Quick thoughts on Colts-Eagles
 

1. Where did Frank Reich go? He was so bold and innovative in first 2 weeks, to where you could live with some drive stalls. He coached scared today. Had 3rd down playcalls where no route went beyond the sticks. Didn't even conceive an intermediate route until the Colts' final failed scoring drive with Luck. I don't get it. Frank Reich coached like Nathan Peterman was playing QB.

2. Andrew Luck scared me a bit today for the first time. It was rainy, true, but he looked to lack zip several times. Underthrew Hilton again (twice). Couldn't throw that final Hail Mary. There is some real cause for concern there. Beyond that, though, Luck just didn't play very well. Very inaccurate, albeit neutered by Reich.

3. More Nyheim Hines. I don't care if he's under center or at a receiver spot; he just makes good things happen. No slight on Jordan Wilkins, but it always seems like this offense picks up when Hines is involved.

4. I don't really see what Chester Rogers beyond WR5 abilities. Ready for Marcus Johnson to get his snaps, to be honest.

5. Ryan Grant continues to outplay expectations and was very good today.

6. Detroit Eric Ebron finally showed up. It concerns me that he basically quit on a route (incidentally, Luck's strongest throw of the day...)

7. It still doesn't really matter that you draft Quenton Nelson when Le'Raven Clark is your starting LT.

8. I have nothing but love for this defense. They were confused and unprepared the first drive, and undisciplined and tired on their final scoring drive allowed. Beyond that, they were the reason the Colts were in this game and should have won. They GIFTED the offense scoring opportunities multiple times, and the offense shit all over them ... by doing things like throwing a no-chance, give-up HB swing pass on 3rd-and-5...

9. Last note on offense: why not run on the final 3rd down if it's 4-down territory anyway? Why PA fake on 4th down? Again, Reich struggled with playcalling today.

10. Margus Hunt and Darius Leonard continue to perform at an unreal level. Hunt legitimately looks like a top, game-wrecking DE. I am in awe and cannot emphasize that enough. He is clowning good OL on a weekly basis. And Leonard, well, I might actually argue that he struggled a fair bit today and still found his way into double-digit tackles and 2 sacks. He can't help but make plays. Damn good kid.

11. Pierre Desir is by far the Colts' best corner. I thought the other Colts corners -- especially Nate Hairston -- struggled today, though of course played admirably.

12. Anthony Walker continues to impressive me. I think the Colts do need to upgrade at SAM next season though. Najee Goode isn't very good and Zaire Franklin doesn't pop to me at all.

13. I'm a bit concerned that this defensive design hides Malik Hooker too much. I think it's tough to have a free ranging safety playing 30 yards off the ball when your corners play 10 yards off the ball. Too much is easily wide open underneath for Hooker to really come into play but once a game. Think Eberflus needs to figure out how to use the kid a little better.

14. But part of that, too, means Hooker has to tackle much better when he makes a play underneath. He still throws his body around on tackles. Cost the Colts a first down today.

15. Special teams coverage was terrific today, though I would hope Chris Milton could outmuscle Corey Clement for that one fumble.

16. I'm encouraged that we're pissed that the Colts didn't beat the defending SB champs. But I have my concerns too. Luck is chief among them right now. We'll see how that plays out going forward...

How much of the play calling was on Luck? He did change a lot of calls at the LOS

Agree on Reich. But still some glimmers of thoughtfulness - would Pagano still have a three timeouts there at the end? And would the Pagano regime have thought to bring in Brissett for the last throw?

This team is good enough to be in the playoffs THIS year.

Luck's arm is fine. He made several medium-to-deep throws that had plenty on them.

I wonder more if Reich just doesn't trust the o-line with Clark/Haeg/Good in there against the Eagles line, and that's why he is being so conservative.

Defense made some mistakes that young players make, but Hunt and Leonard are badasses and fun to watch.

The refs sucked

Do we need to commit a penalty on every special teams return???

Nobody is ever going to know the answer to this. No matter how many times you ask it.

It's a fair question. Luck was pretty bad today. Question is how much was the rain and how much was Reich setting him up to average 4 yards per pass.

