With the NFL season upon us, it is officially fire taek szn for people who watch football. It may only be week one, but the narratives for the season are already being formed. You have to get out ahead of those narratives and deliver a taek, the hotter the better. This year, Draft Indy has decided to take a closer look at every Colts game and see how those taeks fare. Do they hold up when you’re grinding film? When you tapewatch the #AllTwentyTwo, can the taeks sustain heat? Crank up the air conditioning, because we’re about to find out.

BUT THE TRENCHES!!!

People who read through the box score and watched portions of the game have been quick to say the Colts lost because they got dominated in the trenches. After two viewings, however, I think the Offensive and Defensive Lines were surprisingly the best units for the Colts on this day. That is not to say they were outstanding, but both were pretty decent overall. The D-Line was able to mostly limit the running game of the Bills, and occasionally create some pressure on Tyrod Taylor. The O-Line, given the wrecking crew they were playing against, did an adequate job protecting Andrew Luck. Poor execution on both sides of the ball was the biggest reason the Colts lost. Leave It

GRIGSON DID NOTHING TO PROTECT THE FRACHIZE QB!!!

On the O-Line, the Tackles played really well, allowing few pressures and holding up well against the multiple looks and blitzes of the Rex Ryan. We all know Anthony Castonzo is a good player, but Jack Mewhort was a surprise, limiting the impact of one of the NFL’s best pass rushers in Mario Williams. Even Todd Herremans looked alright. Between replacing the ghost of Gosder Cherilus (may he be judged mercifully) with Mewhort and signing Herremans, the O-Line should be better than last year’s adequate unit. It is still not a good run blocking line, but they were able to open some holes against a stout Bills front. Surprisingly, they ran better from heavier sets, where the Colts usually struggle. Pass protection is still the biggest key for this line, and Castonzo, Herremans, and Mewhort did that pretty well on Sunday. Leave It

IF HOLMES AND LOUIS WERE SUNBLOCK THEYD BE SPF ZERO!!!

Of course, you will notice that last one did not mention Khaled Holmes or Lance Louis; these two are going to be the biggest weakness on the offense all year. Neither player is strong enough to anchor and stop a bull rush in pass protection, as Kyle Williams repeatedly proved. Holmes’ and Louis’ weakness pulling into space in the run game would brutally obvious as well, as each had a run play stopped for no gain when they were unable to get to their spot and clear a lane for the Running Back. The O-Line looks like it will still be good enough to not hold back the Offense, even with these two in, but fans should be counting the days until Jonotthan Harrison and Joe Reitz step in for Holmes and Louis. Taek It

THE COLTS DEFENSE LOST THIS ONE ON THE DEFENSIVE LINE!!!

Despite losing all three starters from last year and replacing them with a 3rd round rookie, a 5th round rookie, and an unheralded free agent, the Colts Defensive Line already looks like it might be as good as last year’s, with the potential to grow into a much better unit. It was only one game against a bad Offensive Line, but the D-Line was the strength of the Defense on this day. Kendall Langford was one of least talked about free agent signings, but he was a constant presence in the Buffalo backfield. Langford looks much more comfortable as a 3-4 Defensive End and he showed up to play. David Parry wasn’t great, but he was fairly effective plugging up the middle and eating blocks. With time, he may become better against double teams, but for now he can at least draw the attention of multiple linemen and plug gaps. The line is already more disruptive than it was with three experienced starters last year. Leave It

HENRY ANDERSON IS ALREADY THE COLTS SECOND BEST DEFENDER!!!

In only his first game as a Colt, Henry Anderson has looked better than any other defender, with the exception of Vontae Davis. Anderson was extremely disruptive against the Bills, finishing with eight solo tackles, three of which were for a loss. This is the kind of production Colts fans have never seen from Defensive Lineman before. He has length, power, a high motor, and is slippery when knifing through blocks. Numerous times, we saw him extend and disengage from a block to stop a run for minimal gain. One of my favorite plays saw him disengage and tackle LeSean McCoy from behind after he ran through a gap further down the line. This tackle stopped a likely touchdown and limited McCoy to only a six yard gain; Henry Anderson was already cleaning up mistakes by his teammates. Before too long, we may be talking about him as a top ten 3-4 Defensive End in the NFL. For now, we can just talk about him probably being the second best defender on the Colts. Taek It

ANDREW LUCK LOOKED BAD ON SUNDAY!!!

