Live Blog: PreSeason Game 1

2.) My parents call to report that the view from our seats "looks better" this year. I'm not in attendence for personal reasons. Hope no one tries to bring me a beer.

3.) Oh Sage Rosenfels... how I've missed you.

4.) They're hitting early... I love you football! I love you so much.

5.) Touchdown Vikings. Lots of flukey conversions on that drive. Looked very familiar.

6.) Ugoh is... at Left Tackle. Johnson is out. Hmmm.

7.) Stretch play. Addai is cash money.

8.) Another sack.

9.) The line looks horrible.

10.) A drop by Garcon on third down. Barf. I think Peyton's day is over and done. Thank God. Lots of problems by the line in that drive, most of them from the new guys. That O-line sequence will be worth replaying after the game. CJ would have made a big difference... on the right side.

11.) Chester Taylor for big yards.

12.) What a play by Tim Jennings to break up the pass. Beauty.

13.) Rosenfels looks comfortable in the middle of the field. Vikings fans are loving it... all the while forgetting that it is Sage Rosenfels.

14.) We've entered the portion of the game where we will learn very little about the 2009 Colts.

15.) The D gets a stop on a drop by Rice. They'll take it. The Colts D seems to never change. Lots of long drives, but they seem to get better as the game goes on. It's preseason so I'll stop pontificating.

16.) Hey. I learned something: Donald Brown is quick as hell. And suddenly the night looks a lot better.

17.) Donald FLIPPING Brown. Sure it's the second stringers, but the kid has it.

18.) I hate Purdue. Painter shows us... absolutely nothing. But, again, I hate Purdue.

19.) Now let's take a look back at the Colts first offensive series of the game. Here's how the starting lineup was presented by channel 4: Corey Hilliard at LT, Lilja at LG, Saturday at C, Pollak at RG, Ugoh at RT. In reality though, Ugoh came out at LT and Hilliard at RT.

20.) Peyton's first sack of the game was entirely on Hilliard at Right Tackle. He got juked out of his shoes by the defensive end.

21.) On third down it appears Lilja gets beat, but Peyton manages to convert to Collie.

22.) Peyton's second sack was partially good coverage, but it appears Lilja and Saturday fail to block one tackle between the two of them. Their man ends up making the play.

23.) Peyton's third sack (on the very next play) is caused by Hilliard getting beat badly. Ugoh gets driven backwards, but keeps a strong grip on his man who manages to put a hip into Peyton. Hilliard gets the holding call (declined). Just a terrible sequence.

24.) Overall Ugoh looked like himself. Not brilliant, but competant. Probably a decent LT if the rest of the line is up to snuff. But in 2008 that certainly wasn't the case.

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bug on the windshield
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

Would've been nice to see anything defensively on drive one.

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written by shake n bake, August 14, 2009

That's a bit harsh, in a real game they would have kicked the FG instead of going for it on 4th and 6

offense worse than D
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

WTF is Hilliard doing in there besides trying to get Manning sacked for the year. Going to be a long year with this line.

schooled
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

I know it's preseason, but this team looks absolutely horrible. Caldwell must be embarrased.

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written by DemondSanders, August 14, 2009

chillax

special teams
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

Rychleski has some real work to do. A 20 yard return would be nice to see before the game is over.

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written by shake n bake, August 14, 2009

ok, Peyton's out. My stress level has massively dropped. The franchise isn't in mortal danger anymore.

mcafee
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

Punter looking good.

maybe now we can see something
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

I agree, glad Peyton is out. I've seen enough dumb penalties and blown plays, maybe now things can settle down and some young guys can show something.

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written by DemondSanders, August 14, 2009

Caldwell: less embarrassed.

DBrown
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

Nice running by the rook. What's up w/ Garcon, QB, DB or him?

Giordano
written by stranded in carolina, August 14, 2009

D is going to wear him out if someone else doesn't decide to start tackling.

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written by DemondSanders, August 14, 2009

I really wish CJ would have played. We didn't learn all that much about the line tonight as a result.

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written by shake n bake, August 14, 2009

we learned they are pretty serious about making Ugoh be the backup. Started in place of CJ, but played RG for the second unit.

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written by DemondSanders, August 14, 2009

"we learned they are pretty serious about making Ugoh be the backup. Started in place of CJ, but played RG for the second unit."

Eh. I'm not sure we learned that.

So Demond/DZ,
written by Cass, August 14, 2009

what was your overall impression of the game? I consider it a success mostly because absolutely no one was injured. I can't trust the O-line first drive results with Corey Hillard in there instead of Diem/Johnson. Donald Brown and Pat McAfee were also big bonuses.

