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That's MY QB


bsteves

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Just now, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Blakenship had an off night but he was kicking with an injury. The thing I most concerned about is our pass D, we can't stop elite QB's from passing like Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, etc.. Lamar chewed us up in the 4th.

It’s hard to stop great QB but they make it so easy for teams to get downfield. There is no resistance.

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7 hours ago, Thunderbolt said:

Maybe he's thinking he's receivers are the same height as he is.  The balls thrown to Taylor, Hines and Dulin seemed a to sail a bit.

Recall Lucks balls sailing over too many of his receivers with his windmill throwing motion.

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6 hours ago, stitches said:

 

He's been distinctly... average so far. We need more Wentz games like the one yesterday for me to be convinced he's the guy. So far he's been OK to good(excluding the game he shouldn't have played IMO). This will not be good enough over the long haul IMO. We need more consistently great Wentz. 

 

 

When it seemed possible that Wentz would become available I found it difficult to be for or against it. As time went on there were just too many question marks surrounding him for me to feel great about it.

 

Being 28 years old and in his 6th year in the league your past is usually a good indication of your future. I think it's a bit premature to look at the numbers regardless if you think he is a stop gap QB or the savior of this franchise but chances are he will be close to where he has been over the course of his career. I'd be surprised if that wasn't the case.

 

The good news with Wentz is he has bounced back from last year. That was a legit concern with him, imo, was if he could bounce back after last year and I think he has. Another question mark was his leadership but I haven't seen any sort of evidence to suggest that has been an area of concern here in Indy.

 

There are other question marks with him that remain. His health, decision making, holding the ball, and red zone play. At this point most of the blame is placed elsewhere whether it's the coaching staff or other players. For the most part I don't disagree but we are also in the honeymoon phase with Wentz here so I think it's easy to look past these other areas and blame others. Because much of this were also question marks with him in Philly I am also reluctant to believe that he absolved of any responsibility.

 

To me Wentz is without question a starting caliber QB in this league that you can get to the playoffs with. But is he a guy I would want to build around for say the next 5-7 years and feel confident I can contend with? I still have reservations about that. 

 

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24 minutes ago, King Colt said:

Recall Lucks balls sailing over too many of his receivers with his windmill throwing motion.

Yup. Luck through a decent amount of sailors and high heaters. Like Wentz though, it's normally on the perimeter. I was OK with it though, as I'd rather they be high and uncatchable on the outside, then high in the seam, or low on the outside. 

 

Luck ran about 15% in bad throw % if I recall correctly. I think Wentz was near the same in 17, and is also trending near that this year. 

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I'm more worried about the lack of supporting cast for Wentz than anything. Team falling apart with injuries galore. 

 

The other problem I have is the fact that no matter who has been at QB the Colts find ways to let the other team back in the game. I blame this on defensive play calling along with offensive play calling. 

 

All the way back to Andrew Luck, while being coached by Frank, the offense couldn't keep scoring. They would always crap out in the 3rd Qtr and half of the 4th qtr until they had no choice but to put the petal to the metal again and try and keep from losing. 

 

We aren't getting another Peyton Manning who can keep scoring consistently for some time, so we need to rely on smart coaches who know how to keep the momentum going. 

 

When the Colts are up big in the Frank Era, I never feel safe with a lead because every time that happens the Colts start playing soft. I find it very hard to understand why this is. Very rarely does the other team TAKE back the momentum. The Colts just hand it all back to them by playing vanilla offense and prevent defense (one problem compounded by another problem)

 

The Colts are doing this to themselves and it isn't about the QB, even when that QB was Andrew luck. 

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10 hours ago, JediXMan said:


He had no business playing at Tennessee. That games skews his stats a bit. Overall he’s looked like a top 15 QB. That’s much better than last year where he was at the bottom. He Finally looked healthy and the OL gave him time.  

Agree on the Tennessee game. He was put in a horrible no win situation in the condition he was. I disagree that game skews his stats a ton. He had very low air yards/attempt yards to the sticks per attempt, etc... even before that. He's been better at those in last 2 games. 

