Quick Thoughts - Week 4
 

-Defense was bad today. Very surprised how bad our Front-7 was. Noticed after Speed's bonehead penalty... they just didn't seem to have much fire. Very weird. 467yds.

-Offense did no favors early with the nothing drives.

-AR's spotty accuracy will be a concern until it's not. Flashed some great stuff and showed resolve/toughness, but also missed some big easy plays.

-Freeland got worked, which you expected. Not as bad as I thought, though, but still focused on.

-Run game was a grind. Thought AR gave too much on the RPO late in the game. Outside looked open on several.

-TEs finally started getting chunks on crossers in the 2nd half. Couldn't make up for the 1st half.

-Stafford threw a couple of indefensible balls. Will need to rewatch , but I thought Moore was making some plays, sans the OT TD.

-Good fight in the 2nd half. Way too many failures in the 1st.

-OT rules are fine. Make a fucking stop.

Yeah, that was really weird. It was like after Speed's dumbfuckery that they didn't want to be out there anymore.

Overall I'm happy. Not happy with the L but this year is about growth.

- Defense definitely had a poor first half but they shut them down in the second half.

- Speed's bonehead play was awful, but he's the 2nd best LB we have right now.

- If Leonard is not healthy, fine. Speed needs to get more snaps. If Leonard cannot find a way to return to form by the end of the season, Indianapolis needs to consider trading him or advising him he will need to compete for his job next training camp.

I'm not confident, at all, that Leonard makes the same play on the TE at the end of the game like Speed did to force the incompletion. Maybe I'm wrong.... Shaquille has yet to present an argument, though.

- Pass rush did not do enough at the end of regulation nor OT. They were close but close is not good enough and given Stafford was playing on one leg, it's just not good enough.

- Our backup DT's cannot help us in the run game. At the end of the day we need to win the division, so if saving our guys for this out of conference game is a necessary evil - so be it. Regardless, that interior line reminded me of 06 before the playoffs.

- Richardson looks good and his ability to extend the play is refreshing to watch. Outside of that fumble, I thought he was pretty good.

- One knock on Richardson. He is consistently high with his throws. I've heard so many people act like accuracy can be developed, and I don't know if I've ever actually seen it.

- Pierce is showing us flashes but he needs to be more consistent.

- Tight ends looked good today. Nice play from Mo and Ogletree especially.

- They need to get a W at home. This streak is absolutely unacceptable and they need to start taking that personally. Way to many people are in those stands investing time and money to watch us take L's and then see that there is real potential but it's only followed through on road games.

Big picture wise, I'm okay. It was a fun game to watch.

Yeah, the defense was bad today. Can’t give up 467 yards to a middling team missing some of their best players. That’s inexcusable.

We know the offense will be spotty. The defense can’t afford to be.

Definitely baptism by fire there.

my thoughts

1) richardson made some plays here where you just think this guy is going to be a problem for years. then he also didn't make simple throws that he has to make. kind of what we expected going into the season. his floor looks way higher than i thought it would be. if healthy, i assume he will be a problem for years to come.

really wish he would have used his legs more at the end of the game. but made plays with his arm that a lot of qb's just can't

2) leonard is done. the dude can't play anymore. we have to move on at the end of the year. it sucks. he was a special player but that is over.

3) ej speed is a moron. you can't fuck up that bad on 3rd down. you are a fucking idiot.

4) freeland looked bad at times. very bad. but he also settled in and had some good plays. overall i say he was competent. curious how he is with an offseason in the weight room

5) aaron donald is so good.

6) buckner runs our whole defense. he makes such a difference when he is out there it is night and day. dayo and ebukam were fine but everyone else was garbage. i guess grover made a few plays but overall bad. if we don't have buckner we are bad

7) hope flowers is ok. dude has been a nice player all year. brents seems like a solid pick.

8) safety play sucks. they just don't make plays

9) rb's didn't have much room but man do they just take forever to get moving. we need jt back bad.

10) alec pierce sucks. ogletree was good today. great to see him do well. MAC made a play. great play by AR there. i like our te's but hate our wr's. well i like downs and pittman but the rest are garbage.

11) 7 straight home losses now. that is disgusting

Good stuff.

My wife asked why I’m not more upset. I’m usually beyond pissed after a loss.

I told her this is about what I expected. They’re going to have games like this. This, to me, is about building for next year.

AR needs to get better at throwing the ball but I firmly believe the guy is destined to be great. He’s just so talented.

Also, I agree on Leonard. I was hoping he was just rusty but it’s been 4 games and he’s been completely invisible.

I’m afraid he’s done.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel for Leonard coming off surgery... but it's not trending well.

He was never the downhill, physical type of LB like Speed and Franklin (or Okereke when he was here). He was sideline-to-sideline, coverage, and turnovers. Some of that is Eberflus vs Bradley systems.

But he mostly just doesn't look mentally/physically back. Give him the year, but most likely dump the rest of that $40m or whatever is left on the contract.

- the O line was better than I thought they would be. They got better as the game progressed.

- the coaches need to run more play action with Richardson rolling out. Right now he is better on the move. He needs to learn how to be a pocket passer in time, I think its better to make him a moving target.

- thumbs up for the coaching staff adjusting the offense for the second half.