quick thoughts on the texicans
 

1) 10 points in the 1st half. this may be an odd complaint but the offense just seemed schizophrenic. bombs downfield were hitting but nothing else was. the touches for taylor in the 1st half was inexcusable. he is too much of a weapon to be used so little.

2) god damn it was good to see ty back. and see him produce. reich needs to use him more. he has always sat him too many snaps. only pittman should out snap ty

3) great route and catch by campbell. now just move on. the guy just isn't it.

4) pittman didn't do too much today but that kid is good. just a dog out there. blocking to the whistle and making key catches. i think he has a bright future.

5) bro. fisher is garbage. when people talk about playing nelson at lt i usually just tell them to shut up. well now i'm listening because fisher is garbage. run blocking he is fine. fuck dude. he was bad.

6) pryor has been a godsend at rt. so much better than davenport. hopefully smith is finally back this week so neither has to play.

7) so rhodes is garbage again. great in run support but he can be thrown on all day.

8) willis and blackmon were playing noticeably faster today. great to see.

9) leonard is relying on instincts and making plays. poor dude looks slow as fuck out there. his ankle has to be killing him. props to him for suiting up but he is struggling.

10) pretty much zero edge pressure. there is no hope for these guys but maybe paye. paye looks like he has something to work with but he is no freeney as a rookie. and i know that isn't expected but he just isn't close to that.

11) lewis is serviceable and will make the occasional play but he won't get a 2nd deal. this defense can't rush the passer. no coach can be successful with that. banogu sucks. turay isn't good and lewis is a guy. ballard fucked this team with these picks.

12) this defense sucks. as a whole. they make shit qb's look great. always. its players and coaches. the whole unit needs overhauled.

13) okereke needs to sit down. he has been terrible.

14) oh yeah wentz. he is what he is. this is pretty much his ceiling. takes dumb sacks. will probably fumble but has the arm talent to do really good things. in other words. we need a new qb but can win games with wentz

1. Is really concerning to me. I mean, it happens once and you could chalk it up to a stupid mistake or a wonky game situation. But repeatedly not giving your best player on offense the ball when all he does is hit home runs when you do is a MAJOR red flag. Just inexcusable. Taylor should have gotten the ball on at least half of the first 20 plays. If he had, it might have been a blowout at the half instead of a 7 point game.

2. Agreed. So damn good to see 13 back out there.

3. Campbell is just not good at football and injury prone to boot. He’s big and fast and strong but he just can’t play. Move on.

5. I’m not worried about Fisher. He’s not been good so far but he’s been a pro bowler in the league and he didn’t just forget how to play. Give him time.

6. The fact that the announcers never mention the right tackle means Pryor is doing just fine.

9. Darius is amazing. Best player we have except maybe Buckner. It’s hard to believe some people were saying he’s not a leader. *cough cough*

10. Lack of a pass rush, combined with Eberflus’s high school coverages, will limit how far this team can go.

12. See #10.

14. I don’t think Wentz has hit his ceiling yet. His issue will always be a tendency to hold the ball to long and generally poor pocket awareness. How much Reich can cure him of that will determine how good he can be.

being a playmaker doesn't make you a leader. i still think the colts have a major leadership issue. leonard isn't it imo.

announcers are dipshits. them mentioning players is irrelevant.

Agree. Leonard just seems too goofy and playful and thats not even getting into the vaccine stuff. Feels like buckner should be the guy to step up and take the leadership reigns. I seems to remember walker was a locker room leader but could be wrong.

Staggering, and unforgivable, that JT hasn't carried the ball more than 17 times (vs Seahags) in a game this season.

What is it with you guys and this weird obsession with claiming Leonard isn’t a leader? The dude has been voted captain by his teammates for the last 3 years. They obviously consider him a leader.

Is it the vaccine stuff? Whatever it is, it’s dumb.

Regardless of what Omaha thinks from his couch, the team considers him one of their leaders.

It's a long season. Maybe once the OL gets as healthy as will get, he can run the ball more.

Fischer isnt at 100 %. He is the best option at LT. Bad as it was, it was an improvement.

I agree in principle that Taylor should get the ball more often. But the pass was there. The Texans were crowding the line and were dedicated to stop the run.

