Back on track

by shake n bake on Nov 2, 2008 11:32 PM EST

The win puts the Colts at 8th in the AFC, one game out of third.

The Colts are now 3-2 in the AFC giving them the tiebreaker over the Dolpins. The Colts hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Ravens and Pats. They currently have the conference record tiebreaker over the Jets as well, putting them 1/2 game out of wildcard spot and a tie for 5th with the Bills.

My Thoughts on the game

The O actually moved the ball.
Peyton is still off on his throws to Marvin, but he's hitting Wayne, Gonzo and Clark.
The run game needs to improve. Both Addai and Dom struggled to find any room to run. The OL was not run blocking well, especially when it came to blocking the LBs. Both Ugoh and Charlie Johnson each blew an assignment badly leading to a pair ineffective runs.
On D I'm very impressed with how well Tim Jennings did. He made some plays and was rarely beaten
Ratliff played much better than you can expect a guy that was a free agent Wednesday to do on Randy Moss.
Bethea as the nickelback was excellent. They have 3 startable safeties and no good CBs right now.
The run D was disappointing, but the LBs just need to play their assignments better.

Tweet Comment 17 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Positives:

-good pass protection

-Peyts played well

-Bob did his job

-Reggie, Gonzo, Dallas played well

-awesome discipline with the 1 (or was it 2?) penalty

-Jennings did well

-Adam finally hitting a FG more than 24 inches

Negatives

-horrible run D

-bad tackling

-horrible 3rd down D specifically in the pass. How fucking hard is it for this team to do something almost every other team can easily do which is stop teams on 3rd and long? It is ridiculous.

-ratliff was crap but I guess I can give him the benefit of the doubt for being thrust into
the starting role

-Bethea was crap as he has been for the other 7 games

-Marvin was next to useless yet again. I have felt Peyts was responsible for their lack of connections before but Marvin just flat out runs piss poor routes now. It is a given that he is going to be cut after this season. A shame but hey, he’s not playing like a 12 mil a year WR.

-Hagler stinks. I swear he seeks out running to blockers and being blocked instead of actually trying to get to the ball carrier. Either this or he is a very dumb man and doesn’t grasp simple logic.

-the run game. Utterly pathetic. That better not be an indication of what Addai is going to do next week and better have just been the rust. he was useless. Rhodes wasn’t amazing but he was far better than Joe. This team better grasp how to get their run game going or they will go nowhere. it is simply killing their offense.

-next to no pass rush. Earlier today i said it was the DBs causing there to be no pass rush since they were giving such huge cushions but tonight the line just flat out sucked. It is sad that the DL is the msot expensive piece of the Colts defense and it is useless. Seriously. All one needs to do is watch the Giants who IMO ahve a similar sized DL and then Indy and it is embarrassing how bad Indy’s line is. Cassel has been sacked an avg of 4 times a game, pressured numerous times each game and Indy can barely get near him? Pathetic.

All in all some positives but still the glaring negatives which are the defense and the run game. IMO they got lucky tonight in many ways (belichick seemed to be off tonight coaching) and I saw nothing that makes me think they will go into Pittsburgh and win in a week. However, they like to do the opposite of what I feel i am certain of (ie tonight i thought they’d lose, the pass game would struggle, their run D would do well) so maybe they will win.

The season is still alive but they have got to play better for it to actually matter. I guess the one positive way to look at it is that IF this D truly can be dominant and they haven’t shown it yet then maybe it will happen late in the year, they will make the playoffs and can go on a 2006 like run. Same with the run game. That is really the only positive I see but the thing is they need to still win the games obviously until that happens and that will be a tough task.

Hopefully this game gave them some good confidence but at the same time showed they still need to do a lot of hard work.

by loregnum on Nov 2, 2008 11:53 PM EST reply actions

The Titans are the best the AFC has to offer right now

and the Colts nearly beat them even playing like they are now. With a little improvement or luck they’ll beat the Steelers.

