Burrowless Cincy up next....

[bluephantom87]

 

I hope the Colts don't make the same mistake as the Jags did by NOT pressuring backup qb Jake Browning who torched them for 354 yds and 2 TDs on 32-37 passing with a 115.5 passer rating to pull Cincy to a 6-6 record and VERY much in the playoff race.

 

I don't know if anyone has seen any of Jake's recent interviews but he has a lot of confidence and seems offended that people gave Cincy NO shot once Burrow went down. Jake said he's won many games on all levels and that the Bengals have mutiple playmakers that he can get the ball to. Might be a LONG day for our young secondary if that front doesn't get home! Hopefully we can put Jake down EARLY and OFTEN!!! Thoughts?

[2006Coltsbestever]

4 minutes ago, bluephantom87 said:

 

I hope the Colts don't make the same mistake as the Jags did by NOT pressuring backup qb Jake Browning who torched them for 354 yds and 2 TDs on 32-37 passing with a 115.5 passer rating to pull Cincy to a 6-6 record and VERY much in the playoff race.

 

I don't know if anyone has seen any of Jake's recent interviews but he has a lot of confidence and seems offended that people gave Cincy NO shot once Burrow went down. Jake said he's won many games on all levels and that the Bengals have mutiple playmakers that he can get the ball to. Might be a LONG day for our young secondary if that front doesn't get home! Hopefully we can put Jake down EARLY and OFTEN!!! Thoughts?

What happened last night was great, now we will even be more ready, and I doubt Browning can play like that 2 games in a row.

[IinD]

Every game is different. We've seen teams look like juggernauts and turn into duds in one short week, our team included.

 

Bengals next on the hit list..

[RollerColt]

21 minutes ago, bluephantom87 said:

 

I hope the Colts don't make the same mistake as the Jags did by NOT pressuring backup qb Jake Browning who torched them for 354 yds and 2 TDs on 32-37 passing with a 115.5 passer rating to pull Cincy to a 6-6 record and VERY much in the playoff race.

 

I don't know if anyone has seen any of Jake's recent interviews but he has a lot of confidence and seems offended that people gave Cincy NO shot once Burrow went down. Jake said he's won many games on all levels and that the Bengals have mutiple playmakers that he can get the ball to. Might be a LONG day for our young secondary if that front doesn't get home! Hopefully we can put Jake down EARLY and OFTEN!!! Thoughts?

Here are my thoughts as a Bengals fan (I'm always Colts first don't worry): 

 

The Bengals are a very hot and cold team. When they're red-hot they can beat anyone including the 49ers. When they're cold they can lose to anyone including the Titans and Steelers. They're better and worse than their record shows in that regard. We'll see how they respond on a short week after upsetting Jacksonville. 

 

Our team is currently in the top 5 for sacks, so if we keep that trend up at crucial times we can win.

[DougDew]

It is interesting though how many "no name" QBs seem to be playing pretty well. 

 

It must be the new style of NFL offenses (yawn) that place increased mobility with an incremental reduction in arm talent as a job qualification, that makes it easier for QBs to do their jobs in the modern NFL.  Kinda boring in many ways, but not a whole lot of drop off from the starter for a lot of teams.   Even a guy that's drafted 277 can be a good QB in 2023.

[Boondoggle]

Re: Browning there's a big difference in showing well for a small window vs sustaining a high level of play.  I admit he's been way better than I expected.  Colts don't have the best fun and games DC in terms of his ability to disguise things pre-snap and mess with a QB's mind, but they've been very good in passer rating against which is a nice cumulative look at effectiveness.

 

So I think Browning is in for a rough(er) game.  This should be a win.

[indyagent17]

Browning is not a bad QB and we need to create special blitzes to confuse him. Getting Grover back is a major plus and I hope the front 4 can generate enough pressure to make them one dimensional.  

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Hopefully this game was just an anomaly. He did play earlier in year and was not good.

[Blueblood23]

1 hour ago, bluephantom87 said:

 

I hope the Colts don't make the same mistake as the Jags did by NOT pressuring backup qb Jake Browning who torched them for 354 yds and 2 TDs on 32-37 passing with a 115.5 passer rating to pull Cincy to a 6-6 record and VERY much in the playoff race.

 

I don't know if anyone has seen any of Jake's recent interviews but he has a lot of confidence and seems offended that people gave Cincy NO shot once Burrow went down. Jake said he's won many games on all levels and that the Bengals have mutiple playmakers that he can get the ball to. Might be a LONG day for our young secondary if that front doesn't get home! Hopefully we can put Jake down EARLY and OFTEN!!! Thoughts?