10 hours ago, richard pallo said:

Wilson going after Wentz after five games is really laughable.  I don’t know what he was expecting after five games.  I am disregarding him more and more.  He’s a young wannabe who has a long way to go.  I expect he will eventually flame out and disappear.

Those are just some stats. Don't shoot the messenger. 

9 hours ago, bsteves said:

 

Did you watch the first few games?

Do you have a point or argument to make? 

 

8 hours ago, AustinnKaine said:

Are you taking into account the injuries he played through?? Or the terrible protection in the first couple weeks? What about the extremely questionable playcalling the first couple weeks too? Or what about the fact he is playing with all new receivers. An injured line? 

 

Numbers do lie. Anyone who takes an introductory stats course will know this. 

 

No disrespect @stitches - I just think compounding variables always need to be included with stats. 

Some of those have an impact on it. But you can evaluate what you see even with all those taken into account. I said in my post that I thought he's been OK to good in my opinion. I just think we need more from him. Lets hope his last game or two are showing actual trajectory of growth rather than a fluke(BTW, it's not like he didn't have some questionable plays even in that Baltimore game). He's taking way too many sacks and his pocket awareness is at times pretty bad. 

 

7 hours ago, shasta519 said:


Yep. People are extreme these days. Wentz was excellent last night, but overall, average QB play vs. the other QBs in the NFL (which is the only meaningful comparison). 
 

This is an unprecedented era of offense, if Wentz can play like last night consistently, the Colts have a chance to keep up.

 

But just look at the other side of the field. A “running QB” who people say can’t pass…tossed 400 and 4 on 37/43 passes. The standard for great QB play is really really high.

Lets put it this way - go over those games and let me know which QB played better in each game. In every single game except for the Miami game it was the other team's QB. Now sure... Wentz is not playing against our putrid defense, but still. In today's NFL teams find ways to get OK performances from their QBs relatively easy and at the highest level we need Wentz to be great, not just OK. 

 

5 hours ago, EastStreet said:

I think this is a pretty weak and lazy look (not to mention has zero context) from "Josh Williams" who's every single mention about Wentz is a negative one.

 

He's been average, but with a completely horrendous OL. His blindside LT (whoever it has been) has graded 40s level, and he's had a different line up every week.

 

That's comparable to what happened to him last year in Philly. And if you compare him to his stats in Philly, he's improved tremendously. He's also thrown zero turnover worthy balls (at least as of last week).

 

 

I don't care about Josh Wilson's opinions, he posted stats and this is what I've posted here too. I agree with all the caveats but you can still evaluate what Wentz is doing even in the presence in all those mitigating factors around him(questionable playcalling, OL issues, etc.). I agree he's improved a lot compared to last year. I don't agree we can say he's the guy based on what we've seen so far. I just need to see more games like yesterday and less games like the first 3 games, in which I want to point out - he wasn't really the problem, but he wasn't the solution either.  

 

4 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:


I think showing stats after five weeks that show Wentz in the middle of the pack and calling him “average” is….   I don’t want to say “lazy”, but I’ll say shallow and superficial.  
 

You need context.   Missed almost all of camp, played behind a decimated line, has gotten better and was very good last night.   His play is ascending.  Given health,  I expect Wentz to continue his good play.   I like our future based on what I’ve seen and what is reasonable to expect.  

See above. Explained my stance already. People act like you cannot evaluate what he's done because of those factors that have gone against him. I think you can. And I think he's been OK, not great in that stretch of games even taking into account the OL, playcalling, etc. Now if he keeps putting up performances like the one against Baltimore, I will adjust my evaluation accordingly, but lets not act like this is not an absolute outlier type of game from him(this is literally the highest yardage game in his career) :dunno:

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4 hours ago, ar7 said:

 

When it seemed possible that Wentz would become available I found it difficult to be for or against it. As time went on there were just too many question marks surrounding him for me to feel great about it.

 

Being 28 years old and in his 6th year in the league your past is usually a good indication of your future. I think it's a bit premature to look at the numbers regardless if you think he is a stop gap QB or the savior of this franchise but chances are he will be close to where he has been over the course of his career. I'd be surprised if that wasn't the case.

