Colts vs Bengals pre-season finale postgame reaction

[GoColts8818]

Have at it.

[RollerColt]

No injuries. I repeat. No injuries.

 

Richardson got some playing time. With Taylor in the backfield we were a machine. 
 

The surface has barely been scratched. It’s on to finally taking on Houston in a revenge game. 

[Dingus McGirt]

Watching the post game on Prime- that chick has scary eyebrows.

[GoColts8818]

3 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

No injuries. I repeat. No injuries.

 

Richardson got some playing time. With Taylor in the backfield we were a machine. 
 

The surface has barely been scratched. It’s on to finally taking on Houston in a revenge game. 

And that was with them clearly not unleashing the Richardson running part of the offense.

[Colt27]

When or what is it going to take for AR to stop throwing balls that sail. 
 

I know, I know…. Time, practice, reps…. But he’s worked with professionals now for a year and with Tom House. If he hasn’t improved it by now, I don’t have a lot of hope. Manning used to practice throwing down over 6’ ladders. 
 

i WANT so bad for him to be good!

Edited August 23 by Colt27
Addition

[Yoshinator]

This game was on Amazon Prime, so I didn't have access to it. I went to the casino for a while to watch it while playing blackjack (unfortunately the sound was off). We had a nice drive with Richardson that i noticed and a TD to Mitchell. I hope we use Mitchell as a red-zone target a lot during the season. Latu gets a sack. I think with the first-team out there we can do pretty good. Curious how much better it'll be when Downs returns. 

 

Of course, we were against the Bengals second-team, so I don't know how we'll do against the Texans in a couple weeks, but I feel decent about it at least. Can we stop their offense? That's the question. I think we can put 24 points or so on them.

[JediXMan]

14 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

No injuries. I repeat. No injuries.

 

Richardson got some playing time. With Taylor in the backfield we were a machine. 
 

The surface has barely been scratched. It’s on to finally taking on Houston in a revenge game. 

 

Bean hurt his shoulder.

[GoColts8818]

13 minutes ago, Colt27 said:

When or what is it going to take for AR to stop throwing balls that sail. 
 

I know, I know…. Time, practice, reps…. But he’s worked with professionals now for a year and with Tom House. If he hasn’t improved it by now, I don’t have a lot of hope. Manning used to practice throwing down over 6’ ladders. 
 

i WANT so bad for him to be good!

He hasn’t done it for a year.  He missed a huge chunk of time due to his injury.  So yeah it’s going to take a little while.

10 minutes ago, JediXMan said:

 

Bean hurt his shoulder.

And that’s how they keep him and Sam.  Put Bean on IR, Sam is your number three and next year Bean can try to win the job outright.

[smittywerb]

Good:

- The First Drive:  it was beautiful.  Even with vanilla play calling, good to see what this offense can do.  Good mix of run and pass.  Finished with a TD.  

 

- Alec Pierce:  good to see him bringing in catches past the first down marker that wasn’t a streak/fly. 
 

- Latu:  he’s legit.  Was getting consistent pressure and then finally got home.  He’s a keeper.

 

- Felton/Goodson:  very productive once they came in.  Solid depth at RB.

 

- RHJ:  5 tackles and one of them was for a loss.  Can’t complain.

 

 

Meh

- Anthony Richardson:  he looked like was ready to go with the first drive, and then after, I don’t know.  Miss-communication on routes, inaccuracies, threw a pick and had a fumble.  This is why AR needed to play more during the preseason.  Practice speed and In-Game speed are different.  Not saying he should’ve play significant time, but a quarter to a quarter and a half would’ve been good.

 

Dont really have any bad.  Seems like the players just wanted to get this game out of the way.

 

im not sure about this team.  I know the preseason doesn’t mean anything but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some concern.  I don’t think the sky is falling, but I’m bringing my expectations of this team down a little bit.  We have one of the most important games of the season week 1 and idk if we’re ready.  

 

 

[GoColts8818]

15 minutes ago, smittywerb said:

Good:

- The First Drive:  it was beautiful.  Even with vanilla play calling, good to see what this offense can do.  Good mix of run and pass.  Finished with a TD.  

 

- Alec Pierce:  good to see him bringing in catches past the first down marker that wasn’t a streak/fly. 
 

- Latu:  he’s legit.  Was getting consistent pressure and then finally got home.  He’s a keeper.

 

- Felton/Goodson:  very productive once they came in.  Solid depth at RB.

 

- RHJ:  5 tackles and one of them was for a loss.  Can’t complain.

 

 

Meh

- Anthony Richardson:  he looked like was ready to go with the first drive, and then after, I don’t know.  Miss-communication on routes, inaccuracies, threw a pick and had a fumble.  This is why AR needed to play more during the preseason.  Practice speed and In-Game speed are different.  Not saying he should’ve play significant time, but a quarter to a quarter and a half would’ve been good.

