Tagged: Indianapolis Colts
Week 10 NFL Recap
Here is a look at each NFL game played yesterday, plus little preview of tonight’s game.
BY: Jeff Schneberk @Game7overtime
Week 10 is set to come to an end tonight in the NFL. As was the case last week, there were a handful of upsets yesterday afternoon. For some reason I think I will start in the NFC with a game I did not watch, Carolina won last week against Atlanta to most peoples’ surprise and they did it again this week. Only difference was they did it against a much better team, the San Francisco 49ers. It was their fifth win in a row and looking every bit like Carolina may place first in the NFC South but would still need to see a downfall of the Saints, who also won yesterday.
Anyways against the 49ers, one of the only games yesterday where there were no touchdown passes, two top young NFL quarterbacks and all they could do was each throw a pick. Cam Newton finished 16/32 and Colin Kaepernick was barely 50% throwing 11/22. That game was the first of my 4 upsets on the day.
Seahawks/Falcons: In another NFC contest, Seattle upped its record to 33-10 with a win over a team that seems to be getting easier and easier to beat, Atlanta. Carolina manhandled them last week now it’s the Seahawks turn and they did it by almost the same score, 33-10. Seattle QB Russell Wilson finished with 287 yards and two TDs. Former Notre Dame standout wideout Golden Tate had the catch of the day in the second quarter that put the Seahawks up 23-3. He also finished the day with 106 receiving yards.
Lions/Bears: The one game that easily could have gone either way, Detroit edged Chicago 21-19. Two Megatron touchdowns sealed this one, Drew Stafford threw three touchdowns and Reggie Bush, the prized acquisition from back in September had 14 carries and the Lions rolled. Chicago QB Jay Cutler had 250 passing yards for one touchdown and Brendan Marshall had two touchdowns on seven receptions and totaled 139 yards.
Green Bay and Philadelphia put together one of three upsets of the day.
My next upset of the day came from Lambeau Field, the one stadium in the league where it tends to get frigid much faster than most places. Anyways Eagles QB Nick Foles lit everyone up again (his 7 TDs last week just weren’t enough I guess lol) but he did it again and now Philadelphia is even steven at 5-5. Foles racked up 228 yards and only missed six pass attempts, going 12/18 in a game where Green Bay never had the lead, and it was only close in the first half.
Giants/Raiders: The NY Giants got past Oakland with a win, 24-20. Eli Manning only had 140 passing yards but apparently that was enough to win the game. He had one touchdown pass to Rueben Randle in the second quarter, and he had one interception. Raiders’ newest QB to start half of a season, Terrelle Pryor finished this last with less than 50% passing at 11/26 and 122 yards. Manning went 12/22. Pryor also ran for a one-yard score. Pryor was playing with a sore hamstring.
“We just to go back to work and stick with each other,” said Pryor, who was 11 of 26 for 122 yards playing with a sore hamstring. “A lot of fingers can be pointed at me. That’s all right, I understand that. The next time we get in this situation we have to know how to react.”
Steelers/Bills: Another one of those game where anything could have happened (including someone sparking debate that Ben Roethlisberger wants out of Pittsburgh), the Pittsburgh Steelers welcomed E.J. Manuel back to the lineup by beating his Buffalo Bills, 23-10. Both QBs finished the day with only one touchdown. Manuel went 22/39 and Roethlisberger went 18/30. Pittsburgh scored 10 points in the second quarter while Buffalo managed only a field goal in the first half and didn’t score a major until the game was nearly done. Bills fall to 3-7, Pitt goes to 3-6.
Panthers/9ers:If you had any money on a 49ers blowout win, then today’s not a good day. Neither team’s quarterback managed a touchdown pass. Like the pre-season battle between the 9ers and the Broncos this one could have put you to sleep. One rushing touchdown from Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams and the rest of the scoring was field goals. Carolina won the 1st down battle, 15-10 and both teams were brutal on 3rd down efficiency (7-17 for the Panthers and 2-13 for the 9ers). Neither quarterback finished with a rating above 53. Carolina is now second in the NFC South at 6-3 and San Fran is also 6-3 in the NFC West. The other key thing I mention here is one of the other ‘upsets’ on the day was that these two teams only combined to score 19 points and neither QB had a TD throw. If not for the 30-yard dash by Williams, the game would definitely have put you to sleep.
