Quick thoughts on Dolphins-Colts
 

1. That was one of the stranger games I've seen. The Colts tried to give the game to the Dolphins for 2.5 quarters. Then the Dolphins just, like, punted the game at the end. So weird.

2. Andrew Luck didn't have a great game today. His placement was off even besides the INTs. But you know what? He had a signature magic moment. We shouldn't take for granted that 25-26ish other franchises don't have that.

3. Re: the Brissett-Luck play, look, yes, it was dumb. But I heard a lot of people equating it to the Ebron Special and whining, and let's be clear: the Ebron Special didn't expose Luck to any hit and just asked him to dive. This play was a hospital ball on a shitty, shitty throw from Brissett which massively exposed Luck. Bad Week 12 playcall even with the throw being bad.

4. Eric Ebron is so good in the red zone. He just boxes everyone out. What an addition he's been. Love having him on the roster.

5. Dontrelle Inman continues to impress me. Just so reliable. Would be a great WR4 option to eat those Chester Rogers snaps if he returns next year.

6. I know Marlon Mack argued 5+ YPC, but that was inflated a bit by Dolphins dropping into a deep Cover-2 shell. I thought he left a lot of yards on the field, especially in the first 3 quarters. I think Hines and Wilkins are better runners. But the quandary is: can you trust Hines/Wilkins to hold on to the ball and pass protect? Clearly not. So Mack *should* be RB1, but I'm just pointing out that it's a more complex split than most realize.

7. I thought Evan Boehm was OK today. Colts missed Ryan Kelly, clearly. Mack's concussion came from Boehm missing a block. Seemed like Luck was hesitant to step up into the pocket today.

8. Sucked to see Wilkins fumble. Honestly, if he doesn't, I think Colts win going away. That clearly cost him trust, and fairly so. I hate that he just laid on the ground and watched the ball bounce too. Go make a play for it, dude! But mostly sucked because I wanted to see what he would do with more touches. I think he's still a good piece.

9. Such a weird game for the defense. Almost don't know what to call out. It seemed like the Darius Leonard injury at the jump just totally sank them. Then he came back and it was a rollercoaster affair.

It's probably easier to break it down to...

I LIKED:

* Quincy Wilson: He played terrific today. Great ball-tracking to deny a deep TD throw and generally locked up his man in coverage, bought some coverage sacks.

* Margus Hunt in the 4Q: Not sure where he was in the first 3 quarters, but he was first four weeks Margus Hunt in the fourth.

* Outside of the Drake screen TD, this team attacked the screen well all day.

* The tightening of third down zones. In the second half, the team was SO much sharper on third down. They didn't just concede space.


I DIDN'T LIKE:

* The freaking penalties. Al Woods should not be baited into encroachment when it's clear Tannehill is never gonna snap the ball...

* Anthony Walker had a terrible game. He knows it.

* Kenny Moore's missed tackle on Kenyan Drake, because it just exemplified how sloppy the team was at times today.

* Malik Hooker's tackling, which is a red flag at this point.

10. Once a game, Jabaal Sheard just decides he's going to sled a tackle back into the QB. Love seeing that. He doesn't have the athleticism to be a multi-sack-per-game guy, but his strength off the edge is a huge asset.

11. Chris Milton was painful on special teams today. He almost sprung Rogers last week. Today, though, he couldn't keep contain on the gunner to save his life. Got Rogers killed on one play, blocked in the back on another. You can't be the team's designated special teams corner and suck on special teams...

12. Thought it was weird the Colts went away from the run so much in the 2Q and 3Q. They wanted to take a lot of deep shots, which I don't mind, but clearly the Dolphins were staying disciplined in the back end and those shots weren't there. I think the run lanes were there; Colts either ignored them or Mack didn't find them until late.

13. It is good to see this team win a sloppy game against level competition. Their defense stepped up when asked to. Their offense found their Luck Magic when they had to. They know Vinatieri is Vinatieri when called upon. It was ugly, and I think everyone walks away feeling like they left something on the field today, but it's gotta feel good knowing you're good enough to survive on your C game.

Just lots of sloppy play and mistakes today

The good news is, they still won despite that, against a decent team

The bad news is if they keep playing like that on a regular basis, they will remain a .500 team.

And it was mistakes all around.

Missed tackle on Drake

Desir can't let than throw and catch happen

Luck making just two dumb throws for INTs.

AV and the shanked FG

stupid penalties all around, especially the offside and special teams penalty that placed the offense back at the 10 instead of at the 30-35 in the 4th quarter

Don't know what happened to the run D for most of this game.