 

Dont really have any bad.  Seems like the players just wanted to get this game out of the way.

 

im not sure about this team.  I know the preseason doesn’t mean anything but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some concern.  I don’t think the sky is falling, but I’m bringing my expectations of this team down a little bit.  We have one of the most important games of the season week 1 and idk if we’re ready.  

 

 

I think Herbstreet said it best tonight around the QB position this is a playoff team, by the way for those wondering that’s why Ballard still has job but that’s a topic for a different post.  However they pretty much have a rookie QB.  This is what comes with rookie QBs they are wildly inconsistent.  They can look like the greatest thing ever one drive and have you wondering how they got in the NFL at all the next.  This is why Richardson missing so much time last year was a bad thing.  It set him back in a major way, and more than playing a few more series in the pre-season was ever going to fix.  This is why I always felt like those saying Richardson missing time won’t matter it can be overcome because he’s still around a pro team we’re lying to themselves.  Richardson for all intents and purposes is a rookie and it’s going to take time, probably a large chunk of the season, to adjust to the NFL and start being consistent.  

[CS Coltsfan]

I hear ya Smitty... I know it is pre season and we will not show alot, but I was not impressed our first going against their seconds... after the first drive we didn't do much to really say yea were ready... I'm in Colorado Springs and I can say the Broncos seem to be more in sync they played much better in their second game... Payton has the more ready IMO and Nix looks good... course he has 4 years of college playing vs less than 1 year... I too hoped to see better passing from Richardson especially with his training , but have to keep in mind lack of experience and recovery... personally I would love to see another pre season game...

 

[GoColts8818]

For everyone worried about the secondary the starting defense didn’t give up a point in the pre-season.  Maybe Ballard knows what he’s doing.

[CS Coltsfan]

Just now, GoColts8818 said:

For everyone worried about the secondary the starting defense didn’t give up a point in the pre-season.  Maybe Ballard knows what he’s doing.

 time will tell.... our division got loaded up with WR talent... hope and pray that we can cover, but with Bradley's scheme and are limited young talent me tinks we will get burnt... Hope I am wrong... again time will tell 

[Smonroe]

3 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

For everyone worried about the secondary the starting defense didn’t give up a point in the pre-season.  Maybe Ballard knows what he’s doing.

This game proved nothing as far as the secondary.  They faced a backup QB and were never tested.  

[Zoltan]

That kick by Spencer Shrader looked like it would be good from 60

[Happy2BeHere]

All I can really say is that it’s so great to be back on the forum regularly now that football season is back around….that much I know.

 

things I think I know:

 

Win or lose the season should be fun and entertaining.

 

AR is by quite a bit the least experienced starting QB on the field when it comes to real playing time (college included). He is going to take time to progress but the forecast looks promising.

 

Im still concerned about the backfield…not any of the backs not named JT haven’t proven they can be viable for the season behind JT…I hope they excel because our running game is necessary.

 

I am still not convinced that our secondary is going to perform any better than the bottom of the middle…it really is reliant upon the front 4 to

wreak havoc before a play can develop..and fortunately the forecast for those front 4 looks to be pretty good.

 

I am convinced that Gay will cost us at least 1 game this season or maybe 2. That worries me.

 

Our special teams coverage has not been stellar in the 3 games we’ve had so far but part of that I am sure can be attributed to the new kickoff (which I actually think I am liking)

 

I am excited about the receiving corps for the first time in many years…if Pierce can catch on and we get decent play from our rookie Mitchell and just 1 of our tight ends ball out we are going to score some serious points.

 

I think that our chances of making the playoffs this year are about 55-60% which is not bad…but the Texans may very well be the team to beat. 
 

Can we finally get over the jaguars hump in Jacksonville ?

 

It’s football season people…time to be excited! Don’t be like Brady’s balls and get deflated too early in the season.  

[OLD FAN MAN]

i expected a better team showing , this looks like a team with average talent that wont be able to compete against good teams. i think we are rushing ar and would be more competitive if we went with our vet qb and brought ar along slowly. ar is clearly not ready.

[DiogoSales]

Starters were really good in vanilla play calling in my opinion. The INT was miss comunication, but the 3rd down overthrow to AD was bad. 

 

The only consistent bad all pre season: Blake Freeland. Whats happened to this guy? He cannot be the swing tackle playing like that.

[#12.]

If you have any interest in actually winning football games, you have to rely on Richardson's legs, expose him to harm, and let the chips fall where they may.  You made your bed with the pick.  

 

The notion that you can significantly cut down on his running and win with him dealing from the pocket - forget it.

