Cowboys-Colts quick thoughts

[GoBigBlue88]

1. Best game I have ever seen Marlon Mack play. Fully realize there were monster holes in the line for him. But his contact balance, patience and decision-making was next-level today. Honestly: this is what frustrates me about Mack in the bigger picture of things. This was a good RB1 caliber performance. He'll have one of these, and then get tripped up and leave yards on the field next 3-4 games. If he can just become consistent...

2. I don't remember the last game Andrew Luck was asked to do less to secure a win. That's nice to see, to say the least.

3. I know it sounds cliche, but so many of the players on this team just have HEART. You know Hilton and Kelly, in particular, are far from 100 percent. Both played tremendously today. During the Pagano era, plenty of players nursed their injuries. This team is something else. Tough, sure. But they legitimately want to be out there for each other.

4. Do the Colts lock up Ryan Kelly this offseason?

5. Mo-Alie Cox may have had the best zero-catch game I've seen from a Colts TE...ever. Really.

6. If you want an example of what makes Reich special as a strategist: Colts come out empty and uptempo. That gets Cowboys in nickel. Then the Colts go big, bring in their TEs and pounds with Mack. That throws off Cowboys. Then Colts get in red zone and bring in receivers but keep their top TEs in. Run from shotgun. Touchdown. Reich was playing personnel chess to Jason Garrett's checkers.

7. That was the strangest first half I've seen in some time. KINDA reminded me of that IND-MIA game in 2009. Colts didn't really look to have an answer against Zeke. They made plays when they had to, though, and really rolled their sleeves up in the second half. Garrett is such a BAD playcaller though. Had Zeke rolling and they didn't draw up anything nearly creative enough to Cooper in the passing game.

8. I normally just talk about Colts here, but we can agree Zeke is REALLY impressive, right? He's on another level from other RBs Colts have faced.

9. The depth of Colts' DL is just staggering. It affords an off day for 1-2 guys, and it allows the Colts to defend so many things. They have a line if you want to go jumbo and run...and they have a line if you want to spread out and pass. They still need a premier pass rusher, obviously, but I don't remember any line outside of Indy's 2005 DL having this much versatility.

10. Denico Autry is locked up another 2 years for $10M total. Just saying.

11. Darius Leonard is a cheat code player. Don't underestimate the importance of the PBU stat. He's had 2 huge ones last two weeks. Guys has some of the longest arms I've ever seen on a linebacker.

12. Quincy Wilson was spectacular today. Hats off to the kid. Colts DBs in general aren't a spectacular unit, but they play SO tough within the scheme. They're disciplined, technically sound and do what each play asks them to do. Break down well in space (although Malik Hooker still can't tackle, if we're being honest). This is an extremely well-coached unit. Fun to watch. Also reinforces to me that this team shouldn't make any monster investments at CB.

13. Only complaint about defense: they've gotta tighten zones against dynamic RBs on third down in the flats, and Anthony Walker has gotta start catching some of these gimme INTs. He's dropped 3 this year.

14. Ryan Grant quietly had a very good day. I think he's gone after this year, but he played well today. Worth acknowledging.

15. NFL officiating has been NOSEDIVING this season. December officiating has been awful. I thought this was a well-played game between two good teams for the most part. The refs tried to insert themselves into it so unnecessarily. It makes it look like they're favoring a team when they're not and can avoid those optics. But more importantly: it's just killing the product and dragging these games out unnecessarily. This should have been a tight, tough class between two similar teams. Instead, entire drives were nuked by complete bullshit. It's a leaguewide problem right now, and the NFL doesn't seem to care to address it.

I used to maintain that NFL officiating was miles better than NBA. I no longer hold that opinion.

16. This broadcast really sucked. FOX missed 2 or 3 plays entirely, including the blocked FG "runback". The analysis was really shallow. Pam Oliver needed to take a sick day. What a bad showing by FOX.

17. Nyheim Hines had another quietly good day. I wonder if he factors into the slot receiver equation going forward?

18. Honestly, even if the Colts miss the playoffs this year, I have had a BLAST watching this team. They're fun again. They've made the city care again. This is a special time, folks. The future is extraordinarily bright. You don't complain about the prospect of 2 picks in the top 40 + $130M in cap space, either.

