Well, it was fun while it lasted.
One week after the Colts showed some life coming back against the Patriots, we saw a little deja-vu in the first three quarters in Sunday's 24-10 loss to the Ravens. Specifically, the Colts could only muster a single field goal, after getting inside their opponent's ten yard line, in the first three quarters, and they scored a garbage time TD, a meaningless catch by Jacob Tamme, unless you happened to have the Ravens -17, which was the spread in the game. The Ravens dominated throughout, and were pretty much on cruise control in the second half.
I'm actually surprised the Ravens didn't go more for blood here, as this series has been so severely lopsided, it's amazing it doesn't get more attention. Before Sunday's game, it had been since 2002 the Ravens had scored a Touchdown on the Colts Defense in the first three quarters. That's seven games! It had been since 2007 they had scored a touchdown at all against the Colts, that 2007 game saw the Ravens return a kickoff for a TD and score twice after the score was 44-7, and in 2005 they scored their lone TD with 20 seconds remaining. In other words, this was more than owning another team. This was a complete dismantling of a team, and the Ravens kind of held back on Sunday when they could have done a lot more, at least in my opinion.
We did see some history for one of the greatest Colts of all-time, as Dwight Freeney recorded his 100th and 101st sack of his career, becoming only the 27th players in NFL history to get to that mark. He also jumped ahead of Jared Allen, who has 100.5 after Sunday. He's halfway to the all-time record of 200, set by Bruce Smith. He was sitting on 99 for a few games, so it's good that he finally got there.
Let's get to the numbers, which are about what you'd have expected if you watched on Sunday...
Non-Adjusted Stats for Week 14:
| Statistic | Offense | Rank | Defense | Rank | Off/Def Above | Off/Def Below | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSR | 56.5% | 28 | 79.4% | 28 | N | Y | 7-1 |
| ANPY/A | 2.244 | 27 | 6.273 | 17 | N | Y | 9-1 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 6 | 2 | 9 | Y | N | 5-3 |
| Yds/Drive | 15.18 | 30 | 35.80 | 22 | N | Y | 5-2 |
| ToP/Drive | 2:10.2 | 24 | 3:36.8 | 29 | N | Y | 7-1 |
| Yds/Play | 2.930 | 32 | 5.114 | 17 | N | N | 6-0 |
| First Downs/Drive | 1.09 | 27 | 2.40 | 26 | N | Y | 4-1 |
| 3rd/4th Down | 27.8% | 22 | 50.0% | 24 | N | Y | 5-2 |
| Avg Start Pos | 31.6 | 8 | 28.6 | 18 | Y | N | 6-2 |
| 3 and Outs | 6 | 23 | 1 | 30 | N | Y | 5-0 |
| RZ Eff | 47.6% | 22 | 85.7% | 26 | N | Y | 6-4 |
| Plays/Drive | 5.182 | 20 | 7.000 | 28 | N | Y | 4-3 |
| Penalty Yds / Play | 0.263 | 2 | 0.571 | 24 | N | N | 5-4 |
| RB Success | 37.5% | 22 | 48.6% | 20 | N | Y | 5-4 |
| Yds/Carry | 3.13 | 28 | 3.95 | 15 | N | N | 5-8 |
| Net Punts Yds/Game | 34.83 | 26 | 45.67 | 28 | N | Y | 6-2 |
| Ranking - Week (32) | 28 | 27 | 32 | ||||
| Ranking - Season (416) | 377 | 352 | 400 | ||||
Adjusted Stats for Week 14:
| Statistic | Offense | Rank | Defense | Rank | Off/Def Above | Off/Def Below | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSR | 63.9% | 26 | 77.8% | 25 | N | Y | 7-1 |
| ANPY/A | 3.729 | 24 | 5.726 | 18 | N | Y | 9-1 |
