Lord Lucan
Footballguy
Austin Collie's playing time has increased significantly of late, to the extent that he's been on the field on almost every play in the two play-off games. Indeed, his role as the slot WR means that despite what we are still being told repeatedly by various media outlets, Dallas Clark is no longer a "TE who plays as a WR" - lately Clark has only made the occasional foray into the slot position, lining up more as a traditional TE most of the time (not that that has had much impact on his effectiveness).
What is interesting in tonight's game - and this HAS been picked up by some media outlets such as Football Outsiders - is that unlike many games, we have a reasonable idea of which CB might be covering which WR. Jabari Greer almost always lines up on the left side of the defense; Reggie Wayne lines up on the left side of the offense around 75% to 80% of the time, with Garcon on the right and Collie in the slot. It's been hard to get much WR production against Greer, and Garcon might not have such a big role tonight; Wayne should get plenty of looks against Tracey Porter, but as has been pointed out in another thread on this board, Greer and Porter have given up only one TD between them this year -it's been the Saints' nickel backs and sometimes the safeties that have struggled against opposing receivers this season.
What do Michael Clayton, Michael Jenkins and Dwayne Jarrett have in common? They all scored their sole TD of the year against the Saints, none of them lined up against Greer or Porter. Devin Thomas appeared from nowhere to score two TDs against the Saints (his only other one came against Oakland). There were one or two other marginal WRs who had big days exploiting the Saints' weaker DBs.
The Colts don't need any second invitation to pick on an opposing defenses weak spots. I guess Randall Gay will be on Collie most of the time, Gay is better in the slot than outside (he was victimised a lot when playing as a starting CB when Greer was out earlier this season) but I still think it's a match-up the Colts will like.
What is interesting in tonight's game - and this HAS been picked up by some media outlets such as Football Outsiders - is that unlike many games, we have a reasonable idea of which CB might be covering which WR. Jabari Greer almost always lines up on the left side of the defense; Reggie Wayne lines up on the left side of the offense around 75% to 80% of the time, with Garcon on the right and Collie in the slot. It's been hard to get much WR production against Greer, and Garcon might not have such a big role tonight; Wayne should get plenty of looks against Tracey Porter, but as has been pointed out in another thread on this board, Greer and Porter have given up only one TD between them this year -it's been the Saints' nickel backs and sometimes the safeties that have struggled against opposing receivers this season.
What do Michael Clayton, Michael Jenkins and Dwayne Jarrett have in common? They all scored their sole TD of the year against the Saints, none of them lined up against Greer or Porter. Devin Thomas appeared from nowhere to score two TDs against the Saints (his only other one came against Oakland). There were one or two other marginal WRs who had big days exploiting the Saints' weaker DBs.
The Colts don't need any second invitation to pick on an opposing defenses weak spots. I guess Randall Gay will be on Collie most of the time, Gay is better in the slot than outside (he was victimised a lot when playing as a starting CB when Greer was out earlier this season) but I still think it's a match-up the Colts will like.