[Oldcolt]

I just have to say that there is nothing like watching a team improve. I never thought it would be this much this fast though. I can hardly believe it.

[DrSpaceman]

I have very little criticisms of the Colts today.

Ebron with another drop. The one was hit fault. The other that was just a good hit and D play.

Luckily the Cowgirls had one too that negated a TD. A huge play

The officiating in the first half was just atrocious. That one drive alone they basically cost the Colts at least 3 if not 7 points. The Hilton 'taunting' call? What in the fuck! Asking for a flag not is a penalty? Then they are going to be penalizing someone after every damn play. Not only that he asked for one because the Dallas player threw the ball after the play at a Colts player.

The pass int not called on the sideline at the half against TY? Jesus Christ, beyond just tackling him with the ball in the air, what more would the defender have to do to get a penalty?

Just awful. The continuous missed calls, bad calls, major game changing calls that are missed are just inexcusable. They need a system not just to grade but to punish refs for blatantly bad calls. Fines, suspensions, something, and they need to enforce them. There is NO EXCUSE for those two calls in particular being missed, they were obvious, not in the least bit questionable.

I literally did break my TV screen over this. A small plastic lightweight child's plastic block at high speed can break a Hidef TV, is anyone was wondering.

Elliot was the only thing the Cowboys had today. Nothing else. He kept it close the first half, second half, ran away with it

And fuck skip Bayless and his "Dak Prescott is better than Luck in every way". Many of those sacks were coverage sacks, his fault entirely. Hung on to it

Also the Colts clearly were watching to make sure Dak didn't run the ball against them, not sure he had a single rush for a gain all day.

But really the last two weeks, those are the most complete games the Colts have played in 4 years.

[DrSpaceman]

Oh and my selfish criticism : lost my fantasy game most likely due to Lucks and Ebron's subpar statistical games.

I did have Mack as well, he helped, but not enough to likely win.

[YDFL Commish]

Great game by the OL. Great play calling by Reich. More great play from Leonard. What a breakout from Tyquan Lewis!

The best team defense I have seen in years.

[daedge]

It's just nice to really care about this team again. I mean, I never stopped really caring, but it was soul destroying watching them in recent years. It was a case of watching them and not caring. There was next to nothing to get excited about. I even stopped yelling at the TV, or punching the air, when a call went against us. Like I said, it was soul destroying. Yet I still watched the depressing train-wreck of a Pagano coached team.

Thank goodness that era is over. Now, the chest pounding is back when Autry slams a punk like Dak into the turf.

There is reason to believe. I'm shitty again when the Colts lose, and my day is made when they win.

GO COLTS.

[Chromeburn]

I think the refs cost us a TD in the first half. May be two max. We should have blown this game out.

[DrSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

I think the refs cost us a TD in the first half. May be two max. We should have blown this game out.

I guess to be fair we got Lucky on the one dropped pass by the Cowboys that would have made it a much closer first half.

Otherwise though, yes, if they refs in the first half had no completely fucked over the Colts, this was a blowout

[indycolts2]

#4: Yes the Colts absolutely lock up Kelly in off season!

[southside asshole]

Thanks to GBB for starting this thread. Bro, your analysis posted so soon after every game is one of my favorite things to consume after a game, and one of the biggest reasons I keep coming back to this forum season after season.

My (MD prescribed) Adderall is kicking in and I'm feeling chatty, so I'm going to do something uncharacteristic and write up my own thoughts about the game today. I have no idea if I'll ever do this again.

Game ball goes to the whole O-line today. Whether running or passing, they completely exerted their will against a talented defense and just dominated the line of scrimmage all day long. There's so much talent on that line and they've gelled into such a cohesive unit that it's just remarkable to watch. I do have some concerns about depth at center, because there's a big drop-off behind Ryan Kelly, but Boehm seemed to handle himself pretty well last week against Houston after being completely unprepared vs. Jax the previous week. There's a lot of toughness in that group.

Credit goes to Dave Deguglielmo for recognizing how to arrange the depth here and keep their technique sharp this late into the season, but I don't think you can overstate the impact a player like Nelson has had on the overall attitude and performance of this line. His influence has pushed them all to be better, causing a lot of these guys to play beyond what I ever considered to be their potential. You can see the pride in their workman-like performance in both phases of the offense. When the Colts go max protect, you just aren't getting to Luck. Period. If anyone does break a block and come through, Luck just scampers away through a massive hole and runs or throws for a 1st down.

