Indianapolis Colts
Three to Focus On: Titans @ Colts, Week 15
Time is rapidly running out for the Indianapolis Colts to win a game in 2011. If last week’s performance in Baltimore is anything to go by, no amount of time would be enough to help this team get that elusive “W”. All but locked in to the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, the Colts are now playing for what little pride they have left along with all of their, and head coach Jim Caldwell’s jobs.
The Tennessee Titans have quietly went about their business this year and as we head into the last three weeks of the season, sit right in the thick of the battle for a wildcard spot. The AFC South, however, is gone with Houston celebrating their first ever division title after a last-second victory over Cincinnati a week ago.
It’s a matchup that means more in terms of this season for the Titans, but will tell us a lot about how much the Colts’ players can fight to win in the last three weeks. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the three areas to focus on this week.
Re-Focused: Colts @ Ravens, Week 14
After three surprising losses earlier in the year the Baltimore Ravens are finally beating the teams that they should. Just like last week’s win over the Cleveland Browns they looked comfortable throughout the second half and the score line doesn’t reflect the true ease with which this one was won as the Ravens head towards an almost certain playoff berth.
For the Colts it was another routine loss, poor quarterback play, poor blocking and poor play in coverage. Safe to say the Colts were pretty poor on Sunday and you really have to question how they can find a way to win a game this year, not that they deserve to – I personally haven’t seen a worse team in all my time watching football.
The game featured key performances, both good and bad, from both teams so with that in mind, let’s take a look at the performances that impacted the game on Sunday.
Three to Focus on: Colts @ Ravens, Week 14
Previous showdowns between these two in Baltimore would have induced much vitriol spewing from the home crowd towards the franchise that many still feels belongs to them (certainly the records) but, truth be told, there isn’t the same anger from the Baltimore fans this year because of just how bad the Colts have been. In fact, any anger from the stands this week is more likely to come from Indianapolis fans begging Baltimore to take the Colts back.
It continues to be a rough year for the Manning-less Colts with very little in the way of bright spots. They seem almost locked into the slot for the No. 1 draft pick and the opportunity to draft Andrew Luck.
For Baltimore, they know that they need to keep winning and ensure they finish the year with a record no worse than the Steelers – do that and they’ll top the division and host a playoff game for the first time in the Harbaugh-Flacco era. To do that they’ll need to avoid another slip-up to a team they should beat, so with that in mind, let’s take a look at the areas to focus on this week. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused: Colts @ Patriots, Week 13
The rivalry of the century between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots certainly lost some luster as future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning was relegated to pregame autograph duty. Fellow future Hall of Famer Tom Brady played his usual role by picking apart the Colts’ soft coverages to lead the Patriots to a 31-3 fourth quarter advantage.
Straying from the script, the Colts made it interesting by scoring 21 unanswered points in the final frame, but fell short in the end. The late game “collapse” by the Patriots prolongs the weekly debate about whether or not their defense is championship caliber or destined to be overmatched come playoff time. They remain in a heated battle for home field advantage in the AFC and due to a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way, the questions about the defense will linger until the playoffs.
For the Colts, they look to be sick of all the talk about them tanking this season. Sure, the 2008 Lions will have to keep the champagne on ice for at least one more week as the Colts still have their record for futility in sight, but it’s not because of lack of effort. Indianapolis played this game until the end, they just didn’t have enough talent to compete. Colts fans, the nightmare of 2011 is almost over. Read the rest of this entry »
Three to Focus on: Colts @ Patriots, Week 13
Indianapolis Colts versus the New England Patriots; to say the game has lost some of its luster would be as big an understatement as saying the Colts are just a little bit better with Peyton Manning. A game for nearly the past decade you could count on living up to the hype, had its bubble officially burst a few weeks earlier when flexed out of the Sunday Night Football slot. For anyone paying attention this season, the fact that this game was not going to be the instant classic seemingly every previous matchup has been, was a realization many reasoned much earlier when the news that No. 18 would be sidelined for much longer than initially expected.
