Review/Preview

REVIEW

A lot has been made of the decision to pull Peyton Manning for Curtis Painter, including here. So let’s look at who else played, and/or was rested in that period instead.

For all 17 of Painter’s offensive plays, the entire starting offensive line was out there with him. The wide receivers were Austin Collie and Hank Baskett for every play. They played two tight ends for 16 of the 17 plays. Gijon Robinson was there for the first seven, blocking once and being pulled for the fourth quarter. Jacob Tamme came in with 1:22 left in the third, and played the rest of the way. In his 13 snaps, he lined up as a tight end once, and in the slot 12 times. Tom Santi came out when Tamme went in and – one three-and-out series later – came back in to replace Robinson. While playing with Painter, he saw 12 snaps at tight end (staying in to “block” twice), and one in the slot. Donald Brown was the halfback on every one of Painter’s plays, spending nine of his 17 plays as a pass-blocker. Chad Simpson joined him once on 3rd-and-4 in a split-back set.

We’ve already discussed how tragic Painter was, so let’s move on. Halfback Joseph Addai looked magnificent on his 21-yard touchdown run, squirting through a tiny hole, accelerating past the defenders and finally muscling his way into the end zone. It was a highlight worthy of great praise. He didn’t do much other than that, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because a halfback needs to develop a rhythm and Addai only played 16 plays, all in the first half (including one where he went into motion, ending up split wide left).

His replacement, rookie Donald Brown, didn’t put up great numbers on his first game back from injury, but looked smart and creative. The Jets stacked the line when Painter was in there and blitzed like mad, so that kind of hurt Brown’s chances. The knock against Brown was supposed to be as a pass-protector, but I thought he did a great job in the face of frequent blitzes.

Of the receivers, Reggie Wayne started and had his hands full with the Jets’ awesome corner Darrelle Revis. But Reggie will always find a way, catching 3-33-0 before leaving the game prior to the Painter era. Collie put in another great performance with 6-94-0 (on seven throws to him), finding great success against veteran Lito Sheppard. Collie started at injured Pierre Garcon’s spot outside and seemed just as comfortable there as he does in the slot. Baskett came in to replace Wayne and caught both passes thrown his way (one from each quarterback) for 16 yards, but seemed to have a hard time getting open. None of the receivers looked good as blockers.

As mentioned, a number of players appeared at tight end. Dallas Clark was having a typical day for him – 4-57-0 of seven passes thrown his way with one drop – before he was pulled for the Painter crew. The others did little as receivers – combining for 2-24-0 on eight throws with one drop – but a good deal of that can be attributed to Painter. Tamme, in particular, looked bad. None were much help as run blockers, and Santi (one sack allowed in two pass blocking opportunities) and Robinson (three pressures allowed in 15 pass blocking opportunities) were liabilities in protecting the passers.

The starting line – with Tony Ugoh filling in for the injured Charlie Johnson at left tackle – played the entire game and were … pretty good. The Jets are extremely hard to run against, and the Colts line did little to change that. But all of them did a nice job in pass-pro, even though Painter’s pocket presence made their job a lot more difficult than they’re used to. Ugoh, in particular, looked very good. What little pass rush the Jets managed came from blitzes. The two sacks came when Santi was handled by Calvin Pace and when Donald Strickland came on a delayed blitz untouched and unnoticed by Painter who was holding the ball for a luxurious amount of time.

Oh, and this week’s winner of fullback roulette? Eric Foster, with two plays.

As many backups played on offense, even more showed up on defense. For most of the fourth quarter, the defensive line was (from left to right): Eric Foster, Fili Moala, John Gill and Ervin Baldwin. Dwight Freeney was in for one fourth-quarter play (a 3rd-and-10). The linebackers were (from left to right) Philip Wheeler, Freddie Keiaho and Ramon Humber. Wheeler’s the normal starter and Humber started for injured Clint Session, while Keiaho subbed for starter Gary Brackett, who was taken out like Manning, Clark, Wayne and Addai. The secondary generally consisted of starters Kelvin Hayden and Jacob Lacey (in for injured Jerraud Powers), but the safeties were Aaron Francisco (who started the game for injured starter Melvin Bullitt) and Jamie Silva, who came in when Antoine Bethea was brought in for a rest.

Despite the parade of so-so players, the Colts defense played fairly well. In fact, of the Jets’ three touchdowns, one was scored against the offense and one against special teams.

Aside from Freeney, who had two sacks on just nine pass rushes, the Colts didn’t pressure Sanchez much. Foster and Raheem Brock – who started at left end for injured Robert Mathis, and played his best game this year – got close sometimes, but no other Colt added much. Jets left guard Alan Faneca – who I dissed in a previous post – handled Colts tackle Daniel Muir quite well. Foster and Antonio “Mookie” Johnson stood fairly strong against the run, but none of the other D-linemen did anything of merit. Moala looked awful; he was pushed off the ball by Jets guard Brandon Moore with annoying consistently. It’s still far too early to call Moala a bust, but the early results do not look pretty at all.

Humber played the whole game, and looked a little overmatched, but not terrible. I still say he’s much better off inside. Middle starter Brackett was very good, especially in coverage, and his replacement, Keiaho, didn’t embarrass himself. Wheeler did not look good, but I’m getting used to that.

