Losing Sleep Over It

Robert Mathis. How great was he all night? How great is he all the time? He's a hero of this team. He has been for awhile now.
Jerraud Powers. We knew he was good, but tonight was a revelation. At the end of the game the Pats ran the same pattern they ran at the end of the 2007 game when Brady hit Welker to convert the last third down. Legend has it that Welker jumped up and yelled in MJax's face "You F****** suck!". This time when the pass came his way, Powers broke on the ball and batted it down. He not a rookie any more.
Reggie Wayne. Incredible performance by a big time player. That game winning TD catch was beautiful.
Austin Collie redeeming himself. It was a rough first half for Collie, but Indy doesn't win that game without his contributions at the end. The big PI call he got really helped. For the record, it was CLEARLY pass interference. The defender hipchecked him before the ball arrived. That was an easy, not at all controversial call. It was bad defense.
Joe Addai. 4.1 YPC, 2 TDs, and big runs when it counted. Hate on him all you want. He has 9 total TDs (and one throwing). He knows where the goal line is.
Melvin Bullitt made a great hit on the final play on Faulk. I thought it was a good call, by the way. Faulk clearly juggled it, and I can't see how you can determine where he was when corralled it. The Pats screwed up by not having any timeouts, but I don't think that gets overturned.
Over the final two and a half quarters, the Indy D held Brady to a rating of 76.6, forced 2 turnovers, allowed only 10 points (7 came on a 7 yard drive), and forced the Pats off the field on four plays to 'win' the game.

Reasons to Frown:

New England was the better team tonight. They made some dumb, dumb mistakes (stupid timeouts, awful pick, fumble on the goal line), but so did Indy.
From 6:17 in the first to 7:28 in the second, Indy allowed Brady to throw for 226 yards and 2 scores and a rating of 156.3. To me, this screams of a coaching problem. I don't know if guys were out of position, or if it was someone's grand design to just cover Randy Moss one on one with a safety, but let's never do that again. The pass D really wasn't bad all night...just in that one stretch, but when it was bad, it was awful bad.
Garcon. I know he managed to catch a perfect ball on his finger tips for a score. Whoop-de-doo. He's killing this team. His drop was inexcusable. He and Collie took at least 6 points off the board between their two drops.
Don Brown. Did he get hurt? He was pedestrian running the ball (4 carries, 14 yards), and picked up a stupid penalty, and after that he disappeared. We were all hoping for more.
Charlie Johnson gave up another sack, and didn't run block well early.
The two picks by Manning. Wow. I know one was a route mix up, but the floater toward Garcon was awful. I praise #18 all the time, so it's only right that I kill him when he screws up.
I didn't think the team seemed ready to play. I don't trot that out much, because you can't prove it, but I saw too many stupid penalties on the younger players, too many blown assignments on defense. I put that on the head coach. Caldwell flunked his "Big Game" preparedness test in my book.
Freeney was invisible. It's been a long time since I said that.
Melvin Bullitt's play during the 'stretch of death' I referenced earlier was awful. It looked to me like he was lost.
Tim Jennings. Randy Moss. We knew how that would turn out, but did he really have to just fall down on the touchdown? Really?

Best Call:

I'll cheat here and say Belichick deferring to the second half. Caldwell had no tough decisions that I can remember (for good or bad). I hate it when Indy starts with the ball. It put the Pats in a good position all night. They didn't cash in, but I liked what it did to the flow of the game in their favor.

UPDATE: Ok, I've slept a few hours and I forgot the one tough call Caldwell made. He decided to kick off to the Pats rather than onside. Great call by him. Ironically, if he had decided to onside, and the Pats had recovered, it likely would have unfolded exactly the same way, only Indy would have gotten the ball around the 30. Which is where they would have gotten if Belichick had decided to punt.

Worst Call:

BB getting suckered into challenging the Wayne catch. Peyton clowned him there.

