Regular Season Grades
by KingRichard on Dec 24, 2009 2:52 PM EST
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With the regular season coming to an end, I think we have a large enough sample size to objectively grade certain aspects of the team. This is not a two way conversation, I'll be the judge. However your insults and comments are more than welcome.
The areas to be graded have been narrowed down into the following categories: pass offense, pass defense, run offense, run defense, special teams coverage, special teams returns, and last but not least, coaching.
I prefer to leave the categories more broad than say breaking down the defense by groups like secondary, linebackers, etc, for the simple reason that the defense plays as a unit, not idividual sects. Everyone on defense plays the pass, not just the secondary. The secondary relies on the defensive line to smash quarterbacks when able, and the defensive line relies on the secondary to at least try to cover people (I'M PEERING INTENTLY IN YOUR DIRECTION TIM JENNINGS) so that they have ample time to smash said quarterback. Basically what I'm saying is, this is a team grade as it should be. Also, there are no plus or minus grades because those are lame. If someone can explain the difference between an A and A+ without making me laugh I'll consider it. Good luck with that.
Let's begin!
Pass Offense: A+
This is a no brainer really. Peyton Manning, while not having his best statistical season, is playing as good as ever. When you take into consideration that his #2 and #3 receivers have a combined 3 years experience in the NFL, what Peyton has accomplished this season is nothing short of amazing. The old argument of whether Peyton makes his receivers look better than they really are is kind of hard to figure at the moment, with this group anyways. Obviously Peyton is god and makes everyone around him better, but let's not diminish the accomplishments of Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie this season.
Put yourself in Collie's shoes for a minute. You're a rookie coming from a school that isn't known to be an NFL farm school and just happen to be drafted by a perennial Super Bowl contendor, the Indianapolis Colts. You start the season assuming the role as the 4th receiver on the depth chart expecting to see little if any playing time for quite some time. On opening day, the heir to Marvin Harrison, Anthony Gonzalez, injures his knee and you get thrown into the game having to play in the same offense that Peyton Manning runs. You don't know what the hell you are doing. You just run around like an idiot hoping you don't screw up too bad. Talk about pressure. I couldn't imagine being in that position, but Collie rose to the occasion. At times he looked like the next Brandon Stokely, which bodes extremely well for the future of this offense.
Pass Defense: A
If there was any aspect of this team could have or even should have been exploited it was the pass defense, specifically the secondary. No Bob Sanders, Marlin Jackson, and Kelvin Hayden at times, sounds like a recipe for disaster. No so fast my friend. Having a healthy Dwight Freeney, Gary Brackett, some stud rookie corners, and very good Melvin Bullitt certainly helped in preventing the pass defense as being the death knell of the team.
Run Offense: C
I'm sure you saw this coming but it's the truth. The run offense was pretty average all season and average was good enough, especially compared to last season where the run offense wasn't bad, it was awful. All the Colts need is a decent running game and the ability to run when they need to and they should be good to go. As I mentioned many moons ago, Addai has improved upon his disastrous 2008 season. He's stayed healthy all season, starting in all 14 games this season. This is the first time in two seasons Addai has played in every regular season game. Rookie running back Donald Brown wasn't so lucky, however. He's been banged up for most of the season which I believe did hurt the running game. His explosiveness is something the running game is in dire need of and hopefully he'll be good to go for the playoff run. If he had been able to stay healthy and contribute all season the run offense would have received a B.
Run Defense: B
If you aren't pleased with the run defense this season then I don't know what to tell you. Become a Steelers fan or something. Teams don't run for shit against them but yet they are 7-7. Hmm.
This group has really stepped it up compared to seasons past. There were only two instances where the run game looked like a sieve: The Wildcat game and this past Thursday night game at Jacksonville. The good news? Both games resulted in a win for the Colts. Granted, the run defense gave up quite a few 100 yard games to oppossing running backs, but you never really got the feeling that they were helpess in stopping the run. This defense had just as many goalline stands and 4th and shorts stops as any time I've ever seen. So while the the run defense might give up some yardage you can rest assured in knowing that when they have to get a stop, they can, and will.
Special Teams Coverage: C
That certainly wasn't the Russ Purnell lead special teams coverage we saw this season, but it wasn't that great either. I'll sum up the special teams coverage in one quick sentence: They did their job. They didn't give up huge returns in multiple games, and obviously didn't give up any touchdowns, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Special Teams Returns: D
Don't let that Chad Simpson TD at Jacksonville fool you, this area of the team sucks and is clearly the weakest link. The blocking has been horrible all season, T.J. Rushing is the king of the fair catch, and Chad Simpson loves running into massive piles of players in the middle of the field for whatever reason. The Simpson return last Thursday is what they should have been doing all season long, and is what a return should look like. The blocking was good and Simpson looked for a hole in the coverage and busted through it. If they continue to do that then they'll have better production in the return game, but I wouldn't count on it.
Coaching: Individual Grades
Head Coach Jim Caldwell: A
Assistant Head Coach / Receivers Coach Clyde Christensen: A
Defensive Coordinator Larry Coyer: A
Running Backs Coach Gene Huey: B
Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore: A
Offensive Line Coach Howard Mudd: A for pass, C for run
Linebackers Coach Mike Murphy: A
Quarterback Coach Frank Reich: Just to be nice I'll give him an A but we all know this guy is the most useless coach on the team.
Special Teams Coordinator Ray Rychleski: C
Defensive Line Coach John Teerlinck: A
Tight End Coach Ricky Thomas: C. What's the deal with Tamme and Santi?
Defensive Backs Coach Alan Williams: A
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Only quibble is with the ST coverage
5th in the league on kickoffs, 14th on punts. I think that’s B quality. They did their job well. Worth about 2 TDs worth of field position over the average units so far.