 

The good news with Wentz is he has bounced back from last year. That was a legit concern with him, imo, was if he could bounce back after last year and I think he has. Another question mark was his leadership but I haven't seen any sort of evidence to suggest that has been an area of concern here in Indy.

 

There are other question marks with him that remain. His health, decision making, holding the ball, and red zone play. At this point most of the blame is placed elsewhere whether it's the coaching staff or other players. For the most part I don't disagree but we are also in the honeymoon phase with Wentz here so I think it's easy to look past these other areas and blame others. Because much of this were also question marks with him in Philly I am also reluctant to believe that he absolved of any responsibility.

 

To me Wentz is without question a starting caliber QB in this league that you can get to the playoffs with. But is he a guy I would want to build around for say the next 5-7 years and feel confident I can contend with? I still have reservations about that. 

 

At first I was against trading for him, didn't like it, expressed it in here due to his injury history. Now I have changed my tune a little through 5 games. I am one that even weighs in W/L record a lot but we are mainly 1-4 due to a very hard schedule and injuries IMO. 2 things I like about Wentz is, he doesn't throw INT's and he has the ability create big plays under pressure. It looked like last night he was even getting the ball out quicker which I love to see. Whether or not we will ever win a SB with him, I have no idea but I am willing to see what he has over the next 2 or 3 years. If we are 5-5 through 10 games and he is playing lights out we all have a better feel, JMO.

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21 minutes ago, stitches said:

Agree on the Tennessee game. He was put in a horrible no win situation in the condition he was. I disagree that game skews his stats a ton. He had very low air yards/attempt yards to the sticks per attempt, etc... even before that. He's been better at those in last 2 games. 

Those are just some stats. Don't shoot the messenger. 

Do you have a point or argument to make? 

 

Some of those have an impact on it. But you can evaluate what you see even with all those taken into account. I said in my post that I thought he's been OK to good in my opinion. I just think we need more from him. Lets hope his last game or two are showing actual trajectory of growth rather than a fluke(BTW, it's not like he didn't have some questionable plays even in that Baltimore game). He's taking way too many sacks and his pocket awareness is at times pretty bad. 

 

Lets put it this way - go over those games and let me know which QB played better in each game. In every single game except for the Miami game it was the other team's QB. Now sure... Wentz is not playing against our putrid defense, but still. In today's NFL teams find ways to get OK performances from their QBs relatively easy and at the highest level we need Wentz to be great, not just OK. 

 

I don't care about Josh Wilson's opinions, he posted stats and this is what I've posted here too. I agree with all the caveats but you can still evaluate what Wentz is doing even in the presence in all those mitigating factors around him(questionable playcalling, OL issues, etc.). I agree he's improved a lot compared to last year. I don't agree we can say he's the guy based on what we've seen so far. I just need to see more games like yesterday and less games like the first 3 games, in which I want to point out - he wasn't really the problem, but he wasn't the solution either.  

 

See above. Explained my stance already. People act like you cannot evaluate what he's done because of those factors that have gone against him. I think you can. And I think he's been OK, not great in that stretch of games even taking into account the OL, playcalling, etc. Now if he keeps putting up performances like the one against Baltimore, I will adjust my evaluation accordingly, but lets not act like this is not an absolute outlier type of game from him(this is literally the highest yardage game in his career) :dunno:


Definitely an outlier to date.

 

- Highest yards

- Highest passer rating

- Lowest pressure rate

- Highest YAC and YAC/completion (which included a 3rd and 15 short toss to Taylor that turned into a 73 yard TD

- Only charted game where his bad throw % was 0%
 

Haven’t looked at EPA, but I am guessing it will show a similar story.

 

He played excellent, but 1-2 game samples are pretty meaningless beyond providing a ceiling/floor. But it’s definitely a good sign if he can keep it up. Though the fact that Wentz had his best passing game in 6 seasons AND the Colts still lost is pretty disheartening.

 

 

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7 hours ago, ar7 said:

 

There are other question marks with him that remain. His health, decision making, holding the ball, and red zone play.

