Quick Thoughts - Week 13
 

-It feels like this is how it's going to look regardless of how long this ride lasts. If we lose, it's going to look ugly. If we win, it will look slightly less ugly.

-Mainly because we lack high-end talent at the most important position. So wins are going to have to be scrappy, gritty, gutsy.

-That said, we have solid talent around him. With three huge pieces still coming back. We also have a coach that seems to have smarts, energy, and balls. On paper, if we don't trip on our own dicks, we should have 5 very winnable games remaining to punch our tickets where we get a chance to upset some teams we're not supposed to beat. Should be fun.

-Minshew's limitations are known. We live with the inconsistencies and bonehead plays (2pt INT, wtf?)... But the fucker has led us to 8 wins (fuck you CLE) as a backup. Finally let it rip downfield a few times (twice to Pierce, once to Granson on that cool play) and he iced the game with two killer plays in OT. Well done.

-We didn't block the edges worth a shit several times today. Freeland and Ogletree were slow a couple of times.

-Run game wasn't good, but was effective in some key moments for down-and-distance. Part was TEN daring Minshew, part was our OL/TE's getting beat. Moss also looked a little banged up. Needs a rewatch.

-Pittman will get knocked for his average, but a wide receiver is paid to catch the ball. And week-in and week-out this dude catches the fucking ball and moves the chains. Pay him.

-Pierce benefitted from Minshew opening up. When Minshew threw the first TD, I felt like I'd never seen a ball thrown that far I was so surprised. Those plays, and really the consistent threat of those plays, is Pierce's value going forward, especially with AR. Well done.

-Where was Downs?

-Defense was getting killed on the edge run plays. Started to bottle it up midway but started getting gashed again late unless Bradley dialed a blitz. Need Grover back.

-6 sacks, 5 tfl, 9 qb hits and I don't know how many total pressures, all good. Dayo had some great PR reps even though he didn't get a sack. Kwity got 2 and as Butter said in the gameday thread... Ebukam was a homerun signing.

-So much outside action kind of neutralized Franklin by his standards (only 6 tackles) but he did exit Henry from the game because he's a fucking missile. Speed had several TFLs and physical tackles.

-Nick Cross was eating into Rodney Thomas' snaps. Curious what they see there going forward because Cross has the super high ceiling.

-Special Teams won the game.

-Those blocked punts were ridiculous. Apparently it goes down as one block and one fumble, which is a shame because those were two outstanding plays by the ST. Cross and Brown in particular. And since Stuard went to my HS alma mater, that was really cool to see.

-Not only did we get 10 points out of it, but we also broke the punter who was also the holder... and after our clusterfuck 2-pt backfire, that ended up being HUGE when they missed the go-ahead PAT that kept us alive.

-Isaiah McKenzie had a nice day returning.

-Rigo averaged nearly 52yds on five punts.

-Gay (another great signing) was 4/4 and another 13pts. on the season.

-Killer ST day.

It was great to see them make going deep to Pierce a priority.

I feel like that’s been there all season and they just haven’t capitalized on it for whatever reason. Probably because until today Minshew hasn’t been able to capitalize on it. It’ll give teams something to think about going forward.

Pitt is a monster. He’s the quintessential possession receiver. He and Pierce and Downs complement each other really well.

They pretty much shut Henry down after halftime. Him getting hurt helped.

It will be nice getting Grover back. The defense has suffered without him.

This was a game the Frank Reich Colts lose every single time. People in the game thread were bitching about Steichens play calls but that wasn’t the issue. The issue was Minshew.

One of the ost satisfying wins I can remember.

Franklin drilled that MFer hard! Zaire isn't as instinctive as Leonard was so he doesn't create the TO's but he hammers dudes game after game.

The play action at the 1 and that bubble screen to Downs on 3rd- those were terrible play calls that were exacerbated by Minshew being Minshew- which is why they shouldn't have been called.

Minshew did well in the end, but was still not exactly on time with many throws. The one deep throw to Pierce was thrown badly out of the field of play, he just can't put the ball there, that was a wasted opportunity. There was also a throw to Pittman where Pittman just about contorted his body to even be able to get a hand on it. Then the two point effort, which again was a really poor throw that was made worse by the ricochet. And then the fumble, he has to protect that ball in that situation.

I like Minshew as a backup QB, he has been a great stop gap, but there is a reason why he is a backup and ideally you want to limit his gametime to a few games, rather than having to step in for a season ending injury

o


Excellent synopsis, Chaos Theory.

My one minor nit-pick would be that Minshew hasn't "led us" to 8 wins ....... Minshew has led us to perhaps 2 or 3 wins. The team has come up with 8 wins, not necessarily being led to them by the quarterback (ala Joe Montana, Steve Young, Peyton Manning, and Andrew Luck.)

o

I think the more interesting question is, do we want Minshew back next season?

As frustrating as he is to watch, he is maybe the best backup in the league.

And with the Colts starting an injury prone running quarterback next year, I think it would be wise to bring him back.

Then again, he may get a starting opportunity somewhere and won’t want to come back.

o


By the way, the Colts' defense overall was dominant for more than half the game ...... the Titans had 17 points early in the 2nd quarter, and their offense did not score again until the final minutes of the 4th quarter ...... that's 5 consecutive possessions of PUNT, PUNT, PUNT, BLOCKED PUNT, BLOCKED PUNT, before they finally scored a TD with 5:56 left to play in regulation.

They (the Colts' defense) forced 8 punt attempts in 13 Titans possessions in regulation, and 8 punt attempts in 14 Titans possessions overall ...... not great, but not bad, either.


http://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/show...=167347&page=2

o

Anybody see the Minshew interview after the game with the lady reporter (sorry missed her name, they are all the same person I think)....was it just me or was the laugh at the end by Minshew borderline batshit crazy? :D

They played so well that they got the opposing team's Special Teams coordinator fired.

https://twitter.com/jwyattsports/sta...35076369473911

I am incredibly impressed with how well the secondary has played. If you had told me that this group would play this well at the beginning of the year I would have thought you were nuts.

I also find it an interesting feeling that when one of our starting offensive tackles goes down I am not worried. I was wrong again about our depth at tackle, Freeland is a find.

Those of us pessimistic on Pierce may need to eat some delicious crow. The guy can really block and is looking like he is more comfortable each game catching the ball. He was great Sunday, looked like ghost of Roger Carr

Most of us felt we took a hit when Bubba left. Most of us were wrong.

On that note Steichen hired a damn good staff. These guys know how to coach a group of players into a team.