o


(THE COLTS' DEFENSE)



Considering the fact that 10 of the Bills' 30 points were due to a pick-6 by Joe Flacco at the beginning of the game and by Shane Steichen's inexplicable time-out call in the final seconds of the first half which resulted in the Bills tacking on 3 points on the final play, I thought that the Colts' defense wasn't that bad today.

There were times when they were porous and vulnerable, and allowed the Bills to convert on 3rd-and-long and 2nd-and-long.




Possessions: lllllllllllllllllllllll) 10

Punts: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 2

Turnover on Downs: lllllltt 1

INT: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll,, 2

FG: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll l. 3

TD: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll l. 2

o

At this point, I am assuming it's Jim Irsay's decision not to play AR. Nothing else makes sense, and should be fireable.

I mean, he wasn't the ideal franchise QB, but I wouldn't call it bad.

-Pretty good against PIT and we won
-Underwhelming against TEN but led two long drives to take the lead and win
-Lost to JAX but threw for 360yds, 3td, and a 121 rating

Those games made him the "safe" route. These past two weeks have been bad. Three INTs and a fumble is Matt Ryan '22 bad. Question is whether they chalk it up to playing two of the top teams in the NFL or if they think he just shit the bed.

If they choose the latter... Might as well let AR have it. "For the sake of the rest of the team" doesn't apply if the "safe" guy isn't safe.

It’s Steichen, not Ballard who is to blame for the current mess. Not that I’m absolving Ballard mind you, but he drafted the quarterback Shane Steichen wanted.

Steichen is the FUCKING IDIOT who somehow got the idea that this team is ready to win and AR was holding us back.

He should be fired for that bullshit alone.

Goddamnit. Anyone could see this coming from 100 miles away.

you are doing bare minimum. I want to fail you but my integrity as a game day thread title grader won't let me.


you need to do better. I believe you can

o


This team is 4-6 with mediocre-at-best play from the QB position, and with a head coach who doesn't seem to have a clue in regard to clock-management or play-calling.

If this team had a good quarterback and even a decent head coach, they would probably be at least 6-4 or 7-3.

o

flacco wasn't great in his prime



this has always been the case

o


The one aspect of Flacco's game that has improved since his early days in the NFL is his pocket-presence ...... his pocket-presence was absolutely atrocious when he played for the Ravens, and now it is considerably better.

Other than that, I agree with you, he was never that great in the first place.

o

Hey Steichan/Ballard/Irsay,

Fuck you for making the dumbass decision to play Flacco. Especially after the horrible Vikings performance.

Seriously, this decision is dumb beyond words. I cannot believe they're doing it, and most likely will next week given how completely fucking stupid they are.

I hope they clean house. I detest all of them.

It’s SO FUCKING STUPID. They deluded themselves into believing they were Flacco level play at quarterback from being a contender.

Never mind the fact that Flacco ain’t that damn good in the first place and the HORRIBLE defense would prevent them from winning to many games anyway.

But the worst part, and the really inexcusable part, is that they’re STILL not finding out what they have in AR.

So we’re STILL stuck in QB purgatory and our team STILL sucks.

It’s unfucking believable.

If Irsay wasn’t coked out of his mind all the time, as he clearly is, he’d step in and put a stop to this BULLSHIT.

Not necessarily defending Steichen b/c he's definitely shit the bed this year, but you're putting way too much blame on him for the Bills FG at the end of the first half. The D did give up a 44 yard pass play on 3rd and 10 a couple of plays after his timeout which got the Bills in said FG range.

o


The Colts' defense was definitely porous at times today, giving up 2nd-and-long and 3rd-and-longs on several occasions throughout the game.

And I understand what you are saying about the big chunks of yardage that they gave up after the timeout call, but considering what the NFL is today, excellent QB's like Josh Allen need very little time to get themselves into field-goal range right before halftime and/or at the end of a game ...... in the 2021 divisional playoff round, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen scored 3 times in the final 1:02 of regulation (2 TD's and 1 FG) to send the game into overtime.


https://www.pro-football-reference.c...2201230kan.htm


There was no need to tempt fate there, especially with a QB like Allen.

o

I don't know how to post tweets, but I saw one from Kevin Bowen saying that Steichen never considered putting AR in the game. He said, "Until I say otherwise, Joe is the starter".

Maybe he's trying to sack himself?

