Man, what a game to attend in person. That was the most stress free game I've watched in a long time. Well, since the Eagles last year I guess. I'm enjoying knocking the Niners out of the WC spot for two seconds until they beat WAS
C'mon RG3, just have a career game for one night! Damn you Dolphins for blowing the game at the end, Panthers keep nearly losing but barely hold on. Thoughts on the game:
- This is by far the best our offense has looked all season and really since Warner left. We played a complete game in all facets.
- Palmer has really turned the corner. I was worried it was flukey or because we played bad teams but then an interview revealed that he just couldn't grasp Arians' offense before now and that makes sense as I read before the season began that his offense is complicated. Arians himself said it's easier for Rookies like Luck last year because they are blank slates than it is for veterans which makes sense. Our players finally have the playbook down so I think they will truly look better and play well the rest of the season
Oh, and a second game without throwing a pick! woooo
- Floyd is really emerging and would definitely have the breakout season I predicted if Palmer had the playbook down at the beginning. He will finish strong and I can't wait to see what he does next year. Having two big capable bodies as bookends is amazing. With Housler emerging and Roberts ready when it comes his way, it's a pick your poison scenario which is amazing. Our O will be hard to stop when it runs like this.
- Feely continues to be money, two long kicks including a 50 yarder. He's come a long way since the preseason and has been a constant for us.
- Defense did its thing and still looking great. Completely shut down an elite QB granted, without his #1 weapon but still. The lone TD was in garbage time and if Bell didn't slip, he'd have deflected it. Feel good about the work they did. Stud run D on display again and I have to imagine we made ground on the Jets for taking the title of best in the league. Richardson and Brown couldn't do shit and the only reason they had any rushing was the play that set up the lone TD, Luck running down the damn field. I was bracing for it all game and finally we get a third and long situation and blitz and he made us pay.
- D had some fantastic tackles/hits. There were multiple nice plays by Indy where we clobbered the receiver so hard that the ball popped out incomplete. I also want to do a shout out for Powers who has blown in coverage all year. He had a fantastic play where it was going long and he didn't even look at the ball, just watched the receiver and reflexively lifted his hands based on Hilton's body language for a real nice deflection.
- Luck is harder to take down than I realized. He was also Newton-esque in that regard, there would have been a couple more sacks if he wasn't so impressive at staying on his feet. There was one play in particular where I thought it was a sack and he was supposed to be dragged down and somehow got a solid throw off. Impressive.
- When the Lambs made the Colts look bad, I knew our D could too and it's nice to have that validated. Our team is clicking on all cylinders right now and getting hot at the right time. It's going to be tough to get the WC spot but I don't think many teams would want to play us right now.
My one and only complaint are the penalties. Coaches need to get them disciplined properly. If this were a close game, they would have been fatal.
Bring on the Eagles!
