Patriots Pass Defense vs Andrew Luck (34 YDs, 0 TDs, 2 INTs) Second Half

1st and 10 at IND 37 (9:25) (Shotgun) A.Luck scrambles right end ran ob at IND 48 for 11 yards.

4-2-5, 3 Rushers, Cover-1 Man

12 Personnel, 978 U-In R-WR In

The Patriots are going to bring up Hightower again but this time they’re dropping him and Ninkovich into coverage. A bit of a change up since I don’t think there’s been a single play on first down where they haven’t rushed at least four. At this point though, the game is well out of hand and it doesn’t matter. The Colts offensive line does a good job and Andrew Luck takes the open field to run instead of looking down the field. A weird decision, T.Y. Hilton is wide open on the right side of the field.

The Colts finally get a play that really messes with the Patriots coverage scheme. If they do run this type of scheme again during the superbowl, Seattle should be looking at this play- not that there’s anything too fancy about it. The Colts are taking everyone deep as usual but the timing of Dwayne Allen’s In and Hilton’s post confuses the Patriots coverage. In their Cover-1 Man, they pass off routes that go through the middle of the field (unless they go too deep) on this play, Hilton starts off breaking like he’s going into a slant and goes from his spot in the slot to all the way over to the right side of the left hash. This calls for Arrington to think that Hilton is about to go further inside and pass him off. Meanwhile, Allen is coming across from the other side pulling the Linebacker to him and gaining Arrington’s coverage when he passes him off. Now there’s no one manned up with Hilton.

1st and 10 at IND 48 (8:53) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass short right to D.Allen to NE 42 for 10 yards (P.Chung)

4-2-5, Rushing 4 (1 MLB), Cover-1 Man

12 Personnel, 474 U-Out R-Block

The Patriots don’t show the LB rush as clearly as before, but they still give a hint it’s coming. LG Mewhort doesn’t notice and follows the Patriots RDT Branch as he slants into the Center, giving Collins a great rush from his Linebacker spot right into the space created. Tipton again goes for the head down/shoulder but this time gets an angle that causes Collins to bounce into the mess going on next to him. Castanzo manages to handle Jones despite getting pushed a few steps back by him, mostly by blocking his attempted spin. It looked like he was contacted between side steps and couldn’t get his full power into the punch.

The Colts have everyone breaking to the right side of the field. S Patrick Chung, who’s lined up the furthest to the right at the snap 10 yards off the line of scrimmage gets stuck in a position where he has to decide to either come down on Allen’s out or come up on Fleeners corner. He gets frozen as his body turns to face Fleener and that’s when Luck slings his arm back and hits Allen.

1st and 10 at NE 42 (8:23) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass incomplete deep left to D.Allen.

4-2-5, 5 Rushers (1 MLB), Cover-1 Man

12 Personnel, 099 U-Vertical R-Block

It’s weird how the Colts offensive line struggles to block 3-4 man rushes but takes this Blitz pretty easily.

The routes on this play are all heading deep with exception to Moncrief’s slant, i’m also almost certain this is only the 3rd or 4th time he hasn’t had a deep route this game. Moncrief takes Revis down with him, while Allen goes over him on the Vertical. Luck really should take the slant to Moncrief, he’s looking right in that direction just as Moncrief makes his break but he wants to go deep. It’s probably because the game is out of hand and Luck is just trying to give the team some kind of hope even though it’s become obvious at this point that the Colts season is going to be over soon. Allen’s too well covered. On the other side, Browner mugs Fleener of his route and stops him entirely.

2nd and 10 at NE 42 (8:18) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass short left to Z.Tipton to NE 38 for 4 yards (J.Collins).

4-2-5, 4 Rushers, Cover-1 Man

11 Personnel, 988

Jamie Collins and Dont’a Hightower are both up in the A gap now, feigning a blitz. They’ve sent them enough times now that the O-line has to respect and react to them. Both the Center and Tight End (in the backfield) sit for a second coming out of their stances until both LBs drop back into coverage. Of course, Ninkovich manages to get just a bit of pressure on Luck when he swipes away the hands of RT Reitz and then leans and bends into the Pocket, but Luck is quick to find his checkdown.

All the WRs are sent deep and all are too well covered to get a throw, especially in the mall timeframe that Luck has once he’s pressured. He goes for Tipton who has a lot of space if he can just get past Collins, but he can’t.

3rd and 6 at NE 38 (7:33) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass short left intended for Z.Tipton INTERCEPTED by J.Collins at NE 35. J.Collins to IND 40 for 25 yards (J.Cribbs).

4-2-5, 4 Rushers, Cover-1 Man

11 Personnel, 499 W-Vertical R-Out

Back to an honest look, the Patriots are only sending their linemen and aren’t trying to trick the colts offensive line anymore. Ninkovich is about to beat RT Reitz again on the edge but the RG Lance Louis helps out just before he’s beat. It won’t matter, Lucks going to make a quick decision and it’s going to be wrong.

At this point, Luck’s just seeing openings that aren’t there. He obviously tries to force a pass he doesn’t have the angle, opening or timing to try and make. It doesn’t matter, the game is very over- but in a vacuum nothing about this decision makes sense. The plan of this play was to have Moncrief’s In route block out the Linebacker, if the Linebacker went into man coverage which he did, but Collins manages to get underneath Moncrief instead of having to go over him, so there’s no opening. Luck sees this happening but still tries to make the throw.

3rd and 8 at IND 11 (4:31) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass short left to D.Herron to IND 14 for 3 yards (T.Wilson).

4-1-6, 4 Rushers, Cover-2 Man

11 Personnel, 969 W-Slant R-Screen

The game is at it’s end and the Colts decide to try and run a screen. This would have made a lot of sense earlier in the game, the defensive ends (particularly Ninkovich) were very aggressive about going around the outside so they could have taken advantage of that and possibly made them slow their rush a bit. In any case, at this point it doesn’t matter. Luck turns himself all the way to the right, trying to draw Collins over to that side, but Collins follows Herron (not that it’ll matter, he’s going to be blocked immediately) and Tavon Wilson comes down from his safety spot to make the tackle. Game over for the Colts.