Reasons I'm Flying:

If (if, if IIIIIIIFFFF) Hayden and Gonzo come back, most of what went wrong tonight goes away.
13.5 to 2.5. Only that tool Bradshaw still counts rings. Hmmm, maybe that's because he still thinks he's one of the 10 best of all time. He's very much not.
We ran the ball effectively. Our YPC was much better than NE (5.1 to 4.0). I know it felt like the Pats ran the ball well, but other than a couple of big runs by Faulk, they didn't.
Indy now has a two game lead over Cincy and three over everyone else. Worst case scenario now has us playing the AFC Championship game in Cincinnati. The Bengals are a good team, but there would be a LOT of blue there.
Peyton Manning owns Bill Belichick. He owns him. He is so far into BBs head, that he's going to have pay rent. Belichick coached this game like Death itself was quarterbacking the other team. Manning had thrown two bad picks, and BB was STILL terrified of him. NE fans can shut it forever. Manning is as clutch as they come. Belichick confirmed it. Manning put up 35 points on his defense playing from behind the whole time.
"Manning is like an industrial size vat of White Out, making the Colts looks cleaner than they actually are." So, so true. (tip to Stan)
The Pats are as good as any team out there. If we can beat them with this mish mash unit, we can beat anyone.
We just beat the Pats in one of the greatest games ever. OF COURE I'M FLYING!

Reasons I'm Dying:

I expected more from the defense. I know they played better over the final 2 1/2 quarters, but I'm stunned the Pats put up 34 points on them. The Ravens and Texans (both on the road) are just as good of passing teams as the Pats. It needs to get solved and fast.
New England was the better team and that bothers me. They have Randy Moss. That makes them dangerous.
I worry that Gonzo and Hayden won't ever come back. Indy might be faced with Jennings and Garcon from here on out.
I'm worried about CJ. He's giving up sacks like candy these days. Something bad is going to happen soon.
San Di-freaking-ego is going to win the West. I freaking hate those guys.
It's almost 5 am. I'm toast.

The Bottom Line:

This is a good team. It needs to get better. The good news is that because they won this insane game, they have time to fix what is wrong. That starts with a competent outsider receiver. That would fix a lot of problems. As for the defense, I'm not convinced much was wrong. The two bombs to Moss were weird plays, and I can only assume it was a scheme problem, not a talent one. Given the opponent and the performance late, I'll give the D a pass. It has two more good pass offenses coming, so if there is something broken, we'll know soon enough. This team has flaws, for sure. They are not fatal ones...yet.

I was asked in the comments where this ranks on the Best Games list. For now, I think it fits in at #3 right behind the Tampa game and the AFC Championship game. If the Colts end up winning the Super Bowl (who else is going to?), I think it could well vault higher. This win was a sweet as they come.

Comments (15) Add Comment

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by Guy., November 16, 2009

For everyone that is feeling bad about our team after this game, I have this to say: We learned nothing new. We knew our defense would get shredded by Moss and Welker. We knew our rookie wideouts were inconsistent. We knew our offensive line was porous and our run game non-existent. We didn't look good in this game until the very end. We may not be the best team in the AFC. We may not be a better team than the Patriots. But, guess what? We have a 2-game lead on the conference. We should get home-field throughout the playoffs fairly easily. Does a first-round bye and great weather in the postseason sound good to anybody else? Yeah, I thought so. If the Giants can turn around their season in 07 and win 3 road games and then complete the greatest upset in super bowl history, than the Colts can win two games at home and then go to Miami and beat the Saints or the Vikings on a neutral field. The Patriots would kill to be in our position right now. From where I see it, we can only get better from here. All the injured players we have and we come back from 17 points down to win in the 4th quarter? That's ridiculous. Only the Colts could do that. Only the Colts. Chin up.

Well, I'm still up anyway
written by Bob M, November 16, 2009

Of course it's Seattle time.

The biggest nit I have to pick with the above post is this: The Ravens may have a comparable passing game on paper, but they do NOT have Randy Moss. Andre Johnson, I'll grant you. But we handled him adequately a couple weeks ago--did not shut him down, but if we keep him under 90 yards I like our chances. It's not a general weakness in our Pass D--It's Moss. And damn is Welker good with the ball in his hands. How many punts has he returned this year? Did I miss something or was that just for us?

