Tastes Great v. Less Filling: Softenss of the Colts and How They Matched Up Against the Pats

[johnmd20]

Geez, you aren't going to be banned. No one else wants to read a pissing match. So WE can now take it to PM or a DOPE will come in and hide the posts. That's how ALL of these go. 
 
Sheesh. It's written in clear, plain English and you have 10K posts here. 

 
No, ALL of these go by you condescendingly telling people how stupid and wrong they are in a manner guaranteed to generate a pissing match. 
 
Because there is a significant talent disparity between the Colts and the Pats. And there are matchup problems too. And you know what happens in games when teams have both a talent disparity and matchup problems? They end up in blowouts. Which has what happened between the Colts and the Pats the past few games.

 

[ShaneTrot]

Football is a strange game. Pats don't try to run at all last week, this week they run at will. I know it's based on match ups but Denver and Cincinnati were both better rushing teams this year than the Pats.

 

[soxfan121]

This post is a shit response to a fair point.

Personally, I see the matchup problems, I see a talent disparity, but I also see a coaching staff more focused on hugs than preparation. Luck said it in his post game. "They were more prepared on the details" or something like that. It wasn't just the match ups, Colts had no plan to beat the same thing they saw 2 months ago. Their big adjustment was doubling Gronk.

 
What's the fair point? That the Colts are soft because they hug?
 
The Colts had " no plan to beat the same thing they saw 2 months ago" because their weaknesses - schematic, roster, talent, performance - all match up poorly with the Patriots. 

To say a team is "soft" is to question their toughness, their metal, their ability to handle adversity, etc. The Colts aren't "soft" because they hug or they can't make adjustments. They aren't "unprepared" because they don't have the ability to matchup against the Patriots scheme. 
 
Cincinnati had the 11th best rushing attack in the NFL this season; the Patriots, 18th. Indy beat Cincy twice, limiting that rushing game (32 yards!). How? The Colts run defense matches up well against the Bengals rushing offense. The stats only tell you so much; to know why you have to watch the games. 
 
This was a 10-point game at half; the Colts have a third year QB and are three seasons removed from having gutted their entire roster down to barebones after years of robbing everyone to pay Peyton. They don't have a deep, talented roster. They aren't a bad team, certainly not as bad as they look against the Patriots because the matchups are wrong. 
 
We Patriots fans love to cite BB's ability to match up against the opposition, to take away what they want to do best/most (Hilton), and to using the deep roster and "next man up" to defeat opponents. Well? That's my argument. That it is less the Colts being "soft, pretenders" and more about how the game is actually played.
 
The Colts got smoked in the second half. Again. They looked like shit once they stepped in the QUICKSAND. But they don't suck. They aren't soft because they hug or because their weaknesses are easily exploitable. 

 

[amarshal2]

I didn't say they were soft. I said the coaching staff is more focused on hugs than preparation.

They lost doing almost exactly what they did last time but expecting different results. At the very least they could have lost trying something different.

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2015/01/16/doyel-belichick-vs-pagano-its-nature-vs-nurture/21870947/

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2015/01/19/colts-patriots-afc-championship-gregg-doyel/21981365/

Edit: and me saying his point was fair was not me agreeing with him. It was me saying his point was fair and your response wasn't.

 

[dcmissle]

Football is a strange game. Pats don't try to run at all last week, this week they run at will. I know it's based on match ups but Denver and Cincinnati were both better rushing teams this year than the Pats.

They tried to run against the Ravens and were stoned. And that is not at all surprising because of the Ravens' commitment to snuff out the run and the strength of their front 7. The weakness lay in the secondary, which the Pats naturally exploited.

Love the soxfan post on the Colts unconditionally. They do not suck. They simply match up very poorly against the Pats and will continue to do so until they have defensive personnel that can walk and chew gum at the same time, defend the run while containing a passing attack. The Bengals had no weapons; the Broncos were a one-arm fighter and executed a miserable plan of attack.

Why aren't the Colts better. Look at their last two first-round picks. One became TR; the other, Werner, was a healthy scratch yesterday.

 

[Jnai]

They tried to run against the Ravens and were stoned. And that is not at all surprising because of the Ravens' commitment to snuff out the run and the strength of their front 7. The weakness lay in the secondary, which the Pats naturally exploited.

Love the soxfan post on the Colts unconditionally. They do not suck. They simply match up very poorly against the Pats and will continue to do so until they have defensive personnel that can walk and chew gum at the same time, defend the run while containing a passing attack. The Bengals had no weapons; the Broncos were a one-arm fighter and executed a miserable plan of attack.

Why aren't the Colts better. Look at their last two first-round picks. One became TR; the other, Werner, was a healthy scratch yesterday.

 
Right, the Colts hid their otherwise massive talent gap by getting to play two teams that could have filled last year's Pro Bowl with their injury reports. Both teams were missing their best (by a long shot) offensive weapon. Having a defense that can't "Walk and Chew Gum" is just another way of saying that their defense is completely inadequate to deal with a good offense. It's just a massive talent gap.
 
What playoff teams do the Colts match up well against other than ones dealing with massive injury problems? This is the issue with the "matchup" analysis.

 

[bsartist618]

Much like the Colts, I think it's time to put this thread out to pasture.