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Welcome to the first Indianapolis Colts film breakdown of the 2014 season.
It's been a while since I've been writing consistently with Stampede Blue, but I'm excited to be back and doing a film breakdown after every game, including this week's 31-24 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Each week, I'll be breaking down three plays; a good one, a bad one and potentially a third if anyone sends a request for me to break one down via Twitter. You can follow me @TylerDBrooke. I promise I probably won't annoy you.
With all of that out of the way, let's get started.
The Good: 1st and 10, Q4, 3:14 Remaining
Offensive Personnel: Tank (1 WR, 2 TE, 2 RB)
Formation: Tight Wing
The Colts have just punted the ball away down seven points with the potential to not get the ball back with Peyton Manning on the other side of the field. The defense absolutely needed a stop here, and Arthur Jones delivered.
With a single-high safety, the Colts are prepared for the Broncos to run. Both linebackers are coming in with a full head of steam, but Denver is planning to kick the run-side linebacker out with the fullback on this stretch run play.
Jones is initially being guarded by Orlando Franklin, but notice as he begins to move targets for Josh McNary. At the same time, the fullback also sees McNary coming in hot from the blitz and decides to block him as well.
Because of the quick recognition and then burst to get downfield, Jones makes a big play to keep Montee Ball from gaining anything. Manning then threw two incomplete passes to give the Colts one last chance to tie the game.
The Bad: 1st and 10, Q2, 14:13 remaining
Offensive Personnel: Posse (3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB)
Formation: Orange
The second quarter has just begun, but the Colts are already in a 10-0 hole and trying to put up some points on this drive. Unfortunately, things get off to a bad start.
The Broncos are showing blitz, but they're bringing more players than they're letting on. Luck is even pointing at one of the blitzers who committed early, but he's not prepared for the linebacker to his left coming as well.
Just judging from this angle, you can tell that there must have been a bit of a communication problem between Luck, A.Q. Shipley and Ahmad Bradshaw. While Luck likely called for someone to pick up the blitzer on the right, neither Bradshaw or Shipley picked up Nate Irving, the only blitzer that was feigning dropping back into coverage.
Irving gets to Luck without any trouble and the drive ends up going nowhere after a two-yard run from Bradshaw and a five-yard scramble from Luck.
Note: All game footage is screen shots from NFL Game Rewind.