Have the Saints found the blueprint to beating the Colts?

[patsfan-1982]

the saints used that same game plan to beat the pats. and just like in the pats game the colts could have ran the ball all day but the pats just like the colts don't have the patients to run the football or the defense to stop the saints so they had to throw the ball. thats why the jets where abel to have a good game vs the saints

 

[wiggins!]

Yes. Make plays. That's how we used to beat them.

EXACTLY....it's a VERY simple "blue print"

make plays....and have guys who can make em....

 

[patsinthesnow]

My "blueprint" to beat the Colts requires one thing:

You must have a lead on them with 4-6 minutes remaining and the ball.

You HAVE TO eat the remaining game up somehow with a clock consuming drive. The Pats failed to do this in the AFCCG and this year Belichick tried this by going for it on 4th and 2.

I honestly don't get how so many teams (including us) go 3 and out on the Colts defense with about 3 minutes to go. One first down will seal the game.

 

[chevss454]

There is a blueprint.

Let the Colts run to their hearts content. I remember Edge James running on the Patriots, and they'd lose.

Exactly, let them help you eat up time.

You play with 5 or 6 DBs in the game at all times. You have 5 or 6 players max in the box. You blitz one extra man for half the plays, which means you always have 6 or 7 guys flooding the passing lanes.

And disguise your alignment as best you can. The goal is to hurry Manning, even moreso than sacking him. Disrupt the Colts timing routes by pressure, jamming receivers and jumping routes if you have backside help.

You let the Colts help you chew up the clock, and then you make the most of your opportunities on passing.

Without a healthy Dwight Freeney, the Patriots beat the Colts every time.

I'd reverse the opening post and ask, do you think Payton's blueprint was actually just stolen from watching the Patriots games?

Indeed!

Good post Upstater1

 

[PatsFanSince74]

You can't rely on career-type picks (Asante in 06, Porter Sunday) to beat Peyton because they're just that, once in a career plays that Peyton will never let you get away with again.

It seems that you have to do the real basic stuff that other posters have already noted (mess with his receivers' timing, give him happy feet with the rush and, oh yeah, put up lots of points on possessions that take a lot of time off the clock).

The only thing I'd add is you have to take some chances. Payton's two risks paid off; Belichick's didn't, but I still think he made the right call on 4th and 2.

 

[Prufrock]

The Colts lost because their defense was average and their offense was one dimensional.

 

[upstater1]

The Colts lost because their defense was average and their offense was one dimensional.

Well, they did run the ball very well.

 

[wiggins!]

Well, they did run the ball very well.

agreed.....but only the first half!

when they started finally got the ball in the 3rd quarter it was mainly manning:

1st half 11 run 16 pass
2nd half 8 run 29 pass

 

[Hotnicks]

...Only difference was we didn't make a single red zone stop and Manning had too many shots in the 2nd half. Last night Manning had 4 total drives in the 2nd half. He had 4 drives in the 4th quarter alone against us.

This is amazing to me ...

 

[Prufrock]

Well, they did run the ball very well.

While they did get some decent gains, I still don't think that they ran it well enough to have the Saints respect it in any significant manner. The Colts had the type of running game that got them some decent yardage when the defense put only 3-4 guys in the box, but as soon as the Saints decided to pay any amount of attention to the Colts running game, it disappeared.

 

[oldskool138]

Have the Saints found the blueprint to beating the Colts?

Umm, didn't the Pats come up with a blueprint for beating the Clots and Manning in '03 and '04?

Keep him off the field with long, sustained drives resulting in points (and hope the refs don't call any BS PI's). That's it.

 

[mosi]

The single biggest key to victory was that the Refs did not call the obligatory 2 to 3 phantom PI calls against Colts opponents. I am not kidding about this either. I think the league got out of the Colts pocket after they wimped out in the last two games of the regular season and gave the entire NFL a black eye. Who knows if this will hold in the future.

If they put the Patriots Colts game as the last game regular season next year at Foxboro you know the Colts are still in it deep. I would love to see that.

You are 100% right. Even in the colts/pats game. Indy was help dramatically by poor calls.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I love threads like this. The Saints have found the blueprint; I'm sure they are trying to build a team to build the Colts (winning the Super Bowl was a secondary benefit.) Most teams can easily beat the Colts now. Here are the easy steps:

1. Sign a franchise quarterback with MVP-caliber numbers who will set an NFL record for accuracy. It is preferable that, when making your selection from the many candidates, you find one with great leadership skills.

2. Surround the team with talent as the skill-positions, with unmatched speed for wide receivers, versatility at running back (just draft a Heisman-winning running back to backup your pro bowl starter), and three capable tight ends. It's easy to find a lot of these talents in the later rounds of the draft.

3. Get a franchise left tackle to protect the quarterback's blind side. Preferably this player should be a perennial pro-bowler.

4. Hand the coaching duties to a talented, sharp-thinking, charismatic superstar who is keen on personnel, playcalling, and motivation. Surround the head coach with seasoned coordinators that know how to gameplan against high-powered offenses.

5. Bulk up your secondary with playmaking, shutdown cornerbacks (there are tons of them out there) and safeties that you can sign cheaply off the free-agent market that carry high risk-reward potential

6. Pick up a 24-year old rookie kicker off the street who will step up in clutch situations and nail 40+ yard field goals in huge games.

7. (This one is easy). Recover a momentum changing onside-kick just after halftime after the Colts are beating you

8. Allow Pierre Garcon to drop a wide-open third down conversion that will completely change the outlook of the game

9. Intercept a Peyton Manning pass down the stretch and return it for a touchdown.

10. Allow the Colts to build a 10-0 lead earlier, so they will squander it away as the game moves on. It helps to allow at least four balls bounce the just out of the reach of Colts' defenders on potential interceptions.

 

[abba]

as a saints fan and admirer of mannings career, the verdict on manning down here is while he is a great qb with a superior acumen for the game, he is also the colts' biggest weakness. hubris....

the key to beating him is to frustrate him with patience. all game the saints stuck to 3-4 and 3-3-5 looks, save a few series in the 2nd quarter where we went 4-3 just for the sake of change. (the beauty of this was we dont' even have proper 30 front personnel...yet the confusion created by the movement at the line, even it if doesn't cause sacks, forces the qb to account for more pre-snap and therefore has done its job in and of itself....)

in essence, inviting the colts to run. and in that first half they ran and ran well. manning would start off in shotgun make a run check, and quickly go under center and hand off...and it worked well.

however, manning was baiting the saints to change out of their coverage look for the playaction but they never did. not once after i watched the game over and over again. not once did vilma check out of heavy coverage....

while i don't think this contributed to the fatal int play, it did contribute to the overall frustration of manning and their inability to dupe the saints over the top at any point...

superbowl 41...colts ran the ball 42 times. this yr...17.
i guarantee you the next time we play the colts, manning will call more runs.......and they may be successful. but one things for sure, we're in his head, and that's so very satisfying (apart from that lombardi).....

i used to cheer for manning against the pats....i no longer will be doing that. good luck next yr.....

who dat

 

[oldskool138]

who's that

Fixed it for you.

 

[tobias funke]

A Patriots team many on this forum consider one of the weakest in years put 35 points on a Colts defense playing in their own stadium and only lost the game because they gave it away.

I won't even check to see if another team scored that many points against the Colts this season, because I highly doubt it. Even the Saints weren't able to.

The Colts were never unbeatable, they just had a great season where enough balls and flags bounced their way to win almost all of the games they tried to win, just like they did for the Patriots in 2007.

The blueprint: have an offense good enough to put points on the board. Get more aggressive in the second half, not less.