[krunk]

What's great is AR does read the defense correctly most of the time. I'm not worried about what's going on upstairs. And we know his competitive fire is awesome. Nothing to worry about there. Just got to continue working on the ball placement and the feet when releasing the throw. I liked most of what I saw though. As I said before there's going to be a few games where he throws a few clunkers, we will be mad and then the lights will come on for him.

[Rally5]

I think this season's success will be determined by our ability to convert third downs.

[Hoose]

52 minutes ago, krunk said:

What's great is AR does read the defense correctly most of the time. I'm not worried about what's going on upstairs. And we know his competitive fire is awesome. Nothing to worry about there. Just got to continue working on the ball placement and the feet when releasing the throw. I liked most of what I saw though. As I said before there's going to be a few games where he throws a few clunkers, we will be mad and then the lights will come on for him.

I think this is a solid perspective. Keep the lid on expectations of AR through the early season as he continues to learn and grow. Provided he stays healthy, he will get there. 
 

The backup O line, however, also needs time. Goncalves and Freeland weren’t too impressive but they are also young. As is Witt. Two of those three will be the OT backups, so let’s pray for the health for our starters. 
 

The D was for the most part pretty steady. Good to see. 
 

Here’s to a fun, exciting and hopefully successful year!

[John Hammonds]

This final preseason game was more about Richardson than anything.

When he was on, he was seriously on.  When he was off, oh my, he was off.

The runs and the TD throw to Mitchell were great.

The pick-6 and the fumble(s) -- those lose games.  You can't have those.  At all.

The best thing about Richardson was that he didn't get hurt.

 

On another page, our DB's weren't challenged all that frequently.  Not a lot to talk about in the safety room, who starts, who plays, etc.  Not a lot of dismay in the JuJu, Jones, and Flowers arena.  The DB that was challenged the most was #37 Speed.

 

Latu looked good.  Oh, what are we kidding?  Latu looked great!  Hoping to see a lot more.  Can he start from game one?  Please?

Big Grover was in on nearly every play.

Our starting DL was good against the run.  Our 3rd string, not so much.

 

Let's get our cuts done, and get ready for games that count!

[MFT5]

8 hours ago, Colt27 said:

When or what is it going to take for AR to stop throwing balls that sail. 
 

I know, I know…. Time, practice, reps…. But he’s worked with professionals now for a year and with Tom House. If he hasn’t improved it by now, I don’t have a lot of hope. Manning used to practice throwing down over 6’ ladders. 
 

i WANT so bad for him to be good!

 

AD (rookie) altered his route and AR threw it where he was supposed to be just like granson running out when he was supposed to go in 

[azcolt]

I doubt there has ever been a second year starting qb with so little combined college and pro starting experience. So how many seasons is Irsay willing for the team to be mediocre or lousy to get him the experience he needs? Irsay isn’t known for being patient and he’s not a young or healthy guy.

 

 

[John Hammonds]

I'll say the words out loud:  If we weren't already paying Gay so much money, we would have a kicker battle in camp.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, John Hammonds said:

I'll say the words out loud:  If we weren't already paying Gay so much money, we would have a kicker battle in camp.

Yep. It's a shame Schrader has no chance of beating him out.

[John Waylon]

1 minute ago, John Hammonds said:

I'll say the words out loud:  If we weren't already paying Gay so much money, we would have a kicker battle in camp.

I’m trying to figure out why we let the backup kick from 54 when we have clear questions about the highly paid starter…

[Yoshinator]

Just now, John Waylon said:

I’m trying to figure out why we let the backup kick from 54 when we have clear questions about the highly paid starter…

That's the million dollar question. Is there any chance Gay gets traded or cut? I could see a trade for a 7th if we liked Schrader enough.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Even though it was the Bengals 2nd string, that 1st drive we looked like a well-oiled machine. AR's passes were on the money (7-8 and a TD). I think he could do that against their 1st team to be honest because he didn't throw 1 bad pass on that drive. Almost everything was accurate, the 1 incompletion he had was out of the endzone. With Taylor in the game, it makes us a major 2-deminsional team. I wouldn't put too much stock into AR struggling after that because, A. Taylor wasn't in, and B. We ran a vanilla offense. There was 1 play where AR could've took off and probably would have got at least 15 yards but he didn't run - he clearly was told not to run. 

[Yoshinator]

Just now, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Even though it was the Bengals 2nd string, that 1st drive we looked like a well-oiled machine. AR's passes were on the money (7-8 and a TD). I think he could do that against their 1st team to be honest because he didn't throw 1 bad pass on that drive. Almost everything was accurate, the 1 incompletion he had was out of the endzone. With Taylor in the game, it makes us a major 2-deminsional team. I wouldn't put too much stock into AR struggling after that because, A. Taylor wasn't in, and B. We ran a vanilla offense. There was 1 play where AR could've took off and probably would have got at least 15 yards but he didn't run - he clearly was told not to run. 

