Colts 2021 Season thread

[D-BONE]

Wentz still ill? Too much missed practice? Hope so. Otherwise check the playoff breakdown bus box (assuming there's not away choking another next week lands us out of the playoffs). That would definitely be a major stain on Reich's record.

Backing in to the playoffs wouldn't be particularly good either. HAVE TO look sharp and dominate next week. And even beyond Wentz's crappy day, the team came out flat as a pancake. And Raiders looked like they wanted it more all game long. Very disappointing.

[Banta]

I came into the season hopeful and open-minded regarding Wentz, but he’s done nothing but disappoint.

He consistently makes the wrong decision. There are plenty of complaints that can be made about the guy, but it all really boils down to that. And to really hammer it home, this is best illustrated by his near-refusal to see and/or take the easy play. I hate watching him play. It’s almost like watching someone who is still learning the position.

[D-BONE]

Irsay and Ballard might want to get back on the horn with Rivers after all.

[Sollozzo]

Irsay and Ballard might want to get back on the horn with Rivers after all.

Imagine last year’s Rivers with this year’s team.

In hindsight it couldn’t have been any worse if Ehlinger had been forced to start yesterday. I doubt he misses a wide open Hilton like Wentz did. That was just a horrible overthrow. Plus 7 of our points were complete luck with Hilton getting that tipped ball for the TD. That was a nice heads up play by Hilton, but Wentz’s atrocious throw should have been picked. Only reason it wasn’t was because those defenders collided with each other. If the defender who was in position hadn’t been hit by his teammate, it’s an easy pick.

Then on that last drive where we kicked the FG, we were bailed out with that PI. There was no way in hell we were converting any sort of 3rd and long without getting bailed out by PI. This team is completely unreliable in any sort of third and long clutch situation.

Credit to Carr and LV for making a lot of clutch plays.

Wentz was just awful yesterday and has been mostly awful recently aside from some of those throws in AZ (which were some great throws). He consistently overthrows and underthrows his receivers. His pocket presence is poor. He makes awful decisions and often dangerously tries to extend a play (like with a fling of the ball) when he should just take a sack.

Right now, Wentz just doesn’t seem to have any feel for the timing of hitting his receivers. He has the physical tools to play the position well, but he seemingly has no feel for it right now. That overthrow on wide open Hilton is something you would expect a HS QB to convert.

Recently I said I’d like the Colts against anyone aside from KC, but I figured Wentz would at least bounce back to sort of average. Seems as though he’s gotten worse as the year has gone on. I don’t think you can bet on the Colts in a playoff game right now with as bad as their passing offense looks at the moment. You still gotta be able to pass to win in this league. If it’s 3rd and 8 in a clutch situation, you can’t trust this team at all.

We can’t overlook Jacksonville. They will treat this game as if it’s the Super Bowl.

[D-BONE]

Reading some of Reich & players' post-game comments, I honestly think they phoned this one in thinking the Raiders at home would be an automatic win. I'm sure COVID complication fed into the let down, but that was by far the least motivated I think I've seen us intensity-wise all season.

Playoff-clinching opportunity at your last home game of the year (probably) and the crowd was totally out of it from the opening kickoff. That's about all you need to say. Starts at the top and goes all the way down.

And Wentz is Reich's right-hand man offensively. Cannot count on him for leadership from QB spot, as has been exemplified throughout the last group of posts. Can't even really count on him for consistent game "management" he's so volatile, both in his passing and his penchant for game-killing poor decisions.

[Sollozzo]

Reading some of Reich & players' post-game comments, I honestly think they phoned this one in thinking the Raiders at home would be an automatic win. I'm sure COVID complication fed into the let down, but that was by far the least motivated I think I've seen us intensity-wise all season.

Playoff-clinching opportunity at your last home game of the year (probably) and the crowd was totally out of it from the opening kickoff. That's about all you need to say. Starts at the top and goes all the way down.

And Wentz is Reich's right-hand man offensively. Cannot count on him for leadership from QB spot, as has been exemplified throughout the last group of posts. Can't even really count on him for consistent game "management" he's so volatile, both in his passing and his penchant for game-killing poor decisions.

The main way to see the difference between this Colts team and the old Colts teams was that the old teams were super dominant at home, whereas this team consistently blows big games at home. In the peak Manning era, we almost always took care of business at home in the regular season. The first 3 years of the Luck era were also very good at home.

Good teams don’t blow games at home. We are 4-5 at home this year which is just flat out awful.

[Trader Joe]

Wentz is trash man. If it wasn't for that final drive against Arizona which was clearly an aberration, we'd be out of the playoffs.

Giving up a first round pick for him was just a horrible, horrible move.

