Originally posted by mrgneissguy:Originally posted by danimal:Originally posted by mrgneissguy:Originally posted by danimal:Originally posted by mrgneissguy:
Relying too much on the QB and giving up on the run is what cost the Colts the Super Bowl?
Colts - 19 rush attempts 99 yards
Saints - 18 rush attempts 51 yards
Didn't seem to hurt the Saints.
but the Saints were playing from behind. The Colts were up by 10 pts, could have been 17. Balanced teams go run heavy with a 10 pt lead. The bottom line is the Colts never establised a running game outside of shotgun draws, that is a sin when you have the early advantage
This isn't the first time I've seen this said in this thread. And I don't know where folks are getting this. So I went to the play by play for the game, and guess what...
first drive, 2 run plays, neither from shotgun
second drive, 5 run plays, none from shotgun
third drive, 1 run play, not from shotgun
fourth drive, 3 run plays, none from shotgun
halftime
fifth drive 4 run plays, one from shotgun
sixth drive 3 run plays, none from shotgun
It's a pretty good and fairly consistent mix of run plays so far, and only 1 from shotgun.
Then they have a seven point deficit with only 5:42 remaining...kind of hard to sit heavy on the run game at this point.
seventh drive 0 run plays
eighth and final drive 1 run play, not from shotgun.
So what exactly was their sin again?
I stand corrected. They did nothing wrong....well except losing of course, but besides that
Except losing. They actually did plenty wrong.
They were too timid at the end of the half. They (Hank) didn't concentrate during the second half kickoff and gave the Saints an extra possession. Freeney couldn't put together any rush at all in the second half and therefore Brees had all day to throw. The defense allowed the Saints ball carriers to consistently break 2-3 tackles per carry. They committed more penalties for more yards than the Saints (they usually come out ahead on that stat). And on and on...all adding up to the Saints outperforming the Colts.
But the cause of their loss was NOT due to relying too heavily on Manning and only running draws out of shotgun.
strong case, ok you sold me.
Yeah the penalties were uncharacteristic and Freeney only being effective in the first half really should have been expected. Thats what I expected anyway, I knew he would play, and I knew his ankle would deterioriate each time he would get back up from sitting