2022 Week 15: Vikings 39, Colts 36 OT (Dynasty/Fantasy Analysis Game Report)
If you saw this game, I’m not sure there’s anything I can type to add to the memory of it. If you didn’t see it…’you had to be there’. It would take me too long to explain, and I wish I could, but this is a busy FF-playoff week, and we need to stay focused on FF things. Don’t worry, in 2-5 years there will be documentaries made about this game…the biggest lost lead in NFL history -- and another way the Colts are trying (and succeeding) of ruining Frank Reich’s football legacy.
I felt like this game was not over at the half, despite the 33-0 lead…because the Colts really got lucky and, in a dome, at home, I thought if the Vikings could get a couple quick scores it could get interesting (more so thinking about FF output)…but I never imagined they would really comeback and win the game. But they did.
The lucky 33-0 head start, and eventual loss, just shows how poorly Jeff Saturday is managing his personnel/the team. Matt Ryan is HIS choice. Going heavy Zack Moss when JT went down was HIS choice. Jelani Woods ripping off a sweet 36-yard catch and run, and then never going there again…that’s HIS choice. I’m just wondering what it must have been like to be Nick Foles and to be able to watch this game with such a great vantage point (the sidelines, never on the field) and hearing all the meltdown in his headset! Another game that Foles gets paid to watch Matt Ryan at work…and, boy howdy! These are Jeff Saturday’s decisions, things he’s allowing/not intervening on…all of his mismanagement items going in and in-game cumulatively made Saturday a part of history, a bad part.
I’m not going to pick the game details apart…it would take too long. What we need to know: 33-0 Colts lead most all coming from fluke events, fumbles, defensive TD, special teams TD…not because of the Colts offensive prowess, that’s for sure.
By the half, the Vikings had barely any yards. Justin Jefferson was hurt and in/out of the game. It looked like a total FF disaster, but then you don’t come back from down 33 without massive FF scoring events and the Vikings did just that. It started terribly and ended FF-amazingly, for Vikings-related things.
Minnesota gets to (11-3) and wins the NFC North, a fact kinda lost in the game hoopla, rightfully so. All that’s left for the Vikings is to hope the Eagles lose out. If the Eagles don’t collapse to the finish line, then the Vikings don’t have a lot to play for ahead. They might push as normal Week 16, because there is still a long-shot chance they can catch Philly…but there’s a real risk of a Minnesota pullback of the big name starters playing a full game in Week 17 and then the starters will very likely not be out there Week 18, I suspect, assuming the Eagles have locked the Vikings out (Philly already beat Minnesota, so surpassing Philly or Dallas is near impossible…but so is coming back from a 33-0 deficit).
Indianapolis falls to (4-9-1) and if there were ever a reason for a team to emotionally collapse from here on in…it’s the Colts from here on in. What’s Jeff Saturday going to say? And if Saturday rolls Matt Ryan back out Week 16, I’ll start to think this is being done on purpose to ensure Saturday doesn’t get hired because he regrets the work hours/life.
*Note any fractional numbers in parentheses (4/2) or (2/3), etc., are a ‘split’ stat on our definition of a ‘quality start’ (or not) marker on a player -- using 14 PPR points in a game for RB-WR-TE and 21 for a QB…point levels that are good/productive/well above average starts for a Fantasy week. Trying to identify trends, consistency (or not) in players we might not normally realize.
A (3/2), for example, means: 3 times the player hit at/above the mark, and 2 times they did not.
Fantasy Player Notes…
-- There were two obvious things that killed the Colts in this game…
The #1 thing: Matt Ryan (19-33 for 182 yards, 1 TD/0 INT) being started on purpose again set this up before we even got started. When things collapsed, there was no way Ryan was going to be able to answer back. In fact, there were questionable moments where the Vikings opted to punt instead of going for it on 4th, when I wondered why…then I realized, the Vikings know Matt Ryan has no chance of leading his team on a long drive down for a score. Punting to Indy just meant a one-minute delay until the Vikings got the ball back. The Vikings were telling everyone what we should all know about Matt Ryan -- he's the single worst QB who was rolled out onto an NFL field in Week 15. An embarrassment.
Again, I wonder what Nick Foles was thinking as all this was happening?
If Jeff Saturday doesn’t replace Matt Ryan for Week 16…then Saturday is a sadomasochist. I assume we will see Sam Ehlinger, but with Jeff Saturday at the helm…I have no idea.
With so many teams in the NFL transitioning to backup QBs or young QBs, who then just roll right along fine or even spark the team -- Jeff Saturday clings to Matt Ryan to his own coaching career death. Saturday did this to himself. It was his call. His leadership. I guess being a great NFL center doesn’t mean you know $#*# about scouting football talent…so he definitely isn’t overriding his terrible assistants who apparently don’t know their own talent either.
