A few thoughts on this game
 

I’m as unhappy as anyone with the loss.

Mary Poppins said that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, but I’m not sure that we don’t need a couple of cups to sugarcoat what went down yesterday.

I take some solace, though, in the fact that we’re not alone; once or twice a season, the inexplicable happens and upsets pop up like wildflowers in the desert after a spring rain. From Kansas City to Baltimore, from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, from Detroit to Pittsburgh, and points in between, a host of fans woke up this morning, scratching their heads, wondering what in the heck happened.

In Indianapolis, one simple explanation stands out… caught up in the holiday spirit, the referees gave an early Christmas present to the boys from Houston. How else to explain how they didn’t notice the clock ticking down to zero while they did notice a phantom pass interference? How else to explain a kick that missed the uprights but counted nonetheless

And speaking of missed extra points… from the moment he drove the ball wide of the goal posts, Badly’s missed kick hung over the game like a spectre that came back to haunt us in the end, like Marley‘s ghost in a Dickens’s tale. On the final series, if Houston’s lead had been three instead of four, they could have run Taylor up the gut on the final two plays, run out the clock, and sent Badgley out to send the game into overtime.

Among the Myriad factors that shaped the game, the first probably has to be the injury to Daniel Jones. The broken fibula robbed him of mobility, taking away the run pass option, the mobility that is such a big part of his game. A hobbled Jones couldn’t roll the pocket to escape pressure and probably showed up biggest at the pivotal moment when Tyler Warren was called in to execute what should’ve been a quarterback sneak.

Next up was the injury to Sauce Gardner. It’s possible, of course, the Houston’s receivers are just as productive if Gardner is on the field. I don’t believe that, but if you do, I have this Nigerian friend who needs help smuggling his fortune into the United States.

On the injury front, we come to the final leg of the trifecta….DeForest Buckner. In many ways, he’s the heart and soul of this defense. If he’s on the field, the run defense is stout, and he offers an interior pass rush that no one else on the team comes close to.

One injury probably doesn’t hurt, two stacks the deck against us, but three turns us into the Knight in “Monty Python And The Holy Grail,” hopping around on one leg, saying “Tis nothing but a nick.”

Other issues include the 3 or 4 dropped passes, one of which, to Downs, was critical.

Toss in a bunch of stupid penalties and the fact that you’re taking the field against an extremely talented Defense, loaded with talent at all three levels, and you had to feel at least a little trepidation going in.

o


I don't think that Badgley's miss hung over their heads that much.

I think that the biggest factor in the loss was Daniel Jones playing on a broken leg ...... when the #1 defense in the NFL knows that the opposing QB is playing on a broken leg, it's like throwing a bloody piece of meat into a pool full of sharks and wondering what they're going to do with it ...... somewhat amazingly, Jones played rather well in spite of these factors, especially taking into consideration the dropped passes by his receivers at key moments in the game. In fact, it was the 2nd consecutive game in which he committed 0 turnovers, with fumbling the ball being one of his weaknesses in the first 10 games of the season.


That said, I'm going to take the tough-love route and not blame the referees, not blame Michael Badgley's missed extra point early in the game, and not blame Daniel Jones' playing on a broken leg (although that was indeed a big factor) ...... I'm going to say that the Colts lost a very winnable game, period, end of story ...... good teams do that, they blame themselves without making excuses.

o

I can't help but feel that next weeks' game is like a playoff game. To me, the winner of the game will go on to win the division. The Jags are for real, the Colts need to prove that they are too. It's git'er done time.

Tyler Warren, get well and be a beast, Ward, don't just shut down the long pass, you need to shut down the 8 yarders too. Pass rush, find a way to pressure the long haired geek. JT, demand that the OL makes some holes for you, DJ, get pissy in the huddle and hold the receivers accountable. And finally, all you linebackers, try your best. :rolleyes:

Any time you miss an extra point, it skews the game. You’re always chasing that missed point. If the other guy scores a TD and a FG, you need 2 TD’s or a 2 point conversion.

In a 20 point blowout , it makes no difference. But, in a tight game, with the clock spinning down, you can’t simply maneuver into position for a FG. You have to have a touchdown.

Kickers who miss extra points don’t have much of a shelf life in the NFL. every point is valuable, and you don’t win by leaving them on the field.

I just heard Zack Hicks say we ran boot twice in the entire game. Once for a 33 yard screen to JT and once for a TD to Warren. They don't even want him sneaking, so our TE is taking snaps under center. Nevermind rollouts and RPO's.

Crashing the run game is not burning teams in the pass lately. And vice versa, easy open short stuff turning into solid-to-big gains from our skill guys is not backing off defenses for JT.

And then crossers are killing our man coverage. KC and HOU both did it. I'd love the rematch to have Buckner and Gardner back. But if Jones is limiting the playbook, things are more of a struggle.

It seemed like the slant was wide open all day for Stroud. I’m not sure he ever had an incompletion throwing a slant.

Anarumo has got to fix this issue. No pressure on the QB and long developing crossing patterns will kill any defense that isd playing m2m. I don't care if the CB is Deion Sanders or Darrelle Revis, the can't cover the WR all the way across the field. Blitz in m2m, bump the slot guy and trust Bynum to pick the right side over the top.

This issue on defense and the OL not playing up to their standards are the biggest underlying issues that are keeping this team from performing at high level.

o


The Colts never chased those points in this game, they kicked the extra point after the touchdown that they scored, which was the right thing to do. This game was hardly skewed due to that miss. The Colts failed in crunch-time, and that's why they lost. They were in a position to win for the entire game, they never trailed by more than 7 points, and they didn't come through

o

Steichen is going to have to start taking the points and stop going for it, no matter what the analytics say, because this team just fails to execute on 4th down over and over.

At the end of the game, they were forced to keep pushing for a TD rather than simply running the ball behind Taylor, bleeding the clock, and setting up a FG attempt.