Colts vs. Patriots: Full Report Card Grades for Indianapolis
Indianapolis Colts fans were at least hoping for a competitive AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Things looked bleak from the start, with the Patriots scoring after Josh Cribbs' fumbled punt return. Six plays later, LeGarrette Blount punched in a one-yard touchdown for the first points of the game. Meanwhile, the Colts offense continued to struggle, and a missed 51-yard field goal on the next drive gave the Patriots great field position to drive down the field and score another touchdown.
D'Qwell Jackson gave Colts fans some hope in the second quarter after getting an interception near the end zone. The Colts then went on a 93-yard drive that ended with a Zurlon Tipton touchdown to make it a 14-7 game. Stephen Gostowski's 21-yard field goal put the Patriots up 17-7 heading into halftime.
Any hope of a Colts comeback quickly faded away in the second half. A 16-yard touchdown from Tom Brady to offensive tackle Nate Solder on the Patriots' first drive of the second half gave New England a 17-point lead, which they continued to add to.
In the third quarter, the Patriots scored three touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Colts drives continued to stall out, including one that ended with a Darrelle Revis interception. Heading into the fourth quarter, it was a 38-7 game, and the Colts had lost all hope of a comeback.
Both sides decided to keep chewing clock in the final quarter, but the Patriots were still able to add another touchdown from Blount with about 10 minutes remaining. Once both sides ran out the clock, the Patriots had come away with a dominant 45-7 victory.
The Patriots will be taking on the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, while the Colts watch at home, so let's take a look at the team's report card grades from its final game of the season.
Quarterback
1 of 10
After playing so well in the first two playoff games for the Colts, Luck did not have a great start in this one. The third-year quarterback looked anxious in the first half, sailing some throws to open receivers and looking a bit off overall.
Luck's first-half numbers weren't great, going 7-of-19 for 89 yards. He did have one really nice pass in the second quarter, however, hitting T.Y. Hilton down the sideline for a 36-yard gain.
But that may have been the only good throw from Luck in this game. The third-year quarterback started to force things, despite never settling down, and that led to a pair of interceptions. By the end of the game, Luck went just 12-of-33 with 126 yards and two interceptions, giving him a 23.0 passer rating.
There are plenty of reasons the Colts lost this game, and unfortunately, Luck was one of them. He didn't respond well to pressure in the pocket, and he was unable to put the offense on his back.
Grade: D+
Running Back
2 of 10
On the ground, Daniel Herron got off to a nice start, running for 30 yards on just six carries in the first two quarters. However, his struggles in the passing game killed an early Colts drive, dropping back-to-back passes, including a deep one down the sideline that could have possibly been a big touchdown.
Herron had little impact on the second half since the team was forced to air it out while playing from behind. The third-year running back finished with 51 yards on 10 carries and another 11 yards on two receptions. Zurlon Tipton also got some work in, but he didn't do too much, finishing with 14 yards and a touchdown on five carries.
If the Colts didn't have to play from behind the entire game, the running backs might have been able to do more, but they made the most of their chances on the ground. However, Herron's drops that killed one of the early drives hurt this unit's grade.
Grade: C+
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Hilton was almost completely invisible in the first half, and that made it harder for the Colts' passing game. However, his one catch was a beautiful one down the sideline, somehow dragging both feet before going out of bounds on a 36-yard gain. Unfortunately, that was the only catch Hilton made, despite being targeted six times, with the Patriots completely shutting him down.
The other wide receivers didn't do much better. Reggie Wayne and Donte Moncrief combined for zero total catches, and Hakeem Nicks had just one for 15 yards. No one could get open, and that made things hard on Luck.
Coby Fleener was the most productive target early, catching three passes for 30 yards, but he didn't add anything else in the second half. Dwayne Allen had four receptions for another 30, but again he couldn't make a significant impact on the game.
New England had a game plan to shut down the Colts receivers, and it worked. This might have been the worst game of the year from this unit, and it felt like no one was able to get open the entire game.
Grade: D
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The offensive line was bending early on, but it didn't break. In the first quarter, Luck had to deal with some pressure, but the offensive line was able to hold enough to prevent the third-year quarterback from getting sacked.
The protection solidified in the second quarter, with less pressure on Luck and still zero sacks. Meanwhile, rushing lanes were being opened up on the ground, helping Herron average five yards per carry in the first 30 minutes.
Protecting Luck never seemed to be the problem. While the Patriots were able to bring pressure from time to time, Luck wasn't sacked once. Meanwhile, the team was able to average a respectable 4.4 yards per carry on the ground.
Earlier in the year, the offensive line would have been tough to watch, but this unit came together at the right time, even if the rest of the offense struggled on Sunday.
Grade: B
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Even with a healthy Arthur Jones this time around, the Colts struggled once again to stop New England's running game. In the first half, the Patriots picked up 93 yards and a touchdown on just 20 carries, and the defensive line was having problems winning in the trenches.
Josh Chapman had one of his worst games of the season, consistently getting pushed back and struggling to bring down ball-carriers. Jones was supposed to help stop the run after missing the Week 11 matchup against New England, but even he couldn't keep Blount from running for 148 yards and three touchdowns on just 30 carries.
The only real highlight play from the defensive line came from Cory Redding, who was able to get the only sack on Tom Brady of the entire game. Overall, the defensive line flat-out lost the battle in the trenches, even with Patriots center Bryan Stork inactive.
Expect the Colts to make some changes to this unit over the offseason.