 

 

What is interesting is that the red zone play was one of Wentz's strengths. During his career so far, he has been one of the best QBs in the red zone.

 

https://www.phillyvoice.com/look-carson-wentzs-red-zone-and-third-efficiency-explosive-plays-fumbles/

 

https://theeagleswire.usatoday.com/2019/12/27/carson-wentz-is-elite/

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8 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I don't use the term great very often unless it applies, I may say good or very good but last night Wentz played great. He put us in position to win at the end and threw for 400 Yards, 2 TD's, no Picks.

His post snap game is lights out, once him and Frank sync and Wentz knows the plays sees the looks his presnap game will make are offense better. That's the only knock on him. Top 10 easy RN...

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A little side note from Zak Keefer and Stephen Holders podcast yesterday. Zak says he is hearing from all kinds of people within the organization how players have bought in on Wentz. He has the players believing in him.  His leadership skills seem to be really good. He also gave the Lockeroom speech after the loss Monday night. As long as he plays like he did Monday night he will continue to get the the locker room to by in. Everyone under the sun knows it was the defensive collapse that lost them that game.

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10 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Blakenship had an off night but he was kicking with an injury. The thing I most concerned about is our pass D, we can't stop elite QB's from passing like Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, etc.. Lamar chewed us up in the 4th.

In the league today, there are not that many teams who can stop those QBs.

It takes some serious game planning, some good coverage, and a serious pass rush. I think we may have the game plan part but we don't have the pass rush or coverage 

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6 hours ago, shasta519 said:


Definitely an outlier to date.

 

- Highest yards

- Highest passer rating

- Lowest pressure rate

- Highest YAC and YAC/completion (which included a 3rd and 15 short toss to Taylor that turned into a 73 yard TD

- Only charted game where his bad throw % was 0%
 

Haven’t looked at EPA, but I am guessing it will show a similar story.

 

He played excellent, but 1-2 game samples are pretty meaningless beyond providing a ceiling/floor. But it’s definitely a good sign if he can keep it up. Though the fact that Wentz had his best passing game in 6 seasons AND the Colts still lost is pretty disheartening.

 

 

 

I'd say take heart with the knowledge that we played one of the AFC contenders in their home and hung with them, and more importantly, we did everything to win the game but had a bum kicker. The context is we should have won with Carson's effort.  We should have won by a TD

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10 hours ago, King Colt said:

So did some of Lucks and Mannings

 

 Luck threw everything late and high (he held on to the ball continually) and got receivers drilled or they short armed stuff because they were about to be. And DB's dropped many balls each season that were thrown right to them.
 And remember all those fluttering ducks Manning threw. Wabble wabble wabble. 100 Int. his 1st 5 seasons.
 Carson just had his 1st full week of practice. Hahaha!
Let's judge him for those 1st 3 games. Hahahaha! Rivers 1st 5 games last season had me wondering A Lot more than Wentz does NOW!
 He had several well timed and thrown balls to Campbell. Anyone excited about Campbells route running? Because it was EXCELLENT!
 Wentz is getting really good production from Pittman. Expect much more!
 Wentz is hitting Pacall really well. Should get better.
 How about Mo-Allie. He had some neat routes and excellent clutch catches.
  It should all get better with practice practice practice!
   Frank needs better plans in the red zone. I'm not a TY fan but he is good for a few quick hitters in tight spaces.
  What a joke those of you that worry about wentz holding onto the ball.
 You see it coming together quickly but hold Wentz to a Brady, or later in his career Manning standard for getting rid of the ball.
  He is Wentz, and he is likely to become considerably better the more he works with Everyone. They will all think better as a unit. 
 Because this is a Natural progression, enjoy the offense's ride.
  lol with the D. We were looking good when it was 22-3.
 EJ Speed has all these draftable physical tools and EB never puts him on the field in his 3rd season. Zero player development. I guess it would look bad if they pulled Leonard in some passing situations. As i have posted before this season, Leonard is strong going forward, and very average in space. NOT what we are paying for that is certain. Oh well.

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16 hours ago, GoatBeard said:

Right on.

