Thoughts on Steelers game

[DrSpaceman]

Watched taped delayed this morning :

They did look better overall, offense and defense. It at least gives me some hope for the season.

I don't know if it will be this year or next, but Mack is the back of the future for this team. Another good showing. Explosive through the whole, when they are there, which is still not often enough

Fewer missed tackles and better lateral pursuit by the team today overall.

Farley REALLY showed up, great game by him. Sack, knocked down pass, huge hit downfield.

You can see the influence of Mathis on the pass rushers. One strip sack and they just missed a few others. The pressure on the QB seemed better this game

They seem to be mixing up the D with more corner and safety blitzes, trying to time it right to bring up the extra player at the last minute to get pressure. Its a high risk/high reward system. I think we are going to see a feast/famine D this year. The one positive this preseason has been more turnovers on D. I think they will have to depend on turnovers for stops because they are still consistently getting beat against the run and pass, not getting 3rd down stops.

Run D struggled on the outside, not closing off the edge, but improved later in the game.

Tolzein looked competent, much better than the last few weeks. Morris looked great I thought, though. Still think they will go with Tolzien because of the experience factor, but Morris should be the #2 and hopefully they keep 3 QBs this season. I hope Morris gets a shot somewhere as a starter in the next few years, I think he has real talent.

TJ Green injured and I didn't hear on update on him. Will be interesting to see what happens there.

The D did face two very good offenses the last few weeks in Dallas and Pitt, looked bad against one and inconsistent but better against Pitt. Though Bell was not in the game, Davis is a pretty good back up. The Rams week one are not going to have that potent of an offense and really don't face great offensive teams the first month. Hopefully gives the younger guys time to get better.

I didn't notice Hooker and Wilson much this game.

OL still giving up too much penetration too often for consistent running game. Too many negative plays

[YDFL Commish]

Run D struggled on the outside, not closing off the edge, but improved later in the game.



TJ Green injured and I didn't hear on update on him. Will be interesting to see what happens there.



The failure to set the edge by both Sheard and Simon has been troubling in every game so far. Pags needs to get this fixed.

TJ Green came back into the game I believe. The only injury that Pags mentioned in his post game presser was Vontae w/a groin.

[DrSpaceman]

The failure to set the edge by both Sheard and Simon has been troubling in every game so far. Pags needs to get this fixed.

TJ Green came back into the game I believe. The only injury that Pags mentioned in his post game presser was Vontae w/a groin.

Thanks, I was watching the game on "fast forward", plus it was the Steelers broadcast on NFL network, so didn't hear or pay attention to almost anything about the COlts injuries.

In fact they didn't even have the starting line ups even remotely correct They still had Ryan Kelley listed as the center. It was like they made no effort to even find out.

[omahacolt]

1) tj green should get cut.

2) we don't have a rt. it obviously will not be clark. 67 and Good shared duty with the 1's last night. and neither were that great.

3) Good is annoying. constantly lets defenders into his body but can be a devastating run blocker. too inconsistent

4) sheard sucks. cut him and let ayers start. walden is a much better #93.

5) vontae again with a soft tissue leg injury. someone needs to look into why he keeps getting these. diet, stretching, workout or just bad luck.

6) mcgill will make the team. he was getting early snaps during passing situations. thankfully someone realized he can be disruptive.

7) natson is going to be a tough cut but i bet he can easily sneak on the practice squad

8) we really need another te. hopefully a nice proven vet comes free at cuts.

9) i bet this team is closer to the one we saw the last couple weeks than this week.

10) pagano is terrible

11) i think anderson is going to be a bright spot again this year. i will be very interested in seeing him the most on the dline. i thought he looked very good vs the steelers

12) dorsett needs to catch with his hands. i don't want to see him cut. i think he can play in this league and contribute.

13) i like hairston. kid could be a good player. decent corner and hopefully a special teams ace.

[apballin]

With Farley playing this good why not put Hooker beside him and move Butler back to CB?

[GoBigBlue88]

Just 'cuz I haven't seen him mentioned anywhere else: I like John Simon. I'm not saying he's a stud impact LB or anything, but he's been around a lot of the turnovers and seems to have a sense of being in the right place. After a season of watching guys have no idea where to line up or end up in a play, that's a welcome sight.

[Butter]

Just 'cuz I haven't seen him mentioned anywhere else: I like John Simon. I'm not saying he's a stud impact LB or anything, but he's been around a lot of the turnovers and seems to have a sense of being in the right place. After a season of watching guys have no idea where to line up or end up in a play, that's a welcome sight.

Right place at the right time is one of those innate abilities some players just seem to have. The Colts have really lacked that in recent years.

[omahacolt]

Right place at the right time is one of those innate abilities some players just seem to have. The Colts have really lacked that in recent years.

Mike Adams is the only one that stands out.

