2018 Week 2: Indianapolis Colts vs. Washington Redskins Open

Thread Today Indianapolis Colts Hats , the Indianapolis Colts embark on leg one of a two week road trip to Washington, D.C. to face the Redskins. Both teams have undergone some big changes during the off-season, including new faces at quarterback. Indianapolis now has Ryan Grant, who just had the most productive year of his career in Washington. The Redskins replaced Grant by grabbing Paul Richardson, formerly in Seattle and also picked up linebacker Pernell McPhee.A week ago, the Colts dropped their home opener to the Bengals in a game they should have won. It felt eerily similar to the second half collapses that plagued the team in 2017. One key difference was franchise quarterback Andrew Luck who had fans believing they were about to witness a last minute game-winning drive. On the other side of the country, Washington beat up an over-matched Cardinals team. Adrian Peterson and Chris Thompson combined 161 rushing yards. Thompson added 6 receptions for 63 receiving yards and a touchdown. Their defense held Sam Bradford, Larry Fitgerald, and David Johnson to 6 total points.With this back-drop, we take a look at some of the keys to the outcome of today’s game.Find a Way to Limit Adrian Peterson and Chris ThompsonThe Achilles heel for the Tampa 2 defense if giving up size for speed. Teams that lack size on defense tend to give up the advantage on the ground. In Week 1, the Colts allowed Joe Mixon to run all over them and had no answers when he caught the ball in space. He is certainly a talented prospect who looks to have taken a big second-year leap but there is very little support behind him.The Redskins have future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson to punish weaknesses between the tackles, and a very talented change-of-pace back in Chris Thompson who could very easily be Alex Smith’s favorite target for a second straight game. If the Colts hope to see the speed approach pay off, they will have to find a way to disrupt Peterson’s vertical running style and cover the field laterally to contain Thompson.This will not be an easy task and failure could see this game get out of hand quickly.Create Pressure on Alex SmithAs NFL quarterbacks go, Alex Smith isn’t anything particularly special. He reminds me a bit of Chad Pennington. He is able to do enough of the right things throughout the game to generate solid numbers on offense and give you a chance to win every week. He is also able to limit mistakes and unforced errors enough to not put his defense in a difficult situation.The best way to combat his game is to force him to be something he isn’t. If the defense can harass and force him to be heroic or play above his talent-level, they can capitalize on mistakes. Don’t get confused, Smith is a solid NFL quarterback — if the Jacksonville Jaguars had Alex Smith at quarterback they might be favored to get to and win the Super Bowl. However, you can turn Smith into Blake Bortles if you can force him to try to take over a game.Limit Jordan ReedPaul Richardson and Jamison Crowder are both respectable NFL receivers. They’ve both shown the ability to be highly productive and play a big role in winning football games. That said, neither player is anything close to A.J. Green, so the secondary certainly has an easier assignment on the outside this week. Where the defense will be tested most is in how it addresses Jordan Reed. When healthy, Reed may very well be the most dangerous pass-catching tight end in the NFL. He is often injured, so a lot of fans may not be fully aware of his talent, but he will take the field this week and cannot be overlooked.Matt Eberflus and Chris Ballard’s move to speed and athleticism, particularly at linebacker, was all about helping to improve coverage over the middle of the field. For that plan to work out, Indy must see returns against tight ends like Jordan Reed. If he gets going and the linebackers are lost, Alex Smith will churn out yards and put points on the board.Establish a more Consistent Running GameWhile the Indianapolis Colts are certainly best served when Andrew Luck is picking defenses apart, they must find a way to keep the pass rush at bay with the running game. Starting left tackle Anthony Castonzo will not be playing so Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni need to find ways to help the offensive line against a defensive front that includes Matt Ioannidis, Ryan Kerrigan and Pernell McPhee. A young and upcoming group of former Alabama defenders are also worth monitoring — Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, and Shaun Dion Hamilton.This defensive front is not quite as strong as the Bengals and Indianapolis must find a way to exploit it. A key to doing that is getting Marlon Mack, Nyheim Hines, and Jordan Wilkins rolling on the ground. If they can be productive and force the edge defenders to hesitate, Andrew Luck will have more room in the pocket to make magic happen. As Colts fans know, if Luck has time, there is a good chance magic will happen.Make Big Offensive PlaysFrank Reich has protected Andrew Luck and not asked him to his shoulder by throwing the ball vertically a lot throughout the preseason. It helps that Reich’s offense is predicated on more short and intermediate routes designed to get the ball out of Luck’s hand quickly. This offense requires establishing tempo and tiring out the defense. While the approach can be highly effective, it will really open up if a couple of hay makers also land. The nature of the offense is to act like a coil. These short plays are designed to get the defense to cheat closer and closer to the line of scrimmage as the short zones get picked