Shonn Greene for Heisman
140 yards per game
6.3 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Nov 2, 2008 11:59 PM EST up reply actions

Quick question ...

Are you a Colts fan ?? Just curious … most of your posts seem to live by ranting on the negative. In your reply you’ve mainly stated the obvious about the game, but a couple of your negative rants seem to be a bit off …

First Bethea led the team in tackles last night with 10 … the only player in double digits. Granted he has not played exceptional all year, but I would say last night was not crap.

Also I’d say Ratliff played pretty exceptional as well, considering he was covering Randy Moss. He was coming off of a good game (7 catches – 102 yds) and Ratliff, with some help, held him way under that total.

And i don’t think it’s fair to call Marvin useless … 4 catches for 50 yards is not terrible with so many playmakers in this offense, it is also unrealistic to expect Marvin to continually put up #1 receiver stats when he is no longer in that role. And as others have noted, some of the passes were Peyton’s fault, not Marvin’s route running.

In reply, just some of my thoughts … like i said seems like you always harbor the negative so here are some positive rebuttals to your thoughts

And lastly, who calls Peyton Mannnig Peyts ?? Did you guys go to second grade together ??

"Ryno for President 08"

by ClarkFan44 on Nov 3, 2008 1:30 PM EST up reply actions

Sorry ...

this was a reply to Loregnum … not shake … sorry must have hit the wrong button !!

"Ryno for President 08"

by ClarkFan44 on Nov 3, 2008 1:31 PM EST up reply actions

No you hit the right button

replies indent from the post they are replying to. When more than one person replies to the same post they stack on the same alignment.

Shonn Greene for Heisman
140 yards per game
6.3 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Nov 3, 2008 1:35 PM EST up reply actions

at 4-4 only an excessive optimist could be happy with the way the colts have been playing. This team isn’t that different personnel-wise than last year, yet they are playing horrific by comparison (well the offense at least, the D stunk last year too but the much better offense masked it).

What is there to be happy about? Loregnum seems to me, to just be a glass is half empty not half full type. Why do people question your fan loyalty and often call you a pats fan because you don’t look at the colts with rose coloured glasses?

Oh and I call peyton manning peyts all the time. It’s akin to calling Michael, Mike or Marvin, Marv. It seems rather lame (and certainly not positive) of you to tack that onto your post as if to bash on Loregnum for something so trivial and petty just because you don’t like the person pointing out the many flaws of the Colts. You both like the same team and want it to do better, I would think, at least realizing problems makes more sense in all aspects of life so that you can correct them and be better, whereas ignoring them does nothing useful.

by tapper on Nov 3, 2008 9:33 PM EST up reply actions

What is there to be happy about ??

Well we got a win, and as a fan that makes me happy and it puts us at 4-4 which is a lot better than 3-5 at this point … and that makes me happy

I guess all I’m saying is hey … you’ve got a reply here with 7 little blips of positive things and then 43 paragraphs of negatives … it seems like his posts are always negative and maybe it’d be all right for this guy to write a post about good stuff every once in a while … instead of ranting on about the blaringly obvious weaknesses of the team

And sorry maybe the Peyts comment was a cheap shot, but it just sounds childish …. i have never ever heard anyone call Peyton “Peyts” (except for this site) … i’ve never heard a commentator, writer, friend … anyone call him that …. it just sounds silly and is in no way akin to calling Marvin “Marv” … you’ll hear an announcer say from time to time “Marv with the catch !!” but I’ve never heard one say “Awesome throw by Peyts!!”

Ok …. so i guess i’m a glass half full type of guy … so what do you say Loregnum, after the Colts beat the Steelers this weekend how about a post all about the positives ?!?!?

"Ryno for President 08"

by ClarkFan44 on Nov 3, 2008 10:04 PM EST up reply actions

Loregnum with positive things about the Colts?

