Horseshoe Heroes
FanSided

Chuck Pagano: ‘We’ve Shot Ourselves in the Foot’

By Luke Schultheis

facebooktwitterreddit

Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano was not happy with his team’s performance in Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints, especially in the first half:

"“Obviously, very disappointed in the ball game,” Pagano told the media following Sunday’s loss."

Rightfully so too, as the Colts fell behind 20-0 at halftime, namely because of 3 first half turnovers including two Andrew Luck interceptions and a Griff Whalen kick return fumble. When the offense wasn’t turning the ball over, the rest of the team was playing sloppy and undisciplined football. 

Something Pagano knows simply can’t happen going forward:

"“The first half was unacceptable,” said Pagano. “You’re not going to win. It’s hard enough to win football games, when you don’t shoot yourself in the foot.”“You’re not going to win many football games when you turn the ball over, penalties, and you have miscues, and you have the errors that happened on special teams,” added Pagano. “Inability at times to stop the run and couldn’t run it.”"

Right now, it goes without saying, but the Colts are clearly struggling. Entering the season with championship aspirations, the team is now 3-4, and their only 3 wins have come against the rest of the woeful AFC South.

Oct 25, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indianapolis Colts receiver Griff Whalen (17) gets hit while catching a punt by New Orleans Saints corner back Brian Dixon (20) in the second half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

If this continues, coaches, management, and players alike should be re-evaluated and could be in serious danger of losing their jobs as “heads will likely roll”. No one likely knows this more than Pagano, who appears to be coaching for his job right now.

Still the coach insists that neither he nor his team are making excuses and that it has to get better first and foremost:

"“Challenged the guys at half time because it’s all on us,” said Pagano. “It would be real easy to say, make excuses and say, ‘Well, it’s because of this, that, hangover’. That’s all bullcrap. It’s on us. We’re going to come in tomorrow. We’re going to look at the tape like we always do, and we’re going to get it fixed.”"

While the Colts have showed flashes here and there, the team hasn’t consistently put it all together for an entire game against the NFL’s better competition :

"“We’ve managed to play a good 30 minutes here and there, and then we’ve shot ourselves in the foot,” concluded Pagano. “We’ve got to put together a complete football game. You’ve got to play 60 minutes. Colts football, and you can’t beat yourself.”"

Right now, the Colts are simply beating themselves more than their actual competition. The team simply isn’t good enough to overcome such mistakes and miscues, as very few teams are.

Simply put, it has to get fixed as soon as possible or other personnel will be performing the fixing.

More from Horseshoe Heroes

Home/Colts News