apart. When this happens, the offense is like a loading spring. When the time is right, the spring needs to unload deep, over the top of a defense that has started to lose discipline. To be effective Indianapolis Colts Hoodie , the big plays have to hit. Last week, T.Y. Hilton dropped a pass that would have gone for a long gain. Jack Doyle fumbled away the team’s chance at completing the game-winning touchdown drive.This week, players have to haul in those big plays and protect the ball. If this offense can force the defense to spread out because it is worried about both short and long plays, everything will start working. If it doesn’t, shrinking defenses mean fewer running and passing lanes. Big plays have to be there for everything to work as intended.Game Time1pm PM ET on Sunday September 16, 2018LocationFedEx Field - Landover, MarylandTV ChannelCBS - Spero Dedes (play-by-play), Adam Archuleta (color analyst)RadioWFNI (107.5FM/1070 The Fan) and WLHK (Country 97.1 Hank FM)Referee AssignmentClete BlakemanWeatherMostly cloudy with scattered showers. Winds gusting up to 15 mph. - Per AccuweatherEnemy BlogHogs HavenTwitterFollow @StampedeBlue for the complete Colts coverage on Twitter before, during, and after every game.FacebookLike Stampede Blue on Facebook!PodcastFor all your Colts-related talk and information, subscribe, download, and review the Stampede Blue Colts Cast on iTunes, Stitcher, or BlogTalkRadio. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!Film Room: Braden Smith run blocking vs. San Francisco 49ers, Preseason Week 3 In one of the more disappointing decisions this preseason, Chris Ballard and the Colts decided to move Braden Smith back inside to guard for the “dress rehearsal” game. They trotted out Austin Howard, who quickly showed he was not the answer at right tackle. They brought in J’Marcus Webb after a single series in hopes that he could improve the position, and while he wasn’t as bad as Howard, he is still unlikely to make the regular season roster.After two straight games of promising tape at right tackle, I had hopes that Smith would be given a chance to nail down a starting spot. With Denzelle Good also taking the field for the first time, I was intrigued to compare their tape. None of that happened. Instead, Smith took the field in the first half as the starting right guard. This leaves us to take our second look at his performance on the inside, starting with his impact on the running game. As with the Quenton Nelson pieces yesterday, we’ll move from the weakest downs to the strongest.This is a designed run around the right end for Nyheim Hines. You can tell based upon what happens on the back side of the play. Joe Haeg gets inside to slow down trailing pursuit and moves to the next level to seal the inside. Quenton Nelson reaches and gets around the defensive tackle to wall him off from the running lane. Ryan Kelly also seals. Braden Smith needs to gain outside leverage on the defensive tackle to create the outside edge and spring Hines. He fails to do so and allows his man to set the edge, forcing Hines back inside for no gain.You have to carefully watch this play to see where Smith enters the scrum and where he comes out of it. He initiates contact with the defensive tackle but fails to gain inside leverage. The defensive lineman is heading right for the inside lane that Hines was supposed to take. Smith is left grabbing at the defender and is called for a hold. This negatives the first down run and ends up resulting in a punt one play later.This play shows Smith’s continued limitations in space. While he is not pulling on this play, he gets to the second level and has a chance to seal the linebacker. Instead, he dives at the linebackers feet and ends up on the ground. This play is over well before the back gets to the second level but nothing about what Smith did was particularly effective.Here is another opportunity for Smith to make an impact at the second level. This time, he stays on his feet and pushes the linebacker away from the hole behind him. This is slightly more effective than the previous play and if the rest of the play didn’t break down (namely if J’Marcus Webb doesn’t whiff on his block) he could have helped the Chrstine Michael gain some yards.This is an example of a nice seal with Webb on the right side. They create a massive lane to the inside. If the back identifies the lane and is able to avoid contact in the backfield, there is a chance this run goes for a nice gain.This play works to Smith’s strengths. When he is asked to block in line and doesn’t have to move laterally, he is particularly effective. He gets a quick chip on the defensive lineman and moves straight ahead to get a body on the linebacker. This is another example where Smith is able to initiate contact with the defender and is not asked to move laterally. He gains inside leverage, stays square to the defender and eventually overpowers him to push him down the field. This is the final look at a positive play in the ground game for Smith. You can see that he initiates contact, squares up his shoulders and never allows the defender to make progress to the inside. ANALYSISSmith continues to be inconsistent when he plays at the guard position. His limitations on the run, in space and moving laterally give him fits on certain downs. He is susceptible to losing when he doesn’t initiate contact and is unable to square his shoulders. He has a bad habit of grabbing at defenders when he is beat, resulting in holding calls that will kill drives.While Smith might be an average or slightly below average starting guard, particularly for a rookie, he seems much more natural at right tackle at this point in his development.