Now as NFL supporters that tune in to watch games each and every week, we all know that there is going to be at least one game where a certain team is heavily, heavily favoured, and then they get blown out of the water. Here is upset number 3.
Well, that is what happened to the Indianapolis Colts yesterday. Three weeks following one of their biggest wins of the Post-Peyton Manning era, the Colts were tamed big time by the Rams, 38-8.
I know Peyton Manning lost games when he played in Indy, a lot to Tom Brady, but nothing like this sticks out for me over the past 10 years or so. If you can think of anything, let me know.
Colts/Rams: Yesterday at Lucas Oil Stadium, Colts QB Andrew Luck throws for 353 yards. They scored one touchdown. It was a 13-yarder to Donald Brown, and it came with 1:35 left in the game. Damn.
St. Louis starter Kellen Clemons only threw two TDs but one was 81 yards to Tavon Austin. Austin also ran for a TD on special teams, returning a punt in which he ran nearly 100 yards. Chris Long also picked up a fumble and returned it 45 yards for pay dirt. Indianapolis won the 1st down battle convincingly, 21-12 but obviously lost the game even more convincingly.
Andrew Luck was pulled after throwing three interceptions and finished with a QB rating of 13.6. He was replaced for former Seahawks guy Matt Hasselbeck.
Peyton Manning was injured yesterday, but not before getting his team another ‘W’. It is now off to get an MRI. He says she should be fine for next week against the undefeated KC Chiefs.
Chargers/Broncos:In San Diego, Denver charged out to a 28-20 win over the struggling San Diego club. Manning and Philip Rivers combined for nearly 550 yards but Manning out-threw Rivers four TD passes to one in Denver’s first game without coach John Fox. Denver blew up in the second quarter but San Diego made a game of it late.
Fox planned to watch the game on TV there, a team spokesman said. If he watched, he probably didn’t like seeing Manning hurting his right ankle when he was hit by Corey Liuget as the Broncos ran out the clock in the closing minutes. Manning stayed in the game.
Manning wouldn’t be specific about his injury, but said he was “pretty sore” and that he planned to have an MRI on Monday.
Manning was hurt after completing a pass to Thomas with 1:44 left.
Two class acts giving each other their ‘i love yous’ after yesterday’s crazy game lol.
Ravens/Cincy: Ravens overcome wild end to regulation, beat rival Bengals in OT, 20-17. If Cincy needed that last second ‘Hail Mary’ Dalton toss for a win, then it might have qualified as the biggest upset of the day, instead it tied the game, then Baltimore won it in OT.
Cowboys/Saints: Same thing with the Cowboys game that night, they kept if fairly close for the first half, and then Dallas forgot how to play defense and Drew Brees and friends ran all over their ass, to a tune of 49-17. Had Dallas found a way to keep playing tight all game long and keep pressure on Brees, who knows how the story ends. This was just another one of those games that was real hard to watch if you are a Dallas fan.
Jaguars/Titans: The Jaguars will not finish the season in dead last (like most were predicting), instead they will finish with at least one victory, thanks to yesterday’s 29-27 win over the Titans, and now Tennessee has to play the rest of the season knowing that they lost to the team that didn’t want Tim Tebow. That has to suck, almost as bad as the Texans who lost by a field goal to the Cardinals, 27-24.
Week 10 ends tonight with the battle of Miami vs Tampa Bay.
As of Monday afternoon, Tampa is the NFL’s only winless team.
Monday Night Miami at Tampa Bay
UPSETS
Carolina over 49ers
Rams over Colts
Philly over Green Bay
BYE: Cleveland, Kansas City, New England, Jets.
Week 11 highlights should definitely include the Sunday Night matchup: New England vs Denver.