The Colts’ corners played their usual game, leaving a fairly big cushion and closing in after the ball has been thrown. Hayden looked rusty, allowing a number of short completions to Jerricho Cotchery. It was heartbreaking to see the refs negate his first-quarter interception with an iffy illegal contact penalty. Lacey was mostly matched against Braylon Edwards, and – despite having a hard time with big wideouts and giving up five inches and 38 pounds – did an okay job. Similarly, Jennings looked good in coverage, with a nice swat on a Sanchez pass to Edwards on 3rd-and-4.

I’m surprised the Jets didn’t target Francisco and Silva more than they did. Francisco – who has been a disaster in coverage for a few seasons now – was not a problem last Sunday. Silva and Bethea were non-factors in coverage, but Silva looked quite good against the run.

Pat McAfee wowed me again both as a kickoff man and a punter (though he owes a small debt to Jennings for a nice punt downing at the Jets’ 5). It was nice to see Adam Vinatieri return, and he didn’t look rusty.

Chad Simpson had another good day as a kick returner, but TJ Rushing did nothing as a punt returner.

The Colts looked awful on kick coverage. On Brad Smith’s 106-yard score, Humber and Robinson were totally burned. Jennings showed great speed and effort getting to him at the 5 from the other side of the field, but also showed he took the wrong angle. And basically the same group allowed Cotchery 2-28 on punt returns.

PREVIEW

The Bills are a pretty bad team, worse than their 5-10 record would indicate. Not only were they a no better than average team heading into the season, but they actually have 19 players on injured reserve, including nine starters and one of their two Pro Bowlers. But depending on which Colts team is on the field, the Bills could actually eke out a win.

Bills fans were whining about quarterback Trent Edwards. But when he went down and career backup Ryan Fitzpatrick took over, they were no better. And now they are down to Brian Brohm. Whut oh.

But it’s not the passers’ fault, or the receivers’, or the backs’. It’s the line. Before the season, the Bills tried to overhaul their O-line (cutting a lot of salary), and it backfired. The best of the new lot – starting right tackle Brad Badger – was out for the season after a week 2 injury. He was replaced by journeyman Kirk Chambers, who has been terrible. The situation is worse on the left side where Demetrious Bell – though a great guy – was just not up to snuff. In eight starts, he gave up 5 sacks, 7 QB hits and 18 pressures to go along with 12 penalties – and he was precious little better as a run blocker. After a season-ending injury, he was replaced by former Lions reserve – Lions reserve! – Jonathan Scott. In 10 games (eight starts, including two at right tackle), he’s allowed 7 sacks, 1 hit and 13 pressures with six penalties and no discernable push in the run game. Things are just about as bad at guard. The plan was to start rookies Andy Levitre and Erik Wood. Although both will be good NFL players, both have been overmatched as NFL starters. Well, Wood was okay until he got hurt, and Levitre is passable in pass-pro, but an atrocity in the run game. Interestingly, he started two emergency games at left tackle and did okay. With Wood out, the Bills turned to ancient Kendall Simmons then gave the job to Richie Incognito. You know him, he was cut by the Rams – the Rams! – for being a butthead. At least only one guy, Geoff Hangartner, has played center for the Bills this year. And he’s been awful.

Buffalo has talented but not-all-that-productive-at-least-this-year ends in Aaron Schobel, Chris Kelsay and Ryan Denney. First-round draft pick Aaron Maybin is also there, but hasn’t done anything yet. Inside, highly paid Marcus Stroud has been awful and meagerly paid Kyle Williams has been very, very good.

Despite an inconsistent D-line and a depressing offense, middle linebacker Paul Posluszny has put in a Pro Bowl-quality season. Opening day starters on the outside, Keith Ellison and Kawika Mitchell, are both on injured reserve. Their replacements – converted safety Bryan Scott and ancient Chris Draft – have actually played decently in their absence.

Injuries have decimated the secondary too, as starting corners Terrence McGee and Leodis McKelvin were recently joined on injured reserve by Pro Bowl rookie safety Jairus Byrd. The current corners – Drayton Florence, Reggie Corner and Ashton Youboty – aren’t really very good. Strong safety George Wilson has been very solid. Byrd’s replacement, Donte Whitner has been okay in coverage, but a non-factor against the run and has had problems with penalties.

The Bills special teams are pretty good, with Roscoe Parrish a home run threat as a returner.

In a normal situation, the Colts would steamroll these guys. But if Painter is behind center, throwing to Tamme, all bets are off.

NEWS

There was some juggling, but the upshot is that with Anthony Gonzalez on injured reserve, Sam Giguere was promoted to the active roster and safety/linebacker De’Von Hall was cut. Quarterback Drew Willy was sent back to the practice squad and John Matthews took Giguere’s spot. I know Giguere is a great athlete, but I don’t know that he’s a great talent. Should be interesting to see how much playing time he gets this week.

The one new face on the practice squad is linebacker Brandon Renkart (6026/236/4.59pd). A high school quarterback at Piscataway, N.J., he stayed in state and played at Brackett’s old spot for Rutgers. Considered undersized and not explosive, Renkart is smart and tough and had a knack for big plays in college. Undrafted in 2008, he signed with the local Jets, but was cut. He spent some time on Arizona’s practice squad and is now in what appears to be a more appropriate situation in Indy. Does he have a future? I don’t know. The Colts have done more with less, so he at least bears watching.