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Pats next opponent Colts- 2008 vs 2007 Conventional wisdom
1)[FONT="] [/FONT]The conventional wisdom is that teams are running on the Colts because they can but the numbers don’t bear this out.
Through the first 7 games last year teams rushed 185 times for 752 yards 4.1ypc.
Through the first 7 games this year they have rushed 240 times for 1009 yards 4.2 ypc
Could it be that teams are running more this year not because they are getting better yardage, but as a clock control mechanism to limit the number of drives the Colts have? Conventional wisdom is that if you give Peyton Manning enough possessions, he will score, even recovering from an injury. In 2007 they scored at least 5 times in each of their first 7 games. This year only once have they scored five times in a game..
In 2007 thru 7 games Colts had 71 drives and scored on 39 of them (55% of the time). In 2008 they are scoring on 23/74 (31%) So they are getting the same number of possession, they just aren’t scoring…
2)[FONT="] [/FONT]PENALTIES- In 2007 thru 7 games, Colts had 29 accepted penalties (4.1 per game) while in 2008 they have had 51 accepted penalties in the same 7 games (7.3 per game) That screaming you just heard was Bill Polian yelling at Mike Perreira. I didn’t break down penalties at home and on the road because the sample size isn’t large enough yet.
Bottom line, it’s not the Colts defense, it’s their offense and penalties that are hurting them,..
1)[FONT="] [/FONT]The conventional wisdom is that teams are running on the Colts because they can but the numbers don’t bear this out.
Through the first 7 games last year teams rushed 185 times for 752 yards 4.1ypc.
Through the first 7 games this year they have rushed 240 times for 1009 yards 4.2 ypc
Could it be that teams are running more this year not because they are getting better yardage, but as a clock control mechanism to limit the number of drives the Colts have? Conventional wisdom is that if you give Peyton Manning enough possessions, he will score, even recovering from an injury. In 2007 they scored at least 5 times in each of their first 7 games. This year only once have they scored five times in a game..
In 2007 thru 7 games Colts had 71 drives and scored on 39 of them (55% of the time). In 2008 they are scoring on 23/74 (31%) So they are getting the same number of possession, they just aren’t scoring…
2)[FONT="] [/FONT]PENALTIES- In 2007 thru 7 games, Colts had 29 accepted penalties (4.1 per game) while in 2008 they have had 51 accepted penalties in the same 7 games (7.3 per game) That screaming you just heard was Bill Polian yelling at Mike Perreira. I didn’t break down penalties at home and on the road because the sample size isn’t large enough yet.
Bottom line, it’s not the Colts defense, it’s their offense and penalties that are hurting them,..