Before the giant battle at the end of Avengers: Endgame, did Doctor Strange give Thanos a call to let him know his big plan to bring everyone through the portals? No, right? That would be silly to let your opponent know your gameplan before the fight. The Colts, on the other hand, seem dead set on giving Bill Belichick all the answers on how to stop them this Saturday. It’s a bold strategy if I do say so myself, but who am I to judge.
We’ll start with Colts linebacker Bobby Okereke:
“He’s confident back there. He’s got a good command of the offense. But we’re really going to try to make the game one-dimensional and see what he can do.”
“Hi Thanos? Yeah, it’s Strange. Yep, Doctor Strange. I just wanted to let you know that about 2/3’s through your battle with Cap, you’re going to see a TON of magical portals open up. Don’t be alarmed, that’s just me bringing in reinforcements. I just wanted to give you a heads up and let you know the gameplan here okay? See ya then!”
I mean what is Okereke’s goal here? Sure, the majority of people know you’re probably going to do your best to stop the run, but you don’t say that! You do the normal non-answer thing and move on! Whatever you say, I’d imagine the last thing you’d want to do is give the greatest coach of all time your gameplan when he already had an entire week to plan for you!
Absolutely bananas. Even though Belichick probably already had a sneaky suspicion you’d attempt to stop the run, to just straight up tell him is absurd. But what really made me chuckle was this quote in response to the Patriots being a very physical team:
“It’s right in our wheelhouse,” Okereke told reporters. “I think that’s why we’ve matched up well versus Tennessee over the years. (We’re) just a physical team, and we pride ourselves in stopping the run. It’s another great opportunity, and we’re ready to go.”
Firstly, let’s take a look at how they’ve matched up against the Titans rush game. In their two games against Tennessee this season they’ve let up 180 yards and 93 yards respectively. But he did say over the years, so let’s look at the last 2 seasons as well. Perhaps they’ve faired better (spoiler alert, they have not faired any better).
Going backwards from 2020-2019, the Colts have let up 229, 157, 154 and 124 yards on the ground against the Titans in their last 4 meetings. So, I just struggle to find where Okereke’s defense has ‘matched up well’ against their Division rival. But I digress.
Okereke says his team prides themselves in stopping the run, as most teams do. A logical goal but not one that the Colts have truly succeeded at this season. Indy ranks 16th in rush yards per game, 24th in yards per rush and 16th in overall rush yards allowed on the year. So while your goal may be to stop the run, you have been average at best in doing so.
But the word vomit doesn’t stop with the players. Head Coach Frank Reich said this about the Patriots defense and how to handle them:
Frank Reich on playing the NE defense: “Not a lot of teams play the way they play. You have to be willing too consider what you’re going to do to adapt to the way they play you… We’re not going to change everything. We’re going to do what we do.”
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) December 14, 2021
How many times has it worked out when a team says “We’re going to do what we do” against a Bill Belichick defense? The man will have had 2 weeks to plan against ‘what you do’ so smart money would be on NOT doing what you do, but oh well. And that’s not to say that the Colts aren’t very good at doing what they do either. They certainly are. Jonathan Taylor has been great all season but he’s been a monster the last 10 weeks. Even if you plan on sticking with your normal gameplan, it just seem counterproductive to flat out say that in the media.
Now, Reich is also quoted elsewhere saying that what you do does sometimes depend on the flow of the game, but he still ends it with THIS quote. This is one of the reasons Bill Belichick is so great at what he does. While teams may have an idea of what the Patriots are going to do game to game, you won’t catch Belichick straight up vocalizing what his plans are. Or how he goes about his gameplan. His bullish, sometimes rude answers, are given with good reason.
So the Colts gameplan is essentially out in the open for Belichick and McDaniels to counter now. They are going to sell out to stop the run and stick with their run game on offense. I would assume you’ll see a fair amount of play action or creative run plays this Saturday by the Patriots. And as for the Colts offense, the Patriots most likely already knew Taylor was going to be the focal point, but it’s good to know for sure now. Again, everything the Colts have said may very well have been suspected by many, but it’s still weird to give the villain your plan to beat them.
(Featured Photo Credit wwwfuzovelkifele.com)
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Mike Sullivan (@msully5433 on Twitter)
