Quick Thoughts - Week 4

[CletusPyle]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

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

I disagree on Pierce....good points otherwise! I don't think AR looks for Pierce at all, probably play calling but too soon to say he sucks!

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by JAFF

- 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.

I said it in the game thread prior to kick off that I expected to see him do some remarkable things outside the pocket today- and he did, there's a LOT of Mahomes in there and it is beautiful. He also threw some wicked strikes from the pocket which was good to see as well.

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by ChoppedWood

I said it in the game thread prior to kick off that I expected to see him do some remarkable things outside the pocket today- and he did, there's a LOT of Mahomes in there and it is beautiful. He also threw some wicked strikes from the pocket which was good to see as well.

Another thing that seems to stand out so far in his very brief career- he seems to thrive in the sped up game. Not only does it NOT seem the game is moving to fast for him, it seems he does his best processing when it is going fast. So many young QB's struggle with that element as they are developing because they are so slow to process but because he is so adept at escaping and creating on the fly it seems to suit him perfectly. I would love to see more "2 minute" offense with him. Right now he seems as though he will be great in the hurry up structure. Kudos to him and Steichen for that.

[IndyNorm]

Additional couple of thoughts:

- Granson sucked today. Dropped what should have been 2 1st down catches. The first one was a somewhat tough catch going to the ground, but he had his hands on the ball. The 2nd one on our final possession hit him right in the numbers. Inexcusable.

- Was good to see Pierce finally come down w/ a contested catch. He should have had the 2nd one as well since his hands were on the ball, but 1/2 is better than what we've seen from him so far this year.

- So much for our DL depth. I get that Buckner is our best player (at least on defense), but not having him out there turned the whole group from stud to dud against an OL that was completely dominated the past 2 weeks.

- The playcalling sucked on our final possession. Also, we should have taken the FG in the 3rd quarter. There's still well over a quarter of football left. Take the points there.

- Was pleasantly surprised by our resilience and 2nd half comeback. Think we're in for a very bright future

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

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.

After the game, the beat reporters asked about the LB rotations:

https://twitter.com/RomeovilleKid/st...06373758390276

Colts HC Shane Steichen, asked if LB Shaq Leonard was dealing with an injury since Segun Olubi and E.J. Speed shared the field when Zaire Franklin briefly left:

"No."

Asked about the playing time splits among LBs:

"We're just obviously rotating them in there."

Originally Posted by omahacolt

7) hope flowers is ok. dude has been a nice player all year.

https://twitter.com/JoelAErickson/st...81644863463712

CB Dallis Flowers injury is listed as "ankle" by Shane Steichen

https://twitter.com/JoelAErickson/st...89985434083485

Dallis Flowers was using crutches in the locker room

[Oldcolt]

When was the last time we made half time adjustments that worked? Young team, early in the season but man there are some thing to finally like here. I think Steichen can really coach. I am pretty pleased considering we lost.

[Colts And Orioles]

o

I thought that the defense played better in the 2nd half ...... and the offense put a lot of excess pressure on the defense from the beginning of the game. Their first 5 possessions of the game were ......

PUNT

FUMBLE

PUNT

MISSED FIELD GOAL

PUNT

2 of those 3 punts were 3-and-outs, and the other was a 6-and-out. The offense finally put the ball in the end-zone for our first points of the game late in the 3rd quarter.


In the first half, after Speed's inexcusable late extended the drive and gave them 7 points right off the bat, they held the Rams to 1 TD and 3 FG's the rest of the way in regulation ...... plus , they made 2 stops late in the 4th quarter just to get the game into OT ...... plus, our head coach eschewed a very good chance to get 3 points after our defense forced a turnover via an INT in the 3rd quarter. A field goal right there (instead of going for it on 4th down) would have cut the deficit to 23-11.

So overall, there was a lot of shit put on them early on, although the late hit which resulted in 7 gift-points for the Rams was their own damned fault. In the game thread when the Rams went up by a score of 20-0 with 6 minutes still left to play in the 2nd quarter, numerous posters were thinking that were were in for something a 41-14 beat-down ...... the defense only gave up 3 points for the final 2-plus quarters of the contest, which is more than half of the game.


And none of what I am saying is negating the critiques that the OP and others have made in regard to the defense's overall play today, because those critiques were spot-on ...... but rather I'm pointing out a nuance that even on a sub-par day when they didn't play well overall, they actually wound up being more effective than it may have seemed.

o

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

When was the last time we made half time adjustments that worked ??? Young team, early in the season, but man there are some things to finally like here. I think the fact that Steichen can really coach. I am pretty pleased, considering that we lost the game.

o


Same here.

The score at the end of the first half was 20-0.

The score at the end of regulation was 23-23, and we were a dropped pass away from pulling off an improbable comeback.

I don't think that there was a poster in the game thread that would have believed that if you had told them that that would happen when we were down by a score of 23-0 late in the 3rd quarter.

o

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Mr. Session

- 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.

Unless his play massively improves I can see no way to keep him on the team, but if we are willing to trade him no one is taking on that contract. His cap hit for us next year is 20m, but only 8 dead if cut. His base Salaries of 15 and 19 million no one is going to be willing to pay for his production.
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/indianap...leonard-25135/

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by Butter

Unless his play massively improves I can see no way to keep him on the team, but if we are willing to trade him no one is taking on that contract. His cap hit for us next year is 20m, but only 8 dead if cut. His base Salaries of 15 and 19 million no one is going to be willing to pay for his production.
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/indianap...leonard-25135/

It is such a shame to see him robbed of that athleticism that had him on HOF trajectory. Sucks for us but you have to believe that for him it is agonizing to have to come to terms with it and what it likely means for his playing future; lack thereof.