If true, absolute complete idiocy. Dude shouldn't be the head coach of a pee wee league team.

Came down from the top that we want the 8th pick rather than the 15th. Since Joe has no allegiance, he's much more apt to take the money.

Since we have no chance, I like it!

On the plus side. I think the WR corps is solid. The OL is a bit overpaid but still in the bottom of the upper half of the NFL. Taylor when healthy is a top 10 running back. The DL could be better, but they're not the problem. In fact, the entire D has been playing better lately. The biggest reasons for the Colts losing so often is

1. Poor QB play
2. Shitty play calling
3. Terrible in game coaching

I'm hoping they put Richardson back in and let him sink or swim. There's only a small window to when a quality QB can turn this team around. It's time to find out if Richardson can become that QB or do we get another young stud.

I agree with all of the above.

That’s only a small part of it. The bigger part was what the fuck did he think the Colts offense would do if they did get the ball back? The offense had a bad first half and had two turnovers and nearly 2-3 more. Yet it was a close game. If Buffalo was willing to take it into the half you fucking let them. The risk / reward here was way skewed even if they succeeded in getting the ball back. There is a difference between aggressive and stupid, and Steichen is fucking stupid.

o


That's exactly what I said in the "Colts' Defense" thread.

o

[QUOTE=nate505;311408]Hey Steichan/Ballard/Irsay

"Suckass Triumvirate" made me laugh.

I was responding to C&O in the other thread, but I'll bring it here, too.

That's another part of the calculus I left out. The Bills were 3rd & 2 at their own 27. The risk of giving up points, you would think, is pretty low.

But Josh Allen broke away from Dayo, tap danced away from Latu, and rolling to his right, launched a 44 yard rainbow. He made a fucking great play.

Where's the agency for these players? We always jump straight to Gus or Steichen or Ballard as if this is Madden and they're holding the controller. The players have to make plays and sometimes, the other teams' guy makes a fantastic one.

AR and the O were bad against the Dolphins and got a much needed FG with 0:22 left in the half.

Risk/reward? Like I mentioned, after they converted the 3rd & 2, they're still at their own 27. It's 3rd & 10 at their own 27 with 0:18 left and you think Steichen was too reckless?

Too much "pack-it-up."

You're hung up on the wrong part about the Dolphins game. It was the aggression I'm referencing.

0:22 seconds left, you wanted them to kneel it and go into halftime licking wounds I presume.

That's fine. I appreciate the aggression, just like I did when Frank was here. Miss me with the coaching scared shit.

Also... you know what was more to blame for BUF getting a FG right before halftime? A fucking 44 yard bomb on 3rd & 10 with 0:18 seconds left.

o


I'm not hung up. You referenced the Dolphins game, and I explained, in detail, why that was a totally different situation.

Calling a timeout with 1:21 left when the other team is already in field goal range is aggressive.

Calling a timeout with 33 seconds left when the other team has a 3rd-and 2 from their their own 19-yardline is stupid ...... aggressive and stupid are not mutually inclusive, though they do at times go together.

o

C&O brought it up in his response, but it was actually 3rd and 2 from their 19 when we called a TO. The Bills called a time out after they converted a first down from their 27. Then 2 incompletes. Then the 44 yard bomb on 3rd and 10. So the odds were even more in our favor that even if they converted after our TO that they wouldn't score.

If the D does their job and stops them then we call another time out and get the ball in good field position w/ ~30 seconds to go. Plenty of time to potentially get in FG range. The TO was maybe a bit on the aggressive side, but it was nowhere near the Caldwell special you guys seem to think it was.

o


There would not have been 30 seconds to go. There were 33 seconds left to play when the timeout was called, and it was 3rd down. The Bills would have run another play, then punted the ball if the Colts' defense had stopped them. By that time, there would have been maybe 10 to 12 seconds left to play if the Colts had called a fair catch, and even less time if they had tried to run the punt back. The Colts then would have had either the ball at about their own 30 yardline with perhaps 10 or 11 seconds to go if they had called for a fair catch on the punt, or maybe the ball at about their own 40 yardline with 5 or 6 seconds left to play if they had tried to run the punt back for some yardage......there was virtually no chance that the Colts were going to get the ball back after the Bills ran 2 more plays (the 3rd down play and the punt), and gotten themselves into field-goal range.