In addition to not having trust in the line, the weather also certainly resulted in Reich not calling much downfield. That said, I still hated it. Was dreadful.

Nice point on the D, GBB88. They were on the field for 40 minutes today, yet we still nearly beat the Super Bowl champs on the road.

I'm pissed after that loss, but before the season kicked off I never thought we'd be better than 1-2 after three weeks.

To think we quite easily could have been 3-0.....

Yeah, regarding the downfield stuff.....it's just hard to say if Reich designs so much stuff underneath because he doesn't truck Luck, the OL or both. That's the question we'll need to learn the answer to.

I'm certainly not concerned he wasn't in for the last play. We know Luck's uncorked some perfect 50-plus yard throws in training.

Hunt may be the biggest surprise to me since Pierre Garcons breakout season.

From a Zak Keefer tweet.

Me: You ever been called for holding in your career?

Jabaal Sheard: No.

Ever heard of any defensive end being called for holding?

Sheard: No

Bummed we lost but incredibly encouraged. Defense much better than I had hoped. I got the feeling that Reich is going to do everything he can to keep Luck healthy. Costanzo in there and I believe we see more aggression. Or maybe Reich is just a rookie head coach and is learning. This team should improve as the season goes on and that should make us all happy.

I really think his main concern is to do whatever he needs to get Luck's feet underneath him again. You don't just comeback the same after missing an entire year with a major arm injury. If that means safe play calling so he doesn't killed then so be it.

It is going to take Luck some time to get back to normal. Dude missed a year and didn’t do a full workload in camp imo.

IMO Ballard made the decision in the off season they weren’t pushing to win much this season. Whether you agree with that decision or not, once that decision is made you follow through accordingly. So I’d say protecting Luck 3 games in is at least consistent with that. Especially considering they were missing their LT and best blocking TE on the road against one of the better defensive lines in the league. It was frustrating as hell, but I suppose understandable in the long term scheme of things.

As far as concern for his arm, I only remember one throw to TY that I thought specifically lacked zip. A couples others looked like he was late with the decision more than he lacked zip. But admittedly that was based on the TV coverage and angles and I could be wrong.

I will say this team has left me so empty for so long, I actually scared myself when Wentz got out of that sack on 3rd-and-8 or whatever on the forever drive and threw the first down and I yelled GOD FUCKIN DAMMIT at the TV.

It's been YEARS since I cared enough to yell at the TV.

I actually thought that was a legit call. More annoyed by Eagles being offsides on one Colts "false start" and some defensive contact calls than I was by that. It was the rare time I think you call that.

I said something very similar. Although I also punched the couch.

Agreed. It was a hold and it had an affect on the outcome of the play. Hard to argue against them calling that one IMO.

he was engaged with at least two blockers and gets called for holding.....smh!

I gotta see the tape again because I didn't see any hold. When you're rushing the QB and engaged with at least two blockers how does he hold?

He was holding, so the inside guy could loop around and have a free run at the QB. He needs to be sneaker. May be why the Pats let him go, hes bad at cheating

I really didn't think defensive holding existed outside of grabbing eligible receivers 5 yards down field. I really don't get the call.

nose tackles do it all the time to get the lbers free. 5 techs would do it to get the olber free on a stunt. it happens a lot but never gets called.

i will add a few thoughts here.

1) some head scratching playcalling. fade to ty? really. play action pass attempt on 4th and 3 or whatever it was?

2) haeg was getting destroyed. all the olinemen were getting destroyed. i am really not looking forward to watching those guys again. for all the attempts to toughen the lines up, they sure do play like pussies at times.

3) still can't run the ball well enough.

4) margus hunt needs to stay as the starter at 3 tech. no need to put him back at de.

5) sheard has stepped up his game.

6) walker and leonard i am ok with. upgrading the mlber position is less of a worry for me

7) grant is playing pretty good but is he really the best we can do at #2?

8) we need playmakers on the offense. not guys that drop passes.

9) hooker did something today which was nice to see. he also looked to be more active in run support. i still think he plays too far back at times. when he is a single high, easy passes to the only guy in the vicinity should not happen. i know he has a talent, just not sure we are using him to the best of it.

10) absolutely have to get more creative with the backs. we rarely get guys in space.