 

I dont understand the panic stricken people that want somebody fired everytime we lose a game, and I never will.

 

Ive seen so many comments "we will never win a title with this defense"

 

Fools we already did! A much more vanilla version in fact! 

 

I couldnt enjoy being a fan with that kind of mindset. It would be a waste of time to me.

 

 GREAT post Beard!  We just need to play from the lead and have the killer instinct on offense. I saw our young receivers running quality routes and playing like we have been hoping for. 
 I can't wait to see Wentz and his pass catchers after their 2nd full week of practice together. 

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12 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:


I think showing stats after five weeks that show Wentz in the middle of the pack and calling him “average” is….   I don’t want to say “lazy”, but I’ll say shallow and superficial.  
 

You need context.   Missed almost all of camp, played behind a decimated line, has gotten better and was very good last night.   His play is ascending.  Given health,  I expect Wentz to continue his good play.   I like our future based on what I’ve seen and what is reasonable to expect.  

 

   I like it as shallow and supeficial. Very good.
  If he wanted to be a good reporter he should have done the numbers thusly.
  You show the 1st 3 games combined, then the last two.
  Talked about the great week of practice, Wentz's 1st full week, talk about the solid play of the O-Line minus Q & Smith, and give a little bit of credit to what is clearly progress. 
 But No, he reports like the slanted dung on cable news. 
 

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3 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

   I like it as shallow and supeficial. Very good.
  If he wanted to be a good reporter he should have done the numbers thusly.
  You show the 1st 3 games combined, then the last two.
  Talked about the great week of practice, Wentz's 1st full week, talk about the solid play of the O-Line minus Q & Smith, and give a little bit of credit to what is clearly progress. 
 But No, he reports like the slanted dung on cable news. 
 

Isnt that crazy that was his first full week of practice.

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16 hours ago, GoatBeard said:

Right on.

 

I dont understand the panic stricken people that want somebody fired everytime we lose a game, and I never will.

 

Ive seen so many comments "we will never win a title with this defense"

 

Fools we already did! A much more vanilla version in fact! 

 

I couldnt enjoy being a fan with that kind of mindset. It would be a waste of time to me.

Umh... actually ... no. We won in 2007. This is 2021. The game today is much different offensively and good QBs and offenses feast on this type of soft zone type of defense. Hell, even players with questions in the passing game like Lamar Jackson know how to find the soft spots and kill you. Now, part of it of course is the personnel. That type of defense has some chance to work if you are able to create consistent and quick pressure and not allow a QB to sit in the pocket and distribute the ball but unfortunately we don't seem to have that personnel. We are among the worst pass-rushing teams in the league and it shows.

 

I'm not sure I want Eberflus fired and I'm not sure how much different things he can do with the players he has(bad secondary, bad pass-rush)... and quite frankly.. it's quite possible this is the best type of defense for the astounding lack of impact players we have both in the secondary and on the line. But yah... IMO ideally you would have the talent on the roster to explore much more variety in coverage and in disguising... but for the time being IMO I think the talent on the roster is a much bigger hinderance than the scheme. 

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1 hour ago, Colt.45 said:

 

I'd say take heart with the knowledge that we played one of the AFC contenders in their home and hung with them, and more importantly, we did everything to win the game but had a bum kicker. The context is we should have won with Carson's effort.  We should have won by a TD


The Colts are supposed to be an AFC contender though.
 

I was more talking about the defense being Swiss cheese, however, I also don’t think the Colts score enough TDs for me to say they should have done this or that. They are #32 in RZ % and #20 or below in most scoring/TD categories. One of their two passing TDs in the game was a 3rd and 15 dumpoff pass behind the LOS that somehow went for 73 yards. 

 

The offense played really well in this game, but it is going to have be even better (and consistently so). 
 

 

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I always felt that the offense would eventually put everything together. Their issue was the TC injuries and just the lack of chemistry since they didn’t have time in camp. Glad that so far it looks like I was right. It started in Miami and got better against the ravens. Hopefully it will continue to get better.