I was wrong when I said there was no Bethel Johnson to bail Brady out this year--his name was Welker.

Playoffs: Pretty strong chance we get #1 seed, which is great news. Facing the Pats again is not exactly comforting, but it looks pretty likely that they'll be #3. If so, they'll have one more playoff game and probably have to go through Cincy. That helps a bit. I have not seen the Bengals this year, but I have seen (and been impressed by) Pitt and Cinn beat them twice, so I will assume they're better. Still think NE is better. So I hope the longer road to the AFCCG presents some attrition issues to weaken them.

HA!
written by J.C., November 16, 2009

Go through Cincy??

Like Keyshawn (who I love) and Chris Carter (who I can't stand) would say......C'monnn mannnnnnnnn.

Think those clowns will win out?? Seriously?

And God Forbid (see I capitalized it) we go through CINCY!!!!!!!

DZ:

Freeny wasn't invisible tonight bro. Not to me, Jim McG, Joe McG, Tommy and Jimmy Angell.

He was at the top of the screen every friggin snap scaring the piss out of us until Tom got the ball out. In the end it was Mathis that really won the game. He's a freak too.

...
written by Guy., November 16, 2009

Yeah, Freeney didn't get any stats, but he had a big impact on the game. No chance we win this game without him.

...
written by DZ, November 16, 2009

I understand that schematically, what they did to Freeney helps in other ways. By invisible, I just mean he didn't get to Brady often.

...
written by J.A., November 16, 2009

Now, that's just not fair to Freeney. The first sack by Mathis only happened because Freeney on so much on Brady's face, that he had to run into Robert.

...
written by DZ, November 16, 2009

I haven't watched the tape.

Please remember that whatever I write Monday morning or Sunday night is an emotional reaction.

...
written by Attila, November 16, 2009

Looks like the Patriots found a franchise LT in the 2nd round. Vollmer will beat out Light. Freeney can beat him, but not in 3 seconds. Gaither or Oher will be tough guys next week.

That bad stretch, I think Coyer was too conservative. He should have shown more blitz and some wrinkles in coverage. The refs let Bodden get away with anything, the Colts DBs should have been more aggressive too. Is it better to let Moss catch it 50 yards down the field, than to be called for PI? It's the same.

I hope Bullitt and Bethea are OK, their body is taped together.

...
written by filiusdextris, November 16, 2009

Some points: Collie's first half penalty was on a timing issue across the field, he was blocking the person he was supposed to, Peyton didn't release the screen when he was supposed to - no need to blame him. Also, you don't praise Manning "all the time" - he didn't make either of your two positive lists and he was the team MVP obviously despite his two picks and other bad throws - give him a lot of credit this game instead of taking him for granted. Freeney, as others have said, was great - not his fault that Vollmer was up to the task of his greatness. Also, you can hardly fault the D on several of the throws in the first quarter - Brady to Moss especially on several throws were perfect throws and catches, totally indefensible, if a team can execute that perfectly, you just have to take off your hat. The first half blame has to go more to offensive lack of execution.

...
written by DZ, November 16, 2009

I listed Manning's ownership of Belichick under "Reasons I'm flying".

I disagree about the defense in the first half. There was a scheme problem. 24 points in less than 15 minutes...10 the rest of the game. Covering Moss with just a safety couldn't have been the plan.

The offense put up 14 points in the first quarter. That's solid production against the #2 scoring D in football. 24 points allowed by the #1 scoring D is NOT ok.

I found it poetic justice that NFL Network played the Wille McGinest injury game on Friday Night
written by dmstorm22, November 16, 2009

and this was very much a similar game (Pats rolling, then deciding to go pass-wacky with a huge lead which let's the Colts back in). However, this time we did not throw a fade to Aaron Moorehead (still cannot believe that call), but a nice route to Wayne. So satisfying.