[Trader Joe]

I'm also tired of hearing about how few picks Wentz has thrown

1.) He's been absurdly lucky on multiple bad throws, like the one that went to HIlton for the TD

2.) He's had so many throws that were uncatchable by anyone

3.) He's throwing against the softest coverages in the league with the way teams are trying to play Taylor

[Sollozzo]

3.) He's throwing against the softest coverages in the league with the way teams are trying to play Taylor

Yeah......can you imagine a healthy Luck with Taylor? Good God.

Watching Wentz really makes me appreciate just how good Luck was when he was healthy. That guy could just flat out play and make some amazing throws. Sucks to see Wentz squandering an opportunity with a roster that is way better than anything Luck had.

Of course, right now a quarterback doesn't need to be anywhere near as good as Andrew Luck in order to be better than Carson Wentz. Some of the throws - like the wide open Hilton miss - are throws that you'd expect a high school quarterback to hit.

7 Pro Bowlers (most in league), a historically good running back.....and we STILL aren't in the playoffs yet. Lack of a reliable passing game is by far the number 1 reason.

[Trader Joe]

Yeah......can you imagine a healthy Luck with Taylor? Good God.

Watching Wentz really makes me appreciate just how good Luck was when he was healthy. That guy could just flat out play and make some amazing throws. Sucks to see Wentz squandering an opportunity with a roster that is way better than anything Luck had.

Of course, right now a quarterback doesn't need to be anywhere near as good as Andrew Luck in order to be better than Carson Wentz. Some of the throws - like the wide open Hilton miss - are throws that you'd expect a high school quarterback to hit.

7 Pro Bowlers (most in league), a historically good running back.....and we STILL aren't in the playoffs yet. Lack of a reliable passing game is by far the number 1 reason.

Wentz looks panicked right now under what is at worst average pressure for an NFL quarterback. If he had played behind the lines Luck had with the running backs Luck had....woof.

[PacerDude]

Well, not to throw gas on the fire - but you all realize that we're stuck with Wentz at least thru next year. After that, we can walk away from him with no $$$ issues (well, other than pissing away a 1st on him).

He's just about good enough to be a .500 QB. He's just about bad enough to be a .500 QB. A game or 2 either way is best/worse case scenario.

Now, if they have the nerve to give him a new deal ............ yeah - I think that'll cause issues in the fan-base.

[Trader Joe]

Well, not to throw gas on the fire - but you all realize that we're stuck with Wentz at least thru next year. After that, we can walk away from him with no $$$ issues (well, other than pissing away a 1st on him).

He's just about good enough to be a .500 QB. He's just about bad enough to be a .500 QB. A game or 2 either way is best/worse case scenario.

Now, if they have the nerve to give him a new deal ............ yeah - I think that'll cause issues in the fan-base.

I guess my issue is pro sports is such a short window to win big. How long will the o-line hold up like this? How long will Taylor hold up? How long til the defense becomes too expensive to keep together? Even then who do we replace Wentz with and wasting a first round is nothing to sneeze at especially when we still need talent in certain places like WRs and TEs.

This team really does feel like it could win a super bowl this year, but we aren't quite a good enough defense to win it with a QB like Wentz is what it feels like.

[Sollozzo]

Indy star said we haven’t won in Jacksonville since 2014? Geez, that was back when Luck was in his prime.

I don’t care how bad Jacksonville is - we can’t overlook this game. They will treat an opportunity to play spoiler against the Colts as if it’s the Super Bowl.

[Basketball Fan]

Wentz still ill? Too much missed practice? Hope so. Otherwise check the playoff breakdown bus box (assuming there's not away choking another next week lands us out of the playoffs). That would definitely be a major stain on Reich's record.

Backing in to the playoffs wouldn't be particularly good either. HAVE TO look sharp and dominate next week. And even beyond Wentz's crappy day, the team came out flat as a pancake. And Raiders looked like they wanted it more all game long. Very disappointing.

Did he even practice at all this week I didn't hear that he did? If that's the case they probably should've started Ehlinger. Although I'm not really sure why people are surprised the Raiders would come out swinging they lost one of their most iconic figures and I figure that would be their rallying cry. The Colts should've been prepared for that.

That being said unlike others here I'm not really that disappointed in the Colts because I never expected much from them to begin with especially after that 0-3 start. They are way too inconsistent and aren't on the level of the Titans or Chiefs regardless of QB. They have a talented RB (who while I think is great is also greatly benefitting from Derrick Henry missing most of this season otherwise he wouldn't even be in the MVP consideration) and is the most consistent player on this team. That only goes so far.

[Bball]

The schedule is Lucy and the team is Charlie Brown. That is how this season has played out so far. No reason to think it will stop being that now.