11) for the love of god please just let Luck throw a bomb a quarter. i don't give a shit if it is incomplete. we have to get those lbers off the ball. and can we please somehow find out how to execute draws and screens to give these dlinemen something to think about.

Yup....thanks, finally saw it.

The combination of the Eagles D, the poor OL, made worse by another tackle being injured early in the game, and the rain is the reason for all the short stuff today

Notice the Eagles did not go deep much either. A few times. Good play by Hooker to knock the one down

Once again disappointed in the outcome, but its all about the future. And the team has a much brighter future now than a year ago.

If Doyle and/or Castonzo play this game I think the Colts win

The red zone offense is KILLING this team. Two great opportunities on turnovers and the offense can't convert. And its a little bit of everyone that causes that. Poor play calls. Luck a few times again just gets keyed in on the main WR and telegraphs it. Two drops in the end zone. Luck should have run the ball for a first down on one of them. Agree its not a great play to do a fade to a small WR. Even on the 4th down play, not only not getting it, but LOSING so much yardage was a killer. Even if the don't get that TD with a little over a minute left, if nothing else you have 3 timeouts and can have them pinned deep, force a punt and a short field instead of a 90 yard field.

The penalties. Those sucked on both sides I thought, but the defensive holding call????? What in the hell. I have never seen that called in an NFL game

Eberflus is at least finding a way to get pressure on the QB. The run game of Philly killed us though. Many times should have had them stopped and the back slips through for 4 times more yardage than they should have got.

Still a young team and new head coaches.

A year ago, the Colts are not even IN that game with Philly. Its over before it started. This year, they put up a good fight, really could have and should have one

I went into the season though with zero expectations, so a few losses like this early I expected.

I think Houston is a very winnable game next week. Still in the tick of things in a very even division

Oh this one pissed me off too!

On the play where Rogers I believe actually made a great catch in the end zone, though they called it incomplete, the DE for the Eagles was OBVIOUSLY offsides, that was why the tackle ended up holding, because he jumped a second early. They don't call that but then call a hold when trying to stop him with the early jump

Oh and the Luck thing him not being there in the end, ridiculous

that was actually smart. Its a hail mary, not like its some skill from the QB, just throw it as far as you can. Either can do it. Brissett actually overshot it a bit

You take the chance Luck doing that reinjures the shoulder by trying to overdo it on the throw. Not worth it for a 1/100 or so shot

But now what will we hear on all the national shows tomorrow? Not how good the colts actually look, like a decent team, but "Is Luck still injured? Will he ever be back to 100%? ....."Blah, blah, blah, by people who probably did not watch the game

Yeah that was BS. Refs were too visible today National Refball league. But they are in every game too much right now.

I think everyone is bummed we didn't win this one. But it has been pointed out by other people, Luck is going to take some time. As you saw Wentz today, it takes time to come back, not just physically, but mentally. Luck has been out awhile.

Also we have a rookie head coach. We see a lot of good, but there will be some bad as well. We know he is already better than Pagano, but this will take time as well. Lots of learning and experience to be gained.

We were hanging with the defending champs, on their field, after they just got beat. They were killing us earlier in the game, yet we still hung with them and really could have won. Those are very good positives.

Finally, until our tackles get healthy, we are not going to see really long pass plays. They are a liability out there.

He was engaged with three blockers and had him just under the pads in his chest. Considering most oline hold almost every play I think it's funny. You get a clear picture of it bc the OL started flailing.

Agree with all of this.

I think you are seeing the worth of Anthony Castonzo here in the first 3 games of the season. If he were healthy and playing, I think both CIN and PHI are much closer to wins instead of losses. Adding one top end player and letting everyone else "slide" down a position on the depth chart helps in so many ways.

I am really looking forward to seeing this team in the 2nd half of the season once the O-Line gels a bit and everyone gets more comfortable with the systems installed. We are a young team and growing and have been playing exciting football so far.

A couple of other thoughts:

- Bell. Nope. Yeah, he is an offensive weapon and could jump start our offensive system pretty easily but I don't want him at the cost it would take.

