Offense:
Our offense had an incredible hill to climb: Move the ball through the air without your best offensive playmaker. And then Dayne was listed as inactive. And then Green came up limp. And then Jones went down. And then McKinney got hurt. And then Davis dislocated his finger. All of a sudden we are left with 2 healthy WRs and a bunch of TEs.
When Jameel, butterfingers, Cook gets the majority of your offensive carries, you know you are introuble.
So how do you analyze an offense with this many players missing? I don't know. But I'll try:
Schaub looked good for the majority of the game.
Our line would give great protection, but our 4th and 5th string WRs couldn't get open. Or our line would break down quickly and Schaub would have to avoid the sack. I thought Schaub's pocket presence was great today, and I saw him get out of trouble at least a few times. He had some problem throws while on the run, and that throw into the end zone was a game killer. Throwing into triple coverage is not a good idea. I think he meant there to be more loft on the ball, but thats the 3rd INT we've seen him throw in the red zone. (1 was overturned) This is going to be a serious issue.
Throughout the day, the only 2 major mistakes I saw were the INT in the end zone and the sack to end the game.
Our WRs looked like backups. They made the catches when the ball was there, but Jones getting hit in the head with the ball cost us an INT. They didn't get open on a number of pass routes. That play with Davis going down the sidelines was pretty lucky because he has Zero separation.
Our TEs looked pretty reliable as always, but I predicted a bigger game for Daniels.
Our running backs looked awful. I hope we at least consider bringing back Wali Lundy, because Cook + Gado does not inspire confidence in me.
On defense, we looked like the Vikings of last year. Addai couldn't get anywhere on us. His holes closed fast. I think he averaged less than 3.5 yards per carry, which is something I"ll gladly take. That leaping TD was amazing, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Our pass defense leaves a lot to be desired. On defense, there are 3 ways to play Indianapolis.
1) Take away the short passes and get beat deep (see the Saints from MNF on opening day)
2) Take away the deep ball, but give up the 10-15 yard completions (See Faggins yesterday)
3) Blitz like crazy and try and disrupt Manning.
Unfortunately, we chose option 2, and it killed us. When you rush 4 and drop everyone back into coverage, its going to be a long day against Manning. He picked us apart all day.
But, Im going to be the first person to come out and say that I don't think Faggins is our main problem. In fact, I think Faggins is still the 2nd best defensive back we have out there.
Unfortunately, our safeties are killing us. So far, Faggins has gone up against Steve Smith and Marvin Harrison. 2 of the top 5 receivers in the NFL. He gives them about a 5-8 yard cushion, and gives up easy 3rd down conversions. But he didn't get beat deep yesterday. If we had even 1 decent cover safety, we could easily put one of them over the top and let Faggins play more aggressively. Unfortunately we don't, and unfortunately, we are going to continue to see Faggins lined up against opposing teams #1 WRs and give up lots of easy completions.
On Manning's first TD pass, it was Boulware who bit up the middle, allowing Manning the easy play over the top to Clark in the back of the end zone.
The fact is, Faggins gave up 6 catches for 53 yards to Harrison. Many of them key 3rd down completions, but still. You can't expect him to produce much better than that against a guy like Harrison with Peyton throwing it to him.
Basically, I think this game exposed some of our weaknesses, but for the most part, still has to inspire confidence. We got beat, then we came back. We almost put the game away. And thats without 3 or 4 of our best players.
Our offense had an incredible hill to climb: Move the ball through the air without your best offensive playmaker. And then Dayne was listed as inactive. And then Green came up limp. And then Jones went down. And then McKinney got hurt. And then Davis dislocated his finger. All of a sudden we are left with 2 healthy WRs and a bunch of TEs.
When Jameel, butterfingers, Cook gets the majority of your offensive carries, you know you are introuble.
So how do you analyze an offense with this many players missing? I don't know. But I'll try:
Schaub looked good for the majority of the game.
Our line would give great protection, but our 4th and 5th string WRs couldn't get open. Or our line would break down quickly and Schaub would have to avoid the sack. I thought Schaub's pocket presence was great today, and I saw him get out of trouble at least a few times. He had some problem throws while on the run, and that throw into the end zone was a game killer. Throwing into triple coverage is not a good idea. I think he meant there to be more loft on the ball, but thats the 3rd INT we've seen him throw in the red zone. (1 was overturned) This is going to be a serious issue.
Throughout the day, the only 2 major mistakes I saw were the INT in the end zone and the sack to end the game.
Our WRs looked like backups. They made the catches when the ball was there, but Jones getting hit in the head with the ball cost us an INT. They didn't get open on a number of pass routes. That play with Davis going down the sidelines was pretty lucky because he has Zero separation.
Our TEs looked pretty reliable as always, but I predicted a bigger game for Daniels.
Our running backs looked awful. I hope we at least consider bringing back Wali Lundy, because Cook + Gado does not inspire confidence in me.
On defense, we looked like the Vikings of last year. Addai couldn't get anywhere on us. His holes closed fast. I think he averaged less than 3.5 yards per carry, which is something I"ll gladly take. That leaping TD was amazing, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Our pass defense leaves a lot to be desired. On defense, there are 3 ways to play Indianapolis.
1) Take away the short passes and get beat deep (see the Saints from MNF on opening day)
2) Take away the deep ball, but give up the 10-15 yard completions (See Faggins yesterday)
3) Blitz like crazy and try and disrupt Manning.
Unfortunately, we chose option 2, and it killed us. When you rush 4 and drop everyone back into coverage, its going to be a long day against Manning. He picked us apart all day.
But, Im going to be the first person to come out and say that I don't think Faggins is our main problem. In fact, I think Faggins is still the 2nd best defensive back we have out there.
Unfortunately, our safeties are killing us. So far, Faggins has gone up against Steve Smith and Marvin Harrison. 2 of the top 5 receivers in the NFL. He gives them about a 5-8 yard cushion, and gives up easy 3rd down conversions. But he didn't get beat deep yesterday. If we had even 1 decent cover safety, we could easily put one of them over the top and let Faggins play more aggressively. Unfortunately we don't, and unfortunately, we are going to continue to see Faggins lined up against opposing teams #1 WRs and give up lots of easy completions.
On Manning's first TD pass, it was Boulware who bit up the middle, allowing Manning the easy play over the top to Clark in the back of the end zone.
The fact is, Faggins gave up 6 catches for 53 yards to Harrison. Many of them key 3rd down completions, but still. You can't expect him to produce much better than that against a guy like Harrison with Peyton throwing it to him.
Basically, I think this game exposed some of our weaknesses, but for the most part, still has to inspire confidence. We got beat, then we came back. We almost put the game away. And thats without 3 or 4 of our best players.
The Safety play is the biggest problem on the defense right now . Its having a snowball effect on the rest of the game . There is not a true FS on the roster .
