Monday Morning Awards: Week 12 vs. Titans

MVP of the Game: DeForest Buckner, Anthony Castonzo

Yesterday’s game showed just how important Buckner is for this defense. With him on the field, Eberflus’ Cover 2 scheme works nearly to perfection. DeFo elevates the rest of the front 7 to a different level. Without him, the Colts defensive line could not contain Henry as he continued pounding the rock over and over again.

On the other hand, this game also showed that Castonzo might be the Colts most important player on offense. Not only is Castonzo consistently above average, but the drop off between him and Le’Raven Clark is like going from driving a Ferrari to taking the bus. Rivers did not trust Clark at all and it showed. Ballard will have to address this in the off-season, as Castonzo’s imminent retirement looms large.

Dud of the Game (The Grigsy): Rock Ya-Sin

This one was easy. I could have easily picked the whole team for this one but the thing with Ya-Sin is that he was bad when the rest of the team was still in it. He was covering A.J. Brown man-to-man on the 69 yard catch and run touchdown. He got handsy and was flagged for DPI on the following drive. Just when the Colts made a 3rd down red-zone stop after sacking Tannehill, Ya-Sin gifted them a first down after an illegal hands to the face call. I was expecting a lot more from Ya-Sin this year but so far he has failed to take the next step.

Play of the Game: Trey Burton’s 19-yard catch

Perhaps not the most influential play of the game, but this was just beautiful to watch. Rivers threw a perfect back-shoulder spiral to Burton who made a great adjustment and caught the ball in bounds for a 19-yard gain on a drive where the Colts offense looked as good as it ever has this season.

Worst Play of the Game: Defensive coverage on Brown’s 69-yard TD

Man was this rough. This Colts defense relies a lot on open-field tackling to limit yards after the catch and when your corner is burnt so bad he has no chance of making the tackle, and your two safeties take bad angles, the result is what happened yesterday.

Best Position Group: Punter

Well, Rigoberto was the only one worthy of this one. He punted the ball 5 times for an absurd average of 50.8 yards. Not that it mattered much, as the Titans could have started all their offensive drives from their own goal line and they would have still scored.

Unsung Hero: Vacant

If you have any suggestions for this one, I’ll hear you out in the comments. Best I could think of were the fans that stayed until the final whistle.

Rookie of the Week: Rodrigo Blankenship

Pittman did not have a good game. Blackmon did not make an impact. All we have left is Rodrigo, A.K.A Hot Rod, A.K.A Noodle Leg, Blankenship, who nailed both of his extra points. The best thing about Rodrigo is that Zach Hicks made a promise that if he nailed more than 80% of his kicks he would write a whole article dedicated to kickers in the off-season.