What I didn’t like: The rushing offense was ineffective (1.8 yards per carry) and the pass offense was out of synch. A two-play sequence in the second quarter illustrated the troubles: Pierre Garcon appeared to let up on a deep ball he ultimately couldn’t catch up to before Reggie Wayne allowed a ball to sail between his hands.
But such commentary suggests the proverbial glass is half full, and it’s obviously not at the moment. Manning threw four INTs. Two of them were pick-sixes returned for TDs. The first, he didn’t see the LB. While he got moved around in the pocket, it was still on him. The second pick-six was the result of a no-call when WR Reggie Wayne clearly got interfered with and fell down.
But so what. Even without the pick-sixes, the Colts would have lost by eight. No, this was more alarming because the offense did nothing in the second half. The defense, while checking the Chargers to five FGs, didn’t get enough stops, either. And special teams continue to be ridiculous when looking at how kicks are returned.
I don’t know that I agree that Indy loses by 8 w/o the pick sixes. They changed the way the game was played.
A nice headline
The Colts gameplan in this one was obviously to throw short precise passes to keep Manning upright, and it seemed to be working early on. But starting in the 2nd quarter the Chargers starting jamming the receivers and daring Manning to try to take advantage by throwing deep. But who to throw deep to? Wayne was doubled short and long all night, every deep pass to him was at some point tipped by a Chargers defender. Garcon and Manning are not on the same page and several opportunities were lost by timing issues on long passes.
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