As bad as Fisher was at left tackle, it was an improvement overall. The man never got on the field during preseason, what little there was, and I’m not sure he’s completely healed. And he was still better than the people who were brought in in the off-season.

As to the defense, they gave up 3 points .

Wentz was not perfect. And yes, he needs to make some decisions a little quicker. But take out the drop passes, he had a really really good game. And he has an arm to srtike deep. The colts kept going deep, which force the Texans to honor the pass which then in the second half opened up the running game.

Taylor is not a secret anymore. So in order to get him running room, the wide receivers and tight ends need to make plays force of the defence to honor the pass.

Is it me or did Hilton make first down on every catch? Getting him back is huge.

It was a very important win! With TY back this team is far from dead! Texans are a complete mess of a team, I feel bad for their fans!

Being labeled a “leader” doesn’t make you one.

WTF are you talking about? Being voted a captain by his teammates means Leonard is considered a leader among those teammates. That’s literally what being captain means. It doesn’t matter what you think.

Why are you being so dumb about this?

Add that to a long list.

No shit. If anyone else what being this weirdly obtuse about something so dumb, Omaha would call them racist for it.

My thoughts:

Passing offense: this was good. I'm not as skeptical about Wentz as Omaha. I think he has been consistently getting better the more time he spends with this team. The foot thing and loss of pre-season for him was a real hurdle. I only expect him to keep getting better. I agree TY is off the field too much. Reich may be convinced that taller receivers are the better option but Hilton's quickness and route running prove that to be false.

Running offense: continues to be great, but again, wtf Reich? Not enough run attempts in the first half, and most went to Hines? I like Hines but he is a situational back, and right now Mack is a bit hesitant, he's not seeing the blocks, he's going to need more reps for that to get better but that's no reason to take snaps away from Taylor. Use Mack for clean up duty until he's got his timing back.

Passing defense: just awful. Without consistent pass rush, this zone gets eaten up all day long. The only good thing is that the "bend don't break" approach works well enough against inexperienced QBs like Mills. In the red zone where the field, and defensive zone, compresses, its harder to throw the ball. But this defense is still banged up badly, and needs at least 1 new starter-level CB. And pass rushers. I'd like to see Turay and Paye get on the field at the same time, but neither have stayed healthy long enough for that to happen, not much anyway. I'm hoping Odeyingbo is actually good.

Rushing defense: Still isn't good enough but it's better than it was in the first 2 weeks. I think letting Autry and Walker go was a mistake. But that in and of itself shouldn't have been a difference maker. The combo of Buckner and Stewart in the middle should be harder to run against than it is. But I guess more the issue is setting the edge on outside runs, this fails too often.

I think I may agree with Omaha about Leonard as a leader. He's a playmaker but too emotional and immature to be a leader.

Special teams: no particular issues, at least that guy made his kicks last night. If we could have made kicks we beat the Ravens and that really cost us.

Part of that narrative is coming from Leonard himself - at least describing people's roles in the locker room prior to this season.

This past offseason Leonard talked about needing to take on a bigger leadership role this season due to Anthony Walker's departure.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ole-for-colts/

o


Leadership camp ??? Isn't that where Hitler went ???


George Carlin, 2008



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XsJHTjGh9Y

o

So nobody was ever appointed something and then failed? Is that what you are going with?

What makes you assume he is a great leader?

I don’t know if he’s a great leader or not. Neither do you.

I do know his teammates think he is. That’s more than enough for me.

Why isn’t it for you? What do you have against Leonard?

What, specifically, makes you assume he isn’t a good leader?

Fischer is doing great for a dude who is less than a year out from an achilles rupture. Jesus the guy is back way sooner than most thought, is giving it his all but obviously isn't completely healed. He will be a lot better at the end of the year. Now if we can just make the playoffs and somehow find a pass rush.

C&O appreciate the Carlin references. Loved how his mind worked, especially his early stuff

1) I agree that three touches in the first half are about seven too few, but think a few things are going on here. A- It's a 17-game season and Reich and company are trying to keep Taylor healthy and not overworked for the long term, as they know he is the biggest playmaker on the team, and B- The passing game (as mentioned) was hitting the deep ball against a stacked line. And C- The damn defense, which did only give up three points, couldn't get off the field and Indy only had what, four non-kneeling possessions in the first half, and only 24 plays? That's not all Reich's fault.

