Quick thoughts - Texans

[GoBigBlue88]

1. For as messed up as the Colts are -- and they are messed up -- imagine rooting for a team that willingly started Tom Savage over Deshaun Watson at one point. Wow. Savage is 1,000x worse than DeShone Kizer.

2. I was probably too hard on Jacoby Brissett in the game thread, but his inability to read the field is really tough to watch. I get that he's new, he's still learning the scheme and he's young on top of that. And I get that coaches don't help him much. But Brissett just can't read the field. He sees his primary and can't really progress from there. Holds the ball way too long. Again, coaches do him no favors with this scheme, but I'm sure his receivers hate it.

3. Make no mistake, as a result, today's passing game was 150 percent TY Hilton and Jack Doyle. Imagine wanting to ever trade Hilton...

4. I'm glad Jack Doyle has rebounded here. The Colts need him for the next 2-3 years at least. Hopefully longer, but a pretty key window for him, especially if/when Luck returns.

5. Props to the OL. Anthony Castonzo played great and really stuffed Clowney on multiple occasions. Don't understand the hate he gets. The rookie playing over Clark looked OK. Not a long-term answer, but better than Clark.

6. Jabaal Sheard had a monster game today. Really impressed. He was a nightmare for the Texans all day.

7. I both notice Grover Stewart playing more, and notice nothing about Grover Stewart when he's in the game.

8. In a way, I'm glad Pierre Desir got to play over Vontae Davis. He isn't the better player when both healthy, but it's more useful to learn how Desir plays against DeAndre Hopkins than Davis. IMO, I think Desir looks a lot like Rashaan Melvin did last year: reserve boundary CB you don't mind having, that can play solid when called up to start for a game or two, and maybe manages to up his game mor eover time.

9. Darius Butler has really lost a step athletically, which is a shame because he's one of the few DBs who seems to be on the right page most of the time.

10. I like Barkevious Mingo. Not as a starter, and probably not playing much on a contending team. But he's an active player who inserts himself in the game.

11. No surprise, but the more I see Jeremiah George, the more I think "no thanks". Not that I expected anything of him.

12. WTF is Chud's 3rd or 4th-and-less-than-5-and-gotta-make-it playbook? All plays 15 yards downfield?

13. Kamar Aiken started today, which tells you everything you need to know about this coaching staff and accountability.

14. Dear Quan Bray: nothing good comes from you returning. That's not even a slight on you. This special teams unit can't block or keep clean to save their lives.

15. I don't like Antonio Morrison, but he played well in the role asked today.

16. Thought it was dumb that the Colts totally went away from Marlon Mack in the second half. He really needs to start out-touching Gore.

17. And it wouldn't kill the Colts to actually draw up a few plays a game for Mack...

18. I have no idea where this team will draft, but I can't imagine they can go wrong picking up OL and OLB or ILB in the first 2 rounds.

[DrSpaceman]

Every time I see a screen play to Gore, and there were at least a couple today if not more, I wonder why on earth they don't have Mack in for the play instead. He I much faster, younger and just last week broke the play for a TD.

Brissett played well today, though most all was Doyle and Hilton. Still has not convinced me he is anything more than a back up. Every game he is giving the other team 7 points or more, literally. Pick 6s, Fumbles, typically on plays he just has to get rid of the ball.

Team won, but still has not convinced me they an really close out games. Almost gave up a 13 point lead to Tom Savage in half a quarter.

Linebackers are still the weakness of this defense.

You just cannot trade TY Hilton, today's game showed us why. Without him the team loses this game.

Will mean nothing in the larger scheme other than a bit of a lower draft pick but I still always like to see the team winning

[indycolts2]

#17 - 9 carries today and no targets in the passing game. Evidence once again that recognition of talent and how best to use it is non existent on this coaching staff.

[omahacolt]

i will just add some things here that i thought about the game.

1) on the hopkins td. both corners are playing for an inside release. meaning they are forcing the play inside. we have butler as a single high safety. how is that an ideal situation? i am not a brilliant football dude but you would think you would roll coverage to hopkins side and leave melvin on his own. allow him to play inside leverage and use the sideline. just seemed to put a lot of stress on butler.

2) we consistently play 9 or 10 on 11 with our defense. and offense as well but lets look at the d. we fake blitz with 1 or 2 of our ilbers and after they fake, they just sit there. 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage doing absolutely nothing. spying savage maybe? yeah right

3) any other qb and we lose. we all knew they were going to come back. we all knew the colts were going to give up a td and then give the ball back. this is the pagano effect. it is his legacy. the absolute worst coach that has ever stepped on a sideline.

4) anderson really has started playing better but let me just say that al woods has been fucking awesome.

5) why does aiken play? the dude does nothing. please just play moncrief and rogers. they won't because pagano

6) this vontae davis thing really bothers me if it is anything other than davis being a bitch

7) 1st down run for no yards. giving away downs for 6 years now. oh shit. frank gore up the A gap on first down? what a fucking surprise.

8) AC haters need to apologize.

9) i like farley. not as a starter but just in general as a football player.

[Spike]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

i will just add some things here that i thought about the game.