That’ll be the day!

by coltsfanawalt on Nov 4, 2008 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

Good critique

Loregnum, I agree with everything you said in your post. It’s amazing the Colts are 4-4 considering they can’t run the ball, can’t stop the run, and have no pass rush. Those are three critical areas a team must be good at. I think that they’re 500 (without those three things), due to the greatness of Peyton Manning. It doesn’t build a lot of confidence in me to beat a New England team without Brady playing. And, to be honest, we shouldn’t have even won. If that pass didn’t go through Gaffney’s hands in the endzone, we’d be toast. So, in short, I’m glad we won, but we have a long way to go, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Just trying to keep it real. But, it’s still great to get the win!

by Ayrshire on Nov 3, 2008 12:02 AM EST reply actions

4.4 a carry this week

after giving up less than 4 for the last 3 games.

Shonn Greene for Heisman
140 yards per game
6.3 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Nov 3, 2008 12:10 AM EST up reply actions

I'm new here...

But I’ve been lurking around since around draft time. You guys are really doing the lord’s work. I can’t stop thinking about the game, so I figured I’d pitch in. Beware, some of this might get redundant.

As shake pointed out, the LB’ers didn’t play well. They weren’t filling up the hole when they were unblocked and a couple times they flew right by the ballcarrier without touching him, and they overpursued the hole quite a few times too (I’m looking at you here Brackett).

If anyone has read anything from FO, you know that third downs can be kind of random and fluky. This seems to bode well for the D in the future.

It’s getting hard to keep making excuses for the lack of run blocking. This line is pretty close to the one Polian had planned coming into the year. Hopefully they’ll get more push against Pittsburgh.

Finally, it’s great to see Peyton play well again. The offense didn’t have a tonne of chances, but they made them worth something.

by Jay Cutler's Barber on Nov 3, 2008 12:39 AM EST reply actions

glad to have you

especially with that username, excellent.

Shonn Greene for Heisman
140 yards per game
6.3 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Nov 3, 2008 12:51 AM EST up reply actions

Peyton was clearly on...

Marvin is off! Can’t wait for his bloated salary to be off this roster. I love Marvin as much as anyone but he’s dead weight. It’s insulting to pay him oodles of money to perform at a level that is lower than lesser paid players. Paying him this year for his performance 3+ years ago makes no sense. Detach yourself from your emotions and see that he has be gone after this season. Logic says so. Emotion says keep him until he retires so he can retire as a colt…but if he isn’t going to retire after this season he has to go. Let him be mediocre and kill some other teams cap. I keep hoping he’ll prove everyone wrong but it’s just not going to happen. Making excuses for him doesn’t help.

by tapper on Nov 3, 2008 12:57 AM EST reply actions

From a guy at the game tonight on Marv

He had a jaw-droppingly good move to get open on one of the missed throws earlier tonight, not sure if it showed up on TV. He sold the curl route as thoroughly as I’ve ever seen, completely turning to face the QB, then headed back upfield undefended. Then the throw missed him by five yards.

Shonn Greene for Heisman
140 yards per game
6.3 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Nov 3, 2008 1:15 AM EST up reply actions

You have to wonder, was the ball was closer to where it was supposed to go than marv? 5 yards is a lot. It could’ve been all peyts’ fault. We can’t know, really. But peyton played well pretty much all game, marv falling down right before gonzo got his 1st td sticks more in my mind. I’m glad that one wasn’t intercepted. O’Neal was right there.

by tapper on Nov 3, 2008 1:24 AM EST up reply actions

Marv missed almost a year of practice time with Peyton

they are out of sync. Though, even if they do get back on the same page he may not be worth the 12 mil.

Shonn Greene for Heisman
140 yards per game
6.3 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Nov 3, 2008 1:18 AM EST up reply actions

oh ya and...

Bethea is still playing like poop. Bob and Bullitt should be the starters and he should only come on the field in addition to those guys, not instead of.

by tapper on Nov 3, 2008 1:26 AM EST reply actions