After a long weekend of not getting enough sleep, I had one simple goal for yesterday. Do not leave the couch and consume lots of football. Lots of good stuff yesterday.
Colts-Jags breakdown:
I hate losing to the Sparkle Kitties. The only solace is this isn't a playoff team this year anyway. Getting Luck experience and starting to shape the roster is the most important part. That said, the roster can only do what the coaches allow it to do. After 3 weeks my opinion of Chuck Pagano is trending downwards. There's still time for him to learn, but after 2 horrifically coached 4th quarters, my expectations have been lowered.
You have the top pick from the draft, a QB who is the best prospect since your last #1 overall pick. Let the strengths of the team win the game. It infuriates me to no end when coaches play conservatively in the 4th quarter. No media is talking about how bad Pagano was yesterday, but they are all questioning Jim Schwartz. That's ludicrous. However you want to parse the odds for the Lions, it's questionable or a gamble at worst. Pagano's decisions did much more to harm the Colts chances of winning.
The Colts followed the usual game plan against Jacksonville for most of the game. Get some offense and grab the lead then let MJD gash them to tighten up the score.
Mistake #1 How the field goal team was not ready to kick is completely on the coaching staff. There were time outs left, and even if that happens sometimes, you can't just waste 5 yards. The initial kick would've been good had the delay of game not occurred and the outcome may have been very different.
Mistake #2 Playing for the field goal on the next possession. How many times over the years have we seen Peyton leave a magnificent drive only to have the other team come back and re-take the lead? It is absolutely unacceptable to stop trying and run the ball into the line 3 times and settle for a mid-range field goal to go up by a point. Again, you have Andrew Luck. He's good. You have Reggie Wayne. He's good. You have a bad defense. One first down probably wins this game. A touchdown forces Blaine freaking Gabbert to drive for a touchdown and you can play prevent knowing a field goal won't beat you. Making Andrew Luck hand the ball off 3 straight times is completely unacceptable. Not to mention Vinatieri made the field goal by the slimmest of margins.
Mistake #3 No deep safety. The last Jags TD was comically bad defense by the safety who spun around in circles covering no one, but why wasn't there a deep safety to prevent exactly the type of thing that happened? Sure they only needed a field goal (see Mistake #3), but you have to eliminate the home run. Crappy QB on the road with under a minute of clock left and no timeouts. Make him string together 3-4 completions while managing the clock if you need to. Don't give up an 80 yard touchdown from a 15 yard catch and long run.
Other good stuff:
-Andrew Luck played a great game. That pass to Hilton for the TD was simply amazing.
-Reggie Wayne continues to be a great security blanket for a rookie QB.
-Donald Brown had a good game. I don't get a lot of the vitrol towards him. I don't think he's elite, but he's a perfectly acceptable starting back who does some little things well. It's yard to boast a good YPC, when he's hit in the backfield every other time he gets the ball.
-Jerrell Freeman continues to play well.
-Some good returns on special teams
Other bad stuff:
-Offensive line is still shaky. Better than in previous weeks, but not much running room and Luck got hit a lot. At least they limited the sacks and really bad plays.
-Vontae Davis is about to nicknamed "Human Pass Interference Machine". Having trouble covering Brandon Marshall is one thing. Grabbing every Jags receiver near you is another.
-Officiating was brutal in this game. I mention this last simply because the Colts had other things that caused them to lose the game, but it did seem like an inordinate amount of calls went the Jags way. Missed PI's (especially on the long throw late in the game), phantom calls and yet more non-calls continue to be a problem. More on this in a general post later.
