Colts @ Ravens post game thread

[Superman]

11 minutes ago, stitches said:

I am a bit confused about whether Minshew was seeing Hamilton or not. When watching during the game I thought he was not seeing him at all... but then I watch replays and... he's drifting away from Hamilton pretty much from the snap... to me it looks like he's seeing but being too slow to get rid off the ball. I don't know... 

 

If he was aware of him, but still taking that kind of contact (and losing the ball on at least one of those hits), then I have different questions. There was one where I thought he should have seen the blitz, but he didn't do anything to protect himself or get rid of the ball, so I assumed he didn't see it.

[Blueblood23]

7 minutes ago, DougDew said:

I think there is a difference between that non call at that time and other PIs that get called.   It really had no impact on the play, and the reason it was not completed was because of a bad pass by Lamar.  If it was a good pass, it would have been completed, which is what typically happens (or should happen) with PI calls.

 

I think that's what the refs saw, and chose not to aid BAL by giving them a FD when Lamar really threw and incomplete pass regardless.

Well I guess we will disagree on this. Officials call penalties all the time on plays which have no bearing on the success of the plays. Holding is called on a run, away from the play as an example. Holding called on a receiver that wasn’t thrown to. On the above said play the official blew it to our favor. 

[richard pallo]

11 minutes ago, DougDew said:

That deep pass from Minshew to Pitt was pretty lucky.  You don't make that play unless you throw the ball, but throwing that pass at that time as it was defended is going to result in a completion about 15% of the time.  It felt like a Hail Mary shot at changing field position, and it worked.   

I think that play was designed for Pittman to go up and get it using his height advantage.  Great throw and catch.  Same play for Pierce at the goal line but defender made a great play and ripped Pierces hand off the ball.  The Hail Mary play for me was the touchdown pass to Moss.  He was under pressure when he threw it and I thought it was an interception when it left his hand.   Fortunately it got over the defender and Moss made a great catch.

[Superman]

19 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

How in the world do you call Delay Of Game when the official is standing over the ball, not letting you snap it?

 

We subbed late in the play clock. The defense gets to sub. That was a self inflicted penalty.

 

I thought Steichen went to the well one time too many there. I like the surprise switch in general. Either you get a good look, or you steal a timeout from the defense. Worst case scenario is you take a delay of game and kick anyway. It worked last week, and it worked yesterday. Trying it on back to back plays was a bit much. And now he probably needs to shelve it for a couple weeks.

[DougDew]

2 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

I think that play was designed for Pittman to go up and get it using his height advantage.  Great throw and catch.

Yeah, but its not like its a 15 yard back shoulder play design...which is a little more intended and executable.  Throwing it 40 air yards so that your well-covered WR gets the pass higher than two defenders that are right on him is not what I would call play design.  JMO. 

[richard pallo]

8 minutes ago, BProland85 said:

Do you still see Braden as the longterm quantity starter there? He has clearly regressed at that spot and would fit better at RG. 

  You’re beating a dead horse I’m afraid.  He will never move to RG.  

[richard pallo]

2 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Yeah, but its not like its a 15 yard back shoulder play design...which is a little more intended and executable.  Throwing it 40 air yards so that your well-covered WR gets the pass higher than two defenders that are right on him is not what I would call play design.  JMO. 

For me that’s why we want big receivers.  It can always be part of the play design.

[stitches]

12 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

If he was aware of him, but still taking that kind of contact (and losing the ball on at least one of those hits), then I have different questions. There was one where I thought he should have seen the blitz, but he didn't do anything to protect himself or get rid of the ball, so I assumed he didn't see it.

Look at those:

 

 

He's drifting the moment Hamilton appears past the LoS....  no idea what to think about it... 

 

[DougDew]

1 minute ago, richard pallo said:

For me that’s why we want big receivers.  It can always be part of the play design.

Like Edleman used to, I think Downs is showing the value of being able to get separation, at any size.  But doing it with height is preferable.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Was about to comment how good Tevan Bryan has looked. How did I not realize he was a former first round pick. 

[Superman]

6 minutes ago, stitches said:

Look at those:

 

 

He's drifting the moment Hamilton appears past the LoS....  no idea what to think about it... 

 

 

Thanks. Yeah he probably sees him after the snap on the first two sacks, but didn't have a plan. I think a better explanation is that the lack of plan means he didn't identify it presnap, and we had no hot, no outlet, and no sense of timing to get rid of the ball or run. 