It was a tale of two drives. I'm guessing Lou (the D-Coordinator) figured something out on AR after the first drive and adapted the defensive scheme to stop him. Since AR wasn't running at all, it was easy to scheme against him to stop him. I believe the only thing we learned here is we have to let AR run the ball or he will be predictable and throw inaccurate eventually. As long as AR is a dual threat QB, we should be okay.

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, Yoshinator said:

It was a tale of two drives. I'm guessing Lou (the D-Coordinator) figured something out on AR after the first drive and adapted the defensive scheme to stop him. Since AR wasn't running at all, it was easy to scheme against him to stop him. I believe the only thing we learned here is we have to let AR run the ball or he will be predictable and throw inaccurate eventually. As long as AR is a dual threat QB, we should be okay.

That and without Taylor, they didn't respect our run at all. 

[John Waylon]

6 minutes ago, Yoshinator said:

That's the million dollar question. Is there any chance Gay gets traded or cut? I could see a trade for a 7th if we liked Schrader enough.

 
I don’t know, honestly. We’ve seen how far Ballard will go to avoid admitting a mistake anywhere other than a post-season press conference, so I tend to doubt it. We’ll keep Gay who will probably keep missing and Schrader will probably go on and bang them in from 60 out for someone else because that’s just the kind of ridiculous thing that happens these days. 

[rockywoj]

8 hours ago, Colt27 said:

When or what is it going to take for AR to stop throwing balls that sail. 
 

I know, I know…. Time, practice, reps…. But he’s worked with professionals now for a year and with Tom House. If he hasn’t improved it by now, I don’t have a lot of hope. Manning used to practice throwing down over 6’ ladders. 
 

i WANT so bad for him to be good!

This was an issue that Andrew Luck had, even in his last stellar season.  I very vividly recall asking myself, will he ever get spot on like Peyton Manning was in the latter part of his career?

 

My point is, with Richardson, yes it also seems to be a bit of an issue, but he has only, what, 4 or 5 games under his belt, so no big worry about this, yet. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

No injuries are another great thing. I really don't count Bean because he isn't making the roster. I don't think Sam is very good, but I doubt we cut him.

[Yoshinator]

1 minute ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

No injuries are another great thing. I really don't count Bean because he isn't making the roster. I don't think Sam is very good, but I doubt we cut him.

Agree with everything but cutting Sam. I think one of Bean or Slovis replaces Sam. Sam is on the last year of his contract. I believe we'll replace him with a younger QB that has potential to be better and a possible backup next year after Flacco leaves.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, Yoshinator said:

Agree with everything but cutting Sam. I think one of Bean or Slovis replaces Sam. Sam is on the last year of his contract. I believe we'll replace him with a younger QB that has potential to be better and a possible backup next year after Flacco leaves.

Ballard seems to love Sam, he has been Mr. 3rd Stringer around here it seems forever. To me Sam is a guy that made the big show, great guy, but a QB that isn't even a 2nd stringer. He is just insurance that knows the system just in case AR and Flacco both go down.

 

With the team we have, If our team overall stays healthy if Sam started, we would win only 4 games IMO. Flacco could win 9, I think AR could give us 10.

[Smonroe]

Anyone get the feeling that AR had a case of the Yips after the pick 6?  
 

His accuracy was shot, like when he missed a wide open AD.  He was 180 degrees from when he hit Pierce and Pitt on those tight throws.  
 

That can be worked out with coaching and experience.  But he won’t get any more experience before the Texans.   

[Yoshinator]

1 minute ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Ballard seems to love Sam, he has been Mr. 3rd Stringer around here it seems forever. To me Sam is a guy that made the big show, great guy, but a QB that isn't even a 2nd stringer. He is just insurance that knows the system just in case AR and Flacco both go down.

 

With the team we have, If our team overall stays healthy if Sam started, we would win only 4 games IMO. Flacco could win 9, I think AR could give us 10.

Definitely agree with this. I think the one problem with keeping Sam is that he and Flacco's contract both run out next year, and if we don't keep Bean or Slovis (or they get claimed off the practice squad), then we are down to just AR next year. I don't know if Ballard wants to just have AR as our only QB. He might, but he has to make the cut decision based on all the current information he has. Is that enough to put 100% faith in AR?

[Yoshinator]

Just now, Smonroe said:

Anyone get the feeling that AR had a case of the Yips after the pick 6?  
 

His accuracy was shot, like when he missed a wide open AD.  He was 180 degrees from when he hit Pierce and Pitt on those tight throws.  
 

That can be worked out with coaching and experience.  But he won’t get any more experience before the Texans.   

Yes absolutely. It looked as scripted as possible without being scripted. 7/8 the first drive, and 1/6 after with the pick 6 in the next three drives. Something ruined his confidence, it was probably the pick 6.