Pats - Colts Divisional Round Discussion Thread

Banjo said:

I am not ashamed to admit... I'm kinda terrified. Andrew Luck is the truth. There's every possibility he'll become a Hall of Famer like people say he will be. ???

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Luck Is getting a lot of praise now but he looked awful a lot of the game vs the Chiefs. And he doesn't have many weapons at his disposal, particularly at RB.

coltsfan09 said:

My friend is the backup Center for the Pats so he can get me tickets. So you might see me there next week cheering for the Colts!

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Hope you lose

This is exactly how I wished the outcomes would be so I'm elated to see Indy come to Foxboro and SD go to mile high. Add some bad weather for the Pats/Colts tilt and :woohoo:

Should win with by at least ten

fgssand said:

Luck is good, colts are good - button way in hell did I want to see that Cinnci D or green, or Dalton, especially after this turd of a performance today.

Cincinnati Bengals...goodbye.

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Agreed. Dalton doesn't lay an egg all the time sô if you catch him on a good day they are very thought to beat.

Pats 35 Colts 13 - Pats will go with an even attack with lots of Blount straight at the Indy D - gonna love that.

It should be a fun week for me here at work in Indianapolis. Plus, when I wear my Pats sweatshirt at the gym I get lots of glares - I suspect will be even more intense this week.

newenglandsports11 said:

Quick thoughts: ..
3. Talib on Hilton with help from Arrington, and Dennard on Fleener should keep them quiet. Donald Brown got help from a deflated front yesterday and we should be able to stop him. Logan Ryan on a variety of the others should be good.
...

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Isn't Hilton just the type of receiver who gives Talib trouble? Seems you'd go the other way, with Talib on Fleener, count on Ryan and a hopefully healthy Dennard on Hilton?

we also need to start fast. i'm tired of slow 1st half start.

IndyKen said:

Pats 35 Colts 13 - Pats will go with an even attack with lots of Blount straight at the Indy D - gonna love that.

It should be a fun week for me here at work in Indianapolis. Plus, when I wear my Pats sweatshirt at the gym I get lots of glares - I suspect will be even more intense this week.

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Ya know, everyone is high on Blount lately (pardon the phrasing), but really the Pats have 3 violent RB's who can ground and pound 100 yards on a good day (yes, I'm including Bolden in that if he's fed the ball 15-20 times). I LOVE the depth at RB.

This truly makes Brady's play action fake more deadly.

Uncle Rico said:

Isn't Hilton just the type of receiver who gives Talib trouble? Seems you'd go the other way, with Talib on Fleener, count on Ryan and a hopefully healthy Dennard on Hilton?

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This is right on the money. Talib struggles with smaller quicker receivers but is great against bigger receivers. I would also go with Talib on Fleener and have Ryan and Dennard take Hilton with some help over the top. Indy's run game is not going to beat the Patriots so Luck is going to have to play the game of hiss life to come out of New England with a win.

Please no talib on Hilton. Dennard and Ryan on the small quick guys and talib taking a bigger target.

newenglandsports11 said:

Quick thoughts:
1. Spy the heck out of Luck. I want Collins or maybe Dane Fletcher on him at all times. Also, have Chandler run a contain on him, along with Ninko so he can't move to his right. Really like the Costanzo matchup with Chandler, who was getting burned by Houston and Hali yesterday. If Luck is running for first downs like Newton did against us vs Carolina, then we are in trouble.

2. If Dobson is healthy (big if) and KT gets back involved in the offense, then take shots on the notorious Darius Butler and that weak secondary (LaRon Landry also got injured yesterday).

3. Talib on Hilton with help from Arrington, and Dennard on Fleener should keep them quiet. Donald Brown got help from a deflated front yesterday and we should be able to stop him. Logan Ryan on a variety of the others should be good.

4. No turnovers, the strip sack yesterday changed that game, hold on to the ball.

5. Get in front early, the Colts can come back from any deficit, but on the road in an electric atmosphere is important to crush their mentality after such an emotional win.

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No talib on Hilton. We will get burned by Hilton then.

