Quick thoughts on Giants-Colts
 

1. I'm glad the Colts won, but damn.

2. Damn as in: how does a team in a must-win (basically) game come out THAT flat?

3. I don't get why Frank Reich totally abandoned the run today. I mean, I guess the Giants had some loaded boxes, but I think there were some creative ways to run at them. The Mack TD past the blitzing safety was a good example. Kinda felt like the offensive gameplan today was "uh, uh, Andrew, you make something happen!" Felt a bit Pagano-esque, IMO.

4. TY Hilton is so freaking special, man. At 70-75%, he's still a gamebreaker. If any of your friends or family say he's soft or not a WR1 or whatever, please do us all a favor and punch that person in the face.

5. I'm really happy for Chester Rogers. It wasn't necessarily a special performance today, but he's had an uneven career at WR, and he's been more than solid down the home stretch. Slippery on YAC, protecting the ball and making the plays other WRs aren't. I'm looking at Ryan Grant specifically who, let's be honest, should be cut just for sake of not wasting downs where Luck throws to him.

6. The play Eric Ebron got concussed on was maybe the best throw I've ever seen from Luck. Holy cow, that pass.

7. I know it's not the same injury every time, and I am NOT calling him soft. But at some point, we do have to admit that Ryan Kelly's proneness to injuries is problematic.

8. I thought both Castonzo and Smith really struggled from the tackle positions today. Conversely: I thought the interior of the line played pretty damn well outside of the one drive from Haeg and first few snaps from Boehm.

9. Marlon Mack has gotten SO good at blitz pickups. Thought it was weird Hines was the shotgun back in the end of half one-minute drill, consequently.

10. Hines has become a damn good receiver. Reich should have been a bit more creative with him today. I think his Colts career will continue to see him outsnap his WR to RB snaps by a 3:1 or so ratio.

11. Weird game from the defensive line. Eli Manning had plenty of time lately. Felt like most of the DL was pretty invisible against the pass. Kemoko Turay has fallen off a cliff or something. But hard to argue they didn't affect the run.

12. Think this team missed Anthony Walker today? Dear Lord! Zaire Franklin and Matthew Adams are fine snap-eaters to come off the bench and do 1 thing on a play or two, but neither can hang with a base defense. Ahmad Thomas was, uh, not effective. Don't underestimate how good Walker is, and how much he organizes that defense. They were all out of sorts today.

13. It was hard to get a gauge on what the defense was trying to accomplish today, to be honest. This reminded me of the Jets game a bit in which large parts of the field were just conceded most of the game. Didn't cover the flats pretty much all day, were constantly fooled by backside leaks on play-action etc. My guess is that Eberflus called a super conservative game and sat back in soft zones because his team couldn't communicate well out there.

14. But I say that, and obviously Pierre Desir bit badly on a double move in M2M coverage with no help over top, so... Who knows.

15. I'm glad Malik Hooker made the gimme pick at the end, but woulda been nice if he was over top the other 2 bombs right down the seam.

16. This team needs another safety next year. Mike Mitchell had a nice first 2 games for IND, but that calf injury has reduced him to JAG. JJ Wilcox, even grading on a "they just signed this guy" curve, was a rough watch out there. Thought Odum played as the second best safety today.

17. My main positive takeaways are:

* Andrew Luck in the clutch (still).
* TY Hilton being a leader, example-setter and all-around playmaker.
* Rogers, Inman stepping up.
* Team never letting the game get TOO far out of hand, when it was teetering on the brink.
* Run defense vs Saquon Barkley + continued proof this run D is real.

18. My main negative takeaways:

* Luck is still a bit too inconsistent quarter-to-quarter. Too many quarters where he has, like, 25 yards passing.
* Ryan Grant is still on the roster.
* I love Eric Ebron the Red Zone Receiver and 3rd or 4th Option. I don't love Eric Ebron the Guy Luck Really Needs to Catch a Pass in the Middle of the Field.
* Maybe have a plan for the boot, the flat or Evan Engram at some point?
* Most of the first half.

Good stuff, as always.

They clearly were overlooking the Giants, for whatever reason.

That first quarter was just brutal.

All I know is this young team is fun to watch. Somebody forgot to tell them they are supposed to suck, or they just don't care what people think. For the first time in a while I get excited @ 1:00 on Sundays to turn them on. Refreshing as hell compared to the last 5 years where you knew they were gonna be out coached, out played and unprepared. A bunch of kids learning how to win with an equally enthusiastic coach learning as they go as well.

Winning after putting on a bad performance is sign of a good team. But I’m ok with getting a little lucky. You need a little luck to get to and win in the playoffs.

And we had bad luck earlier in the season. That tends to even out in a year.

Thanks, excellent analysis as always. After a week of media adoration following their skunk job on the Cowboys, maybe the Colts started to believe their own press clippings and lost some of their focus - I don't know - but that was way too close for comfort. Heading into the Titans game next week, I'm hoping this will demonstrate to them that they can't let up.

And while I've been pretty vocal here about how much I like Ebron, I continue to see those plays where he makes an early decision to just completely shut off, and it bugs me. I saw that happen at least twice today - one on the Luck end zone interception. I realize that he had no hope of catching that ball, but it looked like it was directed at him, and he just basically stopped on the field when it went over his head. I would think it's just natural to run toward the ball in those circumstances, so I don't understand his reaction.

The other time was a little earlier in the game, when a pass sailed over his head on the left side of the field. If I recall, it was third down at the time, and Ebron didn't jump for it or even reach upwards. He just decided that it wasn't catchable and let it fly over his head. Again, maybe there was no hope, but I would have liked to have seen him at least make an effort. By comparison, my initial reaction on TY Hilton's 55 yard pass catch was that Luck had overthrown him, but to my surprise he reached out and managed to catch it by his fingertips.

You gave up on them pretty early if I remember from the game thread

Took your advice on point number four. Grandmas gonna be eatin through a straw this Christmas.

Yes. Yes, I did.

I’m humbly accepting great portions of crow as we speak.

Part of me thinks that what happens in game threads should stay in game threads, I get pretty emotional and angry during the game and I am sure a lot of other fans who invest way too much in how a bunch of overpaid entitled players perform. Then I think screw it, roast his ass, this is Coltfreaks, not Aunt Mary's happy house of being nice to each other.

Some freaks torched Aunt Mary’s Happy House years ago.