Colts coach Chuck Pagano on Frank Gore: 'He's beat to crap'

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano summed up how running back Frank Gore's body is feeling in four simple words on Monday evening.

“He’s beat to crap,” the coach said.

Take your pick when talking about Gore’s injury problems -- thigh, ankle, finger. Pagano made those comments after the 32-year-old Gore was held to a season-low 24 yards on 19 carries against Tampa Bay on Sunday.

“He’s like everybody else,” Pagano said. “He took some shots (against the Buccaneers). But he’s a warrior. He’s a tough son of a gun and he finds a way to get himself right by Sunday and he’ll be right come Sunday night (at Pittsburgh) and we’re going to need him.”

Pagano’s right, the Colts need Gore. They need him badly in fact. What began as a backfield with depth at the start of the season has very little of it now.

Vick Ballard was released. Rookie Josh Robinson was demoted to the practice squad. Ahmad Bradshaw is on injured reserve. Daniel Herron was released and recently brought back after being claimed off waivers from Buffalo. Zurlon Tipton was released and re-signed.

Forty-year-old quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has been a nice story this season, but the Colts can’t count him on to continue to carry them with his arm. They need some help in the running department. The Colts are 26th in league in rushing yards per game and they’ve only had one 100-yard rusher in a game since the start of the 2012 season.

“It is going to be very, very important that we’re able to generate yards on the ground and stay with it,” Pagano said. “Down the stretch we’re on the road, hostile environments, loud, weather, all those things come into play and when it starts to become more difficult to throw the football because of that you better be able to run it ... You’re going to play in some hostile environments and bad weather stadiums and it could be sleeting sideways and it’d be very difficult to throw it, so you better be able to run it.”

Not all the blame can be put on the running backs when it comes to their inability to run the ball. The shuffling along the offensive line continues for the Colts. It started with poor play in Week 3 and now they’re dealing with injuries up front. Joe Reitz started his first regular-season NFL game in place of the injured Anthony Castonzo and rookie Denzelle Good played in his first game at right tackle against the Buccaneers.

“You plug in some new guys, there’s communication that goes on, there’s continuity things that go -- right when you’re starting to make progress you think in the run game, then you lose AC,” Pagano said. “Then you’ve got to take the right tackle and move him to left tackle. You’ve got to stick in a guy from Mars (Good). It’s tough. It’s hard, but we’re going to keep working at it, keep grinding at it.”

COLTS AUTHORITY NOTEBOOK: A STRAIGHT SURGEON

“I’m just trying not to screw it all up. That’s all.” Matt Hasselbeck said on Sunday. I would say he’s doing a pretty good job of that. “A straight surgeon. He played a great game,” Winston said in describing Hasselbeck.

Backup quarterbacks around the league have struggled mightily this year. Jimmy Clausen, Zach Mettenberger, EJ Manuel, Brandon Weeden, and Matt Cassel are a handful of backups that couldn’t win a single game, Hasselbeck is 4-0. He is now the first quarterback in NFL history to win his first four games at the age of 40.

With the way Hasselbeck has performed this season it has caused many in the national media to question if the Colts should go back to Andrew Luck when he becomes healthy. Chuck Pagano was asked about it on Monday, “Andrew is our starting quarterback. When he’s healthy, he’s going to be under center.” Pagano wasn’t shy about who his quarterback will be when Luck is healthy.

Hasselbeck has been great for the Colts but they will only go as far as Luck will take them come playoff time. The offense has been BAD in two of the four games Hasselbeck has started this season. They needed a couple of missed field goals to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this season while Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons gave the Colts an early Christmas present by handing the game over to them.

Luck did beat the No. 1 defense in the NFL the last time he played. The same defense that just gave Tom Brady all kinds of fits in the second half Sunday night.

Pass Rush Found

“We were on a mission,” outside linebacker Trent Cole said after Sunday’s win. Cole had his first sack in a Colts uniform and four quarterback hits, easily his best game as a Colt. The Colts are near the bottom of the league in sacks this season with only 19 sacks, five of those came against Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Kendall Langford isn’t known for his “rah-rah” speeches but he was angry and gave a “brother-to-brother” talk to a group that gave up three scores in three possessions in the first half. His message got across quickly. With four second-half sacks, a fourth-down stop, and game-sealing interception, the defense pitched a shutout in the second half. In the final two quarters, the defense allowed 120 total yards on 33 plays.

Colts Kickers Are Awesome

That’s really all that needs to be said about Adam Vinatieri and Pat McAfee. Vinatieri has hit his last 16 field goals after nailing four on Sunday. The oldest player in the NFL has connected on 10 of those 16 field goals from at least 40 yards. McAfee had three punts with a net average of 49.7 yards per punt. Just one of Tampa Bay’s 10 offensive drives started past its own 20-yard line. McAfee is challenging the NFL record for net punting average in a season. McAfee is currently averaging 44.2 net yards per punt, which would tie the NFL single-season record.

Injury Bug

The big injury news this week was Ahmad Bradshaw going on the injured reserve with a wrist injury. The Colts signed Zurlon Tipton to be the third back behind Frank Gore and Boom Herron. “It’s devastating,” Pagano stated talking about Bradshaw’s injury. I would say this is the last time we see Bradshaw in a Colts uniform since he can’t stay healthy. He did some great things with the Colts and his style of play will be missed.

Anthony Castonzo is still week-to-week with the sprained MCL. That basically guarantees that Castonzo will be out another week with the knee injury. I expect the Colts to use the same offensive line they used against the Bucs this week. Joe Reitz made his first career start at left tackle and Denzelle Good made his first career start the first time he was active for a NFL game. Pro Football Focus graded Reitz at a +2.3 on Sunday. Pagano said about Good, “he’s got a chance to be a really good player.” Outside of some “brain farts,” as Good called them after the game, things were pretty quiet on the right side of the Colts offensive line.

Mike Adams is day-to-day after missing the past two weeks. Phillip Dorsett is listed as day-to-day. Andrew Luck is still week-to-week with his injuries. Jerrell Freeman is week-to-week with a grade two hamstring injury. Nate Irving filled in for Freeman on Sunday coming up with two of the biggest defensive plays of the game, a sack and a pass deflection. I think Irving will fill in just fine for Freeman while he is out.

Colts Stay Atop AFC South

Remember when people were saying the AFC South could go down as the worst division in NFL history this season? John Clayton, NFL senior writer, thought unless the Colts picked things up it would be the worst division ever. John wasn’t the only one who questioned if it could be the worst division ever just a month ago. Now, all of a sudden, the AFC South has TWO teams that are currently in the playoffs if the season ended today. Is this real life?

The Colts hold the tiebreaker over the Houston Texans for first place in the division while the Texans hold one of the two wildcard spots. The Texans are hanging right in there with the Colts and the defense is playing really well. Unless the Colts win their next two games and the Texans lose their next two games I think there will be a lot of pressure on the Colts to get Andrew Luck back on the field for the December 20th matchup with the Texans. That might be the game to make or break the Colts playoff hopes.