Don't sleep on Reggie Wayne: After three straight weeks of
lackluster production, Wayne busted out against the Jaguars on Thursday.
It helped that Jacksonville assumed — for reasons unknown — that
Derek Cox
could handle him after Wayne destroyed Cox in Week 1, but Wayne proved what he
can do when the opposing defense doesn't commit resources to stopping him.
He had bad matchups the previous two weeks — Cortland Finnegan and Champ Bailey
are among the best cornerbacks in the league — but he also had a disappointing
game against the Texans, where he had a favorable matchup, but Houston double
and occasionally triple covered Wayne to take him out of the action.
It could be that Wayne lulled everyone to sleep or it could just have been
bad matchups. One thing is certain: No one's going to sleep on Wayne
again. He has established and re-established himself as one of the
premiere receivers in the league and can improve his legacy with a big
postseason.
Jacob Lacey may have found his niche: Lacey has struggled for
much of the season and has his fair share of detractors — myself included —
but Alan Williams and Larry Coyer made a masterful adjustment for Thursday
night's game that should be continued for the balance of the season. Lacey
had been struggling because he's not a zone guy, he's a man coverage guy.
So, Coyer and Williams adjusted their scheme and Lacey's responsibilities,
allowing him to "man up" on the receiver to his side of the field. The
result was four tackles, two passes defended, and the game-clinching
interception. Also, Mike Sims-Walker had a fairly unproductive day with
six catches for 64 yards on nine targets — and his touchdown reception was on
Kelvin Hayden, not Lacey.
If the Colts staff continues to have Lacey "play within himself" he should be
a valuable contributor throughout the rest of the regular season and into the
postseason. Making that kind of adjustment during the course of a game or
season is not the sort of thing the previous regime would have done, instead
trying to make the player fit the system. This is further evidence of the
fact that this is Jim Caldwell's team and Larry Coyer's defense.
Joseph Addai seems to be getting stronger: He's running with
more authority and he's gaining more yards after contact that he usually does at
this point in the season — or really at any point during his career. He
seems crisper in his cuts and more explosive getting to the edge.
It's
interesting that he didn't step up like this when Donald Brown was taking some
of his touches, but Addai is now firmly cemented into the starting role and will
get most of the work, provided Brown comes back from injury.
The issues are that he's getting perilously close to his "maximum" number of
carries for a season (250) and that Chad Simpson and Mike Hart are not the
answer at tailback should Addai wear down or get hurt. Brown needs to come
back in a hurry. It would be fantastic if he could play in Week 17.
Eric Foster may also have found his niche: With Dwight Freeney
and Robert Mathis seeing only spot duty, the pressure needed to come from
somewhere. Indianapolis blitzed fairly liberally, but their two sacks came
from an unlikely source: Foster. He had zero sacks in 11 starts last
season, but he has three already this year in only three starts.
Daniel Muir and Antonio Johnson should still be the starters — even though they lacked
their usual intensity on Thursday night — but Foster gives the Colts another
weapon on pass defense. Foster had two sacks, two quarterback hits, one
tackle for loss, and a forced fumble. That's a Freeney-esque stat line.
Now, it remains to be seen whether or not he can do this on a consistent basis,
but, if he can, that would give Indianapolis Freeney, Mathis, Foster, and Raheem Brock in known passing situations, which would be a daunting set of blocking
assignments for any offensive line.
We said all offseason that Foster needed to improve his pass-rushing ability
to stay with the team long term. If he's successfully done that, it could
mean that life without Brock won't be as challenging. It could also mean
the end of Keyunta Dawson's time with the team if Indianapolis decides to stick
with a Brock/Foster combo instead of a Dawson/Foster combo.
The defense lacked their usual fire for much of the game: They had been able to maintain a
tremendous level of intensity for the past two months or so, but they definitely
looked flat and passive on Thursday. Hopefully, that's just a result of
playing on four days rest after playing with such fire for such a prolonged
period of time — not a sign that the defense is breaking
down physically and mentally.
They still made the key play they needed to
make. They still held the opponent to fewer points than the offense
scored. The Colts still won. But, if they come out that flat and
passive in a game in January, they might not get bailed out.
Kicker not a high-priority position right now: Whether it's Matt Stover or
Adam Vinatieri, Peyton Manning and Tom Moore's offense is too efficient in the
red zone for that man to get a lot of opportunities. Pretty much anyone
can kick an extra point and that's basically all the placekicker has been asked
to do the past six games, as the Colts have attempted only five field goals in
that span. For the season, they've attempted only 19 field goals in 14
games. They may want to cut costs in 2010 in just have Pat McAfee do
everything.
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