pressure

[CR91]

just thinking of the different thinks we can do on defense to wreck havoc has got me salivating. no more freeney and mathis being game planned on one spot now their moving around and coming at every direction. hughes can finally get on the field when we go 4-3 and freeney and mathis are at DE with hughes coming from the edge. nevis who really no one is talking about had very good pressure up the middle and be a distributive force. angerer and connor coming up the middle. oh man this this is gonna be one fun defense to watch.

[21isSuperman]

I don't know how Nevis can do as a 3-4 DE. It's hard enough to do well as a 3-4 DE as it is. I don't know how much experience Nevis has in the 3-4

[Nobody]

I don't know how Nevis can do as a 3-4 DE. It's hard enough to do well as a 3-4 DE as it is. I don't know how much experience Nevis has in the 3-4

If we had only selected Roy Helu like I wanted in the third...

[Albaby]

I'm just glad that this team is actually doing something different with the defense. However it works out this coming year should be an improvement. It's actually kind of exciting that the Colts are changing things up.

[dacoats]

i get a lot of pressure after I eat ice cream

[oldunclemark]

I feel a lot more comfortable about the D-line because of the coaches and the experience there...

..than I do the O-line..

With Freeney. Mathis, Bethea, Conner and Pat Angerer...I just dont see any way they wont be solid defensively..

....but we werent awful defensively last year....especially at the end..

[TKnight24]

I agree with Uncle Mark. Defense came through mostly when we played the Texans. But I also believe defense will be a big improvement this year

[Qwiz]

I want to see how well Angerer plays in the 3-4. Still not sure about how well Freeney/Mathis will do in coverage, but I guess we'll figure that out when the season starts.

[oldunclemark]

I want to see how well Angerer plays in the 3-4. Still not sure about how well Freeney/Mathis will do in coverage, but I guess we'll figure that out when the season starts.

I sure wish there wasnt all this dead time, QB....

I need the games to start next week

[Qwiz]

I sure wish there wasnt all this dead time, QB....

I need the games to start next week

Hahaha I know right. I just can't live with baseball...I just can't lol.

[Coffeedrinker]

I'm just glad that this team is actually doing something different with the defense. However it works out this coming year should be an improvement. It's actually kind of exciting that the Colts are changing things up.

Not to be a downer but that is what a lot of people said when the Colts hired Coyer.

[Jindrake]

Not to be a downer but that is what a lot of people said when the Colts hired Coyer.

The sad part is it wasn't coyer imo it was him being handcuffed from above him, not so much a change to the 3-4 but from what I understood of the situation is coyer wanted to blitz more which we did for a few game under him right away then they got away from it. Now that decision and where it came from is anyones guess.

[Superman]

Not to be a downer but that is what a lot of people said when the Colts hired Coyer.

The sad part is it wasn't coyer imo it was him being handcuffed from above him, not so much a change to the 3-4 but from what I understood of the situation is coyer wanted to blitz more which we did for a few game under him right away then they got away from it. Now that decision and where it came from is anyones guess.

Yeah, the changes worked with Coyer. Situationally, our defense made huge plays in 2009 to help us win games. Most notably, the blitzes at the end of the Patriots game. Rewind two years before to the loss against the Patriots, and manufacturing some pressure might have helped us get a stop on the last drive, instead of dropping back into the same zone against a red hot quarterback.

It wasn't until the Super Bowl that Bad Coyer surfaced, and boy what an awful time for that to happen.

[CR91]

Not to be a downer but that is what a lot of people said when the Colts hired Coyer.

difference with then and now is we were still running the crap 2. now our defense will be unleashed.

[Coffeedrinker]

The sad part is it wasn't coyer imo it was him being handcuffed from above him, not so much a change to the 3-4 but from what I understood of the situation is coyer wanted to blitz more which we did for a few game under him right away then they got away from it. Now that decision and where it came from is anyones guess.

Not to be rude but that is complete nonsense. The exact same thing happened in Denver, read anywhere and he was released from Denver after a defensive meltdown in 2006. His problem is he is too predictable with his play calling and his blitzes and teams figured it out and took advantage. Just look at the Tampa Bay game from 2011 that was probably one of the worst jobs of defensive coaching I have ever seen at any level in my life.

[Coffeedrinker]

difference with then and now is we were still running the crap 2. now our defense will be unleashed.

Unleashed that is what people said when Coyer took over.