[Butter]

He is an excellent example.

[Hoopsdoc]

Watched taped delayed this morning :

They did look better overall, offense and defense. It at least gives me some hope for the season.

I don't know if it will be this year or next, but Mack is the back of the future for this team. Another good showing. Explosive through the whole, when they are there, which is still not often enough

Fewer missed tackles and better lateral pursuit by the team today overall.

Farley REALLY showed up, great game by him. Sack, knocked down pass, huge hit downfield.

You can see the influence of Mathis on the pass rushers. One strip sack and they just missed a few others. The pressure on the QB seemed better this game

They seem to be mixing up the D with more corner and safety blitzes, trying to time it right to bring up the extra player at the last minute to get pressure. Its a high risk/high reward system. I think we are going to see a feast/famine D this year. The one positive this preseason has been more turnovers on D. I think they will have to depend on turnovers for stops because they are still consistently getting beat against the run and pass, not getting 3rd down stops.

Run D struggled on the outside, not closing off the edge, but improved later in the game.

Tolzein looked competent, much better than the last few weeks. Morris looked great I thought, though. Still think they will go with Tolzien because of the experience factor, but Morris should be the #2 and hopefully they keep 3 QBs this season. I hope Morris gets a shot somewhere as a starter in the next few years, I think he has real talent.

TJ Green injured and I didn't hear on update on him. Will be interesting to see what happens there.

The D did face two very good offenses the last few weeks in Dallas and Pitt, looked bad against one and inconsistent but better against Pitt. Though Bell was not in the game, Davis is a pretty good back up. The Rams week one are not going to have that potent of an offense and really don't face great offensive teams the first month. Hopefully gives the younger guys time to get better.

I didn't notice Hooker and Wilson much this game.

OL still giving up too much penetration too often for consistent running game. Too many negative plays

Wilson missed the game with a knee injury, I believe. Not sure if Hooker played.

[sherck]

My 2 cents,

1. While Tolzien played better, he still has the deer in the headlights look way too often when his protection breaks down. That INT was as bad of a rookie toss as you see one make. The overthrow of Dorsett in the back of the end zone was a throw I expect a 2nd year player make, not a 6th year player. Tolzien is at the very peak of his abilities and they are average at best.

I think that Morris brings more to the table with his ability to create space and his cool delivery when on the run. He even has the ability to consistently gain yards on the ground if the pocket goes south as demonstrated last year.

2. Defenses take a while to gel. I see some individually good plays out of our new front 7 but it will take a while for them to trust each other and not play as individuals but as a team. Luckily, we do not face a powerful offense until Week 4 (SEA) and can, hopefully, gel more playing the likes of LAR, ARI and CLE.

3. Having said that, we held a pretty good QB and offense to 6 points during the first half against PIT. Sure, we did a lot of "bend and don't break" which is frustrating because it often loses games but the scoreboard is the ultimate measure of success and the Colts defense succeeded in the first half of the game.

4. I like a RB depth chart of Gore, Turbin, Mack and Pope. I like the pass protection of Gore, Turbin and Mack (have not seen Pope enough to judge) and Mack's ability out of the backfield will be killer when exercised. Gore is running like he is a decade younger than he is and it is fun to see. Turbin still brings short yardage power. I think those four guys can really bring a lot to the running game.

5. Defensive backfield is still a fluid mess but I am excited about some of the young individual pieces like Hooker, Wilson, Hairston, Farley and Melvin. Like the rest of the defense, they need time together to gel but I feel like we have some guys whom can be better than "average" once they dial it in.

6. While I don't think that Jeff Locke is going to be making me forget PattyMac anytime soon, I am pleased with his preseason performance and have little qualms about his taking over KO and punting duties. I was not high on his signing earlier in the spring but he has been a steady performer.

I really like Sanchez as well and sort of see the whole Tolzien/Morris thing in those two; Locke is the experience veteran who will never be more than average while Sanchez has, I think, the potential to do great things but will also burn you with the occasional young guy mistake. I think retaining Locke is the right thing for 2017 but I would love for Sanchez to get stashed on the practice squad for 2017.


That's really it. If our offense can play like Sat then we will win at least 1 of our 2 first games and hopefully Luck will be back for game 3.

Walk Worthy,

[DrSpaceman]

I think if you are looking for a replacement QB for anything more than a few games, Morris would be the choice. He clearly has more upside than Tolzien and if given a chance could develop into a solid QB, even a starter somewhere. With Tolzien, I agree, you aren't getting any more than what you have seen. he is as good as he is going to get

But my guess is if Luck is out just 1 or 2 games, they will stick with Tolzien just because he has more experience.

[Hoopsdoc]

Jeff Locke released. Looks like the beaner is our punter.

This doesn't displease me, even though there will be growing pains. I suspect Sanchez can be as good or better than Locke.