 

We will see what this team is made of the next 4 games. This is make or break it. When you start this pour it’s hard to keep fighting so we will see what kind of leaders we have.

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1 hour ago, stitches said:

Umh... actually ... no. We won in 2007. This is 2021. The game today is much different offensively and good QBs and offenses feast on this type of soft zone type of defense. Hell, even players with questions in the passing game like Lamar Jackson know how to find the soft spots and kill you. Now, part of it of course is the personnel. That type of defense has some chance to work if you are able to create consistent and quick pressure and not allow a QB to sit in the pocket and distribute the ball but unfortunately we don't seem to have that personnel. We are among the worst pass-rushing teams in the league and it shows.

 

I'm not sure I want Eberflus fired and I'm not sure how much different things he can do with the players he has(bad secondary, bad pass-rush)... and quite frankly.. it's quite possible this is the best type of defense for the astounding lack of impact players we have both in the secondary and on the line. But yah... IMO ideally you would have the talent on the roster to explore much more variety in coverage and in disguising... but for the time being IMO I think the talent on the roster is a much bigger hinderance than the scheme. 

Who won last year?

 

The tampa 2 has been apart of many championships.

 

They just had a front 4 that played well enough to execute it.

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1 hour ago, GoatBeard said:

Who won last year?

 

The tampa 2 has been apart of many championships.

 

They just had a front 4 that played well enough to execute it.

The Bucs play one of the more varied coverages in the league. I wish we did as many different things and disguised them as well as they do. 

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10 hours ago, stitches said:

Do you have a point or argument to make? 

 

AustinnKaine pretty much made my argument for me. The fact that Carson had foot surgery during preseason, missed training camp, did not start the season 100% bc of the surgery, injuries along the offensive line, getting BOTH ankles rolled up in that 2nd game, and our most reliable WR being out had a big reason for his "average" numbers. These factors have to be taken into account.

 

I feel like it was obvious, watching the first few games, that the main reason for Carson's numbers was the oline. Given that the oline played so horrendous I feel his mediocre numbers were actually good numbers in context. 

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1 hour ago, stitches said:

The Bucs play one of the more varied coverages in the league. I wish we did as many different things and disguised them as well as they do. 

Youre right I thought they played more zone and forgot they got Bowles now.

 

My point was essentially any defense looks bad if you dont get pressure on the QB, or play your assigment well. 

 

I agree I wish we disguised more. But its hard for me to know what the problem is because I dont know how they are coached to play the defense. Are they just not executing?

 

Because I doubt Eberflus is saying "Hey lets let them pick up easy first downs all the way down the field and score TDs."

 

I like to give our coaches more credit than that. They arent complete *s even tho they might not be great at their jobs.

 

We werent horrible on defense last year, playing this same scheme. Good offenses score points on everybody now.

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6 minutes ago, GoatBeard said:

Youre right I thought they played more zone and forgot they got Bowles now.

 

My point was essentially any defense looks bad if you dont get pressure on the QB, or play your assigment well. 

 

I agree I wish we disguised more. But its hard for me to know what the problem is because I dont know how they are coached to play the defense. Are they just not executing?

 

Because I doubt Eberflus is saying "Hey lets let them pick up easy first downs all the way down the field and score TDs."

 

I like to give our coacbes more credit than that. They arent complete *s even tho they might not be great at their jobs.

 

We werent horrible on defense last year, playing this same scheme. Good offenses score points on everybody now.

I don't for a moment think coaches in the NFL are *. They know more than any of us on a football forum would ever know about football. But I do think they have certain things they are comfortable with and trained in and in a lot of cases they just ... implement what they know best and don't spread their wings too much with experimentation. That's why it's important to know what the coaches you are hiring are trained in and what they will run when they become OC or DC for your team. And all indications are that Eberflus' experience and the defense he wanted to run was an actual selling point for Ballard. Ballard wanted this specific defense. So I guess... if you are going to do that... you have to deliver those coaches the players he needs to play that defense. So... we are waiting now... 