@Game7overtime
Sunday Night Football: Denver Broncos at Indianapolis Colts
BY:Jeff Schneberk
@Game7overtime
Sunday night’s NFL football showdown probably won’t be the same spectacle of the Super Bowl, but it could come pretty close.
I think it’s a matter of ‘Luck’ that this game is part of the 2013 NFL schedule.
One of the top younger quarterbacks in the game today vs. one of the best.
Also added to your viewing pleasure, that same best QB is making his only appearance in his former field.
Oh, man, what a show this is going to be.
Andrew Luck, the ‘new’ kid vs Peyton (the best).
ESPN.com put it best in saying that the past, present and the future quarterbacks of the Indianapolis Colts will meet Sunday night, and if you happen you have a ticket to it, you are invited!
I don’t of course, but it’s going to be good to watch in the comfort of my own living room, on a 30”+ big-screen TV too.
I wonder if Peyton is getting nervous at all, the days leading up to this game that not every player in professional sports has to do-play against your old/first team, in their stadium?
Brett Favre, one of the other most accomplished players in professional sports, said he was really nervous in his return to Lambeau Field as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.
I can see that. I wonder if Manning does?
I don’t know if there is a bigger test for either team. The Colts are good, the Broncos have been playing better, both teams have what they need to win, it’s just a matter of who wins!
There will never be another QB ever with Peyton Manning’s instincts, his football knowledge, football intelligence, presence in the pocket, and, as of this season, his apparent arm strength.
For now the big question for the Indy fans is, can Luck be the same beast that Peyton Manning has become?
Manning ran, what is for the most part, this same Colts team, at will for a very long time. He ran the offense from 1998-2010; at some point within that time frame, he was given the freedom to call his own plays!
How many quarterbacks are given the freedom to do that??!
Andrew Luck is off to one hell of a good start. He has already won a playoff game, he has won 15 of his first 22 NFL games. Nine of those wins have come from game-winning drives. He ran into a roadblock 2 Sunday nights ago in Oakland when the Raiders found a way to stop him, but other than that one, Luck has been rock solid.
But as a handful of NFLers have said, it is going to be tough to really compare the two, even based on their stats, which clearly shows that Luck will be as good. But Manning has done way too much in this league, and hopefully he isn’t done.
Anyone who has ever had anything to do with Stanford University over the past 5-10 years will rave for Luck; anyone who has ever played against Manning over the past 15 years, will do the same for him!
@Game7overtime
Chargers Shock the Indianapolis Colts
BY:Jeff Schneberk
@Game7overtime
The Indianapolis Colts were denied their fifth win of the season and the Chargers evened their record to 3-3 on Monday night. The San Diego defense stopped Colts QB Andrew Luck dead in his tracks and won by a 19-9 final score.
That lightning bolt on the Chargers helmet is finally starting to make some sense to me, after all these years thinking ‘what the hell is that thing and what does it have to do with charging?’. Now I know.
San Diego’s defensive line, featuring rookie linebacker and Notre Dame grad Manti Te’o, held Luck to one of his worst quarterback ratings of the season; the QB that most ESPN analysts insist could be the NFL’s top young QB could not get anything going against a Charger team that relied heavily on its defense last night.
Luck picked up 202 yards of passing with no touchdowns and one interception and the Charger defensive unit credited with 1.5 sacks.
It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback or even get into the end zone while standing on the sideline waiting for a chance to make a play
On the home side, QB Philip Rivers had a little better night in terms of passing yards as he threw for 237 yards and one touchdown pass, to Keenan Allen, he was not intercepted and finished with a QB rating of 68.3.
Rivers guided a balanced offense on three scoring drives of at least 74 yards. He rebounded beautifully from a dismal performance in Oakland last weekend where he threw three interceptions.
Indianapolis couldn’t even score a touchdown; they relied on three field goals from Adam Vinatieri to keep it close.
Rivers said part of the key to playing well last night was running a no huddle offense.
“We knew if we didn’t turn the ball over and we sustained drives, which we did — we had some 12, 14, 16-play drives — that we’d give ourselves a chance to win,” Rivers said.
San Diego however dominated in the ‘time of possession’ stat, controlling the ball for nearly 40 minutes.