[CR91]

Unleashed that is what people said when Coyer took over.

but we wont be running the cover 2

[CR91]

Not to be rude but that is complete nonsense. The exact same thing happened in Denver, read anywhere and he was released from Denver after a defensive meltdown in 2006. His problem is he is too predictable with his play calling and his blitzes and teams figured it out and took advantage. Just look at the Tampa Bay game from 2011 that was probably one of the worst jobs of defensive coaching I have ever seen at any level in my life.

that game there was just no adjustments. freeman kept hitting the rb that curled in the middle of the field and kept getting 8-10 yards and we just kept letting them do it.

[Vinny BoomBatz]

I don't know how Nevis can do as a 3-4 DE. It's hard enough to do well as a 3-4 DE as it is. I don't know how much experience Nevis has in the 3-4

I agree with this! I hope he can move over to end and stay healthy as Indy needs to be able to utilize as much of it's current personel and hopefully develop it going forward.

[BrentMc11]

I don't know how Nevis can do as a 3-4 DE. It's hard enough to do well as a 3-4 DE as it is. I don't know how much experience Nevis has in the 3-4

I want a chance to see how the coaching staff adapts to Nevis. We know he has a motor. We know he came from a top 2 defense at LSU. Just as players need to adapt to a system, it is also up to the coaches to utilize the talent available. Just as we have both said with Jerry Hughes....players need to step up and so do coaches.

I too look forward to the havoc and disruption that disguise and creativity will bring....simply cannot wait. B L I T Z will once again be in the Colts vocabulary.

[BrentMc11]

I feel a lot more comfortable about the D-line because of the coaches and the experience there...

..than I do the O-line..

With Freeney. Mathis, Bethea, Conner and Pat Angerer...I just dont see any way they wont be solid defensively..

....but we werent awful defensively last year....especially at the end..

Your "Especially at the end" is well taken. Mike Murphy decided we would attack....and we did play well and should have won all three of the last 3. (HMMMM wonder how things would have transpired...wow) Good point Old Unc!

[Coffeedrinker]

but we wont be running the cover 2

So what? The Cover 2 is a good defensive scheme when used properly.

[BrentMc11]

Unleashed that is what people said when Coyer took over.

Coffee is correct. All we heard was Coyer was a blitzing DC......all we saw was a defense on its heals. For whatever reason we played the most lax "Cover Nobody" defense I have ever seen other than The Prevent.....when Andy Dalton looks like Drew Brees 17-21???? Dink and dunk in it's utmost form. Then 62-7.....62-7....62-7....The Bounty crew used us as the "quicker picker-upper."

[southwest1]

I want a chance to see how the coaching staff adapts to Nevis. We know he has a motor. We know he came from a top 2 defense at LSU. Just as players need to adapt to a system, it is also up to the coaches to utilize the talent available. Just as we have both said with Jerry Hughes....players need to step up and so do coaches.

I too look forward to the havoc and disruption that disguise and creativity will bring....simply cannot wait. B L I T Z will once again be in the Colts vocabulary.

Absolutely right my friend. Show me the heat & unleash Hades at our opponent's doorstep. It's time to man up & get aggressive on defense again. Blitz, Blitz, Blitz.

[CR91]

So what? The Cover 2 is a good defensive scheme when used properly.

its also very predictable and easily beaten if you dont have the right personal like us. this defense is more aggressive. the 49ers, ravens, and steelers make their money beating teams with this type of defense.

[Coffeedrinker]

I don't know how Nevis can do as a 3-4 DE. It's hard enough to do well as a 3-4 DE as it is. I don't know how much experience Nevis has in the 3-4

I agree with this! I hope he can move over to end and stay healthy as Indy needs to be able to utilize as much of it's current personel and hopefully develop it going forward.

I want a chance to see how the coaching staff adapts to Nevis. We know he has a motor. We know he came from a top 2 defense at LSU. Just as players need to adapt to a system, it is also up to the coaches to utilize the talent available. Just as we have both said with Jerry Hughes....players need to step up and so do coaches.

I too look forward to the havoc and disruption that disguise and creativity will bring....simply cannot wait. B L I T Z will once again be in the Colts vocabulary.