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2 minutes ago, stitches said:

I don't for a moment think coaches in the NFL are *. They know more than any of us on a football forum would ever know about football. But I do think they have certain things they are comfortable with and trained in and in a lot of cases they just ... implement what they know best and don't spread their wings too much with experimentation. That's why it's important to know what the coaches you are hiring are trained in and what they will run when they become OC or DC for your team. And all indications are that Eberflus' experience and the defense he wanted to run was an actual selling point for Ballard. Ballard wanted this specific defense. So I guess... if you are going to do that... you have to deliver those coaches the players he needs to play that defense. So... we are waiting now... 

Well yeah, obviously Ballard IS a big fan of this defense.

 

I think its because he believes that with the high octane offenses in the league your only chance is to generate pressure with your front 4 and cover with 7.

 

And I dont think thats a crazy mindset at all. Blitzing can be effective but its playing with fire against top teams and they WILL expose you if you play too much. Aaron Rodgers talked about this with McAfee a few weeks ago when they played the Steelers. He said on tape they blitzed constantly but in the game against him they barely blitzed at all. Teams generally dont like to blitz unless they have to, or they can afford to.  

 

I also agree we need to mix coverage. I would like guys that can play both zone and man well, but I realize most of these DBs are only good at 1 style of coverage and the guys who can do both are rare and highly coveted. Same goes for LBs.

 

There are a few things I know for certain about our defensive performance so far this season......

 

1. Our pass rush has been anything but consistent. And thats a huge part of this defense being effective. Coach Flus said as much in his presser yesterday. Without pressure on the QB, youre toast in todays NFL facing any competent QB.

 

2. Our DBs have been banged up. Both starters on the outside have missed time. Between Rhodes, Carrie and Ya Sin, they have missed a combined 8 games out of 15 possible games played, as a group. Thats 3 of your top 4 corners.

 

3. Our best corner, Kenny Moore, has not looked like himself at all. I dont think hes hurt, but he has been struggling. And Im not sure why.

 

I get that at a certain point, people are tired of hearing this injury stuff, but it DOES matter when it comes to how your team performs. Its not like the old days when you could be overly physical and hide talent defenciencies against unfavorable matchups. You can only meet talent with talent now. 

 

And we just dont have it, especially when we arent healthy. We not only need to get healthy, we need to develop a better pass rush once we do. THEN we might have something.

 

But I dont think its fair to blame the defensive scheme when we clearly arent playing it well. Thats all.

 

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Everyone should be excited with Wentz and this young WR room after that Ravens game. We need to resign MAC and Pascal and draft one more playmaker. I think this team is in good hands. Even Parris stepped up in a big way. He had some catches in big moments.  He ran great routes and looked like Hilton on some of those boundary catches.  Even Granson had a big catch. We might have to make a big decision on whether to cut Doyle this next season or let him play out his contact. I don’t know what his salary cap is but we might need the room. TY will probably retire.

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19 minutes ago, GoatBeard said:

Well yeah, obviously Ballard IS a big fan of this defense.

 

I think its because he believes that with the high octane offenses in the league your only chance is to generate pressure with your front 4 and cover with 7.

 

And I dont think thats a crazy mindset at all. Blitzing can be effective but its playing with fire against top teams and they WILL expose you if you play too much. Aaron Rodgers talked about this with McAfee a few weeks ago when they played the Steelers. He said on tape they blitzed constantly but in the game against him they barely blitzed at all. Teams generally dont like to blitz unless they have to, or they can afford to.  

 

I also agree we need to mix coverage. I would like guys that can play both zone and man well, but I realize most of these DBs are only good at 1 style of coverage and the guys who can do both are rare and highly coveted. Same goes for LBs.

 

There are a few things I know for certain about our defensive performance so far this season......

 

1. Our pass rush has been anything but consistent. And thats a huge part of this defense being effective. Coach Flus said as much in his presser yesterday. Without pressure on the QB, youre toast in todays NFL facing any competent QB.

 

2. Our DBs have been banged up. Both starters on the outside have missed time. Between Rhodes, Carrie and Ya Sin, they have missed a combined 8 games out of 15 possible games played, as a group. Thats 3 of your top 4 corners.