| Turnovers | 0.7 | 6 | 1.9 | 14 | Y | N | 5-3 |
| Yds/Drive | 20.15 | 28 | 33.94 | 23 | N | Y | 5-2 |
| ToP/Drive | 2:18.6 | 22 | 3:31.8 | 31 | N | Y | 7-1 |
| Yds/Play | 3.757 | 31 | 5.077 | 17 | N | N | 6-0 |
| First Downs/Drive | 1.33 | 24 | 2.24 | 27 | N | Y | 4-1 |
| 3rd/4th Down | 33.7% | 20 | 47.2% | 24 | N | Y | 5-2 |
| Avg Start Pos | 30.3 | 9 | 27.2 | 17 | Y | N | 6-2 |
| 3 and Outs | 5.1 | 22 | 1.5 | 31 | N | Y | 5-0 |
| RZ Eff | 64.2% | 16 | 85.0% | 24 | N | Y | 6-4 |
| Plays/Drive | 5.383 | 17 | 6.652 | 27 | N | Y | 4-3 |
| Penalty Yds / Play | 0.052 | 2 | 0.708 | 21 | N | N | 5-4 |
| RB Success | 38.7% | 24 | 48.9% | 21 | N | Y | 5-4 |
| Yds/Carry | 3.84 | 19 | 4.00 | 13 | N | N | 5-8 |
| Net Punts Yds/Game | 35.93 | 24 | 45.17 | 27 | N | Y | 6-2 |
| Ranking - Week (32) | 25 | 28 | 29 | ||||
| Ranking - Season (416) | 328 | 334 | 377 | ||||
Some thoughts:
- We'll start with the Offense, which actually slightly out-performed the Defense. The Colts really struggled sustaining drives, going Three and Out 6 different times, and they couldn't move the ball at all until the final drive, where the Ravens were content to just keep everything in front of them. The Colts almost doubled their total yards for the game in that one drive.
- The Colts only had one turnover, a Dan Orlovsky interception, but there easily could have been three others. Terrell Suggs had three strip-sacks (the Dwight Freeney special), but the Colts happened to fall on all three of them. After the first one I'd have possible given Anthony Castonzo some help against one of the best pass rushers in the league, but that's just me.
- Field Position was a nice surprising positive, as we saw a couple kick returns by Joe Lefeged, including one past the 50, and another where he was one guy away from breaking it. With such a small sample size it's hard to tell if something changed on the Colts end, or the Ravens just completely dropped the ball. We'll find out the last three games what it is.
- The rushing numbers aren't great, but they should have run the ball a lot more than 16 times. I know the Colts were down 17 points early, but like I said in the preview, the Colts can't put games on the arm of Orlovsky, which they did by throwing 41 times. Bill Polian said as much last night as well. Seems like a coaching problem to me.
- The Defense did force two turnovers, but both came when the game was no longer in doubt, and neither one led to any points, which obviously isn't the Defense's fault. Antoine Bethea dropped what could have been a Pick-6 in the second quarter that really could have changed the momentum of the game, but apropos to the Colts season, it fell to the ground.
- The Ravens were able to control the clock throughout, something we've gotten used to seeing from Colts opponents this season. The Time of Possession per Drive was once again very poor, but you should expect that. Still frustrating to see the "death by paper cut" defense.
- They held Ray Rice and Ricky Williams in check in terms of long runs (average Yards per Carry), but the Success Rate isn't that great. They had a lot of Third and shorts that they easily picked up, save the one stop on fourth down late in the game, a great play by Kavell Conner.
