Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldcolt
Dam, I should have been more accurate. Of course you know. You know everything and never doubt yourself. For the rest of humanity, there is the last 10 year history of the franchise and the second half of the year where the team just quit (harsh i know but when i look at how JT suddenly forgot how to pass protect the second people went down etc it bugs the shit out of me) it does cause some of us to have a question mark. That isn't the same as not believing they were incredible the first half, just not sure that that is this teams true pedigree. I hope it is.
|
I can be very opinionated and I will argue fiercely for something I believe is correct, but I don't know everything. For example, before I watched the Bootleg video, I didn't know the Colts pre-Jones injury and post-Jones injury playcalling pattern. Pre-Jones injury, the Colts were one of the most pass heavy first down teams in the NFL, and one of the most run heavy second down teams. Post-Jones injury, the Colts were one of the most run heavy first down teams, and one of the most pass heavy second down teams. Why is that relevant? Well, the first pattern does two things: 1) Allows your offense to use first down as a shot play down more often, which will lead to more frequent first down to first down conversions and more favorable second down situations typically and 2) It throws the defense off, because it's the opposite of the pattern they typically defend. Given those two factors, is it any surprise that the Colts went from a pre-Jones injury 5.7 YPC average to a post-Jones injury 3.3 YPC average? If you become more predictable as an offense and play more into what the defense expects, of course your production and success is going to go down, but the Colts were forced to do this because no one feared a Philip Rivers deep ball to Alec Pierce, nor did they fear a Philip Rivers scramble.
And make no mistake, I have my doubts about this team, but they're mostly health related. Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce, DeForest Buckner, Sauce Gardner, and Charvarius Ward are all players who are vital to this team's success, and all of them either missed significant time last year, are coming off of major injuries, and/or are currently injured. The talent on the roster is capable of great things, but that's only if they can all stay on the field.