We’ve seen Andrew Luck occasionally go through bouts of inaccurate passing, and Sunday was certainly one of those times. With the Bills sending pressure up the middle, Luck had little room to step into his passes, and struggled with passes sailing on him. The most obvious example was the first interception to Darby, where Luck actually had Hilton open on a route they usually nail. Instead, the ball hung in the air and Darby was able recover and catch the underthrown pass. Luckily, most of his issues can be credited to the quality of opponent (last year, the Bills held Aaron Rodgers to 17/42 passing for 182 yards and 0 TDs with 2 INTs) and Wide Receivers that were struggling to win in their routes and create separation. Luck looked bad, but there is no reason to worry about this becoming a trend. Taek It

THE COLTS OFFENSE COULDNT DO ANYTHING AGAINST THE BILLS!!!

It is hard to deny how handily a team beat another when the score was 24-0 a little more than halfway through the game, but this game could have been a lot closer. The biggest difference between the Colts and Bills on this day was execution. From the first play of the game, the Colts were capable of moving the ball, quickly gaining 30 yards before completing a 30 yard pass to Dwayne Allen, which was then negated by a Holding penalty on Khaled Holmes. After a Lance Louis False Start penalty, it was 1st and 25 and the drive was effectively killed. The next drive started at the 9, which was a theme for the Colts, as three of their first four drives started inside their own 10. Luck quickly completed a 16 yard pass to Hilton, then completed another 1st down pass to Moncrief, but it was ruled he stepped out of bounds before completing the catch. On following drive, Luck hit Hilton for another 1st, before another penalty set the Colts up with a 1st and 20 at their own 10. Once again, Luck was able to hit TY Hilton for 30 yards before the fateful Interception. Luck had Hilton streaking up the seam with a yard of separation, but he was unable to step into the pass and throw the likely touchdown. Throughout the game, the Colts offense was able to have success against the Bills defense, but mistakes and poor execution held them back at the worst possible times. Even playing on the road against the best Defense in the NFL, the Colts offense was a number of self-inflicted wounds away from playing very well. Leave It

THE INSIDE LINERBACKERS ARE TERRIBLE!!!

Through all of the talk about the Colts D-Line causing the issues stopping the run, Colts Twitter has maintained that the biggest issue is the Inside Linebackers. Sunday was a perfect example of this. D’Qwell Jackson has somehow gotten even worse in space than he was last year, missing numerous tackles and being unable to cover any ground in pass defense. On one particularly egregious play, he diagnosed the run perfectly and crashed downhill, meeting LeSean Mccoy two yards deep in the backfield. McCoy simply cut to the right and bounced outside while Jackson’s spirit traveled to the heavens. He is still smart enough and big enough to fill gaps in the run game at times, but he is clearly nearing his expiration date as a competent player in the NFL. Jerrell Freeman on the other hand, has some speed in space, but lacks gap discipline and the size to get off blocks and consistently fill lanes in the run game. On the Karlos Williams touchdown run, Jackson crashed hard and plugged the lane the run was designed to go through, but Williams was able to cut back to the left through the gaping hole left in the line by Jerrell Freeman, who had overrun the play. Even worse than the issues in the run game were the issues against the pass, where the trend of teams shredding the Colts over the middle of the field looks likely to continue. The Bills clearly gameplanned to take advantage of this weakness, as 16 of Tyrod Taylor’s 22 passes were within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Colts fans just have to hope that Sio Moore and Nate Irving can come in soon and be better. Taek It

THE COLTS WASTED THEIR OFFSEASON!!!

No, stop this. Leave It