Week 8 is upon us and as Indianapolis Colts fans are worn out by the lack of good play from their favorite team. The Colts have stumbled through the first seven weeks and heading into the Monday night prime time match-up with the Carolina Panthers not many people are thinking the Colts are going to right the ship. It’s going to be a very tall order on Monday and there are a lot of things that have to go right for the Colts to leave North Carolina with a win. Here are a few of my points that I feel have to happen.
1. Run. The. Ball
This is a point that I have been hammering on for the past couple of weeks and I refuse to let up. Frank Gore was brought here for one reason. To run the ball and take pressure off the passing game. Pep Hamilton has been good at getting Gore involved early, but as the game moves ahead he gives up on it. If the coaches were serious about putting Gore on a “pitch count” they need to forget that. Andrew Luck’s confidence is shaken right now and some of the pressure needs to be lifted off his shoulders and placed on the sturdy shoulders of Frank Gore. If the Panthers somehow shut Gore down early then I feel it will be a very long game. If he has success early then the Colts have to stick with it. I have said it before, Luck is a great play-action passer and having Gore doing his thing will allow Luck to pick apart the defense with the play-action.
2. Keep Newton In The Pocket
The Colts defensive backfield is going to be facing one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Cam Newton. He doesn’t have any outstanding wide receivers so hopefully the defensive backs can do their job a little better this week. The Colt defenders aren’t doing two things that a good defense does: get sacks and create turnovers. Those both need to happen on Monday night. The defensive backs need to shut down the Panthers receiving corps and make it very hard for Newton to find someone downfield. The linebackers have done a decent job of covering the running backs out of the backfield and that needs to continue. The Colts need coverage sacks and if Newton rolls out of the pocket the defensive line and outside linebackers need to make him pay for doing it. Newton is a big, sturdy quarterback so it won’t be easy, but if they hit him early and often he has shown in the past that he rattles easily.
3. Minimize Greg Olsen
This should have been put under point number two because it is a job in itself. Greg Olsen is an above average tight end with good speed and great route running. The Colts have only faced one other tight end like that in Gronkowski and did a fairly good job of holding him down until the defense began to crack. Gronk got a touchdown, but didn’t gash the Colts for what everyone thought he would. They need to use the same game plan for Olsen. He isn’t nearly as big and strong, but has great hands and he has been burning defenses for years. The Colts need to make sure he doesn’t do it to them.
4. Get Back To Good Run Defense
The Colts run defense has been so much better this season. Barring two runs from Lagarret Blount and a couple of runs from Mark Ingram last week they have been much improved over last year. The Panthers don’t have any amazing running backs, but the guys they do have are still game-breakers if they are given that chance. The Colts held some of the best running backs in the league to minimal numbers. They need to get back to that and don’t let what happened last week define their season long mission.
5. Luck Must Get His Head Right
My first point of running Gore as much as possible is because Luck’s head isn’t right. Yes, he takes chances, but the chances he has taken this season aren’t the right kind. He is following his receivers with his eyes making the defensive backs’ job much easier. He is throwing into double coverage and he just seems so ready to get the ball out of his hands thanks to a continually collapsing offensive line. I think this all stems from his injury. I think he found out he isn’t Superman and that bothers him. I think he is finding out that he isn’t as flawless as people have made him out to be and I also feel that the elite status people have placed on him makes him think he has to do everything. If Luck only paid more attention to the real elite quarterbacks he would know that isn’t the case. Tom Brady doesn’t do everything on offense for the Pats and even Aaron Rodgers does more than most, but still has a good running game to go to when it’s needed. Even guys like Ben Roesthlisberger, Drew Brees, and Peyton Manning have good supporting casts. Luck has a good supporting cast, but he isn’t utilizing them right now. There is plenty of time for him to turn this around. I like that he is throwing the ball away instead of forcing so many passes (although he still forces some) and I like that he is just taking sacks when necessary. I’m not saying he isn’t worthy of elite status sometime down the road, but right now he is being outplayed by almost every QB in the league. If Luck doesn’t get his head right soon he will fall into the same category of Matt Stafford and Tony Romo. Tons of talent, but can’t get it done when it needs to get done. No one in Colts Country wants to see that happen.
6. NO TURNOVERS
Turnover have been a killer for the Colts this season. From Luck throwing errant passes to Whalen fumbling on a return they have been killing drives. Now I understand that this is an obvious statement but for some reason it seems that the team isn’t picking up the obvious. Gore had issues to start the season but that seems to have been remedied. This game is just like the New England game. The Colts cannot give the Panthers more possessions than they will already have. This is an opportunistic defense in Carolina and if Luck continues to throw up the ball just to get it out of his hands then they are going to make the team pay like the rest of the teams have thus far.
I truly feel that the team will take a large step forward this week in righting the ship, but I’m not sold that they can out-gun Newton and the Panthers. However, I will not be surprised if the Colts walk out of Bank of America stadium with the win. This is going to be a big test and I feel the Colts can pass this test, but it’s going to take a lot of effort from everyone on the field. If the Colts want to come out and start slow then they will be playing from behind most of the game.
