quick thoughts on the fucking bills
 

1) good to see a dominating performance for once. they haven't been around much the last 6 years.

2) Luck was great. although i might be in the minority and don't like that he played scared 3 times today. i absolutely believed he should have dived for the td. i understand people disagreeing here. that is fine. i just don't like changing how he plays that much.

3) we need a couple more darius leonards. the dude just changes plays. i was wrong about picking him too early. i still think we could have gotten him later but great pick.

4) god bless the running game. we need this. it is imperative that we continue to have a balanced offensive attack

5) turay has talent. he is hit or miss though. as a rookie, as long as he can make splash plays then i am happy. dude was shut out more than he should have been imo

6) i like the colts were game specific in coverage. they were running more man that normal from a first look. i like it.

7) hairston seemed to have gotten benched. i have no problem with that. too soft of coverage. how we actually play defense is interesting to me because it seems to change constantly.

8) we desperately need a dominant pass rusher.

9) smith has been fine at rt. but i still don't think this is our best 5. i hope that doesnt come back to haunt us.

10 ) running left is apparently successful. good to see some return on that investment over there.

11) hewitt plays too much.

12) swoope plays too little

13) 3rd and 2 and luck goes under center with no rb behind him. of course the defense stops it. just dumb

14) mitchell is good. give ballard credit here. the kid can play. he is way better than tj green dreamed of being.

15) glad the colts realized that hunt is a 3 tech. dude hasn't been playing de for awhile. doesnt give me confidence that they dont see this from the get go

Good game all around, start to finish, by about everyone.

Really two mistakes by Luck, on the same play, not getting the snap and fumbling and then almost giving up the TD by his half hearted attempt at recovering the ball.

Marlon Mack, looks awesome.

Pass D still weak over the middle. And gave up some big run plays too. But when the D gives up 5 points and two of those are once again due to the offense directly, hard to complain about the D.

I line played great today. Luck was barely even pressured. And when he was he was able to roll out or step up and away from the pressure.

Need to keep it up next week with another winnable game in Oakland.

After the bye week, stretch of games vs. division teams that determines if the season is played in contention or for draft position.

I am really pleased with how Mack has played the last 2 games. He is not bouncing outside every play and hitting between the Tackles with more conviction. He seems to be breaking more tackles than last year as well. I hope he can hold up to 20ish carries a game.

Maybe coaching? Nah.....

What the heck was up with Vinny?

Really happy with Ballard's draft so far. Nelson, Smith, Leonard, Turay, Hines, Wilkins have not disappointed.

Imagine if we can get anything out of Lewis and Cain.

Hurt groin.

Yeah, I agree. Pretty damn good draft. I have been a bit critical of Ballard for not spending some of the cap money on some free agents who could have helped this team. Maybe he tried, who knows? Sure like him and Reich a hell of a lot more than Griggs and Pags.

Good stuff, Omaha. Would just add...


1. Eyeball test says Quenton Nelson had a damn ballgame today. Saw him pulling a fair deal and at the second level a fair deal. Suggests a good game. Curious to review more.

2. Ryan Kelly continues to hand points to the other team. He had a good game otherwise, but it's pretty damn inexcusable for your center to just hand teams 9 points on the year (so far).

3. I don't think it really matters whether Hines is labeled a RB or WR, but long-term he probably should get more than a handful of RB carries per game in straight run sets. He just goes down so easily (which is the tradeoff for being a small and agile as he is).

4. ...but I'm all for Hines being used in run game misdirection, reverse game, etc. Frank Reich was feeling himself on some of those playcalls. Great to see!

5. Anthony Castonzo kicked Jerry Hughes' ass all day long. Beautiful.

6. Think it's clear TY Hilton isn't 100 percent. Still made a huge impact.

7. My only nitpicks from this game, besides Kelly...

* This team still can't run a successful screen to save their lives. Reich really needs to figure out why opponents read them so easily.

* Eberflus still takes it too easy on bad QBs. He eventually mixed things up and dialed up more pressure, and it's hard to really pick at the defense a ton today. But I thought early on, he gave Anderson some easy throws on third downs in particular.

* ...of course, some of that was because Nate Hairston has been ass for two weeks now. As Omaha noted, he was noticeably absent in the second half.

A healthy AC, Mack and TY makes this team so much more versatile. It's not a coincidence that the running game took off once AC and Mack returned.