That 4th down call......OK, you got the first down, but a great way to get your QB hurt again.

Blocked kick.

Winning ugly, one where you just take it and move on. But the team just is not good enough to win like that most weeks.

I will say despite the 2 interceptions, Luck still was 30 of 37 passing, with 3 toichdowns. That's not all that bad really.

Over 80%

True but some of these were great plays by the receivers. I know Mack and Wilkins each had some great adjustments to poorly placed passes.

Also lucky not to be picked another time on the pass to Inman that wasn't flagged for PI, tbh.

Ultimately, just saying: Luck won it with his magic in the end, after being pretty blah for a 2 quarter stretch. Which just reinforces how much he's back.

I need to apologize to al Colts fans, Wilkins fumble was my fault. I had just made a comment before that play that he seemed like he was starting to become a valuable part of our RB rotation and then bam he fumbles.

good job, butter. you son of a bitch

2. Andrew Luck didn't have a great game today. His placement was off even besides the INTs. But you know what? He had a signature magic moment. We shouldn't take for granted that 25-26ish other franchises don't have that.


Damn near my thought exactly. He was good, then terrible for most of the game, and then had an absolutely stellar 3 drives at the end. The TD to Ebron was spectacular.

My thoughts. Shakey game. But we're 6-5 with only Baltimore standing in the way for the 6 seed!!!!


Just keep winning no matter how ugly!!!!!!

* Malik Hooker's tackling, which is a red flag at this point.


So can anyone smarter than me explain if he's either just a bad player or if this scheme isn't using him to his advantages, which I thought was ball hawking.

Why is Milton even on the team? He's easily the worst CB defender we have...so much so that he lost playing time to guys that have been cut.

Two best things for me.

1. We are going from a team that knows how to lose to a team that knows how
to win. Maybe not there yet but pretty darn close

2. If Quincy Wilson can continue his development and become a serviceable corner it would be a huge boon to this defense. Don't have faith that he is there yet but it sure is looking like it is starting to happen.

if gbb doesnt mind i will add some thoughts here.


1) fuck that was a sloppy game. i was sitting there watching the game and all was good at first. d started out bad but overall i was happy. so i am sitting there throwing back some beers and the kid is at the table coloring or drawing or something. who fucking knows. the colts start fucking up and i start getting pissed.

about 10 minutes into the 2nd quarter the kid comes and sits in the recliner next to me to watch the game. she never does this. usually if she is around during the game i think it is good luck but today was not the day. she just sat there watching her dumbass videos on youtube while i struggled not to throw shit at the tv and cuss. thankfully she was there because i was losing my mind watching mistake after mistake.

anyway colts win, i didn't lose my temper too much and my tv was intact mainly because the kid for the first time this year sat with me while i watched a game. so win win. i guess.

2) Luck was a bit down but who cares. he was absolutely good enough to win. and he did.

3) our rb situation is good to problematic. depending on the week. Mack goes down like it is 2 hand touch. wilkins fumbles and hines gets the drops. but all of them, at times, ball out. that said, this is a game where this running game should have imposed their will. it didn't happen. thought hines had the best day of the backs

4) can we please coach our wr's to play smart ball when it comes to getting 1st downs. hilton early in the game stepped out when he could have gotten a 1st down. killed the drive. towards the end of the game, rodgers steps back instead of getting the easy 1st down. that shit is unacceptable.

5) as gbb said, kelly was missed. not that boehm was atrocious but he was missing blocks and the interior was just not as clean as it normally is. hopefully kelly is back next week but i do believe we can survive without him another week.

6) wtf desir? dude should have nightmares of that play until the day he dies.

7) shitty tackling again. we can't play a good zone d with shitty tackling. this doesn't seem to be a chronic issue. at times they tackle very well.

8) autry sucks. stop starting him. this d worked best with woods at nose and hunt at dt. why are they not doing this?

9) is hooker good? if you say yes, explain what he brings that any late round pick doesn't. dude makes pretty much zero plays for a top 15 pick.

10) where did turay go? is he hurt again. him and lewis need to step up.

11) the colts should send flowers to Adam Gase. he handed the colts the win. that was pagano level bad coaching. thanks bro

12) the pass from brissett to Luck was dumb. and a bad throw from brissett.

13) why does the dt drop in coverage multiple times a game? stop it

14) congrats to spike for winning the woody's elimator

15) this defense needs so much talent added to it. love the win but we have a long way to go

16) the colts are good enough to make the playoffs. without sitting on 60 plus million, we might be a contender this year. wasting years with Luck is retarded.

he covers ok. but he has no instincts to help in the run.

