Thanks to GBB for starting this thread. Bro, your analysis posted so soon after every game is one of my favorite things to consume after a game, and one of the biggest reasons I keep coming back to this forum season after season.
My (MD prescribed) Adderall is kicking in and I'm feeling chatty, so I'm going to do something uncharacteristic and write up my own thoughts about the game today. I have no idea if I'll ever do this again.
Game ball goes to the whole O-line today. Whether running or passing, they completely exerted their will against a talented defense and just dominated the line of scrimmage all day long. There's so much talent on that line and they've gelled into such a cohesive unit that it's just remarkable to watch. I do have some concerns about depth at center, because there's a big drop-off behind Ryan Kelly, but Boehm seemed to handle himself pretty well last week against Houston after being completely unprepared vs. Jax the previous week. There's a lot of toughness in that group.
Credit goes to Dave Deguglielmo for recognizing how to arrange the depth here and keep their technique sharp this late into the season, but I don't think you can overstate the impact a player like Nelson has had on the overall attitude and performance of this line. His influence has pushed them all to be better, causing a lot of these guys to play beyond what I ever considered to be their potential. You can see the pride in their workman-like performance in both phases of the offense. When the Colts go max protect, you just aren't getting to Luck. Period. If anyone does break a block and come through, Luck just scampers away through a massive hole and runs or throws for a 1st down.
The biggest difference I saw in Marlon Mack today was his patience. He consistently waited for blocks to develop upfield and just laddered his way into the secondary on repeated plays. He also seemed sharper today, breaking contact and evading tackles when, over much of the season, he's really needed to get out of the backfield unimpeded for any hope of going for more than 3 yards. Honestly, watching Mack run against Dallas today reminded me of how teams used to run on us during the Dungy era. A small and fast defense is great up until they encounter a big, mean offense with some discipline. When Mack is at his best, he reminds me most of Darren Sproles. I hate Darren Sproles, but I love when Mack looks like Darren Sproles.
Nyeim Hines once again shows what a good addition to this offense he is for catching passes out of the backfield and making plays with his legs. His hands are better than I ever expected. If he keeps this up, he could really become a guy other teams need to plan for, which will only open up further opportunities for T.Y. and Ebron.
Speaking of Eric Ebron, Mr. Longsleeves had a tough game today. That first drop was entirely on him, and basically killed what was shaping up to be a scoring drive. After that drop, we ended up penalized into a 2nd and 30, from which there was basically nothing that could regain momentum. I agree with whoever said the 2nd incompletion was just a great play by the defender. Outside of 1 or 2 other catches, he was pretty quiet. I'd need to rewatch to be sure, but I think Dallas really schemed to try to take him out of the game and were mostly successful. If the Dallas offense had been able to sustain anything and get points on the board, it might have been enough to make the difference for them in this game.
I'd be remiss to bag on Ebron today and not mention his toughness, though. The dude has taken some real shots over the last few weeks. I know he's huge, but that still takes a toll, and he's still out there playing with an obvious chip on his shoulder.
Our defense plays the most unlikely version of bend-don't-break I've ever seen. It's like they bend all - the - way - down - to - the - floor, and then snap back, flinging offenses clear across the field with nothing to show for their efforts. Without the benefit of real data, the number of red-zone-reaching drives opposing offenses have managed that resulted in 0 points against this D strikes me as pretty uncommon. Despite this, the number of emergent playmakers on defense keeps me from ever losing faith or assuming opposing scoring plays are guaranteed. I don't know how many players on the field are named Darius Leonard, but at this point you'll have a hard time convincing me that number is fewer than 3. The guy is just everywhere. I can't remember seeing a rookie linebacker so immediately ready to take on the NFL. Autrey continues to prove his worth. Hunt continues to appear and just fuck your day at the most inopportune moments. Walker and Desir also had good games today.
Adam Vinatieri is boring. I love that Adam Vinatieri is boring. To a very large extent, the Colts special teams have played so consistently well all season that we're all basically taking them for granted now. They're the least-penalized-per-play Colts unit on the field up to this point of the season. I know some of that is due to the NFL's pussified kickoff rules of the last 2 years, but a lot of the credit goes to a man named Bubba Ventrone, who is a year younger than me, has a long special teams pedigree, and agreed to leave the Patriots and join our coaching staff AFTER McSnake had already reneged on his commitment. The way he's coached them up has made a huge difference considering the dearth of premier players outside of the kicking unit.
Once again, Reich just flat out-schemes and out-coaches the other sideline. GBB said it best - he was playing chess vs. their checkers. The sheer number of different plays the Colts run out of different looks has all but erased their once-famed predictability under Pagano/Chud/Hamilton and even Arians, if we're honest. The pervasive and hard-to-explain bias of the media and rest of the NFL against the AFC South will probably result in Nagy winning Coach of the Year, but it's hard to make an argument against Reich. It's clear by now how key he was to Philly's SB run, and we're watching him develop into an elite NFL head coach.
Overall, this has been the most fun I've had watching the Colts since the heydays of the Manning / Dungy era. I kept saying prior to the start of this season that if they went 8-8 and trended positively over the course of the season, I'd consider it a complete success. My best expectations have been
exceeded. What started as the first year of an optimistic rebuilt probably 3 - 4 years away from real contention has started looking like a team that's only a few key pieces away from making a legit run to the big show. They're already a team opponents need to worry about.
wow
I wrote a lot
probably too much for a reply on GBB's thread... apologies for that
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