The Colts didn’t have enough for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night as they lost 24-17 and fell to 0-4 on the season. The Colts had the lead until about a minute left in the 3rd quarter and from then on the Bucs dominated the game. Although the Colts lead for almost the entire game, I never got the sense that we were gonna win the game. You could just tell that the Bucs were the better team. The two touchdowns we scored were 80-yd screen plays, which are impressive, but it’s not like we moved the ball down the field with strength and decisiveness. It was more of just a lucky play call.
3 things I liked about the game
Defensive line- Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, and the rest of the defensive line played a great game. They were able to put pressure on Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman for the whole game and forced him to make some bad passes. Rookie defensive tackle, Drake Nevis also had another good game. He is going to be a great player, and a great compliment to Freeney and Mathis.
Joseph Addai- Addai had a good game considering he wasn’t getting much help from the rest of the offense. Addai finished the night with 11 carries and 41 yards. Addai’s biggest impact came in the part of the game that has no statistics, blocking. The Buccaneers blitzed the entire game and Addai did an excellent job of finding where he needed to be and getting him there. By blocking the oncoming rushers he was able to give his Curtis Painter a few split seconds he needed to make a pass.
Pierre Garcon- Well I was going to write about the great game Garcon had but I just looked back at his statistics and realized it was actually pretty awful. Garcon had two catches that yielded 146 yards and two touchdowns, which is awesome. But Garcon had the ball thrown to him eight times, and only caught the ball twice. You’re paid millions of dollars to catch a little brown ball. Do it! There were 30 passes by the Colts, and only 13 were caught. There were a few that were poorly thrown by Painter, but many of them fell to the ground because the receivers weren’t doing their job.
3 things I didn’t like about the game
Pass defense- It was almost nauseating to watch this unit Monday night. The Colts play a “Tampa 2” or “Cover 2” defense. This means you blitz four defensive lineman while two safeties split the field and cover deep passes. That leaves 5 defenders (usually three linebackers and two cornerbacks) to cover the middle of the field. It’s usually a decent system but the Buccaneers absolutely annihilated us by beating the system. Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman would take the snap, drop back, and throw a 3-6 yard pass to his running back that was in the middle of the field. The running back would catch the ball, turn around, and run for about 7 yards before being tackled. This doesn’t seem so bad, but the Buccaneers did this probably 10 times in the game and the Colts never did anything to stop it.
I’m not claiming to be a defensive coordinator or genius, but I do know my X’s and O’s. If I’m in charge of the Colts, I would have the defensive coordinator show me he has official papers saying he’s legally blind, or else he would have been fired Tuesday morning. How hard is it run a few plays where the middle linebacker covers the running back with man coverage or zone? Do that a few times and at least make Josh Freeman think a little.
Jim Caldwell- He sucks. I was never a big fan of previous coach Tony Dungy. Caldwell is basically Dungy 2.0. He sits back, never talks or shows emotion, and lets the team handle everything on their own. It is so frustrating to watch other coaches be involved in the game and with their team, and then see Caldwell stand on the sideline like he’s got a stick stuck up his butt.
There were two calls that Caldwell made that were completely questionable.
1) In the second quarter, it was third and INCHES, like maybe one inch. Instead of going for it, we punt the ball away. For god sakes we have an awful team and realistically no shot at winning the game. Just go for it and try and keep the momentum.
2) I cannot for the life of me find the specifics of the incident so I’ll try and describe it the best I can. It was 3rd down and maybe 6 to go with about 3:00 left in the game. The Bucs tried to get the first down and were unsuccessful but on the play there was a holding call against the offense. If the Colts accepted the penalty it would 3rd & 16, and if they declined it would be 4th & 6.
It’s highly unlikely that Caldwell be shown the door this season since Manning is out. But he needs to show that he is capable of coaching a professional football team. Or else send him down to some pee-wee football league.
Adam Vinatieri- Everybody‘s getting some live this week. Vinatieri has five Super Bowl Rings and is probably the best kicker in NFL history. Adam is in 16th year in the NFL and I’m afraid he may be past his prime. 16 years for a kicker isn’t exactly a long time but he hasn’t had a lower kicking percentage since his rookie season in 1996. Already this season he has missed two kicks out of nine. Unless he shows improvement it may be time to find a new kicker.
There weren’t a lot of bright spots in the game against Tampa Bay, in fact the game showed just how many flaws there are with the Colts. We have receivers that can’t catch the ball. We have a defensive that can’t stop the pass and struggles against the run. We have no highly-talented quarterback. Worst of all, we have no leader to turn to. When Notre Dame loses, I always think, “Brian Kelly (the head coach) will get the boys back in shape and ready for the next game”. Can I think the same for Jim Caldwell? Absolutely not.
The Colts face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. This will be a great chance for the Colts to get their first victory of the season. The Chiefs only win came against the winless Minnesota Vikings.
The rest of October lines up as: at Cincinnati, at New Orleans, and at Tennessee. 0-8 here we come!
No comments:
Post a Comment