Quick thoughts on Jaguars-Colts

[GoBigBlue88]

1. Relieved the Colts won, but they probably deserved to lose. That second half was garbage. Completely inexcusable on both sides of the ball. If I were Ballard, I would be pissed about a lot of what I saw.

2. Big picture on offense: the scheme is great when they keep their foot on the gas and keep defenses guessing. They got hyperconservative in the second half, and it cost them. Honestly, I think when you start running out the clock like they tried, it starts making your margin players like Alie-Cox worse when they're actually asked to do something. Not saying Alie-Cox necessarily catches that if they're playing more aggressively, but also don't think Alie-Cox is the margin for error if they are.

3. This team forgets about TY Hilton for way too long. That's fine in the first half, but it shouldn't take the fourth quarter of games to remind them "oh yeah, we probably need to get this guy involved to win".

4. There should be a bullshit INT stat that's separate from regular INTs. Andrew Luck has thus thrown 4 bullshit INTs this season.

5. Love how creative the playcalling was in the first half, though. Jaguars were reeling. Busting coverages all half. I do think the Jaguars changed something with Jalen Ramsey dropping to more MOF coverage in the second half that threw off the Colts.

Related: Colts were just weird about their final 2 third downs of the game. Out of a timeout, an obvious run up the middle with Mack that gets stuffed? In FG territory, a 15-yard out route to TY Hilton with zero margin for error? Just felt like there was none of the creativity or space game Colts used in the first half. I think Reich kinda balked in the clutch, honestly.

6. Honestly, let's say the Colts go out and get a pass-rusher and 2-3 corners who better fit this system. Are they contenders? I don't think so. I think this scheme is so systemically flawed, it's not going to look remotely good without a Khalil Mack or Nick Bosa type rusher. And I don't see the Colts getting that any time soon.

7. Tyquan Lewis was about what I expected. Flashed on 1-2 plays, looked like a rookie on most others. Very intrigued to see more of him going forward. Huge plus is he keeps Al-Q Muhammad off the field. I wonder how he will/won't pair with Kemoko Turay.

8. ...the answer to that may be getting Denico Autry off the field on 3rd downs. Which is fine, because Autry is garbage.

9. Margus Hunt has turned back into a pumpkin.

10. I'm done fighting for Quincy Wilson. He's not just bad, but he made a business decision on a screen today. Doesn't have heart or consistent skill. I'm done.

11. Arthur Maulet had a cut-me game today.

12. The only things holding this defense together were Jabaal Sheard (who was pretty bad until the 4th quarter), Kenny Moore (who wasn't perfect, but at least made some plays), Clayton Geathers (who incidentally may have had his best game of the season) and Anthony Walker (who still missed a pretty key tackle). Miss me with anyone else's performance today. Gar-bage. Yes, even Darius Leonard.

13. Weird to see kick coverage unit struggle so much though. Thankfully the coaching staff got the memo to kick deep in the second half.

14. Dontrelle Inman's hands are the quiet hero for a second straight game.

15. I'm probably writing this more shaded by the second half than anything, so I would be remiss if I didn't say it was FUN watching this team in the first half. But only in the first half. Glass half full fans should say: the plays are there to be made, and guys like Hines/Alie-Cox are too young/inexperienced/leaned-upon to make them.

[JAFF]

They are not good enough to compete for the playoffs. They are good enough on offense to scare people, and on defense, it's a mess. They need a play making pass rusher and a playmaking D back.

[Colt Classic]

I usually despise the quick-fix, overpaying for a name solution, but if the team needed a Mack-type to make the defense great, then practically no price would've been too high for him when the money is there for such a splurge. Otherwise, get ready for throwing darts in the draft and/or hoping to find a reasonable facsimile on the cheap in free agency.

[Oldcolt]

This team, while not ready to win at the level we want, is learning how to win football games. We are definitely moving in the right direction

[YDFL Commish]

I'll have to say this was Eberflus worst effort of the season.

He had the the let Bortles beat you concept down pat. But when you don't pressure Bortles or challenge his receivers, then you're making it much easier for him to beat you, and he almost did.

I thought Sheard was an absolute beast in the 2nd half, and that this was Walker's best game as a Colt.

[IndyNorm]

Couldn't agree more. Glad we won, but we definitely didn't deserve it. If the Jagoffs had anyone better at QB then we lose (even though we still make Bortles look like a pro bowler). Great performance by the O in the first half, bad performance by the D in the first half, god awful performance by both the D and O in the 2nd half, and ST was horrible all game long (we would have been better off kicking the ball out of bounds on every kickoff).

I agree on the play calling. Aggressive and great in the first half, but too cute (end around to Rogers) and conservative in the 2nd half. Felt like at times I was watching Clappy and Chud at the helm, especially on the 3 and out where we ran up the middle 3 times. I hope Reich learned this.......

Also, seems like we went away from Ebron in the 2nd half (maybe Jax decided to take him away).

[nate505]

The only nice thing I'll say is that these were the games the Colts would blow last year, and they didn't for at least this game. It's refreshing to see...but man that 2nd half was beyond brutal.

[FatDT]

The DL has regressed. I fault them for a lot of the overall bad play. They were easily blocked on pass plays, easily moved on run plays. The back 7 didn’t look good but a lot of that looked like scheme to me. Bad coverages with big holes in the zones that Bortles was able to easily exploit. The shitty tackling is on the players though obviously.

I probably won’t defend Wilson anymore either, bad game by him. But he’s clearly not a zone corner. Miscast.

2nd half offense was as dogshit as anything the defense did all day. Just really bad play calling, bad concentration by players that, whether they’re backups/role players or not, need to catch the fucking ball. Anybody could’ve easily sniffed out that terrible quick handoff to Rogers, they’re lucky Campbell didn’t snag the ball himself.

We’re killing the Jags all first half with our TEs. What happened? I don’t think Ebron got a single target in the 2nd. Did Doyle? Granted they barely had the ball but still, when they did, it was dumb runs at the wrong time or the receiver dropping an easy pass.

Yeah the 1st half was a blast to watch. But given how dominant they were they still allowed the Jags to stay too close with shit kick coverage and lazy/incompetent coverage. Too many easy chunk plays given up to one of the worst starting QBs in the NFL. I didn’t feel that good going into halftime because I was afraid of exactly what happened. Colts got lucky. Neither team really deserved to win that game.

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Colt Classic

I usually despise the quick-fix, overpaying for a name solution, but if the team needed a Mack-type to make the defense great, then practically no price would've been too high for him when the money is there for such a splurge. Otherwise, get ready for throwing darts in the draft and/or hoping to find a reasonable facsimile on the cheap in free agency.

Looking at this last draft, it wasn't throwing darts

[JAFF]

Everybody is learning this year. Including the HC. I hope he uses the same critical abiltiy with player as he does with the play calling.

They stepped off the gas. Let Luck be Luck. I can live with that. Don't take the ball out of his hands.

The D needs help. They played hard. The special teams missed on KO and FG. So it's not just one thing.

But............they won. Learing to win is hard. Learning from your own mistakes even harder.