Hayden and Gonzalez have to come back strong. I'm pretty sure with our current players, we would be even, since I doubt we single Moss ever again, but we need Gonzalez. I am sick, sick, sick of Garcon.

...
written by filiusdextris, November 16, 2009

"I listed Manning's ownership of Belichick under "Reasons I'm flying"." It's something, granted, but you "kill him" later and that praise is hardly its opposite.

"I disagree about the defense in the first half. There was a scheme problem. 24 points in less than 15 minutes...10 the rest of the game. Covering Moss with just a safety couldn't have been the plan." That's a pretty arrogant statement, but, admittedly, it could be right. Still, if they double-team Moss that could open up Welker or another target. As it was, it took a couple perfect throws by Brady to abuse the defense, a lesser quarterback makes our defense look good on a couple of those drives.

"The offense put up 14 points in the first quarter. That's solid production against the #2 scoring D in football. 24 points allowed by the #1 scoring D is NOT ok." This is faulty reasoning. Scoring 14 against an alleged good defense sounds good, but is, in fact, bad if you should have had scored 21 on them or very bad if you should have scored 28. There were several drops, bad throws, missed blocks, bad luck (stumble out of bounds), that the offense could and should have scored on some of the drives they punted. If the Colts punt 4-5 times in the first half, you have to wonder why they failed to execute that many times - it wasn't the excellence of the Pat's defense on every one of those drives. So, I still purport that the offense was more at fault than the defense in the first half. (But, I grant you Bullitt in the first half was horrible.)

maybe a bigger tip of the hat to the D coaching?
written by psvirsky, November 16, 2009

It's always tough to tell with scheme what exactly is going on but I agree that we didn't seem to be doing a great job with Moss. As Dr. Z always says (said?), you gotta jam Moss early and often and he'll probably slack off.

But as you pointed out, at some point they flipped a switch and the D manned up. I don't know what adjustments they made (if any), but perhaps Coyer and/or Caldwell deserves credit for helping the D turn things around

...
written by filiusdextris, November 16, 2009

Ack, I screwed up there knocking Bullitt - maybe he deserved it too, but watching the replays, the player I had in mind was actually someone else. Having now inserted my foot into my mouth, I'll shut up on the individual players. Sorry!

...
written by npb1985, November 17, 2009

Maybe I'm hearing you wrong, but saying the Patriots are the better team is incredibly stupid pessimism and are nitpicking at what went wrong. They were the better team for three quarters. The better teams play all four and win in the fourth. They better team was the one that came out in the fourth and made the Patriots feel they were not worthy of standing on the same field. Seriously, it's not even funny how one-sided that fourth quarter was. Second, they were the better team in the first 3 Qs because of stupid mistakes that are uncharacteristic of us. All the young guys (i.e. Bullitt, Session--constantly misreading Faulk, Powers, Lacey, Brown, Garcon, and Collie) were crapping themselves they were so nervous. Moss and Welker are a little too seasoned for that. Manning's first pick clearly slipped out of his hands, which may happen one out of every thousand passes. And how many times do Reggie and Peyton miscommunicate? Once the nerves wore off, Peyton remembered how to grip the ball, and sans the one miscue, we still won. Interesting how when we clicked and loosened up, the Patriots margin of victory was gettin smaller and smaller by the minute. Moss is incredible and is a matchup nightmare, and it was he who should have received 99% of the credit for the long TD catch, not Brady. Moss caught that with Bethea laying across his arms. Yet, he is a magician on the field in that he shows up big and then disappears as frequent. He killed them in the 07 playoffs and will do it again. This Colts teams needs improvement, and once Gonzo and Hayden get back, and all indications say they will be, we will be as complete as it gets. The Patriots played great, but are not the team people want to believe they are. Their early dominance was a result of our miscues and young player mistakes, not because they were better. I honestly think they will lose possibly two or three more games. They are not better than us, nor San Diego, nor Cincinnati, nor Pittsburgh.