Not a good matchup for the Colts. The positive is when you win on Monday you usually lose on Sunday. Hope that plays out. 

[John Waylon]

How healthy is Higgins? He caught all of his targets last night, of which there were just 3. If he’s still not 100% I feel much better than I do if he’s not working with any kind of limitation. 

 

Coverage is something we’ve struggled with, and this is one of the best WR duos in the league we’re going down there to face. Those guys can bail him out and make him better than he is, so the way we’re going to handle them is just as important as the way we handle him will be. 
 

Definitely gotta keep the sacks coming. 

[lollygagger8]

I'd like to see more blitzing from Gus. 

 

This team gives QB's waaaay too much time to throw

[sb41champs]

Grover Stewart is back this week!!

 

Gus Bradley wouldn't be stupid enough to bring blitzes when our secondary is so weak.  The pressure needs to come from up front.

 

Declaw the Bengals!!

[chad72]

25 minutes ago, lollygagger8 said:

I'd like to see more blitzing from Gus. 

 

This team gives QB's waaaay too much time to throw

 

Chase and Higgins will eat you alive if you blitz. Roll the safety towards Chase with the #2 CB, play Higgins 1-on-1 with your best CB. Pressure with the front four (we are 2nd in the league with 42 sacks, doing just enough blitzing) and eventually we will wear their offense out.

[bluephantom87]

24 minutes ago, lollygagger8 said:

I'd like to see more blitzing from Gus. 

 

This team gives QB's waaaay too much time to throw

 

I agree BUT this is not the game to do so because their receivers would feast if Jake happens to get the pass off...

[JediXMan]

It’s going to be raining and messy game which is good for us as they have talented WRs.

[RollerColt]

1 hour ago, DougDew said:

It is interesting though how many "no name" QBs seem to be playing pretty well. 

 

It must be the new style of NFL offenses (yawn) that place increased mobility with an incremental reduction in arm talent as a job qualification, that makes it easier for QBs to do their jobs in the modern NFL.  Kinda boring in many ways, but not a whole lot of drop off from the starter for a lot of teams.   Even a guy that's drafted 277 can be a good QB in 2023.

Or… or… 

 

Offensive coordinators are getting better at figuring out how to play to their QB’s strengths and reduce the limitations of weaknesses. 
 

Pretty much every QB who makes it into the NFL has talent, but we’re seeing a shift from teams being “coach centric” to becoming “player centric”. 
 

My way or the highway coaches are fading away, or being outright fired in the cases of McDaniels and Reich. 

12 minutes ago, JediXMan said:

It’s going to be raining and messy game which is good for us as they have talented WRs.

We are built for those types of games. We’re bruisers now, instead of finesse.

[RollerColt]

17 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

Chase and Higgins will eat you alive if you blitz. Roll the safety towards Chase with the #2 CB, play Higgins 1-on-1 with your best CB. Pressure with the front four (we are 2nd in the league with 42 sacks, doing just enough blitzing) and eventually we will wear their offense out.

If you get Chase frustrated he can sometimes disappear for entire quarters. 

[Smonroe]

I'll be pessimistic and say this is the start of a three game losing streak. 1 - 4 the rest of the way.

 

8-9 is a better record that anyone predicted.

[chad72]

22 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

I'll be pessimistic and say this is the start of a three game losing streak. 1 - 4 the rest of the way.

 

8-9 is a better record that anyone predicted.

 

I am hoping my 9-8 (same as Carson Wentz season) prediction is wrong for the Colts' sake and we win 10 games.   The second to last penultimate game was against the Raiders then too. 

[Blueblood23]

24 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

I'll be pessimistic and say this is the start of a three game losing streak. 1 - 4 the rest of the way.

 

8-9 is a better record that anyone predicted.

I didn’t think they would win over 6 games. Pleasantly surprised! 

[Smonroe]

9 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

I am hoping my 9-8 (same as Carson Wentz season) prediction is wrong for the Colts' sake and we win 10 games.   The second to last penultimate game was against the Raiders then too. 

 

Didn't it seem like the Colts wanted to lose the last several games just a little less than the other teams?

 

It's been fun though.  Especially with Minshew being such a wildcard.  You never know what you're going to get from him on each series.

 

Shane has been fantastic.  No one thought we'd be in the playoff hunt, even if AR was healthy.  (of course, everyone thought Houston was the worst team going into the season.  Goes to show what we all know - and what a great QB can do for a team.)