One or two mistakes are forgivable…but repeated, similar mistakes -- that’s on you, Jeff.
But I’m sure Saturday will get a job analyzing football for the masses one minute after not getting the Colts head coaching job in January.
Sam Ehlinger going forward? Doesn’t really matter…a different version of ‘sad’…a mobile version of ‘sad’. But anything has to be better than Matt Ryan.
-- The #2 thing that cost Indy the game: Once Jonathan Taylor went down with an ankle sprain, instead of going heavy with a very capable, impressive a few weeks ago fill-in Deon Jackson (13-55-0, 1-1-1/1)…the Colts brain trust, put that in ‘air quotes’, went heavy with Zack Moss (24-81-0, 0-0-0/1).
Now, maybe Jeff Saturday and his terrible offensive coordinator choice didn’t ever scout Zack Moss like I did…but they should’ve seen enough in their own practices to know he’s a plodding, tugboat, high TFL RB…which it took Buffalo three years to learn the same, but that’s why Moss was even available to Indy…ditched this year by the Bills for ineffectiveness. But that’s who the Colts decided to push out of nowhere.
And the Colts coaches should’ve known all this before this game, but then they really should have known after they watched Moss get stuffed on goal line and on short yardage need runs about 7-10 different times in this game. It should’ve dawned on them to stop/change…but they didn’t. They kept pushing Moss and the whole offensive came to a standstill. Zack Moss is the worst RB who will touch the ball in the NFL Week 15…and Matt Ryan the worst QB. That’s not a good formula for success…it’s almost like it’s so bad they could blow a 33-0 halftime lead making these decisions.
Jon Taylor may be done for 2022. If I were JT, I wouldn’t step back on that field at all for Indy this season. I’m not ruining my career or future contract negotiations ahead for this joke of organization. And if they were smart, they would keep JT away…but these are the people who claimed Zack Moss off waivers and then tried to run behind him in the greatest collapse game in NFL history. ‘Smart’ is not on the table for the GM on down.
Week 16, with Taylor likely out…you have to assume it will be a Moss-led backfield…in good matchups too…Week 16 v. LAC, Week 17 v. NYG. It should be heavy Deon Jackson, but it won’t be.
Sad.
-- Let’s take a break from Indy stuff.
I want to write something nice or cool/interesting about the Vikings, for FF, but they are the same team every week…it’s Justin Jefferson (12-123-1/16) and Dalvin Cook (17-95-0, 4-95-1/4) ebbing and flowing.
K.J. Osborn (10-157-1/16) had a monster game…but that’s not normal at all. When this game went off-kilter then the wide-open huge pass game effort went underway and KJO was working downfield, and they went with it along with Jefferson and Cook.
Be sure to start Osborn for FF the next game script that you see ahead where we think the Vikings might be down 30+ at the half and then makes a massive all-pass comeback in a dome for the shocking win.
-- If you told me ahead of the game that Indy would score 36 points in this game…then I would have felt a little better about a gamble on Parris Campbell (2-13-0/4), but it wasn’t even close. I’m done worrying about Campbell as a flier option any longer this season…Ryan or Ehlinger. It was working weeks ago, so of course you need to get away from anything successful.
-- Speaking of that…
It was nice to see Jeff Saturday could not learn a lesson on any of his player’s capabilities via Jelani Woods (1-36-0/1) again. Woods had a great catch and run play early in this game, as he does…as he has shown anytime, they can get him the ball -- but not a target the rest of the game, including a near-full overtime.
Is it me?
Am I living in a world that only exists in my own mind?
Can no one in the Colts organization see how good Jelani Woods is? I mean, I know we all can…but like the seven-figure a year paid people who are the experts among us peons…how do they not see it…how do they NEVER see it?
Here’s secret video captured of me watching the Colts offense die with Ryan-Moss-Granson in this game: https://youtu.be/q9B770cqcqA
-- Minnesota is about as bad on defense as there is in the NFL right now. The Colts used to be decent but now they’ve just had some mythical force figuratively reach into their head and pull their soul right out of their own ass with this game result. A very reaching way to say…both these defenses suck ahead, and go after them with your FF weapons.
Indy: LAC gets another perfectly wrapped gift game, this time against Indy Week 16. Colts at NYG Week 17, helps a weak NYG offense.
MIN: NYG getting a good final season run…they’re at MIN Week 16, then they have Indy at home Week 17. The Packers get Minnesota’s defense Week 17, but that will be Jordan Love potentially, so ‘who knows’? But Love could do worse for his possible 2022 debut.
Snap Counts of Interest:
53 = Z Moss
25 = D Jax
40 = Alie-Cox
26 = Granson
19 = Jelani