- Mack. Different story; could you imagine what our pass rush would have looked like yesterday with Mack as the top end guy? We already had 5 sacks and like a dozen pressures and knock downs. Put Mack in and all that protection slides down a person and all of a sudden, Sheard is getting single blocked on that "holding" play and is beating his man 1v1 instead of getting double teamed. I would have hated paying the price but, man, he is a guy who is worth it.

- I think Reich psyched himself out on this one. He was so convinced that the Eagles defense would destroy us that he put in a "scared" gameplan. A more aggressive gameplan might not have worked but the one we had obviously did not. Young HC; he will improve.

- Defense? Man, I am so excited by there guys. Yes, lots of missed tackles and I don't know how many times I saw multiple Colts helmets RIGHT THERE on one of their RBs at the LOS to see him run for 12 yards. They were RIGHT THERE!! I am really looking forward to seeing this defense in the 2nd half of the season.

- HOU is a mess right now and we should be able to beat them. NE is a mess right now but they always seem to have our number. I could see us be 3-2 after the next two weeks.

Keep freaking, Freaks! This is going to be an exciting ride this season.

Walk Worthy,

One thing I forgot to add and lost in the excitement and emotion of yesterday: the game started out really bad. The first quarter felt like a quarter from last year, where it just felt like the offense literally did not move and the defense ceded a ton of ground. Didn't feel like anything positive happened.

Then, obviously, things flipped. Largely thanks to the defense.

I only mention this because this "lost quarter" (for lack of a better word) reminded me 1) how miserable last year was, and the end of the Pagano era was in general and 2) how recognizing this was happening was also a reminder that it was the exception to the rule now and it's fun to watch this team again.

We can complain about the refs, but there were some inexcusable penalties that we committed, lining up in the neutral zone, not once but TWICE!! This was not jumping offside, this was, i can't see where the ball has been placed and i will not lineup on the defensive side of the ball.

Sheard was holding, i have no issue with the penalty being called on us, even though i was pissed at the fact, it was the right call.

Hairston's illegal contact call, was another stupid play it was 2nd or 3rd and 26 or something like that.....let him make the catch if you want, don't get called for a penalty that will give an automatic first down.

The Chester Rogers drop in the endzone was not great, and Luck could easily have run for the first down, but it was a pretty poor throw, Rogers was WIDE open. The Luck throw to Hilton on the right sideline that was almost picked, was another truly dreadful pass. He was also wide open and floated the ball to him giving the safety the chance to come over, and he ought to have picked the ball off.

Our interior OL, which people have been saying has been good at run blocking, was generally abysmal today. I accept that the Eagles DL is the best against the run, but you do have to have some success. Our RB's ran a total of 11 times for 37 yards, which is less than stellar, but you do need to actually stick to the run game, especially with the weather conditions that this game was played in. I thought that the offensive gameplan throughout was really poor. We kept leaving ourselves in 3rd and long situations, which is something that we were not doing the first two game of the season.

The defense actually had another really good game overall. The offense can not leave them out there for 40 minutes though.

I don't think that we can have a worse offensive game again though, so should be looking up for the rest of the season.

The Eagles have Fletcher Cox and Haloti Ngata as DTs. The only team in the NFL that can compete with that is the Rams who have Donald and Suh.

I was at the game yesterday and my takeaways......

1. It was good to see Marvin Harrison on the sideline wearing the horseshoe but better still would be having him on the field instead of Rodgers
2. This defense is ahead of schedule and is fun to watch.
3. Luck has rust and hopefully he will feel more comfortable in another game or so. He had time......his decision making is still a bit off
4. Thank god for my Colts rain slicker. It rained the entire f-ing game
5. Eagles fans are as rude as reported.
6. This game was a missed opportunity.......we could have had it.
7. My streak of 15 straight road wins is now broken. I'm going to the Jets game in October and will hope to start a new streak.

Go Colts. 💙🏈

It's amazing what one player who appears to be a star (Leonard) and another who's playing like one (Hunt) can do for a defense.

The defense has been nothing short of a joy to watch. Especially Leonard. That dude is EVERYWHERE.

Curious as to why there's been no mention of Kemoko Turay, as he had 1.5 sacks against the Eagles. Any thoughts on his performance?