Stampede Blue
If you can’t bask and dream after a performance like last week’s, you may be more interested in being proven right, than being a die-hard Colt fan. You still may end up being right, as it is hard to imagine looking better next week, but what would your opinion be with a less aesthetic win? Would a bully ball win vs. a big-time D excite you?
I only ask because I thought that Steichen was masterful last week. He didn’t give plays away like we have seen in the past. How many times have we seen an incompletion on 1st down, lead right into a run up the middle? I get that in theory you are expecting a heavy pass rush on 2nd and long, so if you can get a running play past the first line, you may have a big gainer, but I personally seldom saw it work.
Last week, every play looked like it was designed to take it to the house. Sometimes a team gets so concerned with “staying ahead of the sticks” that they are happy with a couple of 3 yard plays, just to have a manageable 3rd down. Clock milking time aside, last week’s offense didn’t look like that at all. I believe Troy highlighted in his article that we were very good on 1st and 2nd downs. Most take that conservative approach when they fear turnovers, and while we all know they will come, I don’t think Steichen called plays to avoid them.
We also didn’t show each aspect of the offense, if you believe that designed runs for Jones are still part of the plan. Maybe they will replace those god awful WR screens? Here is another play call observation. I wanted to go back and see how many times that Jones was under center, as it is something that some of us have called for in the past. I put on the All-22 and went about three quarters in, before I got worn out with it. I’m not sure why we can’t get some down distance and time clocks on those, but that’s a discussion for another time.
By the time I stopped looking, we had been under center 15 times! Of course it makes sense to be under center for sneaks, but some of the really nice play action plays came from that formation as well. We all know that Denver has a very stout defense, but they also only have one game of tape to use for game planning and ours looks a lot different than anything they have seen from Shane over the last two years. They certainly didn’t see it during our preseason games.
So, your questions for today are, “Does Steichen have more to show?” and “Will he show more?”
Bonus!! If you frequent Tankathon, check out where the Colts pick. They are projecting a rematch of this Sunday’s game vs. the Broncos as the AFC Championship. Thoughts on that?