I'd hope to see an offensive game plan like they ran against Indy in 04 with Corey Dillon. Run the heck out of the ball and set up play action. The Colts are pretty aggressive off of the edge, run at that. Cut backs off of the middle runs will be there. Pound them and then hit a few passes to the wr's and get their heads spinning. Mostly, control the ball and the clock and keep Luck sitting on the bench thinking about what he's going to do next. The team has to produce td's to keep the pressure on Luck.


Defensively, I wouldn't expect a ton of designed pressure from the front 7 but could see them bringing a cb or safety, especially in nickel situations. Disciplined gap control defense to keep Luck in the pocket, Brown in front of them, and tight coverage on the wr's. What frightens me is a guy like Spikes getting caught with Fleener in coverage. However, while Fleener can be Hernandez-like as a tight end, he can also be Dan Graham like as a receiver.

In the end, I would expect a Patriots victory but it will be a grind, something like 24-21.

Uncle Rico said:

Isn't Hilton just the type of receiver who gives Talib trouble? Seems you'd go the other way, with Talib on Fleener, count on Ryan and a hopefully healthy Dennard on Hilton?

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Seems like the right strategy now that I think of it (See: Steve Smith troubles for Talib). Only problem is does BB have the confidence in Dennard/Ryan/Arrington? We know he and Patricia have confidence in Talib, and probably Dennard. Ryan's recent performance would also indicate that but you never know.
I wouldn't expect the Jimmy Graham treatment on Hilton but I am guessing more of a mix it up type based defense. The point is, we can't let him get going. Jeremy Kerley and Matthews/Wallace on Miami killed us in our games and Hilton is a very similar player. Stopping him would stop their offense.

do you put talib on someone like fleener.....a la NO gameplan.....take the TE out of the picture, and FORCE them to win with hilton....and run a mix of games and coverages on him?


removing the TE from luck's arsenal and then disguising multiple coverages on hilton could make it interesting....the kid is good, but he's also young.....

I honestly think this is a much better match-up than Cincy would have been. Fleener has become Luck's security blanket so he should be priority número uno for the defense.

Ivan said:

This is right on the money. Talib struggles with smaller quicker receivers but is great against bigger receivers. I would also go with Talib on Fleener and have Ryan and Dennard take Hilton with some help over the top. Indy's run game is not going to beat the Patriots so Luck is going to have to play the game of hiss life to come out of New England with a win.

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I agree.

Particularly we should rename McCourty "Hilton Top" this week.

Have Dennard or even Ryan on Hilton with McCourty haunting the hell out of him from behind.

KontradictioN said:

I honestly think this is a much better match-up than Cincy would have been. .

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very much agreed

KontradictioN said:

I honestly think this is a much better match-up than Cincy would have been. Fleener has become Luck's security blanket so he should be priority número uno for the defense.

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Hilton has been targeted far more in recent weeks. I think he is the key. He has had 24 catches for 379 yards and two TDs in the last two games.

I do agree that I think the Colts are a better draw for the Pats than Cincy.

KontradictioN said:

I honestly think this is a much better match-up than Cincy would have been. Fleener has become Luck's security blanket so he should be priority número uno for the defense.

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yukon cornelius said:

very much agreed

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Rob0729 said:

Hilton has been targeted far more in recent weeks. I think he is the key. He has had 24 catches for 379 yards and two TDs in the last two games.

I do agree that I think the Colts are a better draw for the Pats than Cincy.

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Still not seeing the big concern from CIN, who was 3-5 on the road and had their past 4-5 away games in a row where they never topped 20 points. They are a complete joke on the road. All we would've had to do was stop the run a bit and have AJ Green taken care of.

Luck poses much more of a threat than Dalton ever did, not to mention the fact that IND went 5-3 on the road and 9-3 in the AFC overall (now 10-3).

If you're talking about the defensive matchups, then I agree that IND is a weaker defense, but they also have much more of a capacity to score a lot more points. They absolutely lit up KC 2x recently, and I think that KC has a capable enough defense compared to ours.

As I said in the other thread, Mike Reiss certainly doesn't agree with the thought that IND is a better matchup for us, he had them as our least effective matchup out of any of the 3 teams.

Hope you're right though. If we can shut down Fleener with Talib and take care of Hilton (a huge 'if'), then we should be able to limit the very explosive QB that is Andrew Luck. I'd just much rather play a team with a good defense, much like all of the tougher defensive fronts that we've been preparing for lately just fine. My concern is our defense.