Last week, Luck rallied to bring the Colts back against the Seattle Seahawks, and went on to win 34-28.
For the first time in weeks, Rivers and his team were able to put to rest all of that talk about how the Colts are surviving in the second season of the post-Peyton Manning era.
If they really want to see it, it’ll be right on their doorstep next Sunday night, in a game that could put the Super Bowl to shame. The Colts say they have a celebration planned for what used to be called Peyton’s Place as Manning makes his return to Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time as a member of another team.
@Game7overtime
The Jacksonville Jaguars
How About Josh Freeman to Jacksonville??!?
BY:Jeff Schneberk
@Game7overtime
So, the General Manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars claims that he is not ready to hold a fire sale? Well isn’t that good to know. After all, how much worse can it possible get for this south Florida-based franchise.
GM David Caldwell said yesterday (Thursday) that his trading of left tackle Eugene Monroe to the Baltimore Ravens for draft picks is not a sign that he is looking to un-load other valuable talent.
Heck, look what happened since the Browns dealt their top draft pick from this year’s Entry Draft to the Indianapolis Colts! If I am not mistaken, they have yet to lose since that deal was made. In fact they beat a couple of potential heavy-hitters (upstart Cincy and Buffalo).
Maybe the Browns and Jaguars are onto something here. Maybe not. Caldwell also singled out running back Maurice Jones-Drew and linebacker Paul Posluszny, who are two of the veterans subject to the most trade speculation.
Caldwell also added that tight end Marcedes Lewis and guard Uche Nwaneri are also both, not going anywhere.
But what about if one of them wants to get out? According to ESPN this afternoon, Lewis will not be dressing for Sunday’s game with the Rams but receiver Cecil Shorts will be. The suspension of No. 1 receiver Justin Blackmon has also hurt the Jaguars.
He also said he wasn’t planning on shopping Monroe and that the Ravens initiated that move, and it got done quickly, and the Jags wound up with a fourth, and a fifth-round pick in the 2014 draft. Apparently that gives the Jags 10 total picks for 2014 (sounds a little bit like Cleveland, huh?).
One of the reasons he was willing to make the trade was that the Jaguars had a player who could slide into Monroe’s spot. Look for Luke Joeckel, whom the team had taken with the No. 2 overall pick last April, had been working at right tackle all season but was considered the team’s left tackle of the future.
REBUILDING
That all should work in Caldwell’s favour and plan, of building for the future through the draft rather than trying to sign key free agents.
I guess if someone figures how many draft picks you could possibly land in a deal involving Jones-Drew, they could add even more (top) picks to the count. How many first-round picks could any one team in this league have?
10 PICKS IS GOOD!
“Ten picks is good,” Caldwell said. “Obviously it’s better than seven, eight or nine, but you’d like to have as many as you can get to build that because you can trade for future picks. Sometimes you can take a 4 [fourth-round pick] and turn it into a future 3 and take a future 3 and turn it into a future 2, and eventually you end up with two 1s at some point. It gives you a lot of flexibility.
In any case, something needs to be done. It wasn’t all that long ago when the Jags were one of those teams that nobody ever wanted to play against in the playoffs.
Even though today, they sit at 0-4 and could very well get more picks for Jones-Drew, Posluzny and Lewis and the rest of ‘em, Caldwell suggests that each of them aren’t going anywhere.
“We’ll always answer our phone,” he said. “Trades are difficult to do in the season, and we have no intention of trading anybody on our roster right now.”
A quick glance at the schedule tells us that Jacksonville next heads to St. Louis for a Sunday afternoon game against the Rams. Just the remedy for a team that sits in the NFL basement.
Something is needed to get the bad taste out of their mouths from last week’s 37-3 drubbing against the Indianapolis Colts, and possibly another nightmare scare at Sports Authority Field the following week. Actually chances are that Rams’ Head Coach Jeff Fisher is looking at this game the same way the Jags are.
The Jaguars are also only slightly ahead of St. Louis with 49.0 rushing yards per game despite having three-time All-Pro Maurice Jones-Drew in their backfield.