 

But I don't think he saw him on the last one, when he fumbled. His head is turned the whole time, and he gets leveled. That one probably influenced my thinking on the first two.

 

Steichen should have called some run plays with backside fakes, it could have slowed down those blitzes and chase down tackles on run plays.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

The fact ravens blitzed that much Colts did ok to only have five sacks. That’s a lot of blitzing. The blitzing was expected and what ravens do

[NewColtsFan]

5 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

The fact ravens blitzed that much Colts did ok to only have five sacks. That’s a lot of blitzing. The blitzing was expected and what ravens do

If the blitzing was expected, then the Colts handled it badly.   Especially since Hamilton came clean on three of them before the Colts finally figured it out.    I think your argument works against itself.  

[GoColts8818]

22 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

The fact ravens blitzed that much Colts did ok to only have five sacks. That’s a lot of blitzing. The blitzing was expected and what ravens do

They did under Wink.  They even mentioned during the game they have cut back on it under the new DC.

[hoosierhawk]

We had 3 free agents yesterday we picked up in the off season in Gay, Minshew and Ebukam that were very key in the game.  

[AKB]

Just now, hoosierhawk said:

We had 3 free agents yesterday we picked up in the off season in Gay, Minshew and Ebukam that were very key in the game.  

ballard had a pretty good offseason

[throwing BBZ]

6 minutes ago, hoosierhawk said:

We had 3 free agents yesterday we picked up in the off season in Gay, Minshew and Ebukam that were very key in the game.  

 

 We have a few of our own to sign after this season, and I expect at least 2-3 more outside FA to fill gaps.

[GoColts8818]

20 minutes ago, hoosierhawk said:

We had 3 free agents yesterday we picked up in the off season in Gay, Minshew and Ebukam that were very key in the game.  

But yet Ballard sucks in free agency according to many here…

 

id add a fourth, Bryan, as well.  

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Another fun fact I did not know. Blackmon, Moss, Gay we’re all team mates at Utah.

[GoColts8818]

2 hours ago, Superman said:

 

It's a fair point, but then we have to bring up that the Ravens were without 8 starters. And that Justin Tucker didn't save the day like he normally does. And that the Ravens totally mismanaged the clock after the safety. Etc. I also think there's a lot more variance with Richardson than there is with Minshew. He might have made a few more plays, but he also might have turned the ball over or missed a dump off...

 

I think the Ravens are a pretty good team, but they weren't at full strength and didn't play their best game. So I'm not exactly convinced that the Colts are on their level. 

Oh yeah, like they said yesterday, it’s not always who you play it’s when you play them.  The Colts caught some big breaks with the Ravens yesterday that leveled the playing field in terms of injuries and the Ravens just not making good decisions, but to the Colts credit they took advantage.  This game was sorta like the KC game last year.  Hopefully unlike last year the Colts can build on it and not have it just be a giant put layer at the end of the year.

[danlhart87]

[Hawkeyecolt]

5 hours ago, Moe said:

I’m not sure why we didn’t try a field goal or Hail Mary didn’t have anything to lose.

Because Minshew can’t throw it that far so they set up a screen and hoped MPJ could take it to the house.  Unfortunately the Ravens didn’t play soft so Minshew spiked it and lived to fight another day. 

[GoColts8818]

5 hours ago, Moe said:

I’m not sure why we didn’t try a field goal or Hail Mary didn’t have anything to lose.

If you miss the field goal short the Ravens can put a guy back there to return it.  Why take that chance if you know your kicker probably doesn’t have the leg from that length?  If I recall you were talking about what would have been a NFL record kick and the guy who holds that record just came up short on a shorter kick because the conditions were not exactly optimal for kicking yesterday.

 

As for the Hail Mary Minshew doesn’t have the arm strength to get it down there.  So they tried a screen to see if they could catch the Ravens off guard.  The Ravens weren’t fooled so Minshew decided to put it in the dirt and play OT than risk some fluky INT or fumble return for a TD.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

30 minutes ago, Hawkeyecolt said:

Because Minshew can’t throw it that far so they set up a screen and hoped MPJ could take it to the house.  Unfortunately the Ravens didn’t play soft so Minshew spiked it and lived to fight another day. 

Steichen said in his presser they didn’t like the look so they grounded it. He said they were bringing the pressure.