2) Great to see TY back, yes. That said, he is JUST coming back, and the past few years he has been dinged up, if not outright injured more than not. Keeping him on a snap count for the next few games seems like a sound plan, because he, like Taylor, could really help the team in the last 1/4 of the season. If he is on the field.

3) That catch was exactly what Campbell is on the team for. If he misses a game or two and comes back this year, then he is a big asset. If he is now out for the season, then it's time to let him go.

4) Pittman should get a minimum of eight targets a game. He's also the total package. Reggie Wayne 2.0 (and bigger).

5) Fischer is the best LT on the team. That's not saying a lot, but he is the best they have. He'll also look a lot better with Nelson beside him. Also, penalties or not, Wentz has been on his ass or running for his life a lot less these past three weeks.

6) Didn't even know he was in there. That's probably a good thing for an o-lineman. But yeah, it'll be good to get Smith back. Then there will be a solid backup at tackle, and at guard (Reed).

7) I think it's the scheme, not Rhodes. Time to get a new d-coordinator. In other news, water is still wet.

8) The safeties were SO much better, agreed.

9) The bye week can not get here soon enough. Either that or sit him for the upcoming Jax and Jets games to get that ankle better. A 100% healthy Maniac is the best in the league. Right now? Some of those wide-open TE routes are his fault.

10) Freeney took several games before he made an impact as a rookie. Paye won't be him, but hopefully he'll come on now that he has three games under his belt.

11) The only one I hate is Banogu. Lewis and Turay are...meh. But yeah, no pass rush makes everything look awful. Can't get that other rookie DE healthy soon enough.

12) Safeties and DT are okay. Linebackers, if Leonard were healthy would be good enough. CB and DE need to step it up, or that's all Ballard should draft next year.

13) Okereke has not been as bad as all that. Walker was just better than we realized.

14) Wentz has been far, far, far better than I expected, and he really had no pre-season to speak of, and has been injured, so he hasn't touched his ceiling yet. He'll finish the year in the top-10 in the league and should be in the running for comeback player of the year.

So yeah, I don't agree with a lot of what you posted Omaha. But what the hell do I know, seriously. I'm just glad they got the win.

Now, on to San Francisco.

Why do we still not have a pass rush? Have we drafted a good one since Mathis in 2003? Does it take other teams 18+ years to solve this problem?

I enjoyed the half of the game that I saw. I should probably avoid laying on the couch prior to game time. Also avoid watching the Jags or Dolphins. No wonder I fell asleep.

Jerry Hughes has had a decent career but he didn’t do shit while he was here.

o


Speaking of Freeney, Mathis, and an effective Colts pass rush, I will always first and foremost think of this moment when I hear their names together ...... with the Colts trailing by a score of 6-3 in the 4th quarter, Freeney stripped the quarterback of the ball and Mathis picked it up and ran it into the end-zone for a touchdown. Fast-forward to 1:19:25 of the video to see the play:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIo5wZGQx9g


That 4th-quarter TD wound up being the game-winner, as the final score of the contest was 10-6.

o

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In that game, Manning threw for 125 yards passing with 0 TD's and 2 INT's.

Addai and Rhodes ran for 92 yards combined on 26 carries, giving the Colts' offense a grand total of 217 yards from scrimmage.



http://www.jt-sw.com/football/boxes/...008-13-ind-cle

o

Great game time to get this train rolling let’s fuckin go!!!

It’s generally hard to find them. That’s why if you get in the top ten it’s usually one of the safest positions to draft, or LT. Takkarist McKinley busted in Atlanta, but i think he is one of the highest rated rushers this year for Cleveland. It’s kinda like QBs. You keep looking till you find one.

We really should have gone after one in FA. It will hold this team back again this year.

I 100% agree.

Too soon to give up on Paye, and we still haven’t seen dayo

Some good points Omaha.

I disagree on Wentz, Fisher, Campbell and Leonard.

Wentz is playing some damn good football. He's at a minimum a top 10 QB right now. He's the best QB in our division. Plus, who are you going to get right now that is better than him. He's progressing quite well.

Fisher will get better and better. Hell, he's been injured and is roughing it out.

Leonard leads by example, playing hurt and taking the fucking ball away every damn week. We will have to agree to disagree on him being a leader.

As far as Campbell goes, no reason to let him go right now. Makes no sense to just move on right now.