Season Stats through Week 14 (Adjusted):
| Statistic | Offense | Rank | Best | Defense | Rank | Best | Record | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSR | 62.4% | 29 | Patriots | 74.1% | 31 | Ravens | 79-10 | 0.888 |
| ANPY/A | 4.180 | 29 | Packers | 7.140 | 31 | Texans | 98-17 | 0.852 |
| Turnovers | 2.04 | 24 | 49ers | 1.18 | 30 | Packers | 91-21 | 0.813 |
| Yds/Drive | 23.66 | 28 | Saints | 31.78 | 24 | Texans | 70-17 | 0.805 |
| ToP/Drive | 2:17.0 | 32 | Steelers | 3:05.0 | 32 | Bears | 96-16 | 0.857 |
| Yds/Play | 4.654 | 27 | Patriots | 5.388 | 23 | Ravens | 65-14 | 0.823 |
| First Downs/Drive | 1.33 | 29 | Patriots | 1.90 | 31 | Bears | 65-22 | 0.747 |
| 3rd/4th Down | 35.0% | 26 | Saints | 48.1% | 32 | Jets | 82-22 | 0.788 |
| Avg Start Pos | 26.6 | 32 | 49ers | 33.4 | 28 | 49ers | 79-21 | 0.790 |
| 3 and Outs | 5.03 | 28 | Saints | 3.20 | 26 | Bengals | 73-18 | 0.802 |
| RZ Eff | 51.8% | 30 | Titans | 80.9% | 31 | 49ers | 76-31 | 0.710 |
| Plays/Drive | 5.108 | 29 | Saints | 5.857 | 29 | Jaguars | 55-28 | 0.663 |
| Penalty Yds / Play | 0.532 | 1 | Colts | 0.702 | 30 | Jaguars | 53-52 | 0.505 |
| RB Success | 43.6% | 22 | Patriots | 49.8% | 28 | 49ers | 46-53 | 0.465 |
| Yds/Carry | 4.17 | 15 | Eagles | 4.01 | 15 | Dolphins | 49-56 | 0.467 |
| Net Punts Yds/Game | 38.46 | 14 | 49ers | 40.49 | 30 | Bears | 59-37 | 0.615 |
| Overall | 30 | Saints | 32 | Jets | ||||
A couple things here:
- The lone bright spot in this awful year has been that the Colts aren't beating themselves with penalties, as they are best in the league on a per-play basis. You'll also see the second best area on the Offense is the Net Punting Average. You'll see how silly it was for Polian to single out Pat McAfee.
- On Defense, Yards per Carry seems to be the only thing the Colts can do well, and that's just about league average. Long way to go.
Week by Week Comparisons:
| Colts | Opponent | Non-Adjusted | Adjusted | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Offense | Defense | Total | Offense | Defense | Total | |
| 1 | Texans | 345 | 314 | 384 | 255 | 237 | 277 |
| 2 | Browns | 326 | 287 | 359 | 379 | 299 | 393 |
| 3 | Steelers | 339 | 232 | 344 | 341 | 102 | 237 |
| 4 | Buccaneers | 295 | 357 | 381 | 353 | 394 | 403 |
| 5 | Chiefs | 122 | 397 | 308 | 110 | 416 | 367 |
| 6 | Bengals | 278 | 286 | 318 | 217 | 327 | 318 |
| 7 | Saints | 374 | 416 | 416 | 397 | 415 | 416 |
| 8 | Titans | 349 | 199 | 326 | 377 | 219 | 364 |
| 9 | Falcons | 408 | 327 | 410 | 408 | 294 | 405 |
| 10 | Jaguars | 401 | 181 | 377 | 378 | 308 | 396 |
| 11 | BYE | ||||||
| 12 | Panthers | 307 | 336 | 376 | 375 | 282 | 388 |
| 13 | Patriots | 39 | 398 | 233 | 70 | 306 | 157 |
| 14 | Ravens | 377 | 352 | 400 | 328 | 334 | 377 |
Clearly not a good game, but still better than what we saw the last 5 games of the Curtis Painter era. In fact, it was the fifth best offensive game for the Colts this season. Yes, that's how bad it's been this season. It was also the worst defensive game since that Saints debacle a month and a half ago.
Three games left to get a win, all divisional games. For the player's sake, I hope they get one. They deserve it after this dismal year. I hate looking at these numbers every week, so I can only imagine how they feel.