Luck is probability taken personally, clutch is probability attributed to individuals.
why the hell
did you rant about +/- grading, and then assign a + grade?
by jrsf44 on Dec 24, 2009 3:17 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I like the special teams coverage
The fact they haven’t given up anything is a good thing in my book. Deserves a better grade than “C” for “doing their job.” ST coverage is a thankless job anyway, something we don’t really notice unless they aren’t doing it. I haven’t had many qualms at all this year about the ST coverage (whereas the ST returns has been dreadful), especially considering where this ST coverage unit has been in the recent past.
Not to mention, McAfee’s been doing extremely well this year.
definitely better
they are improved over last year…not great, but they aren’t getting us into trouble. I’d give the B just for the improvement.
An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing...
Nice Thread........But.......
Pass Offense: A-. Too many interceptions. Maybe I’m spoiled, but there are times when either the ball is forced, or PM just doesn’t see the safety sometimes. Then again, when recievers get a hand(s) on the ball, they are supposed to catch it. This ain’t volleyball, dammit.
Pass Defense: B. Too many 3rd down conversions. We are improved here, but need to keep getting better.
Run Offense: I agree with this one completely. Better than last year, and I like Simpson and Hart. I’ve always liked Addai. Brown will be a good one. I expect this aspect of the game to improve much next year.
Run Defense: B+. I love me some Muir. I also like our linebacking corps. Keep in mind, we are way improved here over last year, and will only get better.
Special Teams Coverage: B. This is an area that has shown great improvement over last year (with the exception of the last game). It seemed like you could count on kick returns to wind up at mid field more times than not over the last few years. Yeah, there have been a few 30 or better returns this year, but WAY less than in years past. We even got some stops inside the 15 this year. That used to be totally unheard off with the Colts.
Special Teams Returns: C-. You hit this one on the head, I only hope Simpson now realizes how much making a cut now and then will improve his results.
The Colts have some legends on the coaching staff, but I love the addition of Coyer and Rychleski, and I think that more improvement will be seen as time goes on.
The Colts have some legends on the coaching staff, but I love the addition of Coyer and Rychleski, and I think that more improvement will be seen as time goes on.
Agreed.
"Yea, verily, we shall overcome thy pathetic attempts at defense, thou jelly-livered knave! Talk not of thy smack to me, for I shall wedge mine booted foot nine furlongs up thy ass, bitch! Canst thou dig it??"
What effect do the new rules on blocking
impact our return game?
With the lack of a game-breaking return guy, it seems the new rules regarding no wedges hurts teams that rely on sceme rather than talented individuals, ala la Cribbs
About the interceptions
I’m I the only one that feels that the interceptions have been a lot of ones that are at the end of the half, so the other team doesn’t have the time to take advantage. Part of the reason that the Colts aren’t giving up a ton of points of these turnovers is they aren’t fumbling too much and Peytons interceptions aren’t the kind that put the defense in too bad of a position. Give credit to the defense, but Peyton isn’t putting in terrible field position off these turn overs, and some of those are tipped balls.
Pretty Fair - Except...
I don’t know why you give the TE coach a C. When Santi and Tamme get playing time they look pretty good. Even if you rank them C, then Dallas’s grade would bring that average up to at least a B!
Give yourself a D on that evaluation.
When did SB add Kravitz as a writer?
Just add in intangibles (and a Hunter Smith reference) and this is his weekly column
"If you don't [draft me], I promise you I'll come back and kick your ass for the next 15 years."
KR...
this piece sucks!!
Just kidding…I pretty much agree on everything.
By the way, do you cry with Tim Tebow?
"If me and King Kong went into an alley, only one of us would come out. And it wouldn't be the monkey."
"I don't really trust a sane person."
"I never met a man I didn't want to fight." The one and only Lyle Alzado
I died a little inside yes.
"Yea, verily, we shall overcome thy pathetic attempts at defense, thou jelly-livered knave! Talk not of thy smack to me, for I shall wedge mine booted foot nine furlongs up thy ass, bitch! Canst thou dig it??"
what do you mean not his best statistical season, i think by far this is one of his better ones i think to me this is his second best season,
after the 2004, but besides that his great in all parts and if you bring up the interception disscussion, we all know that manning threw at least 8 or 9 interceptions all on his own, the rest were tip balls or catches that flew up by a hit (dallas i forgive you) but besides that i liked this post a lot and you got the offense grade right where it should be, it couldnt have hurt if you put another + but its alright
"You only get intercepted when you don't know what your doing, I knew what I was Doing."
-Johnny Unitas-
"You're only as healthy as you feel."
-Travis Bickle-
by 805 on Dec 24, 2009 9:12 PM EST reply actions
Good Grading
I think your overall grading is very accurate. It is good to see a better run defense this year over the last two years. Maybe we can draft a couple of CBs and get rid of Jennings and Rushing once and for all.
NO qualms
Nice Job KR, but I have to point out that (1) I think our coverage is C+/B- quality, especially in terms of improvement over last year, and (2) the big return vs Jax was against…. Russ Purnell’s ST squad.
So in reality, Simpson should have scored 12 on that one big return—don’t ask me how, based on Purnell’s baseline expectations. He gave his own squad A+ for holding teams to just one TD return. Of course he just recently learned to blow his own nose and eat with a fork, so grading is done on a curve. Next week he masters shoelaces! And in about a decade, maybe coaching.
So in light of our big return being against a squad led by a plant that passes for human, maybe the grade was fair….
I hate Joe Namath. That's how long I've been a Colts fan.
NIcely done
I think c for running game is on the low side. Sure if you’re just counting yards…. but Polian has taught us all to look a little beyond that one stat, hasn’t he?
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