In any case, the game is not completely meaningless. The Patriots need to continue to win to remain tied at the top of the AFC pack, and the Colts need to continue to lose to be in the running for the “hands-down-no-question-about-it-number-one-consensus-pick” Andrew Luck. When put that way, it is no wonder Vegas closed the betting line for this game. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused: Panthers @ Colts, Week 12
The Colts started this game like they have most of their others; badly. Their offense couldn’t move the ball and their defense couldn’t get off the field. Much to my surprise, they ended up putting up a pretty good fight – only being denied a chance to tie the game by a cruel interception in the endzone off a deflection that still required a brilliant catch from Panthers safety Sherrod Martin. Still, a loss is a loss and that’s now 11 of them for the Colts. The remaining five games will not only dictate whether they make history for all the wrong reasons, but could also go a long way to convincing a certain college quarterback that staying with the team that picks him won’t be so bad after all.
For the Panthers, their offense continues to grow and now has weapons aplenty, something we couldn’t say a year ago. The group that includes Steve Smith, Greg Olsen, Jeremy Shockey and even Brandon Lafell is clamoring for more national attention which it will almost certainly receive in the very near future. There’s still a long way to go on the defensive side, but injuries have decimated the unit and its still probably better than it was in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Three to Focus on: Panthers @ Colts, Week 12
With every snap of the ball the Indianapolis Colts look more and more likely to go 0-16 this year. A quick glance at our cumulative rankings would leave Colts fans seeing red, literally. On offense, only center Jeff Saturday (+11.3) has a grade above +1.8 and, on defense, even the normally stellar defensive end duo of Dwight Freeney (+5.0) and Robert Mathis (+4.9) have had their struggles.
It’s a very different kind of frustration in Carolina where the Panthers were never expected to do much this year, but the impressive start to Cam Newton’s NFL career has kept them in some game you wouldn’t have expected them to be in. But therein lies the frustration, they are merely staying in these games, not winning them. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused – Jaguars @ Colts, Week 10
The battle for the cellar in the AFC South between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts lived up to the hype, or lack thereof. Only two plays went for over 20 yards as both teams struggled to move the ball consistently. As I heard one fan say, the NFL has the Red Zone Channel which shows all the touchdowns and great plays, and this Jaguars-Colts matchup provides the opposite of everything the Red Zone Channel stands for.
The offensive ineptitude started immediately as starting quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Curtis Painter traded interceptions within the first 63 seconds of the game. After the teams went into the half tied at 3-3, the Jaguars pulled out a 16-play, 81-yard drive that led to their first touchdown of the game. The 10-3 lead proved insurmountable for the Colts who turned the ball over two more times in the fourth quarter, further cementing their “on the clock” status for April’s draft.
Three to Focus on – Jaguars @ Colts
It’s a battle to become the “top of the bottom of the barrel.” At least that’s how running back Maurice Jones-Drew sees this game. Just one year after the AFC South division crown came down to the final weeks, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts find themselves with a combined two wins and are both clearly at the bottom of that barrel. Indianapolis’ players are surely sick of hearing about that quarterback from Stanford, but at this point, it’s well deserved. Not only are they winless, but they come into this game with our 27th best offense and our worst ranked defense. They haven’t come close to winning in weeks and have been outscored 120-24 in their last three games. Enter the first possible remedy for 2011’s disaster: the Jaguars. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused – Falcons @ Colts, Week 9
I suspect it’s my lack of status within my own organization that sees me dumped with both the Dolphins game last week and the Colts this. That said, a week ago today, after watching Miami take a pretty decent Giants team to the wire, I remarked in reference to the Andrew Luck Derby, “Down the stretch, when faced with the type of stiff opposition that Indianapolis Colts can bring to bear, my bet is they’ll fall well short of the required standard to win that race.”
Far be it from me to toot my own non-too-sizeable horn but by about half-time in this encounter I was cursing myself for not being vehement enough in my assessment.
Boy, do the Colts STINK! Big time, and Bill Polian should feel thoroughly ashamed of himself. There was hardly a single unit that looked like it could compete with any other NFL team and I came to the stark realization that Peyton Manning has almost certainly been the MVP of every season he’s ever played. If he can make this team competitive; never mind taking them to the play-offs year-in, year-out, he is clearly the best player who ever walked onto a field.
As for the Falcons, well let me put it this way, when grading we don’t factor in the quality of the opposition because we believe, when you take into account the whole season, this will even itself out. The Colts push that assumption to breaking point and I think you’ll need to caveat the comments below (and indeed most other similar views this year) with the phrase “but it was only against the Colts”.
 |
|