Gotta love running over the left side. It reminds me of the '70s Raiders running behind Upshaw and Shell.

There were a lot of people criticizing the running game earlier in the year. Can’t really assess it until you have starting caliber players at tackle and RB.

I think it may mostly be having Costanzo back and the OL jelling, 2 games in a row with the same 5 (sad that seems like a thing). all 3 RBs had good days.

I loved the Pass block Wilkins had on a blitzing LB, just erased him. He looked much better this game.

We’re 2 games behind for the division lead and have scored the most points of any team in the South. Wow our division is dogshit.

Yes, it is. The Jags meltdown has been delicious, the tears of Jags fans tastes like the finest Caviar. FTJ!

Thank you for the analysis, it is appreciated. Quick question about this point: who do you think are the best 5? Good instead of Smith? And do you have any thoughts on Glowinski's performance thus far?

After today, the Colts have scored 4 more points than they have given up this season.

Only Mahomes (22) has more TD passes than Luck (20).

Brady did something today that was so Brady. The ball was on the 1. The RB (White) was in motion. Brady could have placed the ball right into his hands. However, he sort of tossed it forward, making it a passing TD instead of a rushing TD for the RB. The guy will do anything to make himself look better than he is.

I am as critical as anyone about Brady and his short passes with YAC yards adding to his stats, but lots of teams are running this type of play now. Technically a "pass" because its tossed forward, but its really a running play. Have seen it several times.

Its not a bad idea, really, because if its dropped, its not a fumble but an incomplete pass instead, no risk of fumble recovery.

If you want to really see what kind of "greatness" you get from Brady though look at his "game winning drive" from last week. They ran the ball and he threw a few screens, they are driving down the field, then he throws one long pass to Gronk, admittedly a great pass but Gronk was open, not a hard pass to complete. Then they kick a FG to win. He literally did nothing that half the QBs in the league could not do, but he is BRADY!!!! So its so great!!!

I always imagine we live in an alternate universe where somehow EVERYTHING has gone Tom Brady's way his whole career to make him seem WAY more valuable than he is to the team. Look at yesterday's game. The Bears COMPLETE A HAIL MARY, but are stopped short of the TD and still lose. Somewhere there is another universe where AV missed the Oakland kick, Brady never became the starter in NE, went back to selling insurance after 4 years as a career back up

[QUOTE=DrSpaceman;87460

I always imagine we live in an alternate universe where somehow EVERYTHING has gone Tom Brady's way his whole career to make him seem WAY more valuable than he is to the team. Look at yesterday's game. The Bears COMPLETE A HAIL MARY, but are stopped short of the TD and still lose. Somewhere there is another universe where AV missed the Oakland kick, Brady never became the starter in NE, went back to selling insurance after 4 years as a career back up[/QUOTE]

........and married his high school sweetheart instead of a super model

Gotta add that in this alternative universe since dick heads like Collingsworthless always tack that onto Brady's list of "accomplishments" when they are slobbering all over him.

Nice props from MMQB article:
Our rookie class is killing it!

IF Cain were heathly, he would have a legitimate shot at WR2 and fulll-time play time.

And IF Lewis were healthy, I have little doubt he would be given the opportunity to rotate in.

Both Franklin and Adams are playing a lot of ST snaps and filling in solid depth at LB; just what you want out of your 7th round draft picks.

Fourtain is the only let down so far as he has been unable to stay on the 53 even in the face of our weak WR corps. Perhaps he just needs another year of maturity but...

If Ballard would have had this scouting staff instead of Grigson's in 2017....

The future is so bright, Colts fans, we gotta triple up! :cool::cool::cool:

Walk Worthy,

As delighted as i am with the performance from the rookies, with a 6th overall and four 2nd round picks, you should be shot if there wasn't at least 3 guys contributing significant playing time.

Saying that....Nelson has been very impressive, Leonard has to be the front runner for defensive rookie of the year honours and then Smith has played very well the last 3 games at RT. Add in the large contributions from Hines and Wilkins and Turay plus the smaller body of work from Franklin and Adams, and this class is looking very promising indeed. When you consider that we still have Lewis and Cain to even see the field, this could go down as one of the greatest ever Colts drafts. 11 picks, 8 contributing from the outset, 2 injured and 1 on the practice squad.

It will get harder to hit those heights in the future once the Colts level of roster talent is brought up. There were so many open roster spots at the start of this year...someone had to fill them, thankfully, so far the rookies have manned them very successfully, long may that continue.

