Biggest Takeaways from Indianapolis Colts' Week 8 Loss
With another disappointing loss to add to the mix, the Indianapolis Colts dropped to 3-5 on Monday.
The loss puts the Colts in a tie with the Houston Texans for first place in the AFC South, a pitiful picture that accurately paints the division as a barren wasteland for quality football.
The Colts, in their usual fashion, fell way behind Carolina to start, down 23-6 by the time the fourth quarter rolled around. The team did rally behind a pair of Andrew Luck touchdown passes, even tying the game to send it into overtime.
But the comeback attempt fell short, as it has too often in 2015.
The loss propelled major staff changes, and officially gave the Colts their worst start to a season since the unspeakable 2011 campaign. If the Colts don't turn the season around soon, we might just see owner Jim Irsay clean house completely at the end of the year.
Pep Hamilton Is the Scapegoat
1 of 5
On Tuesday afternoon, the Colts announced that they had parted ways with offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, the first firing in what could become a wave of dismissals in the weeks to come.
Head coach Chuck Pagano was quoted in the team's release, via Colts.com:
"Through the first eight weeks of the season, we have felt our offense hasn’t performed at the consistent level that we need. Because of this we’ve decided to go in a different direction and relieve Pep Hamilton of his duties as offensive coordinator. As head coach of this team, it’s my responsibility to make sure I’m doing everything we can to put us in the best position to succeed.
"
Scapegoated.
Pep Hamilton is not the only thing wrong with the Indianapolis Colts. Andrew Luck is playing terribly. The entire team shows up to games without being ready to play, and it's an undisciplined group. The talent is lacking on defense. The best players on the team, who have all signed recent contract extensions, are all underperforming (Vontae Davis, T.Y. Hilton and Anthony Castonzo).
In an effort to save Pagano's job, Hamilton has been fired. If the Colts keep losing, don't be surprised if Pagano is fired in an effort to save general manager Ryan Grigson's job.
The Colts are a sinking ship, and Hamilton was the unfortunate fall guy used to try to plug the leak.
Pep Hamilton Had to Go
2 of 5
OK, so Hamilton was a bit of a scapegoat for larger issues in Indianapolis.
At the same time, Hamilton had to go. There really was no feasible way that he was going to be able to stick around in Indianapolis.
When you get to the core of things, the Colts offense is the disappointment here. If the offense had functioned the way it was supposed to, the Colts wouldn't be 3-5 and Hamilton would still have a job in Indianapolis.
The defense has not been particularly good, but they've been plenty good enough for the Colts to win.
From a talent perspective, the offense is as good or better than it was last season at every single position, but the results haven't come through on the field. Where does that point to? The offensive coordinator.
The biggest part of that failure, of course, is Andrew Luck. He has been bad all season, partially because of injury issues, perhaps, but also because he's making poor decisions before and after the snap. Some of it is basic game-planning and coaching issues.
Either the offensive coaches, which starts with Hamilton, aren't coaching him, or Luck is tuning them out, as Bleacher Report's Collin McCollough has said. Hamilton had to go.
Andrew Luck Is Hurt, but Is He Hurt?
3 of 5
The narrative surrounding Andrew Luck has reached dizzying heights.
Or maybe that's the narrative surrounding the narrative. I've lost track at this point.
Just prior to Monday night's game, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that Andrew Luck suffered a rib injury back in Week 3, the same time that he suffered a shoulder injury that kept him out for two weeks. An additional rib injury would certainly have affected Luck over the last few weeks, and given us some explanation as to why Luck's play has been so erratic.
While Luck has played through the pain, his accuracy has been horrifically inconsistent this season, he's seemed extremely uncomfortable in the pocket and his timing has been off.
All of those things have almost certainly been exacerbated by injury.
Some have been frustrated with all the talk about Luck's potential injury, and expressed that frustration during Monday's game, wanting more blame to be put on Luck rather than giving him the excuse of an injury.
The thing is, Luck is hurt, and it is affecting his play. The best young quarterback in the league doesn't turn into Blaine Gabbert overnight without reason. Luck is currently 31st in completion percentage, 32nd in yards per attempt, 32nd in passer rating, 30th in ESPN's Total QBR, 34th in Pro Football Focus' grades and 30th in Football Outsiders' DVOA.
This isn't just Luck playing bad for a game, or even a multi-game slump. Luck has completely flipped, with past strengths turning into complete weaknesses. Yes, Luck is playing horribly this season, the question is why?
Part of the answer is an injury. Part of the answer is coaching that has not worked, whether it be in the scheme or with Luck individually.
We'll see if any of that can change in the coming weeks, especially after the bye in Week 10.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Colts Are Wasting Their Good Defensive Days
4 of 5
The Colts defense is not particularly loaded with talent.
Anybody who has watched them play could tell you that.
But, for the most part, the defense has held its own this season, and the team is wasting those performances.
Sure, they allowed the New England Patriots to score 34 points in Week 6, but the Patriots have scored 30 or more points in all but one game this season. The defense forced three-and-outs in four of the Patriots' seven second-half drives, and forced a punt after just five plays on a fifth drive.
Sure, they allowed the New Orleans Saints to rush for 183 yards and score 27 points, but the Colts offense continually put them in bad position in that game. The Saints scored just seven points in the second half. In the game preceding and the game following that win, the Saints scored 31 and 52 points, respectively.
Sure, they allowed the Panthers to score 29 points, but the Colts offense gift-wrapped 20 of those points, all of which came on drives that started inside the team's 40-yard line after a turnover. The Colts defense, meanwhile, forced three turnovers of their own, allowed just a 25 percent conversion rate on third down and gave the offense multiple chances to win the game.
The Colts defense hasn't been good, but they've been more than good enough to win, which is more than Indianapolis can usually say. The Colts are wasting it.
Adam Vinatieri Still Has It
5 of 5
This may seem insignificant in light of everything else going on in Indianapolis, but Colts fans have to get their optimism retained somewhere.
Adam Vinatieri is still a freak of a field-goal kicker.
Yes, the 42-year-old hit all four of his field goals on Monday night. Yes, he hit them from all ranges, nailing a 24-, 34-, 47- and 50-yarder throughout the night. Yes, this was in the pouring rain on sloppy field conditions.
Oh, and one of them was to tie the game with zeroes left on the clock, and another was in overtime to take a three-point lead.
Let's not discount how difficult of a task that was. Vinatieri is now the sixth kicker ever to have a 4-for-4 game at age 42 or older, per Pro-Football-Reference.
After starting out 0-2 on the season with misses against Buffalo and New York, Vinatieri has gone 9-for-9 in the last five weeks. If the Colts offense gets going at all, his dependability as a kicker could be heavily relied on.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
