I think he's point is they run a lot of short safe passes that effectively replace allot of the runs. The 49'ers went to SB with real good running games and no running games. Montana was pretty much able to run it either way.
I really don't care, Freebo. Here's the secret he doesn't want you guys to know: The Colts offense eats Wheaties and drink their Ovaltine every morning for breakfast. There. The secret's out.
If you want to discuss the running game it is simply this. Colts are not a power attack. They rely more on stretch plays and going off tackle then up the gut. Brown and Addai, while they can run inside the tackles are better suited with their speed and elusiveness to attack the edges. If the stretch play is working, then the run game is working, and the defense is in big trouble at that point.
If that was his point, why wouldn't he say that? I doubt that's what he meant, but I'm sure he'll take credit for it.
Basically you operate out of a 3 WR/1 back set.Clark is generally flexed from the TE position giving four options at the snap. This also minimizes substitutions, giving the ability to go right into hurry up. The route combinations usually have at least one guy seeking deep single coverage. The intermediate routes are generally used to get defenders to pick themselves, and the Flats are used as the safety blanket of last resort. What makes it effective is Mannings ability to read the D pre snap and know where to go with the ball. He's going to have trouble sunday because the Jets don't line up per se...they are going to do that milling around thing, and rotate in/out at the snap. The other problem will be presented by the fact that the Jets predominantly use DB's for blitzing, rotating other players to cover the saftey blanket routes, and making it impossible to predict which defenders will occupy which space, which is how Indy generally attacks the mniddle of the defense. No great mystery. They're just real good at it. But..there's a reason they dominate the regular season, but remain a .500 playoff team.. ***Disclaimer...this is not thorough dissertation on Tom Moore's offense, just a very accurate nutshell version.
Good. That is a very nice start to what we do. You picked up on that better than most opposing fans would/do. I will start off with the history of how everything evolved because it will help everything make more sense. When Peyton first came to Indy we wanted to max protect him. The year before he got there we gave up over 60+ sacks and plugging a rookie QB into that equation was scary. So we brought in Tom Moore, who is an old school offense mind and we developed our two tight end sets. Because the 2TE set is a dinosaur formation we had to use the TE?s in the passing game along with the running game and finding that balance is really tough to do. I am sure most fans understand that it is very difficult to find a TE who can block great and be a threat receiving. These kinds of players are coveted in the NFL. So we instead went with a power TE and a finesse TE. There should be no explanation needed there. But the problem was that we could not disguise much of what we did with that kind of personal. As our TE?s evolved so did our offense. If you think about it, it makes what Peyton has accomplished even greater. He has set record after record using a ton of 2 TE sets. As our passing game improved, our running game became weaker because running the ball 30 times a game was never our focus. We didn?t believe that running the ball and playing great defense was our best route to take when we have Peyton Manning. If you have Peyton you throw the ball and you set your offense up to pass first. The stretch play was our bread and butter for years, but was getting harder for Peyton to get to the drop point in time. You have to be quick off the snap in order to get the edge and make that handoff. Addai is a little quicker than Edge so this became a real problem for us a few years ago. And we are in the middle of that change still. We are still trying to find out who we are in the running game. One week the traps will work and the next week they won?t. We are inconsistent at times running the ball. But when we line up and need a yard, more often than not we get it, which is something we didn?t do very well when we were top 5 in rushing with Edgerrin. So there is give and take there. You?re right about Dallas Clark ? He was engine who changed our offense. We finally found a TE who could block, run routes, and who has great hands. Not to mention, he is one tough SOB. I don?t know how he gets up sometimes from the hits he takes but he does it every week. Donald Brown brings a new dimension to what we do. Problem is keeping him healthy. He is a power back with breakaway speed and he hits the hole faster than Addai does. He is a huge threat receiving the ball. If he gets it in the open field it will be a huge gain. We are excited about him but also worried about the injury issues. When we go 4 wide, we do it many different ways and it looks like we are going 3 wide ? Clark. When we empty the backfield it?s usually with splitting Addai out wide and it?s a 5 wide set. We do this from time to time, but we don?t really go wide very much. In fact most of our plays are tight and bunched up. A lot of people have the conception that we are a down the field and attacking offense, when in fact our plays are bunched tight and we win with execution and by being opportunistic. If the opposing team wants to blitz then we will change the play at the line and throw a quick slant screen. If a team wants to lay back and play pass then we will run the ball and run it well. I know this is long, but the way our offense is setup is to recognize the defense and take what they are giving us. If we have a better chance to pass then we do and if we have better odds of running then we do that. We go to the line with a running play and a passing play and Peyton calls it after he examines how the defense sets up.
I don't know much about Clark as a blocker, other than to know he is better than our attempt at a Clark in Dustin Keller. Keller to his credit is getting better, but the offense is the same scenario that you described with the Colts in terms of TE. Keller, good reciever, average blocker, and on the other side. Hartsock, excellent blocker, below average receiver. That is the Jets basic two TE set, sprinkle in Wayne Hunter, and they are running, no doubt. And this is the thing we tried to tell Chargers fans last week. The Jets, much the colts of old, cannot really disguise or even try to disguise what they are trying to do. When you see two TEs, a FB and Jones or Greene, and alot of one WR sets with a rookie QB...well, you kind of know what is coming. They were able to catch the Bengals with a few play actions, but with the Colts speed on D, that may be harder to do this week. Even with the formation, and the D knows what is coming, and commits, the Jets are still able to run. Happened to the Bengals, and the Chargers.
He's going to have trouble sunday because the Jets don't line up per se...they are going to do that milling around thing, and rotate in/out at the snap. I'm willing to bet Moore and Manning already have something for that. I've noticed that at times the Jets tend to mill to one side of center or the other. Don't be surprised if Manning starts going with quick counts to take advantage of that. Manning will also put someone in montion to identify the Mike. If they don't adjust, it could be another advantage for the Colts.
Which is why I think we will run the ball well Sunday. If they try all of that moving around stuff that the Pats, Ravens, and Steelers do then I see us checking down and running the ball on them.
Dallas is a very good blocker. I hate when we have to leave him in to block, but sometimes we just have to. We drafted Hartsock with a 3rd round pick, but he couldn't stay on the field. I think he has some talent and could be developed. For whatever reason we gave up on him. I know at the time we released him we were loaded with good TE's.
Given the way the Jets attack the passing game by spreading out the d-line to attack the edges and try to collapse the pocket the pass d will work well against a running game that is heading for the edges. One thing the Irsay fans are missing is the history of weeks of fans coming in to explain how their more talented QB will obviously out talent our rookie and how they will obviously stack the box against our run game. How we are so stupid for not seeing it. It is so simple that any opposing fan could coach their team past the Jets.
The one thing this playoff season should have taught people this year is that there is a big gap between the #1 defense in the league (Jets) and the #2 defense (Packers). It's pretty obvious that the Jets defense is at one level and everyone else, Ravens included, is at another level. So I would not bank my hopes on how my team performed against #3 defense. Ask the Chargers this defense is a completely different animal.
Ask the Ravens about our defense. They ran for 268 yards on the Patriots and could only muster 87 on us the very next week.
Who is Deshawn Zombie? Manning's cousin? This is the most skewed and bias analysis I've read about this match-up.