From the way it looks now Nevis is going to be playing that role that Ngata played for the Ravens last year. In more of a 3-4 alignment the Ravens had (The colts will have) a DE (Redding), a NT (McKinney) and a DT (Nevis). Then one of the OLBs (mostly Freeney) and the DT then line up on the weak side(usually not always and Superman has watched a lot more than me so if he saw something different then I hope he mentions it) or if there is no weak side then the wide side of the field. This gives the D some great flexibility especially with the OLB. If he puts his hand in the dirt then it becomes a more traditional 4-3 alignment with a DE(Freeney) a DT (Nevis) a NT(McKinney) and a DE(Redding), if he stays in the two point stance then it's a more traditional 3-4 alignment. IN this role one of Nevis' main responsibility is to keep blockers occupied so Freeney only has to worry about one on one match-ups and can follow the play and wreak some havoc in the backfield.

[Coffeedrinker]

its also very predictable

[Superman]

Not to be rude but that is complete nonsense. The exact same thing happened in Denver, read anywhere and he was released from Denver after a defensive meltdown in 2006. His problem is he is too predictable with his play calling and his blitzes and teams figured it out and took advantage. Just look at the Tampa Bay game from 2011 that was probably one of the worst jobs of defensive coaching I have ever seen at any level in my life.

Agreed.

I don't think he was a good fit for the Colts, not if we were going to keep him from doing some of the things he wanted to do. But he does have a history of spoiling after a season or two.

[BrentMc11]

That depends on the coach not the scheme

That could be said for any defensive alignment, 3-4, 4-3, 2-5, 5-2.

That is what was said about Coyer... his Cover 2 was going to be more aggressive. We won't know until the games are played but I do know from living in Southern California and watching quite a few SD games, that Manusky was not aggressive with his D, especially on 3rd down and it was a big reason why SD had the worst 3rd down D of any NFL team in over a decade.

[CR91]

That is what was said about Coyer... his Cover 2 was going to be more aggressive. We won't know until the games are played but I do know from living in Southern California and watching quite a few SD games, that Manusky was not aggressive with his D, especially on 3rd down and it was a big reason why SD had the worst 3rd down D of any NFL team in over a decade.

[BrentMc11]

Agreed.

I don't think he was a good fit for the Colts, not if we were going to keep him from doing some of the things he wanted to do. But he does have a history of spoiling after a season or two.

[Superman]

Guys...do you like a DC that is in the booth? I know there are some positives, but I prefer a DC to be on the field with the troops. Just want some good opinions....

I guess my preference is that he be down on the field, but I can see certain advantages to being up in the booth, technologically.

[BrentMc11]

I guess my preference is that he be down on the field, but I can see certain advantages to being up in the booth, technologically.

I agree in both ways....my general needs to be with my guys....you are so correct on the technological aspect.

[ztboiler]

just thinking of the different thinks we can do on defense to wreck havoc has got me salivating. no more freeney and mathis being game planned on one spot now their moving around and coming at every direction. hughes can finally get on the field when we go 4-3 and freeney and mathis are at DE with hughes coming from the edge. nevis who really no one is talking about had very good pressure up the middle and be a distributive force. angerer and connor coming up the middle. oh man this this is gonna be one fun defense to watch.

There is no stock alignment that puts Hughes on the field at the same time as Freeney and Mathis.

[Gavin]

The problem wasn't the Cover 2, I have a hard time believing a large majority of the problems was Coyer because it wasnt. Coyer had Denvers defenses in the top half of the league while he was there defensive Coordinator. it was our so called 'talent' at defensive tackle and Corner our defensive tackles were to small, Our Corners took pour angles which alot of times led to missed tackles or wide receivers consistently found the hole in the zone which was as easy as taking candy from a baby, from what I gather from watching the games they played how Polian wanted, to give up yards until teams got deep in our territory and hope that they finally make a mistake or that the defense creates a turnover, I'll find the quote but he was quoted as saying thats how he wanted them to play

[BrentMc11]

The problem wasn't the Cover 2, I have a hard time believing a large majority of the problems was Coyer because it wasnt, Coyer had Denvers defenses in the top half of the league while he was there defensive Coordinator. it was our so called 'talent' at defensive tackle and Corner our defensive tackles were to small, Our Corners took pour angles which alot of times led to missed tackles or wide receivers consistently found the hole in the zone which was as easy as taking candy from a baby, from what I gather from watching the games they played how Polian wanted, to give up yards until teams got deep in our territory and hope that they finally make a mistake or that the defense creates a turnover, I'll find the quote but he was quoted as saying thats how he wanted them to play

Bend but don't break became Bend but don't Win (LBs 7 yards back....DBs 10-12) Cover 2 became Cover Nobody, and Prevent became Prevent the Win.

