Colts week discussion. Horrible matchup

[HarveyWallbangers]

Worst type of matchup too. Quick trigger filthy Phil and a dominant run blocking line. Pass rushers neutralized. And great defense too. Brutal matchup for this team. Winning would be huge.

Rivers is a shell of himself. 34 TDs and 27 interceptions in the last 1 1/2 years. If you get any kind of pressure, he will throw 2-3 interceptable balls/game.

Rivers has had some good games against us, so he'll probably make me eat my words, but there are a lot of QBs I'd take over Rivers at this point.

[hoosier]

Colts have a top five defense, there is no way GB puts up big numbers against them. The Colts have tended to play down the level of the competition this year, especially their discombobulated offense. DeForest Buckner and Darius Leonard are playing really well, Packers will need to figure out how to neutralize their aggressiveness. I think there is a decent chance this ends up one of those WTF games where Rodgers is constantly feeling the pressure and not adjusting, and ends up taking a giant step backwards and starts looking like he did against Denver and Arizona in 2015.

[Tony Oday]

Packers will be shut out.

[run pMc]

I think Rivers is like Brees - not much arm - but with less accuracy and poise. He will give out picks in bunches, especially if pressured. Problem is, he's a savvy vet who will be able to read the D and just dink and dunk his way down the field while Pettine plays the corners 8 yards off the line. I don't see GB's D stopping Indy.

On the other side, Rodgers generally plays well in domes and I think they might have been looking past JAX to this game. The Indy D is no joke -- they are good. They have some no name players like Kenny Moore who will make plays, and they seem to play sound, aggressive defense. It will be tough sledding on them running the ball, and outside of Adams they won't have much to scare them in the passing game. Xavier Rhodes is playing much better this year, and Rock Ya-Sin has a fun name.

Not saying GB doesn't have a chance, anything could happen, but I'd have to think Indy is favored by 7 in this one. Homefield isn't the advantage it normally is, but straight up I'd pick Indy.

[texaspackerbacker]

Why do we not have a pick 'em league this season? It sure is easy to see why some of ya'all floundered in that last year.

[George Cumby]

Watching the Colts curb stomp the Titans last week doesn't inspire a whole lot of optimism.

[Joemailman]

Watching the Colts curb stomp the Titans last week doesn't inspire a whole lot of optimism.

Yet they've lost 3 games. It's a week to week league. Nobody in NFL is dominating consistently.

[Spaulding]

Colts are good but overrated. Their defense has yet to play a good offensive team which in turns makes their defensive rankings obviously higher than otherwise.

Week 1
- loss to the Jag's 27-20 (although they played the Packers tough, windy conditions and a lackluster effort made it look better than it was and the Jags were otherwise near bottom in defensive rankings)

Week 2
- win over the Vikings 28-11 (Vikings of start of the season were far worse than currently as evidenced in their first game against the Packers)

Week 3
- win over the Jets 36-7 (any game against the hapless Jets alone bumps your defensive standings a few places)

Week 4
- win over the Bears 19-11 (Bears offense is on par with the Jets and thus holding them to 11 points is not actually an accomplishment)

Week 5
- loss to the Browns 32-23 (first decent defense they played and gave up a reasonably high total)

Week 6
- win over the Bengals 31-27 (holding a rookie QB and weak supporting case to 27 isn't much of a win)

Week 7
- win over the Lions 41-21 (where they won the turnover battle but still gave up plenty of yards)

Week 8
- loss to the Ravens 24-10 (actually outgained the Ravens but lost the turnover battle)

Week 9
- win over the Titans 34-17 (who've lost three out of the last four with only win against the Bears)

I could obviously dig far deeper into the numbers but just at a high level overview, they seem overrated for their current ranking due to level of competition played so far. PFT has them listed as the 11th best team with no wins over teams ranked above them where the Packers are ranked 4th with a win over the #3 ranked Saints.

All the gloom and doom is surprising. I get that we're all not homers (which is a good thing) and being objective and thought provoking on this forum is what makes it great, but I don't see this as a trap game/loss.

Sure it's not a likely win like against the Jags (which was actually far from that) but I think the Packers match up just fine against the Colts. Darius Leonard is solid and was a great find by the Jag's in the 2nd round but nowhere near as fast as the ILB's for the Buc's (David and White) and Buckner can be double teamed on the DL. Between Rogers/Adams/Jones doing their thing and Rivers prone to picks I have to believe that we walk away with a win.

