Bills game might not be a gimme

[Shake n Blake]

(09-14-2015, 11:54 PM)Stormborn Wrote: That line gave up sooooo many pressures and hits last year, Luck did his best to get the ball out when he could, make no mistake, the line was worse, way worse, than what a sack to pass ratio could say.

64 times Luck dropped back to pass but didn't throw, some of them could be attributed to good coverage but most of them had to do with terrible protection.

Pass rush was good but run defense was still an issue, mainly with the interior, bottom half of the league in ypc and yards per game allowed an no Dlineman with a positive run defense PFF grade (except Josh Chapman who was a rotational guy).

As for newly acquired weapons, it remains to be seen if the two former Hurricanes have anything left but a shell of their former selves. Not judging them by one game against a good defense, but it's possible age really slows them down this year.  

If you say so. I'd be curious to see their % of pressures per pass play. They passed a ton last year, so you have to account for that. I think you're exaggerating the pressures, but until I see numbers, I can't say for sure either way. I do know that terrible lines don't usually give up a mere 29 sacks on 661 pass attempts. 

Also, you seem to be giving 100% credit to Luck for getting rid of the ball and avoiding sacks amidst constant pressure, yet Matt Hasselbeck was sacked only twice in 44 attempts last year. That's the exact same average of sacks per pass attempt as Luck. Explain that one away.

You honestly have no clue why Luck dropped back to throw but didn't. You're only giving your opinion. I'm sure there were plenty of times where he saw open field and took off. I'm sure plenty of times receivers were covered. Tbh, 64 times doesn't seem like a lot for a guy who finished 3rd in passing attempts and is known to take off and run quite a bit.

I agree that the newly acquired weapons may not work out, but they weren't exactly shells of themselves last season, so there's no reason to assume that they won't help. We'll see soon enough. Summing this all up, I don't see how anyone can look at these facts and say that Luck has nothing but garbage around him:

- O-line gave up only 29 sacks, less sacks per pass play than the Bengals, who have a great o-line
- TY Hilton, Andre Johnson, Moncrief and Dorsett at WR
- One of the best TE duos in the league in Fleener and Dwayne Allen
- Defense that ranked 11th in total yards with 40 sacks

Look. You don't have to think the Colts have an amazing team around Luck. That's not what I'm saying. But anyone who looks at all this and says the Colts are a garbage team outside of Luck is just being ignorant and stubborn.