Indianapolis Colts at Las Vegas Raiders Preview

Table – Injury report

Player	Position	Injury	Wed	Thu	Fri	Game Status
Darien Butler	LB	Hip	LP	LP	FP	(-)
Derek Carr	QB	Back	FP	FP	FP	(-)
Keelan Cole	WR	Knee	LP	FP	FP	(-)
Blake Martinez	OLB	NIR-Personal/Retired	DNP	(-)	(-)	(-)
Denzel Perryman	MLB	Hip/Ribs	DNP	LP	LP	Questionable
Hunter Renfrow	WR	Hamstring/Ribs – Injured Reserve	LP	(-)	(-)	(-)
Darren Waller	TE	Hamstring/Injured Reserve	LP	(-)	(-)	(-)

Ummmm, the Colts actually are going to play huh? They are actually going to field a team? Hell yeah brother, Jeff Saturday may fuck around and go undefeated, his press conference made every Colts fan feel like he actually gave a shit about this team, I know Frank Reich cared but Jeff Saturday loves this Colts team with all his heart, he also knows he has nothing to lose and the Colts don’t have anything to lose either, if the Colts lose out, nobody would be surprised, if Saturday goes 4-4 with the tough schedule that he has, he will have the job, I think even winning all 3 of their prime time games, including beating the Steelers at home on Monday Night Football. Isn’t it odd that every time the Colts actually get “respect” with primetime games, they suck?  Well, don’t be surprised if the Colts play wacky football, especially with missing Darius Leonard for the next 4 weeks at least. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we see Matt Ryan make an appearance, as he comes off the injured list, they could put him in a game winning drive situation or if Ehlinger shows signs of struggling. The Colts could be…experimenting with this game, fake punts, fake field goals, 4th down attempts, I think the entire playbook is open and that actually may be bad, it will be exciting but if they work and Saturday keeps the job, we will have to see him actually try to call plays next season and a coach calling plays with something to lose versus without something to lose are 2 different animals. 

Josh McDaniels is one of the worst coaches of all time, he has had 2 chances to lead good teams and he has failed, I’m still surprised that he coached the Broncos team that won the playoff game against the Steelers in overtime, he’s also the same guy who got rid of Jay Cutler for Tim Tebow, Cutler isn’t a super star but good lord, the Broncos must be so happy that Peyton fell into their arms because he could have set them back to the beginning of time. I remember when the Colts announced they would be hiring McDaniels, I was disappointed, I was young and I still knew he sucked so when he backed out on the Colts I actually was excited, I knew he was garbage the moment he was labeled as under the Belichick coaching tree, I don’t think there is very much to be excited about this week but we’re gonna pre-view the game anyways.

Offensive Keys to the Game

1. Try and fix the offensive line: That’s part of why Jeff Saturday was brought in, to hopefully save the offensive line, Sam Ehlinger was sacked 9 times last week and you would think that if Matt Ryan was back there, he would have been sacked 13+ times. The Colts averaged 3.5 yards per rush against a worse than average Patriots rush defense, who ranks 18th in the NFL in rush yards per game allowed. The offensive line is the key to winning any game for the Colts this season
2. Get Ehlinger Working: Ehlinger hasn’t had a whole game of comfortability in the pocket, he has felt like he has been under attack every snap, get him in a rhythm early with short and mid-level completions to give him some confidence and take some deep shots later in the game.
3. Ashton Dulin is Back: A big aspect in the run game is back in time for Taylor’s return, a big wide receiver who has shown his ability to help push the pile and open up the run game for Taylor, which can help open up the deeper parts of the field for Ehlinger to take some more shots and get Campbell one on one deep.

Defensive Keys to the Game

1. Pressure Carr: The Colts did a good job of pushing on Mac Jones, getting 4 sacks on Mac, the Raiders have given up 18 sacks in the 8 games they have played so far, when Derek has a clean pocket, he can really do damage, but he struggles when he see’s pressure.
2. Keep the Ball From Adams: The Raiders have lost Hunter Renfroe and Darren Waller, Adams was already seeing 31% of targets, 85 targets out of Carr’s 273 passing attempts have been to Adams. If Adams is shut down, Carr won’t have his #4 and #6 target leaders.
3. Control the Tempo: The offense will inevitably struggle early, you can’t let that keep you down, keeping the offense on the field is important so get off the field as soon as you get on it, turnovers will keep the Raiders off balance.

Players of the Game Prediction

Mo Ali Cox: 6 REC, 97 YDS, 1 TD

Score Prediction

Colts: 24

Raiders: 21