1) on the hopkins td. both corners are playing for an inside release. meaning they are forcing the play inside. we have butler as a single high safety. how is that an ideal situation? i am not a brilliant football dude but you would think you would roll coverage to hopkins side and leave melvin on his own. allow him to play inside leverage and use the sideline. just seemed to put a lot of stress on butler.

2) we consistently play 9 or 10 on 11 with our defense. and offense as well but lets look at the d. we fake blitz with 1 or 2 of our ilbers and after they fake, they just sit there. 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage doing absolutely nothing. spying savage maybe? yeah right

3) any other qb and we lose. we all knew they were going to come back. we all knew the colts were going to give up a td and then give the ball back. this is the pagano effect. it is his legacy. the absolute worst coach that has ever stepped on a sideline.

4) anderson really has started playing better but let me just say that al woods has been fucking awesome.

5) why does aiken play? the dude does nothing. please just play moncrief and rogers. they won't because pagano

6) this vontae davis thing really bothers me if it is anything other than davis being a bitch

7) 1st down run for no yards. giving away downs for 6 years now. oh shit. frank gore up the A gap on first down? what a fucking surprise.

8) AC haters need to apologize.

9) i like farley. not as a starter but just in general as a football player.

3) Any other QB, we lose for sure. Watson would have destroyed us.
5) Why does Aiken play? Pagano is a dumb ass.
8) Personally never understood the AC haters. He's may not be the best, but he sure as hell if far from the worst. I get a kick out of the idiots who think we should cut AC, like it is easy to find a competent LT.

Mack should be playing more, but our coaching staff is too dumb to create plays for him.

I actually thought Brissett played well. On that fumble for a TD, he only had 2 seconds before he was hit and was in the process of throwing the ball. Hell, he is basically a rookie playing for one of the worst coaching staffs in the NFL.

Lastly, I hate fucking Pagano. He was damn lucky they were facing that piece of shit Savage today.

[indycolts2]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

i will just add some things here that i thought about the game.

1) on the hopkins td. both corners are playing for an inside release. meaning they are forcing the play inside. we have butler as a single high safety. how is that an ideal situation? i am not a brilliant football dude but you would think you would roll coverage to hopkins side and leave melvin on his own. allow him to play inside leverage and use the sideline. just seemed to put a lot of stress on butler.

2) we consistently play 9 or 10 on 11 with our defense. and offense as well but lets look at the d. we fake blitz with 1 or 2 of our ilbers and after they fake, they just sit there. 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage doing absolutely nothing. spying savage maybe? yeah right

3) any other qb and we lose. we all knew they were going to come back. we all knew the colts were going to give up a td and then give the ball back. this is the pagano effect. it is his legacy. the absolute worst coach that has ever stepped on a sideline.

4) anderson really has started playing better but let me just say that al woods has been fucking awesome.

5) why does aiken play? the dude does nothing. please just play moncrief and rogers. they won't because pagano

6) this vontae davis thing really bothers me if it is anything other than davis being a bitch

7) 1st down run for no yards. giving away downs for 6 years now. oh shit. frank gore up the A gap on first down? what a fucking surprise.

8) AC haters need to apologize.

9) i like farley. not as a starter but just in general as a football player.

#5 -you would think we were still in Grigson regime where the playing of an acquisition is forced to justify the acquisition. Rogers and/or Moncrief > Aiken any day of the week.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by indycolts2

#5 -you would think we were still in Grigson regime where the playing of an acquisition is forced to justify the acquisition. Rogers and/or Moncrief > Aiken any day of the week.

You still think that happened?

How do people buy into the pagano bs he constantly leaked to the media?

[indycolts2]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

You still think that happened?

How do people buy into the pagano bs he constantly leaked to the media?

If it didn't then Pagano is a horrible judge of talent/performance. Obviously none of us are the proverbial fly on the wall when they discussed roster decisions but I have not seen or heard anything from Pagano that tells me he had the spine to say no to Grigson if told to do something he disagreed with.

[HoosierinFL]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

2) we consistently play 9 or 10 on 11 with our defense. and offense as well but lets look at the d. we fake blitz with 1 or 2 of our ilbers and after they fake, they just sit there. 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage doing absolutely nothing. spying savage maybe? yeah right

Presumably they should be dropping into coverage. I have no idea if it's just supposed to be a shallow zone or whether they are supposed to pick up a TE or RB, but they clearly can't do it. I'm reminded of the Vic Fangio era defense. Like that time, we need better coaches and better LBs.

[Maniac]

Originally Posted by GoBigBlue88

14. Dear Quan Bray: nothing good comes from you returning. That's not even a slight on you. This special teams unit can't block or keep clean to save their lives.

16. Thought it was dumb that the Colts totally went away from Marlon Mack in the second half. He really needs to start out-touching Gore.

17. And it wouldn't kill the Colts to actually draw up a few plays a game for Mack...

Yeah at this point there is zero reason why Bray should be returning any kick that goes into the end zone. Nothing good ever comes of it. Usually they end up with 10+ yards worse starting field position than taking a knee would give them.

The coaching staff are just morons that they can't see that they need to get Mack the ball in space in addition to more touches in the run game. Draw up some damn quick slants or something to give him a chance to make plays.