My observations from the Colts campfire

The Colts had the NFL’s No. 2 rush defense coming into the game.

 

Agreed. They were also giving up way too many easy throws with seven back in coverage.

 

I'll tip my cap to the following:

Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland. These guys had become after thoughts, Snell maybe had 1 carry all year coming into the game. McFarland was on the Practice Squad. They came in a ran hard. Snell basically had become a Special teams guy. So tip of the cap to those guys, who hadn't had a game carry since the pre-season.

Offensive Line- The didn't commit an illegal man downfield penalty and the Colts did. Hooray.....
They blocked well in the rushing attack. Kenny did get sacked 3 times, and one was bad, but I think it was a mis on Kenny on the play call and the blocking assignment and the Nukowe got a free release shot at him. Dan Moore Jr had a rough time early on but he re-grouped and got it together better. Hats off to Mason Cole playing through a foot injury from last week.

George Pickens- There was some good and bad with George Pickens, big catch downfield, he made a great move in the end zone Kenny just missed putting it on him by a little bit, He had some bad drops but he came back strong on the 3rd and 9 and it was big catch with a roughing the passer call.

James Pierre- Very impressive INT early on and he caught the guy on the kickoff return. They still scored a TD, but you never know, that may lead to a FG instead of TD.

Kenny Pickett- There was good and bad, but mostly good progress in this game, he made some quality throws, could of had a TD or 2, one DJ has to catch, the other was on Kenny he led Pickens too much in the end zone. But 100 straight throws and no INTs this is a good thing. They can't afford to make turnovers they aren't good enough to over come them as a team. I liked some his runs that he did as well.

Highsmith-big sack with a FF and then a huge run stop next play at the end of the game. Guy is coming into his own. I think a guy you want to extended this offseason if possible.

Now the more disappointments to me:

Special teams- You could see it coming in the kick coverage, there were returns to the 35 and 40 yard line and then boom a big play let the Colts back in the contest on their kick return. Marcus Allen was not in his lane enough from my view point and it got popped, which is why Marcus Allen is on this football team, his special teams ability, can't happen. You wonder if Robert Spillane being out messed with it a bit, Spillane plays special teams a good bit.
Also was really bad offsides by Cam Sutton, any other team converts that for a TD and won't fumble the hand off exchange to bail him out.
Matthew Wright was decent of FG attempts, but his kickoff ability is a bugaboo for him it seems.
Pressley pinned them deep a couple times but his one punt was a little short and gave the Colts good field position.

TJ Watt- You won't see this man on the disappointments often. Maybe he is not a 100% which is possible for sure. Wasn't much of factor did tip one pass, only had one tackle, he over pursued and wiffed badly on what should of been a 2-3 yard play by Taylor which turned into about a 11-12 yard play. But, he won't get on this list often so I will put him on it this time.


The Big Thank you list to
Jeff Saturday- Bad clock management at the end. He must of thought that Kenny Pickett was Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes and that Matthew Wright was Justin Tucker.
I get you want a tying score and leave the other team no time, but dang man that was brutal.

 

Benny Snell played the kind of game I was hoping he'd play when we drafted him. It's a shame we've not seen more games like that before.

 

One of the manning and manning game broadcasts talked about this. When asked by a reporter about half time adjustments Eli responded with something along the lines of the orange slices were good

 

Benny Snell played at Kentucky and I like Penn State, He ran all over Penn State in that Bowl game they played. I was really excited when we got him too, but it never materialized into stardom.

 

I still hate the fact that we don't attack the middle of the field. Other than that your analysis is spot on as usual. Keep up the good work.

 

Those first couple series on offense in the second half were deplorable! That should have NEVER happened.

 

Big thumbs down to Special Teams. Danny Smith probably has them doing air raids this morning.

It's not hard to tell the kicker to "put it in the stands."

 

The 4th quarter TD drop last week made me a little nervous and last night made me a little more nervous. No trend yet though. I see AB potential in him, where any ball in his wheelhouse has a good chance of being caught and somehow made to look easy.

 

I think Tomlin is on record saying he drafted Benny because of that game.

 

Great summary.

 

The exciting thing happening is that the offense is taking small steps forward in its development. Heading in right direction.

 

That big run back was 8 yards deep in the end zone, and he ran it out. That means they saw something in our coverage they thought (correctly) they could exploit.

 

he seems to want to make most catches look good Instead or just grabbing the ball.

 

They don't have anything to lose. And with Saturday at the helm, I would expect them to take a lot more chances than a team with a legitimate shot at the playoffs.

 

The drops I saw were low passes thrown to a spot where only the WR can catch them. I don’t think Pickens is used to those and tried to catch them the same way he catches other passes. He did adjust and caught a similar pass on the 2-pt conversion.

 

Good observations TB. I like how you were more objective vs subjective... where the point of view of the author gets too hung up trying to fulfill a narrative.

I am not above this criticism as I have never been too crazy about the Steeler OC and DC through the years going back to Cowher and love to show up with a "gotcha" moment when they falter.

 

11. Coach T still looked liked he was lost.

 

Also get rid of shovel pass to Watt near the goal line .

 

Sutton came on a blitz, but he missed the sack.

 

Isn't that why they look at those tablets on the sideline, so they can make adjustments.

 

19-3 on MNF

 

The colts are a bad team too, the win, albeit very nice to see, does not prove or even suggest we are a good team yet. It simply means that we were the better bad team last night! Just being honest, if we played Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas or KC, we most assuredly lose.