 

3. Our best corner, Kenny Moore, has not looked like himself at all. I dont think hes hurt, but he has been struggling. And Im not sure why.

 

I get that at a certain point, people are tired of hearing this injury stuff, but it DOES matter when it comes to how your team performs. Its not like the old days when you could be overly physical and hide talent defenciencies against unfavorable matchups. You can only meet talent with talent now. 

 

And we just dont have it, especially when we arent healthy. We not only need to get healthy, we need to develop a better pass rush once we do. THEN we might have something.

 

But I dont think its fair to blame the defensive scheme when we clearly arent playing it well. Thats all.

 

Agree with tons of this. About blitzing - yes indeed - IF you can get pressure rushing just 4, you should do it and dedicate 7 to coverage for majority of situations. Even with that said, IMO there is a value in disguising stuff.  For example, recently pretty much every team in the NFL has been lining up 5+ player on the line before the snap... and after the snap one or more of those players drop into coverage while the rest rush, but once in a while it's all out blitz. It's just better to keep the offense on their toes about what exactly you are running on each snap. Otherwise teams get in their comfort zone, they get in a rhythm and they know how to counter what you show them before the snap. This includes BTW, not just blitz packages, but also disguising what coverage you are running on any particular snap. 

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51 minutes ago, stitches said:

Agree with tons of this. About blitzing - yes indeed - IF you can get pressure rushing just 4, you should do it and dedicate 7 to coverage for majority of situations. Even with that said, IMO there is a value in disguising stuff.  For example, recently pretty much every team in the NFL has been lining up 5+ player on the line before the snap... and after the snap one or more of those players drop into coverage while the rest rush, but once in a while it's all out blitz. It's just better to keep the offense on their toes about what exactly you are running on each snap. Otherwise teams get in their comfort zone, they get in a rhythm and they know how to counter what you show them before the snap. This includes BTW, not just blitz packages, but also disguising what coverage you are running on any particular snap. 

Yeah, and for me I always favored the 3-4 for that reason. I just liked the versatility of it with the OLBs vs thenfront 4 that just rushed every single play. It seemed much easier to get exotic and all my favorite defenses typically used it (NE, BALTIMORE, PITT). 

 

I know Manning always struggled with the 3-4.

 

But then we adopted it and I realized how hard it was to find guys that fit that defense and why more teams dont do it.

 

Man corners are harder to find.

 

A single high safety is harder to find.

 

Edge guys are naturally hard to find, and you absolutely need 2 of them that can rush in that defense.

 

That big NT is harder to find.

 

And then you have to compete with teams like Baltimore and Pitt who have been running that defense for so long that they just have become masterful at identifying those guys, and there is such a limited supply. 

 

 

 

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On 10/12/2021 at 2:29 PM, CanuckColtsFan said:

Feel free to be optimistic about our chances. I just am done already. I don't think we make the playoffs and I'm not confident we will be playing meaningful football in Dec. I get it. It's a long season but that game just tore any optimism I had. Now we got to find a kicker, not good news.

Lucky for us the 33rd best kicker in the universe is literally always available to sign....

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18 hours ago, Wentzszn said:

Seems these guys who turn into writers with no actual journalism background are pretty bad. I don’t know if this guy does or not but Zach   Hicks does the same thing.  Everytime he mention something good about Wentz the sentence always starts with he wasn’t perfect. Wentz is 70% and he focuses on how two bad throws means his mechanics are screwed up. They have a bias against Wentz and it shows.

It's a function of our "anyone can produce (content) society"  anyone can throw up tiktoks, Instagram b.s., become a Twitter "journalist" make twitch streams.... It's all basically what used to be amateur content, but people have decided they'll consume it since a large, large portion of it is "free". The "creator" or the platform charge advertising fees, income is generated, and the masses don't care how shoddy or underdeveloped the product is, because for them.....the price(little to nothing in most cases) is right...

 

And this, STARS are born who have little to no talent, or developed skill....as writers, journalists, musicians, actors....simply because people consume the crap they produce,and money is being made.  

 

These sports "writers" are no different. With the previous, or really any different, business model ...you'd never hear of these people.

 

 

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