this past Sunday Authentic Quenton Nelson Jersey , pushing their record to 1-5. Despite the four game losing streak, there are some positives to take away from Sunday’s action. Eric Ebron and Darius Leonard continued their strong play and Andrew Luck once again continues to prove his doubters wrong every week. The offensive line— despite a few low lights— put together one of their better performances of the season. Oh and Marlon Mack looked really good for much of his first game back from injury.Mack has been sidelined with a hamstring injury and had only appeared in one game. He finished the Jets game with 12 carries for 89 yards and added 1 catch for 4 yards. This is pretty impressive for a team that has struggled to run the ball this year. So was Mack’s positive statistical output due more to him having a very good game or to the offensive line opening lanes for him? Lets look at the film to come to a conclusion.PositivesMy biggest concern with Marlon Mack coming into this season was never his athleticism. Mack is an exceptional athlete with great burst and home run ability. My biggest concern has always been his vision, as he has been unable to consistently find open running lanes in the past, both with the Colts and at USF. Check out this video by Matt Waldman on Mack’s vision here against the Redskins. The video is a tad long but it is worth a watch so you can see the reasons for my concern.Despite his history, I was thoroughly impressed with Mack’s vision and patience against the Jets. He displayed the perfect amount of patience for much of the game— another thing he has struggled with— and often took what the defense gave him rather than trying to force a home run play on every snap. He still showed off his excellent burst and the ability to make defenders miss, which lead to a great performance and an average of more than 7 yards per carry. Our first clip here shows an example of Mack’s improvement. In the past, Mack would try to cut the play outside and outrun Jamal Adams to the pylon. Instead, Mack keeps his eyes up field and is able to cut on a dime to gain 7 yards. This is an excellent cut that helped get his team in scoring range. His ability to plant his foot and burst up field is quite impressive. Our next clip again shows off the patience that Mack was displaying on Sunday. On a shotgun cutback run, timing is everything. The running back’s job here is to stay right behind his linemen and follow them as they create the hole. Mack is able to do just that as he stays right on the backsides of Ryan Kelly and Mark Glowinski as they lead the way for a big gain. Just another example of Mack being patient and taking what the defense gives him. Nothing super flashy here but Mack does everything right again on this play and it leads to a big gain. This next highlight reel clip goes for the second longest run of the season for the Colts, and really highlights Mack’s athleticism. Mack again chooses to get the play vertical rather than breaking to his outside. He is able to sidestep the initial defender and makes two defenders miss in the hole en route to a 25 yard rush. The athletic traits to make those players miss along with the vision to find the hole and get up field shows great potential for Mack. Also Authentic Ryan Kelly Jersey , is there anything better than a jump cut? Colts have desperately missed the ability to make plays the first few weeks.This next clip is the result primarily of a poor read by the Jets’ linebacker and great blocks by Quenton Nelson and Ryan Kelly— but I like the way Mack finishes this play. On a simple inside run out of shotgun, an offense typically expects to gain 3-4 yards to stay ahead of the sticks. With Mack’s burst and ability to finish, he is able to get 10 yards and a first down. I like how Mack lowered his pads and ran through contact, giving him an additional 2-3 yards at the end of the run. Big hole but great job by Mack to get the most out of the play. This next clip is my favorite run of the day. Here it is a simple inside run call out of shotgun. Mack looks for an outlet for a split second before he plants his foot and gets up field despite the very small hole that is created by his offensive line. Where he really impresses me is how he gets skinny through the hole and keeps driving his feet in order to turn what would typically be a 2-3 yard gain into a 9 yard gain. In the NFL, the holes are very small and result in little room for error. Sometimes running backs need to just get up field and keep their feet moving in order to get positive yards— something that former Colts running back Frank Gore understood very well. This is a very good, veteran type run by Mack.Lastly, I really like this run by Mack, even though he lost his balance. We see Mack show patience and an impressive jump cut in the backfield. He’s able to navigate through the traffic and finds the open hole. If he doesn’t lose his balance on this play, this could be another 10+ yard run. Overall Mack showed a lot of positive signs in this game and I feel comfortable saying that this is the best rushing performance of Mack’s career.NegativesDespite an overall positive performance, there were a few negatives in this game. He did show a lot more decisiveness against the Jets but his bad habits are hard to break and we will some of the old traits pop up. We will also see that Mack was less than stellar in the passing game. The Colts’ coaching staff clearly trusts Nyheim Hines more in the passing game and at this point and its easy to see why. Mack just isn’t as consistent of a pass catcher or pass blocker to be in on third downs right now. Our first clip shows Mack being a bit too patient in the backfield. Ideally Womens Matt Slauson Jersey , Mack should just just plant his left foot in the ground and immediately get up field. Instead, he hesitates a bit too long and likely costs himself a couple extra yards. He finishes this run very well and is able to create yards after contact.The last clip is obviously Mack’s worst snap of the day. Andrew Luck hits Mack right in the chest and Mack looks up field before securing the catch. The ball goes through his hands and right to a Jets’ defender for a touchdown. It’s a terrible mistake and it simply cannot happen in the NFL. That being, it’s a young player trying to make too much happen. I don’t expect to see more of this from Mack going forward this season. AnalysisMarlon Mack put together the best rushing performance of his career on Sunday. He has always been an excellent athlete who can turn any run into a big gain but the vision and patience he showed against the Jets