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written by shake n bake, August 14, 2009

@DS I could have phrased that better. I meant serious about making him play as the backup for now. Not that they really think it's where he belongs.

Caldwell's 1st lousy coaching decision
written by Scott P, August 15, 2009

If Caldwell doesn't learn some clock management before the real games start, I'll go ballistic. Late in the 1st half, the Colts D stopped the Vikings on a 3rd down play forcing a FG attempt & Caldwell immediately (& stupidly) called his 1st timeout with 2:04 left. Uh Jim, you aren't coaching Wake Forest anymore. They have this thing called the 2-minute warning. So in the future, save your timeouts when the opponent is going to kick/punt the ball anyway & the clock is so very close to 2:00. As it turned out, the Colts moved into Vikes territory but after using their final timeout with :09 left, they had to try a 50+ yard FG which was short. In summation, dumb decision wasted a timeout & led to a missed opportunity for 3 points before halftime. When the games really count, poor decisions like that can be the difference between W's & L's.

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written by Willy Duer, August 15, 2009

I thought the dumber decision was to actually kick the FG. Nobody expected Shane Andrus to nail a 50+ yarder. Why not let the offense run another play? Wouldn't we have learned more from that than a FG attempt? Or did we just want to get McAfee more hold attempts?

Mark My Words: Sage Rosenfels will be an EXCELLENT fit for this team and they'll be at the top of the NFC. You mock him, but aside from the Rosencopter play, when has he ever done anything besides lead long high completion percentage drives against this team? Tarvaris has a better arm, but in a conservative passing game, which is all Minnesota needs, Sage is accurate and calm, and will do very well.

He's also ranked something like 7th in DVOA for QBs with over 400 attempts in the past three years. Which surprised even me, and I've been going to bat for the guy forever.

The Vikings have a chance to be VERY good this year.

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written by shake n bake, August 15, 2009

I would have rather seen McAfee kick the 54 yarder. He's got a cannon leg and kicked 4 years at WV. See if they can use him to put FGs outside Vinny's range on the table.

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written by Derek, August 15, 2009

I must say the O-line was disappointing. Other than that, it was about on par with what I would expect out of the first pre-season game for my beloved franchise. I hate not being able to watch the game and only getting to view stats in the aftermath and the highlight (laugh) of the game.

Anyone know where I can get the game online? I live in Japan (military) and have 100Mb fiber internet, but no NFL coverage for the preseason, except what the Armed Forces Network round-robins into the viewer for the day. (rarely Indy)

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written by DZ, August 15, 2009

This is your best bet for catching the game:

http://leech.tenyardtorrents.com/

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written by DemondSanders, August 15, 2009

One of DZ's biggest fears is a drop off in the area of in-game management. Dungy excelled at this. So this could become a storyline if we see more bad timeouts etc. Timeouts are very underrated in the NFL.

Amen, DemondSanders
written by Scott P, August 15, 2009

Timeouts & clock management are one of the most important in-game responsibilities for a Head Coach. Dungy wasn't perfect (remember when he called a timeout which allowed the Titans to reconsider & try/make the game-winning 60-yard FG???) but it ticks me off when a schmuck like me sitting 6 rows from the stadium roof knows that you do NOT waste a timeout with 2:04 & the opponent lining up for a FG. I know it's preseason but those kinds of decisions can cost you wins when the games count.

Thoughts On The Game
written by Chip Bennett, August 15, 2009

So, thanks to NFLN playing the game overnight, I got to DVR the game and watch it today. Here are my thoughts:

1) I haven't seen much mention of this observation, but I thought our LBs looked really good last night. I saw Brackett get blocked out of position just one time; otherwise, the LBs were in position, had good pursuit, and tackled well.

2) Good night for the draft class. Brown, Collie, and MacAffee, especially, all had a very good showing.

3) Very good night for our b-side secondary. Even this Tim Jennings critic has to admit that he looked much improved last night. Giordano was a beast. Lacey had a lot of nice plays.

4) O-Line: you have a lot of work to do.

5) I thought our D-line looked jumpy. Definitely more aggressive. Nice job by the interior of the line. I didn't see a lot of plays break loose from between the tackles (except for the aforementioned play, where Brackett got sealed out of his gap, and the RB broke out about a 15-yard run).

6) I thought Painter looked good, all things considered.

7) I think Austin Collie made a good effort working his way up to the #3 WR position, and likewise, I think Frenchie made a good effort working his way down out of the #3 WR position.

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