The kid is clearly the reason we nearly lost today. Next time she wants to bond during a game lock her in her room.

No joke I almost told her she needed to to get the fuck out of here

Can’t agree more with 8 and 9. I used to think that Hooker was the victim of a bad scheme but he looks slow and seems to take bad angles as well.

This one I agree with so much. Autry is a situational guy at best.

I agree. Although the Dolphins defense gashed our defense with no resistance on their first possession, wee did the same to the Fins defense on our first possession and got a stop on the Fins second possession. Point being, it looked like maybe our defense was settled in a bit with the home crowd behind them.

Then, on our second possession we hit two big plays including the Wilkins play. It looked like, up until that point at least, our offense was going to have one of those days where they were going to do pretty much whatever they wanted and would score 30+ points. Unfortunately the Wilkins play ended in a fumble and it felt like it just halted everything and turned the game into a very erratic one from the Colts side.

And, like you said, it eliminated Wilkins from the game and he was looking very good up until he fumbled.

generally I forgive the first 2 drives on defense. Just hope for field goals.

Teams spend a week targeting how to attack the defense. I assume they have a good 10 or so plays that are going to be pretty good

That was a stupid game.
Please stop throwing the ball to luck.

I agree.

That pass yesterday completely laid out Luck to be crushed....and he was.

I don't mind it once or twice a season for the complete "oh crud" factor but that is two games in a row now.

Take it out of the playbook!

Walk Worthy,

Speaking of taking it out, could someone remove the bot that is spamming the board trying to sell championship rings?

The reporters asked Reich about the pass to Luck. He said the play was not designed to end like that but Brissett and Luck adjusted pre-snap when the latter became uncovered.

Either way, stop throwing to Luck.

Glad with the win. Gase and his playcalling at the end was him rerunning the favor as the Colts did their best to lose that game earlier on.

The missed tackles yesterday was like having the whole Pagano era flashing before your eyes. Yikes.

Heh, factoid from MMQB:

Eric Ebron with the Colts = 11 reception TDs in 11 games

Eric Ebron with the Lions = 11 reception TDs in 56 games

So glad they could not figure out how to use him.

Walk Worthy,

What was wrong with the throw to Luck last week?

It was incomplete?

Andrew luck lost a season and a half by being hit, why intentionally expose him to being hit?

Why take a top tier QB and throw passes to him?

Freaking QBs, you have to protect them from themselves. I bet they had it all worked out way before pre-snap.

I bet Lion fans are so pissed. Best TE in football right now.

More exposure to hits. Just because he didn't get hit doesn't mean it was safe. You can't predict how a play will develop (unless it is a pagano play).

If I run through a shooting range and don't get shot, is it still safe to do?

Reich>>>Cardboard/Clappy

#1 is the biggest takeaway from yesterday for me. That seemed like a game this team loses in September, which just points to the growth we've seen since then.

Nothing. I mean it would have been nice if it was caught, but it was thrown were only Luck could catch it and he was not exposed to a massive hit.

Regarding the throw to Luck, I don't mind the play. I just hate using it in that situation. The stakes aren't nearly high enough to risk it there.

I love the philosophy behind the throw (have fun, mix it up, do stuff nobody expects) but hate the play. I don't want Luck taking even one extra hit in a game. Hopefully we have seen the last of that shit.

I still say it wasn't the play, it was the throw. If Brisset zips it into the numbers Luck catches the ball and rolls to the ground for a 1st down. Throwing it 10 ft. in the air was the problem.

I hate the play because Luck is free to get hit. I don't trust him roll onto the ground. Priority #1 should be to protect Luck at all costs. Last year sucked.

Exactly this. Brissett hung Luck out to dry on that. A better pass and Luck would have caught it with his feet on the ground and as you said, roll to the ground, or even advance the ball a little bit while running toward the sideline/out of bounds.

I think Luck has turned the corner on that. He is not hunting down defensive players that intercept him anymore. He's looking to throw first, not run. He's pulled up and thrown the ball instead of running into open field multiple times this year. He went out of bounds instead of pushing for a TD, told Reich he wanted the TD, and Reich told him "You did the right thing, I would've come out there and bodyslammed you if you'd done that." Reich is getting through to Luck and Luck is playing better for it.

I did not love the call, but a better throw from Brisset and we would be talking about this play way differently.

He's on pace to break Gronkowski's record of 17 in a season for a TE.