NFL Preseason 2010: Notes on the Colts 37-17 preseason loss to the 49ers

Tony was hit and miss today at tackle, but I saw some flashes that he could really do well playing guard. Jamey Richard looked awful out there, and was blown by nearly every run play it seemed. Pollak was just as bad. So it’s tough to really be too critical of a line that is clearly not our first team. It sucks because we don’t know what the line of Johnson, Ugoh, Saturday, Devan, and Diem are really capable of run-wise. And yes, the SF run d is very very good, so I will not ignore that. So with 2 starters not playing, and one moved to another position, I will not be too critical, but as far as depth is concerned, we are paper thin at OL. If that team sees regular season action, yikes.

I will agree that cutting Lilja was a move made by Polian that makes absolute no sense. I guess Ugoh is supposed to be an upgrade there, but you would think that we would sign or draft one or two guys capable of starting and making an impact. I would love to hear Polian’s assessment of the OL that he clearly did not do a thing to improve aside from moving Ugoh.

should be part of the first round of cuts. He doesn’t have it.

I was watching the game on justin.tv, with a bunch of 49rs chatting on the board and it was quite funny, the remarks about Painter. Really terrible play by him. They suggested giving Manning a second jersey with Painter’s #’s on it so he could step in for Curtis. We also laughed at the Painter interception where it was run back for a TD, and the 49er did a little dance. Even the 49er fans were like, “dude, please.” Funny stuff.

Run game was bad, especially Downtown Brown. Is he just very tiny? He gets touched and falls down. We really need a bruiser, like Brandon Jacobs, to take the ball thru the offense line.

But overall, good first game of the pre-season for the Colts.

Colin Cloherty

he made a couple big plays. I think he was the one that took down Ginn at the 15 on the kickoff return to start the game and he made another big play on defense.

Because he couldn’t even execute a handoff to Mike Hart @BUF last year, and there were excuses for that. I just want to hear how Polian is justify keeping Painter as a QB2 this year. And he will. Hiller and Brandstater will outplay him, and he’ll still be QB2.

Other than the obvious that’s already been stated. Marinelli just did not look comfortable playing guard. He was abused all day. Chick played avg. Which is not good. And giguere still sucks in my book.

Was pretty impressive considering the situation he was thrown in so quickly. He looks the part, and seems to throw a good ball. Lets hope he turns into a great backup as these weeks go on.

I was really impressed by devin moore… maybe they keep him and drop hart to the practice squad… hart a couple good runs…who know still 3 more games to watch… moala definitely looked better… kavell conner showed potential… brandon james looks good too… and so did eldridge and blair white…. white reminds of collie.. he might become the 5th WR over taj smith and sammy G.

Since we have an abundance of amazing WRs. Could the colts possibly use one of them as trade bait to shore up the O-line?

Angerer had 2 sacks in his entire career at Iowa. Norm Parker might be closer to Meeks than Coyer in aggressiveness with the bliz.

try to get Max Hall that is an undrafted free agent QB from BYU that is trying to make a roster spot in Arizona. He has poise, guts and the moxy to be a good QB in the league. Under Manning’s instruction he could be something special when Manning decides to retire. Plus Hall and Collie were teammates together. That would be fun to see them light it up on Sundays.

This is how good Manning is (like I need to tell you all): the Niners are a reasonably good defensive team and #18 has essentially no pass blocking BUT he was still 8-10 for 91 yards in 9 minutes of playing time. I attribute that to him adjusting to shorter drops, quicker throws and counting on good YAC, which our receivers excel at giving him. What was impressive to me is that he made the adjustment in the first two series of the preseason. He’s been in camp what, two weeks? The line has to give him more time, he can’t make these adjustments week after week (well, I don’t think he can, but I can’t say it’s impossible) especially after teams begin planning for the quicker drop and throw. What I’m saying is stretching the field with deep balls will be very hard to do with this line as it is. But—deep breath—it’s only the first exhibition game.

As bad as the line was in the passing game, it was worse—much worse—in the run game. Addai’s TD was all Joe. Love the effort but you know he’ll break down if he has to work like that on every play. Brown is veering toward being a bust. Veering is a little strong, because his best move today was to make a move, hesitate, then roll up in the fetal position. Of course, the line sucked, but Addai before him and Hart after him made a little out of nothing.

I think my frustration is that Polian identified this problem after the Super Bowl…then set about fixing it by cutting Lilja, failing to draft Saffold or Brown or someone to help, and then inserting Adam freaking Terry (if keeping Terry took up a roster spot that caused Alleman to be cut, imagine how bad Alleman, our other FA pickup, was). Injuries happen every year, so it isn’t like CJ or Saturday going down was unexpected. What is killing me is that it doesn’t look like the team did much to fix the problem, when everyone knew it was THE problem.