Grade: D
Linebacker
6 of 10
It was a very ugly start for the linebackers in pass coverage, consistently giving up catches. Jerrell Freeman and D'Qwell Jackson struggled with their assignments, but they struggled even more trying to stop LeGarrette Blount in the running game.
Jackson was able to redeem himself a bit in pass coverage after coming up with a huge interception near the goal line in the second quarter. The Colts then went on to score their first touchdown of the game on the ensuing drive.
That might have been the only positive from the linebackers on Sunday. Jackson and Freeman got worked against the pass as well as the run. Neither was able to do much in the way of rushing the passer either, and even when Freeman was able to get a hit on Brady, he was called for roughing the passer.
The outside linebackers didn't play much better, either. Jonathan Newsome started in place of an inactive Bjoern Werner, but he couldn't get to Brady, no matter how quick he was able to get off the snap. Erik Walden struggled in setting the edge and allowed some cutback lanes from Blount as well.
Like the defensive line, the Colts will need to look at trying to make some upgrades at linebacker. Robert Mathis will return for the 2015 season, but the Colts are going to need to find some help at inside linebacker, potentially in the draft.
Grade: D+
Secondary
7 of 10
The secondary might have played better than the other defensive units, but it wasn't by much.
Vontae Davis did what he could to contain the passing game. His highlight play came before halftime, forcing an incompletion while covering Rob Gronkowski in the end zone to help the Colts make a goal-line stand and force the Patriots to settle for a field goal.
The No. 1 cornerback had a solid game, but the players behind him did not. Greg Toler had 10 total tackles, which says a lot about how much he struggled in coverage. Toler couldn't do anything to contain Gronkowski or Julian Edelman when covering them, giving up completion after completion. Darius Butler didn't do much either, although he wasn't targeted as often.
The two safeties didn't have too many bad plays, but they also didn't stand out. Mike Adams tried his best to bring down ball-carriers in the running game, but by the time they got to him they had already picked up significant chunks of yards. LaRon Landry was supposed to help in the running game, but his open-field tackling was less-than-ideal.
Tom Brady finished with a strong showing, completing 23 of 35 passes for 226 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. The secondary didn't get any help from the pass rush, and that made things a lot harder on them. Davis tried to shut his assignments down, but the rest of the secondary was hoping for at least a little bit of help.
Grade: C
Special Teams
8 of 10
The Colts special teams had arguably been the best in the NFL all season, and there was a reason that Pat McAfee and Adam Vinatieri were selected to the All-Pro team.
The Fourth Down Army didn't step up on Sunday, though. Vinatieri's one field-goal attempt came from 51 yards out, and it sailed wide right, nowhere close to going through the uprights. It was a long attempt, but Vinatieri was so reliable in the regular season, and the Colts expected him to at least put it close against his former team.
The biggest mistake from the special teams unit came from Josh Cribbs, who fumbled his first punt-return attempt, giving the Patriots the ball back. Instead of giving the Colts the ball with a chance to take an early lead, the Patriots scored the first points of the game.
Pat McAfee had a solid game punting the ball away, but he still had to do so five times. He averaged 49.6 yards per punt, including a long one of 58 yards. However, the punt coverage struggled, allowing Edelman to bring back three punts for 71 yards, including a 45-yard return.
This was easily the worst game by the special teams all year, and it came at a bad time.
Grade: C-
Coaching
9 of 10
It was an ugly game across the board, and it's hard to dump all of the blame on the coaching staff. That being said, you would have thought that Chuck Pagano and the other coaches would have at least prepared a competitive game plan and had this team ready to play on Sunday.
The Colts didn't look ready to play.
Offensively, it didn't look like the Colts were prepared for the Patriots to keep double-team Hilton. Pep Hamilton's play-calling and game plan didn't work at all, and while most of that is because of Luck's bad game, the offensive coordinator could have at least tried to get creative and exploit mismatches with New England's linebackers.
On defense, Greg Manusky seemed afraid to dial up his creative blitz schemes that worked so well during the regular season. I understand that he wanted to try and cover Gronkowski and the rest of New England's weapons, but Brady had all day in the pocket and was rarely pressured.
I'm not going to put a ton of blame on this coaching staff, because the players' poor play is largely responsible for this loss. Still, the coaches should have had this team ready and fired up, especially after halftime with just a 10-point deficit.
Grade: C
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Position | Final Grades |
| QB | D+ |
| RB | C+ |
| WR/TE | D |
| OL | B |
| DL | D |
| LB | D+ |
| Secondary | C |
| Special Teams | C- |
| Coaching | C |
| Cumulative Grade | C- |
The Colts weren't expected to win this game, but they were at least expected to make this a competitive matchup. Instead, they were completely dominated in almost every aspect of the game.
Does that mean that this season was a failure? Not at all. In each of the past three seasons, the Colts have made the playoffs and have come one step closer to the Super Bowl. There are definitely areas that need to be addressed, but the improvement has been there each year during the Luck era.
The big concern this offseason will be fixing the defense. There are needs across the board, and besides Vontae Davis and Robert Mathis, there are no players on the defense who stand out as legitimate playmakers. Jonathan Newsome has shown some potential, but the Colts need to find some guys who can make an impact right away at positions such as inside linebacker, safety and on the defensive line.
On offense, the Colts still have room to improve. The offensive line came together, but there was too much inconsistency from that unit all year. Reggie Wayne could be gone, and the Colts may need to add some depth at wide receiver.
Overall, it was a strong season for the Colts, but they have a lot of questions that need answered before they can compete with teams like the Patriots as legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
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