[ShuteAt168]

I have no clue on this so just asking — with the talk of getting pressure, why have our sacks increased with Grover out? Is he a run stopper exclusively and we are playing more pass rushers with him out? 

[Pelt]

Just gotta keep approaching every game here on out like a playoff game, because they essentially are.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

8 minutes ago, ShuteAt168 said:

I have no clue on this so just asking — with the talk of getting pressure, why have our sacks increased with Grover out? Is he a run stopper exclusively and we are playing more pass rushers with him out? 

It’s a pretty easy answer. After that saints game Gus switched to quarters defense. It’s helping the young corners in coverage giving the pass rush time to get there. 

[richard pallo]

Our front four has done the job all year.  Second in the league in sacks.  Our front four rotation is very good and effective.  Blitzing occasionally is necessary but it can expose the secondary if done too often. I would rather bend than break.  We need to run the ball better this week. Bad weather is forecast.  Need to play to our strengths which is our OL leading the run game.

[Smonroe]

14 minutes ago, ShuteAt168 said:

I have no clue on this so just asking — with the talk of getting pressure, why have our sacks increased with Grover out? Is he a run stopper exclusively and we are playing more pass rushers with him out? 

 

We've played some pretty bad pass blocking O lines with backup QBs, that helps. 

 

But they still manage to gouge us on the run (with Grove out) and we're in the bottom quarter of the league in giving up Passing yards too.  I kind of ignore the stats and believe my eyes.

 

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

11 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

Our front four has done the job all year.  Second in the league in sacks.  Our front four rotation is very good and effective.  Blitzing occasionally is necessary but it can expose the secondary if done too often. I would rather bend than break.  We need to run the ball better this week. Bad weather is forecast.  Need to play to our strengths which is our OL leading the run game.

Just  looked at the forecast. I would hope rain helps colts but not sure.  Bengals are not great in run defense and those deep shots to pierce against titans should help open the run. Weather Supposed to be bad for Browns and jags too. That favors Browns.

[BlackTiger]

23 minutes ago, ShuteAt168 said:

I have no clue on this so just asking — with the talk of getting pressure, why have our sacks increased with Grover out? Is he a run stopper exclusively and we are playing more pass rushers with him out?

Grover has zero sacks this year anyway.  hes graded well and the team is better with him by the eye test but he may not even be a top 5 pass rusher on the team

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Just now, BlackTiger said:

Grover has zero sacks this year anyway.  hes graded well and the team is better with him by the eye test but he may not even be a top 5 pass rusher on the team

Dayo has gotten more snaps with Grover out so that probably has helped pass rush some. But it’s more the change in defense system.

[ShuteAt168]

1 minute ago, BlackTiger said:

Grover has zero sacks this year anyway.  hes graded well and the team is better with him by the eye test but he may not even be a top 5 pass rusher on the team

I know, he’s not supposed to be a pass rusher. But something is different, unless his replacement is piling up sacks, which isn’t the case. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

1 minute ago, ShuteAt168 said:

I know, he’s not supposed to be a pass rusher. But something is different, unless his replacement is piling up sacks, which isn’t the case. 

I told you what was different above. Gus changed his defensive system after the saints game.

[Colts1324]

1 minute ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Dayo has gotten more snaps with Grover out so that probably has helped pass rush some. But it’s more the change in defense system.

Grover gets pressure up the middle & collapses the pocket. He isn’t a big sack guy, but very solid with interior pressure. This causes QB’s to rollout more & earlier this season, our ends weren’t wrapping up. 
 

 

Lately, I’ve noticed the pressure is coming off the edge much better. They are making the QB step up in the pocket & Buckner has been there to help close in the pocket. We’ve seen great development as the season has progressed.  I expect it to be just as good with Grover back

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

4 minutes ago, Colts1324 said:

Grover gets pressure up the middle & collapses the pocket. He isn’t a big sack guy, but very solid with interior pressure. This causes QB’s to rollout more & earlier this season, our ends weren’t wrapping up. 
 

 

Lately, I’ve noticed the pressure is coming off the edge much better. They are making the QB step up in the pocket & Buckner has been there to help close in the pocket. We’ve seen great development as the season has progressed.  I expect it to be just as good with Grover back

A lot of the sacks have been coverage sacks which is really good. It means the secondary is covering well making the QB hang on to the ball longer.  The defensive change has made a big difference.