[Zoltan]

3 hours ago, Superman said:

 

Yeah, all of that.

 

But to the positive, last year in Week 3, we beat the Chiefs. I was glad for the win, but had no expectation that the team was now on track and was going to start playing well. I viewed it as a total fluke, a game where the Chiefs played way down to the competition, and it still took a completely unforced penalty by them at the end for us to have a shot. 

 

This win actually gives me some confidence that the Colts are a decent team with a decent roster. We had a good gameplan, we got some solid contributions from skill players, managed to win with a backup QB, etc. It feels like a potential stepping stone for the Colts. Then again, we're not stumbling into Year 5 with the HC, and we're presumably not juggling QBs anymore, so no wonder I feel better about the state of the franchise than I did a year ago.

 

Yeah, I was one that didn't feel great after the chiefs win last year because how we won didn't seem sustainable. When it comes to this win, I like it because it was an ugly game with two teams that had key injuries but the team never gave up and grinned out an ugly win. I think that shows that we have a good set of leaders in the locker room and that the team knows they can win even when things aren't going right. Moss has been key though to this offense working. I just hope we get JT sooner rather than later so we have better depth at the RB position, because if Moss goes down we are back to a bad situation (like in week 1).

[King Colt]

23 hours ago, Moosejawcolt said:

Totally agreed. I really cannot stand his brand of TV. He is just loud and bombastic. He is like Steven  A Smith

Noone is like Steven A Smith....thank God. McAfee's popularity is soaring do he must be doing something right. Young people are always welcoming something new.

[Moe]

4 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

If you miss the field goal short the Ravens can put a guy back there to return it.  Why take that chance if you know your kicker probably doesn’t have the leg from that length?  If I recall you were talking about what would have been a NFL record kick and the guy who holds that record just came up short on a shorter kick because the conditions were not exactly optimal for kicking yesterday.

 

As for the Hail Mary Minshew doesn’t have the arm strength to get it down there.  So they tried a screen to see if they could catch the Ravens off guard.  The Ravens weren’t fooled so Minshew decided to put it in the dirt and play OT than risk some fluky INT or fumble return for a TD.

I agree Minshew probably doesn’t have the arm strength, but how many times has a missed field goal been returned for a touchdown?

[GoColts8818]

1 minute ago, Moe said:

I agree Minshew probably doesn’t have the arm strength, but how many times has a missed field goal been returned for a touchdown?

I don’t have a number for the history of the league but it does happen.  It won’t let me link it here but if you Google it you can find a YouTube video three minutes in length of teams doing it in the NFL

 

if you know Gay doesn’t have the leg for it why try it?  You know he’s not going to make it and all you are doing is giving the Ravens a chance to get a fluke win.  Again you were talking about a NFL record distance and the guy who holds that record had just come up short on a shorter kick.  

[Superman]

13 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

you were talking about a NFL record distance

 

On a wet field.

[Dingus McGirt]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

On a wet field.

…in a hostile environment.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

13 hours ago, Moe said:

I agree Minshew probably doesn’t have the arm strength, but how many times has a missed field goal been returned for a touchdown?

Steichen said they grounded the ball becaude they didn’t like the pressure look they had. Nothing to do with Minshews arm strength.

[GoColts8818]

56 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

On a wet field.

Yep it would have been a super human ask where the risks out weighed the chances of him hitting it.  

48 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Steichen said they grounded the ball becaude they didn’t like the pressure look they had. Nothing to do with Minshews arm strength.

The play call was a screen not a Hail Mary.  That’s where Minshews arm strength comes into play 

[Hawkeyecolt]

On 9/25/2023 at 7:58 PM, Moe said:

I agree Minshew probably doesn’t have the arm strength, but how many times has a missed field goal been returned for a touchdown?

I watched Aaron Glenn do it against the Colts right before the half in 1998. It happens.  Keep in mind who you’re asking to make a tackle. A punter, a kicker, a bunch of big slow lineman, and a couple of tight ends. 

[Superman]

19 hours ago, Hawkeyecolt said:

I watched Aaron Glenn do it against the Colts right before the half in 1998. It happens.  Keep in mind who you’re asking to make a tackle. A punter, a kicker, a bunch of big slow lineman, and a couple of tight ends. 

 

And it still basically never happens...

 

I'm not arguing that we should have tried a 70 yarder, we shouldn't have. But I don't think the chance of a returned kick is a prominent factor in that decision making.