is what he will need to be a starting running back in this league. He still has some things to improve on, including limiting big mistakes like his dropped pass and establishing some consistency with this vision and patience as a runner. I am interested to see if he can continually find holes and vertical running lanes going forward.At the end of the day, Mack gave the Colts something it has desperately needed this season— a running game. Luck was able to put up bigger numbers in the second half with Mack running strong. Hopefully, this creates the possibility of a more balanced offensive approach that takes some pressure off of Luck moving forward.Film Room: Quenton Nelson vs. Washington Redskins — Run Blocking After the Indianapolis Colts picked up their first win and Andrew Luck seemed relatively clean all day, it’s a good time to take another look at the offensive line. With Anthony Castonzo still not on the field the unit isn’t at full strength so the work they’re doing is all the more impressive.While we’ve taken a very close look at Nelson’s adjustment to the NFL game as a pass protector, there really wasn’t a lot that stood out in this game — in a good way. I may throw up a bonus piece tomorrow with a few clips that do a reasonable job of showing the highs and lows but today we will focus on the impact Nelson is having on the ground.While the team still hasn’t entirely developed the running game, Nelson will play a key role throughout the season. Someone is breaking a big one this year and my guess is that Nelson will be responsible for making it happen.We will start with the biggest blocking blemish of Nelson’s day. He is asked to get to the second level, in space Womens Jabaal Sheard Jersey , to block Zach Brown (#53). Brown is too quick laterally and avoids Nelson’s grasp. Nelson comes out of his stance very wide and appears intent on maintaining his base. He may have been keeping his eyes open for stunts but if he intends to engage a linebacker on the second level, he’ll need to close the distance quicker. Brown isn’t going to over power him but if he has time he’ll easily avoid him.At first glance, this play also stood out to me as a failed run block. I was surprised that Nelson got so off-balance and ended up plugging the running lane in front of Mack. As you will see, once we slow the play down and take a closer look it is clear that Matt Slauson and Nelson’s legs collide when Slauson pulls left. This collision trips Nelson up and ends up putting him on the ground.This is still a failed run block but it is more of a fluke than something to be concerned about regarding Nelson’s balance.If you were hoping for more criticisms or bad tape to analyze, you’ll be disappointed. Those were the two worst blocks for Nelson on the day, hands down. What is up now is a string of examples where Nelson shows himself to be an asset for the ground game.In this play, Nelson controls Jonathan Allen (#93) off of the snap and turns his hips to seal him inside, creating a running lane behind him. Le’Raven Clark also does a nice job of taking Ryan Kerrigan (#91) for a walk to the inside but to see Nelson display the strength to push Allen into and through the center of the field is impressive.Matched up with massive rookie nose tackle Tim Settle (#97), Nelson shows a very strong base and the agility to flip his hips and create a clear running lane to the inside. Settle is 6’3”, 328 lbs. and had absolutely no chance here. Honestly http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/margus-hunt-jersey , it doesn’t look like Nelson had to work particularly hard here.One of Nelson’s best attributes is his ability to pull. Here, he pulls to his right and comes around the corner to get a body on the linebacker. This poor soul is pummeled to the ground and left to grasp for Marlon Mack as he shoots through the gap. As I mentioned earlier, the running game hasn’t put it all together yet but blocks like these are going to provide big play opportunities as the season progresses.One of Nelson’s big reputations coming into the NFL is his desire to play through the echo of the whistle. He looks for opportunities to dominate his opponent and will happily capitalize on the chance to punish a player after he has them beat. The camera moves left here to follow the ball but after the defender is on the ground, Nelson reloads and punishes him back into the ground. It is really hard not to love a guard who will block like that every game.We have certainly seen a lot of strong blocks from Nelson in the analysis but this is my favorite block of his entire day. Combo blocks on running plays are challenging because the window of opportunity to move from one player to the next is so small. The running back only has a second or so to find a hole and get downfield.On this play, Nelson discards Pernell McPhee like he belongs on the JV team. He then explodes to his right and obliterates Zach Brown in space to open a hole behind him. If Jack Doyle is able to seal Preston Smith, there could be a nice bounce back lane to the runner’s left. The result of the play may not be inspiring but Nelson’s block was beautiful.BONUS MATERIAL: RUNNING BACK VISIONOur bonus material for the ground game today is showing how the running backs still need work on their vision. This is a new offensive line and a new blocking scheme, so we’ll forgive some early year gaffes but this play is a prime example of where Marlon Mack needs to see daylight and take what the play gives him instead of trying to do too much. He has an easy 3-5 yards here on a short yardage play early in the game if he takes what the line gives him but he chooses to bounce the play to the backside where there is no where to go.It should be instilled in the running backs mind that they need to at least take a look at wherever Quenton Nelson is heading when he pulls across their face. We have a limited sample size here but I’m comfortable suggesting that following him will likely yield running room. Running right up the middle on this play shows no patience and no vision. Something the backs will need to work on.ANALYSISQuenton Nelson’s first two games in the NFL are extremely encouraging. People can argue about whether to select a guard sixth overall but there is little doubt that he is an immediate impact player on the offensive line who could, frighteningly, get even better. He has held up nicely as a pass blocker against two very respectable defensive lines and has already started compiling and impressive highlight reel. I look forward to putting together the Earl Grey film collection at the end of the year.