All hope is not lost but the faith in our dear Colts is fading fast. 1-3 and sitting at the bottom of the AFC South, things are in a sorry state. Luck may be on our side but which version are we going to get week to week or even play to play? It seems like we are going over the same thing week in and week out. Colts start slow and get better in the second half. Only this season the “second half” part hasn’t worked out so well. With the fanbase calling for the firings of Chuck Pagano and Grigson, don’t expect that change to be made anytime soon. It’s been a long time since Irsay fired a head coach mid season. From what I can tell it hasn’t happened at all during the Jim Irsay era so we might as well get comfortable for the remainder of this season. It will likely continue to be a roller coaster of frustration and mediocrity. The Colts could win the division. They could claw their way into the playoffs but after watching them for the past few weeks it doesn’t seem even remotely likely to happen. But the Colts have surprised before!
Stuck in a Rut
Fans are clamoring for a faster tempo offense to try to spark some life in this stagnant group, but offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski isn’t as sold on running the hurry up offense. Even though the Colts tend to move the ball better when they go up tempo, Chudzinski claims it has more to do with the opposing defenses mindset than anything else. “At the end of games, you are seeing defenses that are going to let you have yards and let you move the ball because they are trying to keep you from scoring and they are playing you differently than in the middle of the game. We have a great quarterback so he has been able to do a good job in those situations and we have been able to make plays in those situations.” I am not sure what games he is watching because from my point of view even earlier on in the games, when they do let Andrew Luck loose, good things tend to happen. Maybe I should say “better things tend to happen” because not much good has happened at all this season as Luck has been inconsistent at best. “What we need is we need to put the whole thing together for 60 minutes and play a great game. Every week we come out with that plan and with that intention and belief that we are going to do that.” At this point I was hoping the next question would be “What is the definition of insanity?”
Getting Defensive
On a somewhat brighter side, if you can call it that, Defensive Coordinator Ted Monachino doesn’t sugar coat his squads lackluster performances. “we all understand that this is a black and white production business. Either you can or you can’t, you have or you have not, you will or you won’t. Collectively, as a defensive staff and as a defensive group of players, we have not and we have got to get better. I will tell you that we are determined and we are still committed. Our mindset has not changed. We will continue to work our craft and continue to get better every day. We are making no excuses for our performance on Sunday and we are taking no credit for anything that we did well.” While the honesty is refreshing and a nice change up from the typical “stick to the process” kind of speak that is given to us, words only go so far.
The production Monachino speaks of has yet to be displayed. Injuries can take the blame for a good chunk of lack of production on defense so far, the defensive unit is near to full strength now. Facing a Bears team that is seemingly as bad as the Colts are, now would be a good time to get a spark out of his players. With the expulsion of both Antonio “hold-on-for-dear-life” Cromartie and Sio “less-is” Moore, the Colts are trying to wake up something in this defense. Lou Pin has written a brief memoir in the wake of their release. Even though releasing Moore hurts the depth of an already shallow spot on the Colts roster. But Ted has faith in his young linebacking corp “that’s a room full of guys that are more than prepared to pull the rope and to contribute and to play winning football. I know that we have been growing Antonio’s (Morrison) role throughout the first four weeks, just simply because he’s a rookie and that’s how you have to do it. You can’t put him out there for 65 snaps a game because he’ll get exposed at times. We’ve got to find ways to drive Edwin Jackson’s role up. We’ve got to find ways to continue to grow Josh McNary and we have to still find ways to get DQ (D’Qwell Jackson) off the field at times. But that group of guys, along with Jim Herrmann, their jaws are set and they’re ready to compete and they’re ready to pull that rope because they know they have to. I have a lot of respect for Sio as a man and as a player and what he did here, but this was a football decision that we made and we’ve moved on.” Pulling rope and clinching jaws? No wonder Pagano wanted to bring this guy in! Regardless of the colorful metaphors Monachino has a good opportunity to test some of his young defenders against a struggling Bears team and their backup quarterback. The pass rush is always a big question. Monachino will have to get creative, especially with the disappearance of Robert Mathis. With a course of action in mind to help Mathis going “I’ve got to find more ways to get Robert singled. When we can get that done I think he’ll win his share of rushes. I have a great deal of confidence in Rob. I’m not concerned about Rob. We have to find creative ways to get him free and get him going. What’ll happen is, there’s a lot of confidence involved in that technique and that skill and those confidence rushers, once they get rolling, sometimes it’s hard to slow them down and that’s how we have to get Rob going. We have to get him jump started in some way and then get him going where he can string a few games together.” A spark from Mathis on defense would be a welcome sign.
Frank Gore
As I am sure you are well aware by now, Frank Gore is now a top 10 all time running back in career rushing yards. Even now being talked about with some of the all time great backs he is still keeping his team first mentality. “It’s a blessing. It’s great. Especially, when I first came in the league, me on the sideline, we were playing the Rams. I was thinking, ‘Man, that is Marshall Faulk.’ I made a play and then after the game he came up to me and said, ‘Keep working.’ Even LT (LaDainian Tomlinson) after a preseason game, that was my rookie year, I was happy to meet the guys and now I am blessed to have my name mentioned with those guys. Right now with me, individually I just have to keep working right now and do whatever it takes to help my team try to get some wins.”
Let’s hope the rest of the team follows his example. “If we do that, that will come, individual success will come with wins. I am just going to keep working, keep playing hard and see where the chips lay at.”
All quotes courtesy of the Indianapolis Colts PR department
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