Jones-Drew is averaging 2.4 yards per attempt after managing 23 yards on 13 carries Sunday.
“It’s been pretty tough,” Jones-Drew said. “It’s been the same every year, though. People load the box when they play us. We just have to go back to what we do best and that’s all of us getting back on the same page and running the ball with a mindset of let’s get it going.”
“It meant a lot to know your GM and your head coach think that much of you to sit you down,” said Jones-Drew, who is in the final year of his contract and is being paid $4.95 million. “Obviously you hear a bunch of talk all the time so it was good to sit down and kind of clear the airways and just get back to football and playing the game that we want to play well and that I love.”
He might be able to find some holes against the banged-up Rams, who have allowed 412 yards on the ground the past two weeks. St. Louis also has lost safety T.J. McDonald for at least six weeks with a broken right leg, while cornerback Cortland Finneganand linebacker Will Witherspoon are day-to-day with hamstring injuries.
Maybe this weekend’s game will be (another) good chance to let former University of Michigan QB/RB/HB Denard Robinson do a little bit of that damage that he has been known to create during his NCAA days.
Currently listed as the Jags’ WR, Robinson is 6-0 197 lbs of running power.
He first started playing QB in college then got moved all over the offense (except for the line) probably because of his extreme versatility. Barring an injury, hopefully we see more of that damage this weekend. He has struggled to find his ‘game’ a little bit in the pros but with any luck that could change.
FUN FACTS-The Tonight Show with Jay Leno had a little bit of fun at the Jaguars expense the other day. He has popped them twice in the past few weeks, including this zinger:
‘While the Oneida Indian Nations wants the Washington Redskins to drop the name Redskins because they consider it a racial slur, the city of Jacksonville wants the Jaguars to stop using the name Jacksonville because they suck.’
-In fact, if the team keeps up its current statistical pace, it’ll fall somewhere between the 2008 Lions and 1976 Bucs, both of which failed to win a game and are generally recognized as the two worst teams in modern NFL history. Even though Tampa had an excuse at the time, they were just an expansion team!
-The Jaguars are averaging 7.8 points per game
-They’ve been outscored 78-5 in the first half and have scored only five points in two home games.
Q: How many Jacksonville Jaguars does it take to change a tire?
A: One, unless it’s a blowout, in which case they all show up.
Q: What do the Jacksonville Jaguars and possums have in common?
A: Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.
JOSH FREEMAN??
There have been some reports saying that the Jags have “very little to none” (interest) in acquiring for Tampa Bay castaway QB Josh Freeman.
Supposedly he made a few boo-boos with Tampa and Jacksonville says they aren’t interested in acquiring his services. My question is ‘what have you got to lose?’ it’s not like there are a ton of proven good QBs in the league and Jacksonville right now has about as much appeal as A-Rod does in the baseball world (popularity wise). Unless Jacksonville could re-train Denard Robinson to run the offense the way he did at Michigan, what else are their options. If Freeman has even half the talent Tampa Bay thought he had, it couldn’t be that bad a move, plus he wouldn’t have to travel very far for more employment.
ESPN says that the Freeman situation in Tampa Bay was a soap opera. Yeah, if it’s the head coach’s fault it would be a soap opera but I wouldn’t blame that on Freeman until he gets another chance somewhere else. Besides, Tampa Bay has never been very football friendly anyways.
@Game7overtime
The Trent Richardson Trade
BY:Jeff Schneberk
@Game7overtime
I am not a Browns fan and even I am insulted by this trade
I actually used to be a Browns fan about 7 years ago, but it didn’t last very long.
I know it’s a little late to start going on and on about ‘the trade’ but I find room to sympathize with an organization like the NFL’s Browns, having been brought up a Leaf fan, I can see where the frustration sits.
When I tried to find a good picture of him, I had trouble with it. I don’t want to find a picture of him in his Cleveland uniform, no Browns fan wants to see that again, and I don’t want to get a picture of him playing for Indy yet, well, because he hasn’t done anything yet, so I opted for a generic one.
