After one of the more embarrassing losses in the Chuck Pagano era, the Indianapolis Colts are (attempting) to shift their focus away from colossal breakdown in Houston, and onto salvaging an abysmal start in Nashville. For those of you who need to be reminded, with just 3 minutes to go, and a sizeable statistical advantage behind them, the Colts sat idly by as the Texans scored 17 straight to stun the Colts in over time. In fact, according to ESPN Research, the Texans are the first team to overcome a 14-point deficit in the final 3 minutes of a game since Tim Tebow (the baseball player) and the Broncos did it in Week 7 of the 2011 season vs. the Miami Dolphins. Rant over.
However, the past is the past, and the Colts only have themselves to blame for their 33% win percentage. The Colts now take on a surprisingly well rounded team in the Titans, who are Top 10 in net offensive yards, passing yards allowed per game, and rushing yards allowed per game. While their wins may only have come against Detroit, Houston, and Cleveland, the Colts are in no position to balk at their win column, as they themselves have lost to 2/3 of the aforementioned teams.
Let’s touch base with the important stories heading into tomorrow’s matchup:
The End of Chuck?
If the Colts have any chance at potentially turning around a 2-4 record, and spinning that into making a playoff run, it has everything to with the leadership of this football team. That starts with Chuck.
“I think what we are right now is a three-quarter team and we have to find a way to become a four-quarter team,” said Pagano this past Monday, as he continued to point out the obvious.
Pagano has made some very questionable decisions in his time as head coach, but the epitome of Chuck came when the Colts faced a 4th & 1 in the 4th Quarter in Houston’s redzone. Rather than quickly making a decision to either take the 3 points, or call a play, Pagano felt it best to burn a valuable timeout, then proceed to call a telegraphed quick run, which was immediately sniffed out.
Pagano, however, is either unfazed by this, or is putting on a front, as he had this to say yesterday afternoon after it was pointed out that he was being uncharacteristically loose: “Eternal optimist. You keep it in perspective. It is what it is. You can’t coach tight; you can’t play tight. We know where we are at, we know we are a good football team so now it’s a matter of putting it all together for four quarters. Eliminate some mistakes here and there, keep working, keep chopping wood. You keep chopping the tree will fall.”
You can’t make this up. But what we can speculate on, is how many more losses eccentric owner Jim Irsay will be able to tolerate before he has had enough.
Injury Update
With a plethora of healthy bodies heading into last week’s Sunday Night matchup against Houston, the script seems to be flipped this week, as we found out that the Colts are sporting seven inactive players, six of which were starters. Inactive for the game tomorrow are: Dwayne Allen, Henry Anderson, Phillip Dorsett, Zach Kerr, Curt Maggitt, Jack Mewhort and Donte Moncrief.
With the absence of Mewhort, this means that Andrew Luck will yet again play with another offensive line combination. The current speculation is that Joe Haeg, who has been playing very solid football at the right tackle position, will be replacing Mewhort, and utility lineman, Joe Reitz, will be stepping up to man the right tackle spot.
One area of particular concern, is that the Colts are without 3 of their top 4 wide receivers in Dorsett, Moncrief, and Quan Bray. This means that not only will fans be watching in horror as Luck is relentlessly pressured from a stifling Dick LeBeau-led defense, but the offensive chemistry is appearing to be in short order.
“Just done it in a hurry and they put in extra time before practice, after practice and in the meeting room. Obviously having Chase at training camp, he is a quick study (and) a lot of recall there and the other guys have been here,” said Pagano as he touched on the lack of familiarity between Luck and his new receiver corps.
A Look Ahead
While Colts fans will be cautiously optimistic about a matchup that used to be an expected win against the Titans, who are formerly a division punching bag, they may be watching this game slightly more tensely, as the Colts are remarkably beaten up and shorthanded this week.
After allowing 178 total yards and a pair of touchdowns to Houston’s Lamar Miller, the Colts point of emphasis must be focused around Titans running back Demarco Murray. After being written off by the Philadelphia Eagles this past offseason, Murray has experienced a resurgence in his new home. Murray is currently 4th in the NFL in rushing, but has also been a steady contributor in the Titans’ passing game, as he boasts nearly 700 total yards through six games.
With the Titans commitment to funneling their offense through Murray, it will be up to Pagano and defensive coordinator Ted Monachino to attempt to slow down one of the more efficient offenses in the NFL.
As always, keep choppin’.
All quotes courtesy of the Colts PR Department.
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