All of that said, the Colts' defense did shit the bed by allowing the 44-yard pass completion 2 plays after the timeout, so the entire fiasco was a joint-effort in incompetence by both the defense and the head coach.

o

Another indictment of Steichen. Game after game after game after game has he not seen, across 2 fucking seasons, that Gus Bradley is without question the DC you DO NOT want to put trust in a situation where the ONLY THING you have to guard against is a chunk play? I mean damn Shane, that is YOUR DC, you have seen exactly how he plays, you KNOW he is going to go into a deep shell there with the "keep it in front of you mindset"...

FUCK WHY DO WE DO SUCH STUPID SHIT!

Fair enough on the timing. I think there may have been a little more time left than that, but barring a big punt return or block/shanked punt you're probably right that we wouldn't have been able to get into FG position.

If we are going to lay blame though then it should be much more on the D than the TO call. Something like 90/10.

You're right, the second 3rd down was at the 27. I meant the first 3rd down at the 19.

https://nfl-video.com/buffalo-bills-...24-nfl-week-10

You can watch the replay at 1:06:17... The Colts called a TO with :37 left. They initially ran the clock down to :33, but then brought back to :37 for the 3rd and 2 from the 19 yard line.

On the play, Allen hits the RB in the hands at :34 and Moore chases him down to the sideline for the tackle, and BUF calls TO at :30.

If they defended that pass or he dropped it, there's :33 seconds left and you still have 2 TO's. Even if they ran the ball and we stopped it, it would be a similar amount of time left, but they'd have to use a TO. They'd still have roughly :32 or :33 seconds and one TO.

A punt and a fair catch takes like 7 seconds. BUF's kicker averages 48, let's say he kicks it 50...

We'd have the ball at our 31 yard line with about 25 seconds + 1 or maybe even 2 TO's. We would need roughly 27 yards to get into Gay's range. Absolutely doable.

That's the biggest part, but that's not even the full calculus. Colts are one of 4 teams in the NFL to block a punt in each of the past two season. Then there's the chance for a significant punt return on top of that. Those potential scenarios likely play some role in the decision.

At the very worst, if none of that ^^ has a chance because we don't stop them... the HC should be able to trust that the defense won't give up a 44 yard bomb on 3rd and 10 with :08 on the fucking clock.

o


Perhaps a more apt comparison would be when a young rookie by the name of ) Vince Young ) led a Tennessee Titans team to 6 straight wins and turned a disastrous 2-7 season into a team on the verge of a playoff berth with a record of 8-7 heading into the final game of the season.



Week 11 Nov 19 lllt W lllllll 31-13 llllll. at l) Philadelphia Eagles

Week 12 Nov 26 llllllW lllllll 24-21 lllllll vs l) New York Giants

Week 13 Dec 3 lllllll W lllllll 20-17 lllllll vs lll Indianapolis Colts

Week 14 Dec 10 lllll W lllllll 26-20 lllllll at lll Houston Texans (OT)

Week 15 Dec 17 lllll W lllllll 24-17 lllllll vs lll Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 16 Dec 24 lllll W lllllll 30-29 llllllt at llt Buffalo Bills


https://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/r...Teams/2006-ten

o

Ah yes, and then he went on to be the legendary Vince Young

o


And right now, we have no idea as to whether or not Anthony Richardson will have a "legendary" career, either ...... but we do know that it is possible for a talented, rookie quarterback to lead a team that had a disastrous start to a season to the brink of a playoff berth.

I'm not asserting that Richardson will do that, but there is a fairly recent precedent of it happening.

o

How many times was Bert Jones benched before he became the permanent Colts starting QB? Answer: Many.

How many times was Terry Bradshaw benched before he became the Steelers permanent starting QB? Answer: Even more than Jones.

It took PM 9 years to win a Super Bowl. I bitched about him as the entire Colts fan base bitched about him.

How about Jim Plunkett or John Elway. They both won two Super Bowls and had to basically wait their entire careers to do it.

I hate to quote Ballard, but I hate instant coffee!

The Plunkett story, never gets near enough oxygen, just incredible resilience.

Anthony Richardson

Talented? Yes
Quarterback? Yes
Talented Quarterback? Not yet anyway

I want to see more of this man, and see if he can develop into a Talented Quarterback. At 4 and 6, we've no shot for the playoffs without him, maybe, just maybe we can find out if he can be the future or just a physically talented bust.