Above all else, we have to get that solved first.

 

Our second greatest issue is what we're going to do at the quarterback position going forward.  Props to Rivers for playing as well as he has been.  But the bottom line is, he's 39 years old, is a statue, and has no zip on the ball.  We're in win-now mode, so we'll never be in a position to draft a franchise QB.  Who is going to play QB for us?  Is it Rivers until he collapses from old age?  Will we make an offer for Wentz?  Are we going to take a chance on Eason?  What are we planning on doing?  We cannot ignore this.

 

Our third greatest issue is that our best DB is our nickel.  Rhodes is doing a fine job trying to recapture old glory.  But that act won't last long.  RYS has not progressed.  I'm convinced that had Marvell Tell opted to play this year, he would already be starting in place of RYS.  The bottom line is, it's not difficult to reliably move the ball down the field on us by throwing.  This needs fixing.

 

Our fourth greatest issue is that our pass rush isn't reliable.  Yes, we can sometimes make something happen.  But it's not happening often enough.  I lay that squarely on the lack of progression/injury issues by Banogu and Turay.  They were supposed to be the guys to give us that extra high octane 3rd down pass rush.  It ain't there.

 

We have a lot of good players on this team.  We have a lot going for us.  And we've landed just about where we predicted we would be:  roughly 10 wins, right on the edge of the playoffs.  And in the top half of the league in nearly every measurable category.  Good for us.  But we have to take the next step.  And there seems to be too many steps to take all at once.

Excellent post!

[Freenyfan102]

Tackle, De, corners

[jbaron04]

Rock ya - sin tbh get give up a TD a game

due to PI or blow coverages , I think he his physical enough to play safety for us and backup both spots and still be a depth player at Cb but we

need to get that CB spot addressed 

[DougDew]

Just now, jbaron04 said:

Rock ya - sin tbh get give up a TD a game

due to PI or blow coverages , I think he his physical enough to play safety for us and backup both spots and still be a depth player at Cb but we

need to get that CB spot addressed 

RYS is slow and not very athletic.  Look at the combine results.  He is a zone corner, a feisty player and a good tackler, but he should never be covering a WR deep one on one.  He gets a half step beat, then has to grab.

 

Cut out the SEA-wannabe defense and play Dungy Tampa 2.

[Stephen]

6 hours ago, indyagent17 said:

Lack of focus at times. on the final drive Burton caught a 2 yard pass and went straight out of bounds and he could have gotten at least 5 more yards and still got out of bounds. This is an example of boneheaded plays that kill this team every week. It starts with coaching and trickles down.  We also had time to work the middle better too on that last drive but we looked confused. 

Yea I was mad burton could have gotten  more