Colts at Panthers: After Further Review
The Colts came into Monday night’s game as heavy underdogs versus undefeated Carolina. They played fairly average throughout most of the first half, but lucky for them so did Carolina.
As Indy fell behind 23-6 going into the fourth quarter, they were able to muster some of that Colts magic and comeback. With an Adam Vinatieri field goal as time expired, the Colts were able to send the game to overtime, the score tied 23-23.
Eventually. the Colts comeback was thwarted by the equally resilient Panthers, and the Colts ultimately lost 29-26.
With a lot of controversy swirling around the team this past week, the Colts just seemed “out of it” for most of the contest. They were able to, yet again, comeback, but again their comeback attempt was not completed. Let’s see what we can take away from last night’s game.
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Takeaway number 1: Andrew Luck has lost it…
Andrew Luck has not had a great season, in fact I’d go far as to say he’s played horrible for most of this season. With the news coming out this past week of the Colts possibly leaving Luck off the injury report when he had multiple broken ribs, Luck was under a big microscope. His health had never been called into question like this, and several analysts are contributing his poor play to his health.
While that may have a hand in his play, it goes far deeper than that.
I’ve never seen Luck play as poorly as he did in the first half of last night’s game. He just did not look anything like the player of the last three seasons. As he finished the half with only 37 passing yards, I was perfectly fine with the idea of Matt Hasselbeck finishing the game.
Luck just seems to be making terrible reads, he is just completely staring down the receivers he’s going to throw to, and defenses have figured him out. Along with that it doesn’t help that when receivers did get open, Luck was unable to throw a good enough ball to catch.
This struggle had a lot to do with his confidence in my opinion, as he’s been turning the ball over quite a bit, he’s losing his confidence in throwing. The injuries could have a factor in that lack of confidence as well. But alas…
Takeaway number 2: …And then Andrew Luck got it back…
Luck is a bonafide second half quarterback, and that was showcased yet again in the fourth quarter of last night’s game. With Luck leading the Colts to 20 straight points and sending the game into overtime he was able to make his final stat line digestible.
To me, it just seems like Luck only plays well when he’s forced to press the issue when the Colts are down a bunch in the fourth. We saw this last week against New Orleans, and quite frankly we’ve seen it his whole career, we’re just taking note of it now because the Colts are losing.
If the Colts would have won those game against New England, New Orleans, and Carolina, we wouldn’t be batting an eye at Luck’s poor play.
Takeaway number 3: …But then Andrew Luck lost it again
There was a point in overtime where I thought Andrew Luck was back to some sense of normalcy, whatever normal is for him.
But then, Luck preceded to look Coby Fleener dead in the eyes and throw to him, despite coverage. The ensuing pass was tipped and intercepted by Luke Kuechly, which led to the Panthers game-winning field goal.
You could make the argument that the Kuechly INT wasn’t Luck’s fault, but we need to look at this with some objectivity. Even in Luck’s feverish comeback late in the fourth quarter, he threw a pass DIRECTLY TO Kuechly, lucky for him Kuechly dropped the easy pick, which would have lost the Colts the game.
I’m a Colts fan through and through, but Andrew Luck is a shell of his former self this season.
Takeaway number 4: The Colts were resilient, but the Panthers were more resilient
Yes, the Colts are a resilient team, and they had a great comeback. Unfortunately, for them the Panthers are more resilient than them. For a team to blow a 20 point lead in the fourth and not lose the game is rare. We even saw it two weeks ago when Seattle blew a fourth quarter lead to these Panthers.
Credit to the Panthers for not being demoralized, and sticking to their game. It ultimately got them the win.
Bad news Colts fans, it doesn’t get much easier as the Colts have a short week before Peyton Manning returns to Indy on Sunday. The Broncos, of course, are coming off a huge win versus Green Bay last Sunday. So gear up, it could be another rough go.