[AKB]

should be another colts W

[DougDew]

2 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Or… or… 

 

Offensive coordinators are getting better at figuring out how to play to their QB’s strengths and reduce the limitations of weaknesses. 
 

Pretty much every QB who makes it into the NFL has talent, but we’re seeing a shift from teams being “coach centric” to becoming “player centric”. 
 

My way or the highway coaches are fading away, or being outright fired in the cases of McDaniels and Reich. 

We are built for those types of games. We’re bruisers now, instead of finesse.

If you mean designing offenses around short but mobile QBs with generally less arm talent than previous generations of NFL QBs, I agree.  

 

And when you say "figuring out", that means the OC tells the QB and receiver to run around and find an open spot, because after about 2 seconds, not much coordinating takes place.

 

It just seems like off-the-street or journeyman guys can take over for the starters a lot better than they used to.  Seems to me that the disparity in talent between the starter and backup isn't as great as I remember

 

[ShuteAt168]

34 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

I told you what was different above. Gus changed his defensive system after the saints game.

I got it, brother. Thanks. Was just responding to someone else. 

[chad72]

1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

It’s a pretty easy answer. After that saints game Gus switched to quarters defense. It’s helping the young corners in coverage giving the pass rush time to get there. 

Also, you have lighter DL lining up inside which helps on passing downs and most teams haven’t been patient enough to run 2 out of their 3 downs against us consistently. Plus Grover doesn’t demand double teams like Buckner does.

[RollerColt]

48 minutes ago, DougDew said:

If you mean designing offenses around short but mobile QBs with generally less arm talent than previous generations of NFL QBs, I agree. 

It seems like a trend, but short QBs are still the minority. 
 

Of all the rostered QBs in the NFL, only 3 are below 6’. 

 

There are 37 QBs between 6’2” and 6’4”. There 9 who are over 6’5”. 
 

54 minutes ago, DougDew said:

And when you say "figuring out", that means the OC tells the QB and receiver to run around and find an open spot, because after about 2 seconds, not much coordinating takes place.

I don’t agree with this. 

 

56 minutes ago, DougDew said:

It just seems like off-the-street or journeyman guys can take over for the starters a lot better than they used to.  Seems to me that the disparity in talent between the starter and backup isn't as great as I remember

If it weren’t for those off-the-street journeymen a lot of teams including ours would be playing boring football. 
 

And there’s been plenty and I mean plenty of examples throughout history of backups coming in to win games and seasons. The Dolphins undefeated season did it. Our own Colts when in Baltimore did it. 
 

Even Brady was a backup at one point. So no, there’s never been a big disparity between starter and backup, because the league has always had a need for talented throwers.

[DougDew]

16 hours ago, RollerColt said:

It seems like a trend, but short QBs are still the minority. 
 

Of all the rostered QBs in the NFL, only 3 are below 6’. 

 

There are 37 QBs between 6’2” and 6’4”. There 9 who are over 6’5”. 
 

I don’t agree with this. 

 

If it weren’t for those off-the-street journeymen a lot of teams including ours would be playing boring football. 
 

And there’s been plenty and I mean plenty of examples throughout history of backups coming in to win games and seasons. The Dolphins undefeated season did it. Our own Colts when in Baltimore did it. 
 

Even Brady was a backup at one point. So no, there’s never been a big disparity between starter and backup, because the league has always had a need for talented throwers.

Over the past 15 years or so, its been my impression that mobility has gained on height as a metric of importance.  And that leads to accepting shorter QBs, And, the short passing game has supplanted the running game in many ways.  Throwing a short pass or passes from out of the pocket doesn't necessarily require NFL type of arm talent.  And out of structure back yard ball requires less coordination...sticking to a plan.  

 

I think all QBs in all level of football are starting to be the exact same guy.  Little diversity of talent or even body type.  The QB everybody raves about this year is Caleb Williams, and he's 6'1...which is short.  Anything below 6'3" I would consider short for an NFL QB.  If you are going to tell me that most NFL QBs are 6'3" or lower, I would say that it shows my point....the NFL is drifting towards short mobile QBs. 

 

Every QB in every team, and their backups, with every team running similar offenses built around the short mobile guy, gets to be a monotonous brand of football, IMO.

 

Edit:  Keeping in mind that each generation of player gets bigger over the decades, skewing a straight comparison of heights now with back in the day.  JMO

[CR91]

Won't be easy, but at least the jags gave us a blueprint of what not to do vs Browning 😂