Repeat after me: It’s only the first preseason game…The Colts don’t try to win, just evaluate…We go 0-4 almost every year…It’s only the first preseason game…The Colts don’t try to win, just evaluate…We go 0-4 almost every year…

First off, I agree Curtis Painter needs to be cut. He is an abomination. Embarassing for all Purdue fans. Terrible.

Donald Brown is fine. Its not his fault when he gets the handoff and gets raped by 3 DLinemen 5 yards in the backfield. Same goes for Hart. I was very impressed by Devin Moore, and to a lesser extent J.James.

I expected a poor effort by our O-Line today. Saturday and Johnson both out. McClendon out. The 49ers run-defense is very solid and physical. Bad matchup for our running game.

On the bright side, several players looked great individually: Angerer, Kavell Connor, Powers, Moore, Brandon James, Blair White, Eldridge and Tamme, Collie, Brandon King.. and others.

Phillip Wheeler is going to be a beast this year.

1. Painter is really bad by NFL standards. He holds the ball way too long, is inaccurate, and doesn’t show any confidence in himself to make a play. His decision making, once he finally decides to throw the ball, is questionable and the Colts would probably never score a TD in a meaningful game if he was leading the offense.
2. Sammy Guns and Taj Smith are horrible. Guns is slow and has stone hands. Taj also can’t catch the ball. Blair White, on the other hand, is also slow but can catch the ball which is something I personally value much more than speed. On a side note, this is why I like the Townsend signing…he isn’t very fast, but he understands coverages and positioning and has the ability to make plays when needed.
3. The O-line play was disgusting. Brown never had a chance. The play of Pollak and Richards is maddening. Jamie Thomas is awful. Terry is way to perfectly sized as an O-lineman to be so average. I have never wanted CJ, Ugoh and Diem to be on the field as much as I did during that game. If the line is going to be full of backups, I would like Peyton to sit out the rest of the preseason please.
4. I don’t understand why Brandon James was pulled for kickoff returns in favor of Guns in the first place, but after Guns misplayed his first return the coaches continued to send him out there a few more times when all the buzz surrounding special teams was about James and Ray Fisher’s ability to bring playmaking to the return game. James was brought back in later and showed why he should be the only return man on his long return which was called back on what I thought was a fantom holding call.
4. Did I mention Painter is really really bad?
5. McAfee didn’t look all that great either. His punts were short and did not have the hang time we are all used to. He has set the bar very high for himself and I’m glad this was a preseason game.
6. Wheeler continues to look average. I have said a million times that I want him to cut his hair, but obviously that has nothing to do with his performance (I hope). His abilities in coverage are below average and he looks to be out of control much too often when trying to make tackles. I would like to see him used in a more natural role this season as a blitzer with Bullitt, Sanders and Bethea used in coverage.
7. The starting D looked really good as a whole unit. Especially while missing some of the major players in Freeney, Sanders and Session. I look forward to Coyer continuing to let this defense use more aggressive packages this season.

That pretty much wraps it up for me…not too worried because pre-season is only the pre-season and obviously health is the most important thing. Also, call me harsh but I am not bothered by the Silva injury at all because I don’t really care for him as a player and I think almost anyone else could step in for him and the coverage units would not skip a beat.

Curtis Painter was just bullshit! Why didn’t the team cut him?

When the great Peyton Manning retires (SHIVERS…) who will replace him?
Do we need to have a couple of 1 to 4 win seasons and stay at the bottom of the division before finding a college replacement for him?

Or will Jim Sorgi be the more than capable?
Or is there any YOUNG (not necessarily Vince Young) QB that is rotting in the benches of all other 31 teams who has the potential (at least 65%) to be very capable of leading our team to Super Bowl wins and have a lot of winning seasons again?

Or if Ben Roethlisberger is totally hated by Pittsburgh and let go, do we take him in?

do you guys regret Sorgi leaving after watching Painter?…just wondering

Offense: Michael Toudouze
Defense: Freddie Keiaho & Tim Jennings (don’t laugh).

Michael T. wasn’t the best pass blocking OL they had but he can make way for Addai or any RB to find the lane and punch it in. IMO he was average at best in pass blocking but run blocking seemed to be his bread and butter.

Freddie Keiaho was amazing at stuffing the run and he truly improved the Colts’ rush defense and he had a great level of aggressiveness to help compliment Brackett, OK so he couldn’t play well on coverage or will get smoked by a very talented TE. But bottom line is Freddie was my favorite LB on the team after Cato June departed he was way better than Humber or Hagler (even though Hagler can cut it, but Humber just sucks).

Tim Jennings (the man most Colts’ fans picks on) was very well versed in man coverage to be so small, the guy can cover elite WRs as long as they didn’t have a 4-6 inch height advantage over him, but playing zone really didn’t work out for him that much, and now that he’s in Chicago (another cover-2 defense) the same thing could happen all over again. Send him to the Cowboys, Raiders, or Ravens and you’ll see my fellow Colts fans how good Jennings really was.

Any chance the retro uniforms are a jinx to our team?