The biggest difference I saw in Marlon Mack today was his patience. He consistently waited for blocks to develop upfield and just laddered his way into the secondary on repeated plays. He also seemed sharper today, breaking contact and evading tackles when, over much of the season, he's really needed to get out of the backfield unimpeded for any hope of going for more than 3 yards. Honestly, watching Mack run against Dallas today reminded me of how teams used to run on us during the Dungy era. A small and fast defense is great up until they encounter a big, mean offense with some discipline. When Mack is at his best, he reminds me most of Darren Sproles. I hate Darren Sproles, but I love when Mack looks like Darren Sproles.

Nyeim Hines once again shows what a good addition to this offense he is for catching passes out of the backfield and making plays with his legs. His hands are better than I ever expected. If he keeps this up, he could really become a guy other teams need to plan for, which will only open up further opportunities for T.Y. and Ebron.

Speaking of Eric Ebron, Mr. Longsleeves had a tough game today. That first drop was entirely on him, and basically killed what was shaping up to be a scoring drive. After that drop, we ended up penalized into a 2nd and 30, from which there was basically nothing that could regain momentum. I agree with whoever said the 2nd incompletion was just a great play by the defender. Outside of 1 or 2 other catches, he was pretty quiet. I'd need to rewatch to be sure, but I think Dallas really schemed to try to take him out of the game and were mostly successful. If the Dallas offense had been able to sustain anything and get points on the board, it might have been enough to make the difference for them in this game.

I'd be remiss to bag on Ebron today and not mention his toughness, though. The dude has taken some real shots over the last few weeks. I know he's huge, but that still takes a toll, and he's still out there playing with an obvious chip on his shoulder.

Our defense plays the most unlikely version of bend-don't-break I've ever seen. It's like they bend all - the - way - down - to - the - floor, and then snap back, flinging offenses clear across the field with nothing to show for their efforts. Without the benefit of real data, the number of red-zone-reaching drives opposing offenses have managed that resulted in 0 points against this D strikes me as pretty uncommon. Despite this, the number of emergent playmakers on defense keeps me from ever losing faith or assuming opposing scoring plays are guaranteed. I don't know how many players on the field are named Darius Leonard, but at this point you'll have a hard time convincing me that number is fewer than 3. The guy is just everywhere. I can't remember seeing a rookie linebacker so immediately ready to take on the NFL. Autrey continues to prove his worth. Hunt continues to appear and just fuck your day at the most inopportune moments. Walker and Desir also had good games today.

Adam Vinatieri is boring. I love that Adam Vinatieri is boring. To a very large extent, the Colts special teams have played so consistently well all season that we're all basically taking them for granted now. They're the least-penalized-per-play Colts unit on the field up to this point of the season. I know some of that is due to the NFL's pussified kickoff rules of the last 2 years, but a lot of the credit goes to a man named Bubba Ventrone, who is a year younger than me, has a long special teams pedigree, and agreed to leave the Patriots and join our coaching staff AFTER McSnake had already reneged on his commitment. The way he's coached them up has made a huge difference considering the dearth of premier players outside of the kicking unit.

Once again, Reich just flat out-schemes and out-coaches the other sideline. GBB said it best - he was playing chess vs. their checkers. The sheer number of different plays the Colts run out of different looks has all but erased their once-famed predictability under Pagano/Chud/Hamilton and even Arians, if we're honest. The pervasive and hard-to-explain bias of the media and rest of the NFL against the AFC South will probably result in Nagy winning Coach of the Year, but it's hard to make an argument against Reich. It's clear by now how key he was to Philly's SB run, and we're watching him develop into an elite NFL head coach.

Overall, this has been the most fun I've had watching the Colts since the heydays of the Manning / Dungy era. I kept saying prior to the start of this season that if they went 8-8 and trended positively over the course of the season, I'd consider it a complete success. My best expectations have been
exceeded. What started as the first year of an optimistic rebuilt probably 3 - 4 years away from real contention has started looking like a team that's only a few key pieces away from making a legit run to the big show. They're already a team opponents need to worry about.

wow

I wrote a lot

probably too much for a reply on GBB's thread... apologies for that