I love the signature

This game was really the top end of what to expect from the Colts if they play relatively mistake free and are relatively healthy. Still not fully healthy, I think TY is not 100% and seemed to be used more as a decoy today and Doyle being back would be a big plus.

Now it was a bad team for an opponent with a octogenarian back up QB starting who hadn't played in who knows how long, but they still looked good

And that is supposed to be a good Buffalo D, yet the offense still looked great.

Yes the fact the colts are still in the division race at 2-5 says more about the poor state of the division than the talent of the team.

And while I still am not horribly upset over the Texans loss that should have been a tie, that win for them, more than hurting the Colts, really seems to have provided them a boost for the season after starting 0-3, have won 4 in a row.

Did anyone notice that when they got pressure on him he folded like a cheap suitcase. Of course Mack has a gimpy ankle as soon as they play them. Guy has had protection all his career. I would love to see him switch places with Luck the last couple years. Most overrated and lucky QB ever.

You just don’t hit on that many picks. Statistically it’s near impossible. I think the average is 40%. Pretty impressive.

I think smith at guard and either Good or Clark at rt would be the best 5. Glowinski appears to be playing good enough.

I plan on watching the last 2 games on gamepass and watch these guys again. I have been impressed with how they have played with one watch.

Speaking of Good and Glowinski......I was looking up some bio info on Glowinski since I seem to have missed when Ballard signed him and I learned that in the off season he restructured both Good and Glowinski's contracts so we have both of them for the price of one......they both have the opportunity if they hit certain performance milestones to re-earn back the pay cuts they took. I don't remember seeing anything on this back in January but I like the approach....pay for performance. Maybe next season he was do the same with the receivers and get some of those drops dealt with.

I actually don’t like that in that scenario. They were making peanuts. We have all the cap space. No need to nickel and dime the back end like that. Unless I missed something about that scenario

The article I read didn't discuss the rationale for the restructure and I wondered about that since we are sitting on a pile of cash. The only thing I would surmise is going back to that timeline (Dec/Jan) we had several other oline prospects / planned adds and perhaps he had a fixed $$ / % of budget he was willing to put into the line but wanted as many shots on goal as he could get knowing some would wash out.......can't really think why else he'd do it.....you're right, there is plenty of money....

I'm guessing this is the article you're referring to:

https://coltswire.usatoday.com/2018/...nski-pay-cuts/

It sounds like the pay cuts were during the final cut down phase, and probably the result of negotiations over whether they'd make the team. Glowinski is earning $1.2 million, and Good $700k after the cuts. Plus, the article says they can earn back the difference in incentives. Glowinski probably will reach his given that he's been thrust into a starting role relatively early in the season.

Incidentally, I didn't realize Glowinski was a former Seahawks 4th rounder, and started a fair number of games for them. Here's some more background about him:

https://www.colts.com/news/colts-mar...at-right-guard

This is his fourth season, so if he plays well he can hit the open market and make more money next year (of course he hit the open market after he was cut by Seattle last December, and that's how the Colts got him).

Yes! That's the article. Thanks for doing my homework. :D. I know it's bad form to reference something and not share the link. I owe you one.

Don't even get me started. Collinsworth actually tries to bring up Brady (multiple times) in games that he's not even playing in.

Smoke and mirrors.

They both did indeed have base salary reduced, i.e. a "pay cut," but then that exact same amount of money was moved to "Likely to be Earned" incentives which basically means that if they stay on the roster, they will get paid.

I had not actually known about the contract changes until you mentioned it and I looked them up today because the reported contract numbers never changed. Teams have to included "Likely To Be Earned" incentive numbers in their contract numbers for salary cap purposes but do not have to include "Unlikely To Be Earned" incentive numbers.

My guess is that Ballard was unsure if either of them would stick on the roster over the course of the season and was looking for a way to recoup some money if they did not.

I agree that this seems unncessary but based on how Glowinski is playing, there is zero chance of him not being on the squad at the end of the season (unless he is on IR).

Good? That boy needs to get healthy and on the field.

Good find but, ultimatly, if both men play the season, they will probably get paid about the same as they would have.

Glowinski? He keep playing this way, he will be earning a veteran's starter contract at the end of the season.

Walk Worthy,

But he's the most overrated Colt ever, remember?

Well up until last week he was. One good game. Let’s see what happens.