And the clamors of Indy being the best OLine in football were last year thoughts. This year (mostly due to injuries) they've been mediocre and their offensive yards from rushing are less than the Packers at this point in the season. If they were a better running team or had an elite back like Cook I'd be more concerned but Taylor hasn't looked comfortable and once Mack went down, the rest of the RB's are just jags.

If Pettine can't stop an average running game likes the Colts (they are not the 49ers of last year or the Vikings with Cook) from gashing us I say the rest of the season is moot.

23-17 Packers

[George Cumby]

Nice post Spaulding.

Weird how you use facts and data to form an opinion.

[RashanGary]

Lizard back is huge. I’m a big fan of MVS as a part time deep decoy but really excited to see his snaps decrease in the coming weeks.



Jones/Williams

Adams (best wr in league and block well)
Lazard (blocker/pass catcher)
Tonyan (blocker/pass catcher)

Then you mix a whole bunch of guys in, situationally
MVS (deep decoy and elite deep threat)
Mercedes (pass pro like a tackle so opens up protection schemes by being able to take edge rushers one on one. Underrated quality. Excellent run blocker and can sneak out and get 5 at any time)
Swerv (jet motions slows down line backers, opening up the run game. Also runs routes like a WR and can take those jet sweeps for big yards because he’s good with the ball in his hands)
Jace (overall TE skillset, just young and learning the game still)



I like our RB and top three guys. I like they way they fit together because the run is just as threatening as the pass considering all of them block well. I also like the mix and match flexibility of the 5 part time guys too. A bit of everything there. A deep threat WR, a blocking TE, a gadget returner type, and a young, athletic TE. You don’t want any of them playing every down, but between them you can mix it up and attack different things.


This offense is gonna absolutely go off in the coming weeks. The WR pouting has been absolutely ridiculous!!!

[RashanGary]

Good points, Spaulding. Those wins aren’t very impressive for the Colts.

I’ve watched them play and consider them a real good team though. Filthy Phil was just getting his feet wet in the offense in that week 1 game.

That OL is tough though and so is the defense. They’re a solid playoff caliber team built in our least favorite model. Quick trigger QB who neutralizes pass rushers. Real tough run blockers. Elite DT to get after 12. Not our best matchup at all.

[Upnorth]

Counter to Spaulding

We had a close game to a bad jax team that had a qb making his second start. This win would be a loss to an average team. That is 3 losses in 4 weeks.
We gave up 100 yards on the ground to a team that can't pass. They gave us 3 3 and outs in a row and two turn overs.

[Spaulding]

Counter to Spaulding

We had a close game to a bad jax team that had a qb making his second start. This win would be a loss to an average team. That is 3 losses in 4 weeks.
We gave up 100 yards on the ground to a team that can't pass. They gave us 3 3 and outs in a row and two turn overs.

Fair enough but I think the fact that Jacksonville could run the ball with Robinson given the windy/cold conditions which weren't ideal for our passing game was definitely in their favor.

As much as I liked having Bak back at LT, he's never reminded me of a grader in the run game and thus might didn't help our anemic running game this past Sunday.

I certainly don't think it's a chalk it up win, I just see two good teams playing this coming Sunday in a dome (which Rodgers seems to well in minus crowd noise) where all things considered the Packers being the better team and thus winning.

[Joemailman]

Counter to Spaulding

We had a close game to a bad jax team that had a qb making his second start. This win would be a loss to an average team. That is 3 losses in 4 weeks.
We gave up 100 yards on the ground to a team that can't pass. They gave us 3 3 and outs in a row and two turn overs.

3 things happened in that game you probably won't see Sunday. Giving up a punt return for a TD. Rodgers setting up an opponent FG with a bad INT. Adams setting up an opponent TD with a fumble deep in his own territory. I don't think anyone is suggesting they will beat Indy if they play that way. But the history of this team under LaFleur is that they bounce back from a bad performance.

[GB-Brandon]

It is progress though, that 6 months later you agree with me that WR isn't the problem, the defense is...specifically run defense.

I never said that. Having an additional weapon on offense would make the offense Elite and would also help cover up more for the defensive shortcomings because I have zero faith the Packers are ever going to figure out how to field a legitimate defense.

They could draft defense 5 times in the first round and still screw it up. They are incompetent IDIOTS!!! What more do we need to see?