TAKING DOWN ALL HIS PICTURES
I see a lot of work ahead of this team and none of it involves the actual football team that you see take the field every weekend from now until mid-December.
It should be relatively easy for the team to take Richardson’s photo off the front of its official app and on some of the pages of the team website. A more costly process would be to republish the team’s pocket schedules, which feature Trent Richardson on the front of it.
For two straight days, the trade was highlighted on the front page of ESPN.com.
The Cleveland Browns are officially on the clock. The Browns must deliver a franchise quarterback in the 2014 draft, or the next excruciatingly painful 14 weeks will be an utter waste. Very possibly the next 14 years, that’s if they are not careful.
The white (or the red flag, one of the two) flag was raised on the Browns’ 2013 season Wednesday afternoon when they shocked the football world by trading running back Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts for a first-round draft pick.
Some will obviously consider this strange, but just consider who it was that made this crazy deal, then all of the sudden, when you consider the team here, it doesn’t seem so crazy anymore.
What this ever-so-clearly means to anyone who cares, is that 3 people (Browns CEO Joe Banner, GM Mike Lombardi and Coach Rob Chudzinski are pushing ALL of their chips into the 2014 Entry Draft.
Why are they doing this (nobody else appears to be)?
Well, nobody really knows why, for sure.
COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS UNTIL DRAFT DAY 2014
The next Entry Draft is a long way off. Cleveland has multiple picks in the 1st/3rd and 4th rounds.
That means that they should be able to draft an elite quarterback. Everybody seems to be talking about Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Clemson’s Tajh Boyd, and the master of them all apparently, Texas A/M ‘troublemaker but one hell of a QB’ Johnny Football Manziel.
Can you see the holdout happening…just like when Brady Quinn did it about 7 years ago? I can.
Browns fan have ‘enjoyed’ just two winning seasons since the team re-joined the NFL in 1999. Nobody in the Dawg Pound wants to hear the word ‘rebuilding’. Again.
They want some assurance that this team is headed in the right direction. Right now, hope and offensive talent are in short supply in Cleveland.
LONG DAY LAST WEDNESDAY
Maybe something was ‘up’ on Tuesday night with this team. Wednesday began with the team announcing that 3rd-string QB Brian Hoyer was going to start in place of Brandon Weedon for Sunday’s game at Minnesota, which, low and behold, Cleveland won!
The day ended with Cleveland announcing the arrival of RB Willis McGahee.
Richardson hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype of being the No. 3 overall pick in 2012, but then again, nobody else the Browns have drafted highly have, either. His career average of 3.5 yards per carry is less than pedestrian. It’s easy to say the Browns lost with Richardson and can lose without him.
Thus recognizing that a huge gamble was necessary for it to actually become competitive down the road. This year’s Browns weren’t likely to win more than five or six games, and there wasn’t much to be excited about on the roster. It was time to think outside the box, which meant their best offensive weapon had to be expendable.
For those who are lamenting the idea of a player selected that high being dealt so quickly, let’s look at the hard facts of Richardson. He didn’t fit into the wide-open offense Chudzinski wants to run. He also apparently didn’t impress offensive coordinator Norv Turner — the same Norv Turner who has maximized the talents of star runners such as Emmitt Smith,LaDainian Tomlinson and Ricky Williamsduring his career. Remember, Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown called Richardson “an ordinary talent” after Cleveland drafted the former Alabama star. That assessment looks spot on right now.
The nice thing about all this is that the Browns actually have options. They may not be the kind of choices that excite fans over the next four months, but there was going to be some pain associated with this process eventually. Dallas Cowboys fans were shell-shocked when Jerry Jones traded Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings during the 1989 season. That trade still ranks as the biggest steal ever, largely because Dallas turned a bevy of resulting draft picks into the foundation of a three-time Super Bowl champion in the 1990s.
3 of those options appear to be:
-Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater
-Clemson’s Tajh Boyd
-Texas A/M’s Johnny Football???
Depending on the number of Cleveland’s 2 top picks in 2014, I like their chances of having possibly 2 of these to choose from.
If you were the one making the decision, who would you want to QB the Browns?
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