Whomever's idea this lax system was, it was a debacle of epic proportions. The Cover 2 scheme will remain but with rule changes may become an afterthought. Yes with "Press Coverage you can still play 'said defense,' but 62-7 'hernias' that constitute the 3rd worst defeat in the history of American professional football cannot ever happen again in Colts Nation. I need TUMS just writing this.

[CR91]

There is no stock alignment that puts Hughes on the field at the same time as Freeney and Mathis.

yes there is. we wont always be in a 3-4. when we're in a 4-3 freeney and mathis are back at end and hughes can play an outside rusher.

[Superman]

The problem wasn't the Cover 2, I have a hard time believing a large majority of the problems was Coyer because it wasnt, Coyer had Denvers defenses in the top half of the league while he was there defensive Coordinator. it was our so called 'talent' at defensive tackle and Corner our defensive tackles were to small, Our Corners took pour angles which alot of times led to missed tackles or wide receivers consistently found the hole in the zone which was as easy as taking candy from a baby, from what I gather from watching the games they played how Polian wanted, to give up yards until teams got deep in our territory and hope that they finally make a mistake or that the defense creates a turnover, I'll find the quote but he was quoted as saying thats how he wanted them to play

No. People keep parroting this over and over and over again. The Colts hired Tony Dungy, and he wanted to install the Tampa/Cover 2. The Colts got him the kind of players he wanted. Bill Polian isn't a Cover 2 adherent; he did what his coach wanted, schematically speaking.

When Caldwell took over, he wanted to keep the Cover 2, but wanted a little more flexibility. He also wanted some bigger players. But hiring Larry Coyer -- a coordinator who isn't a Cover 2 guy, and who is known historically for letting his defense get away from him after a certain period of time -- wasn't a good choice. As a matter of fact, whether we went Cover 2 exclusively or not, Coyer has a history of making situational mistakes with his playcalls: ill-timed blitzes, ineffective stunts, and so on. As Coffee mentioned, the Tampa Bay game featured the most ridiculous defensive playcalling I can remember from the Colts. The Tampa 2 morphed into a Cover 5 in that game. This was not a Bill Polian problem.

Anything Bill Polian said about the Cover 2 was because the coaching staff had decided the defense would be a predominantly Cover 2 defense. And in many ways, that made sense.

What you say about the failings of the defensive tackles is true, which is why we went and got Corey Simon and Booger McFarland (which is one of the things that cracks me up when people say Polian neglected the defensive line). But your comments about the corner play is mostly inaccurate. Corner play wasn't an issue before 2010, save for an instance or two of injuries forcing us to start Tim Jennings or Deshea Townsend. We had prototypical Cover 2 corners in Hayden and Jackson, and those two guys teamed up in one of the stingiest scoring defenses in the league in 2007. You seemed to be obsessed with corner play, which is really not a high-profile position in the Cover 2 at all.

Now, it's true that Polian enabled the eventual demise of our defense, whether that's because he bought in to Dungy's philosophy or because he thought it best to continue stocking the team with the same kind of players rather than overhauling the roster. However, this issue cannot be separated from Larry Coyer's playcalling, which was simply atrocious on several occasions.

[Superman]

yes there is. we wont always be in a 3-4. when we're in a 4-3 freeney and mathis are back at end and hughes can play an outside rusher.

His point probably stands, though, as that would be a very rare occurence. It's likely that the majority of the time we play Freeney and Mathis at end, we'll be in nickel, and there's no room for Hughes in a nickel set as a linebacker. Maybe in a 3-3-5 as a joker, but I'd rather see us keep Redding on the field at left end, put Freeney at right end, and let Mathis be the joker. I think Hughes will primarily be a backup for Mathis, mostly at OLB, sometimes at end.

Just my assumption, of course.

[CR91]

His point probably stands, though, as that would be a very rare occurence. It's likely that the majority of the time we play Freeney and Mathis at end, we'll be in nickel, and there's no room for Hughes in a nickel set as a linebacker. Maybe in a 3-3-5 as a joker, but I'd rather see us keep Redding on the field at left end, put Freeney at right end, and let Mathis be the joker. I think Hughes will primarily be a backup for Mathis, mostly at OLB, sometimes at end.

Just my assumption, of course.

but redding isnt much of a pass rusher. hes more of a run stuffer