Colts accept Christmas gifts from Titans and Jags - make playoffs

The Colts beat the Titans on Sunday in a game that ultimately only decided playoff seeding.  Now they are heading for a rematch of last years AFC Championship game against the NY Jets.  Had they not won, they would have been playing the Baltimore Ravens.

This was a typical Colts - Titans game where it seems not to matter what they respective records are, usually the outcome is decided as this one was, by a FG.

All indications are that this is the last time we will see Jeff Fisher on the sideline for the Titans.  I think he is one of the best coaches in the NFL and I will be glad to see him out of the division.  Hopefully he leaves the AFC altogether.

Some thoughts about this game:

• Dwight Freeney lined up at defensive tackle in some passing situations with Keyunta Dawson playing the RDE position.  This allowed Freeney to try his spin moves against the left guard - who typically has less lateral quickness.  It may be that they were trying this out for use in the playoffs, or just trying to get into the heads of their next opponent.
• The Titans primarily played man to man coverage all game and we had problems with it.  Expect to see lots of man coverage for the rest of this season.  The loss of Collie and Clark hurts us here the most.
• Garcon struggled all day to get free against the man coverage of the Titans.  Other than one long touchdown catch, he was not getting separation. 
• The offensive line continued their improved play.  Manning had time to throw for the most part and we had some nice runs from the shotgun formation.
• The defense has picked the right time to peak.  They allowed virtually no running room for the Titans.

I'll be posting short updates all week and hopefully will have a full blown preview of the Jets game up later in the week.

Notes from the Titans game, or How Pollak got his groove back

Upon further review of the Titans game, Mike Pollak looks much improved since his four game benching.  In this last game, he actually approaches average!  Of course just being close to average gives him better grades than the rest of the offensive line generally earns.  He does not seem to have gotten any stronger, but his run blocking technique is better and he actually got some movement on the guy he was blocking on several key runs Thursday night, something he rarely has accomplished before.  When protecting Manning, he was less hazardous to life and limb than Jeff Linkenbach - but that is not saying much.

Of course it would be quite unfair of me not to describe Linkenbach's good performance in the 2nd half at left tackle, replacing the injured Charlie Johnson.  Linkenbach was always intended to be a tackle for the Colts and the experiment of playing him at right guard was a miserable failure.  But at tackle he has looked good.

Daniel Muir had another good night against the run.  He has had a good year penetrating the offensive line and generally being a hard to control pest.

Pierre Garçon drew a lot of criticism for his performance earlier in the year.  It is true that he was not playing well, but being called "lazy" and "timid" was uncalled for.  When you see a player on the field not coming close to performing as well as you remember, your first thought should ALWAYS be that he is playing injured.

If he is not on the injury report and continues to play below his previous level, your second thought should ALWAYS be that he is playing injured.

Now that Garçon's secretly strained hamstrings have healed, he is looking a lot like he did in last year's breakout season.  Learning how to play through pain is a challenge for young players, and it affects some more than others.

That brings us to Donald Brown.  I think he came back still injured due to Addai and Hart being unable to play.  For several weeks he looked slow, tentative, and generally unlike the player we saw flashes from last year.  He has looked better each of the last three games and is starting to show us why the Colts spent a 1st round draft pick on him.

The Colts never intended him to be a every down move the chains type of back.  He was brought in to be a change-up to Addai's fastball.  To run draws and screen plays, to flex out to WR on occasion.  Both him and Addai have been almost continually hurt, so we have never really been able to see this dynamic.

Even though he seems to be healed up, our truly terrible offensive line is preventing him from really showing us what he can do.  But the flashes are there.  I think he will be ok.

Colts avoid killer mistakes, get by pesky Titans

This was a closer game than it should have been, as the defense was inexplicably unable to control Tennessee's passing game.  They were able to keep Chris Johnson bottled up for the most part, excepting a couple of runs where we lost outside contain.

Jeff Linkenbach stepped in at LT for an injured Charlie Johnson and did a good job, especially in blocking for the run.

Donald Brown showed that he can run the ball inside just fine when he is not getting smashed in the backfield.

The Colts actually ran the ball effectively on occasion last night.

More later in the week, great win for the Colts!