Thanksgiving Leftovers…

The holiday prevented us from doing the podcast (shocker!), so here’s my thoughts and observations leftover from the Chargers game:

3-1-IND 42 (6:10) 18-P.Manning pass deep middle to 87-R.Wayne to SD 32 for 26 yards (32-E.Weddle). Clark and Addai stay in on max protect to pick up the blitz. Wayne beats a double team off the P/A fake
3-2-SD 25 (:20) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers pass deep left to 80-M.Floyd to IND 44 for 31 yards (33-M.Bullitt). 6 man blitz, LT picks off on of them. No one gets there. Bethea gets beat in single coverage which is obviously a bad matchup.
1-10-IND 44 (9:40) 18-P.Manning pass deep middle intended for 88-M.Harrison INTERCEPTED by 23-Q.Jammer at SD 11. 23-Q.Jammer to SD 11 for no gain (88-M.Harrison). Great pocket, the ball was terminally underthrown, unless there was some route issue we can’t know. Bad throw.
3-7-SD 14 (8:46) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers pass deep middle to 80-M.Floyd to SD 37 for 23 yards (31-K.Ratliff). Rivers slides wide of Freeney, as both ends cut to the inside. This left no one pursuing Rivers to the back side (think Rosenfels in Houston on the Mathis play). It’s a simple hole in the zone on coverage.
1-10-IND 39 (5:05) 17-P.Rivers pass deep middle to 83-V.Jackson for 39 yards, TOUCHDOWN. P/A fake, no rush at all. Brackett just can’t get deep enough. Either Bullitt or Bethea was late coming over.
3-1-IND 38 (4:13) 29-J.Addai left tackle to SD 39 for 23 yards (32-E.Weddle). Great block by Reid, and Addai cuts back inside.
3-2-SD 13 (:43) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass short left to 11-A.Gonzalez for 13 yards, TOUCHDOWN. It’s a simple pick play that was legal thanks to the defensive chuck on Wayne.
3-12-IND 14 (11:08) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers sacked at IND 24 for -10 yards (98-R.Mathis). FUMBLES (98-R.Mathis) [98-R.Mathis], RECOVERED by IND-79-R.Brock at IND 25. 79-R.Brock to IND 34 for 9 yards (79-M.Goff). One of the plays of the game for sure. The D made two great run stops to set up the passing down. Mathis flat beats his man, and Rivers tries to slide (see play 5) and starts to square his body to throw. Big mistake there Phil.
3-4-SD 46 (8:10) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass short right to 11-A.Gonzalez ran ob at SD 17 for 29 yards (42-C.Hart). No rush, AG is wide open due to an ankle breaking juke. This was a Harrisonesque route by Gonzo. He’s getting better all the time.
4-1-SD 1 (3:54) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass short left to 38-D.Rhodes for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN. Simple juke and cut by Dom, with EXPLOSIVE speed out of the break. Ugoh blocks no one, but 18 still gets the TD.
2-6-SD 48 (1:44) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers sacked at SD 45 for -3 yards (sack split by 98-R.Mathis and 68-E.Foster). Freeney beats the double team, and Mathis and Foster clean up the mess.
3-7-IND 45 (14:04) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to 44-D.Clark (42-C.Hart). PENALTY on SD-42-C.Hart, Defensive Pass Interference, 5 yards, enforced at IND 45 – No Play. Manning is pressured (Ugoh gets beat again), and throws four yards short of the first down. The confusion on the PI call is becuase it was called on the wrong guy. 20 actually does interfere with Clark. He’s chucking Gonzo, who drives him into Clark as he makes his cut. Thus the DB contacts the intended receiver which is…Pass interference. Tough call, but a right one.
3-12-IND 48 (13:35) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass deep left to 11-A.Gonzalez ran ob at SD 33 for 19 yards (42-C.Hart). This is just a sick throw as Gonzo beats the zone.
1-10-IND 45 (9:30) 17-P.Rivers pass deep right to 83-V.Jackson to IND 27 for 18 yards (58-G.Brackett, 26-K.Hayden). Great throw and catch by the Chargers. Hayden plays it perfect, and even tries to jump the route. No complaints. The Bolts earned this. Great D, better O.
3-1-IND 39 (4:06) 29-J.Addai up the middle to IND 37 for -2 yards (95-S.Phillips, 94-J.Tucker). Phillips just abuses Dallas Clark to make the play. CJ and Ugoh had the play blocked for a first down run, but Joe never had a prayer. Dallas barely touches him.
3-15-IND 42 (1:49) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers pass short left to 86-B.Manumaleuna to IND 29 for 13 yards (23-T.Jennings). Freeney stunts to force the check down (again…Rivers got scared of him in the second half). Jennings and Bethea ALMOST blow the tackle. At the end of the play Norv utterly loses his mind.
Timeout #1 by SD at 01:35.
4-1-SD 48 (:26) 18-P.Manning pass short left to 88-M.Harrison to SD 34 for 14 yards (23-Q.Jammer). See note at the end of this list.
3-9-SD 33 (:02) 4-A.Vinatieri 51 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-48-J.Snow, Holder-17-H.Smith. Money.
Some thoughts on the big fourth down conversion: Almost everyone but the Colts screwed up this play. First, I believe Indy’s intent coming out of the review was to let the clock wind down to about 10 seconds, run fourth down, call timeout and kick the field goal. This would have prevented the Chargers from having time to run a play and kick. This strategy SHOULD have been countered by Norv Turner who had two time outs left. He should have called one once the fourth down was measured. This would have forced Indy to punt. You can’t go for a fourth down with 26 seconds left at midfield. Norv effed up royally. Oddly enough, so did the officials who NEVER WOUND THE CLOCK. Had the Colts not gotten the first, San Diego would have had around 16-18 seconds to run multiple plays because the officials did for Norv what he was too stupid to do. Fortunately, Marvin was wide open. Much was made out of the pick with the official. It was clear on tape that Marv had ALREADY lost his man at that point. By the way, it was Williams (who almost won this game by himself) that forced the quick throw by 18.
Other thoughts:

  • No one could watch that game and tell me that Dom runs better than Addai.
  • Dungy as magnificent in the final minute.
  • Rivers really is painfully accurate. He made nice throws all night. Conversely LT is not the same player anymore.
  • Sessions played great in spots, but missed some tackles too.
Links:
Hmmm, someone familiar snuck one into Ask Vic. Gratifying answer from a guy who mocked the Colts for drafting four centers and also declared Manning to be done during his live game blog in September.
Judge gets more Manning V Manning hype rolling. Whatever. I’d be thrilled with it.
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