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The good Authentic Andrew Luck Jersey , the bad, and the Glowinski from the Colts’ first preseason game The Colts’ are finally back playing football. Now it’s not really meaningful football but it is football nonetheless. The main goal of preseason isn’t too light up the scoreboard or dominate opponents (although it would be nice) but to escape the games injury free and have some roster bubble guys prove their worth while the starters shake off the off-season rust. There was a lot of good in the Colts 19-17 win Thursday night along with a lot of bad. There was also quite a bit of ugly last night as well (looking at you Mark Glowinski). So without further ado lets jump into the Good, the Bad, and the Glowinski of last night’s preseason match-up:The GoodYes this is not a drill, the savior at QB, the neck beard himself is back playing in a football game. How hard has it been listening to National media this offseason harping on how “Andrew Luck will never play again” or how he hasn’t thrown a ball in 180 days or whatever they would say? Luck came out last night and proved to all the doubters that he’s coming to play this season. The highlight of the game for Luck wasn’t a dazzling deep bomb or a rifle over the middle but when he immediately popped up after a hit by Seattle’s LB Bobby Wagner in the first quarter. While we all held our breath as he took that hit, Luck jumped up with a big smile on his face. He’s back everybody.The depth at defensive line looked impressive. Now the starters are a completely different story as Russell Wilson was moving the ball with ease when he was in the game but the 2nd and 3rd string defensive lineman were really getting some pressure in the second half. Anchored by strong play from veteran John Simon who looks surprisingly comfortable in his new 4-3 end position and Hassan Ridgeway who was all over the place last night, the reserves on the line were constantly creating pressure. That will be a huge plus for the Colts this year if they can have a good rotation up front that can create pressure especially coming off of a season where almost all of the pressure was created solely by Jabaal Sheard. They got the win. Why does this matter, it’s just the preseason? Well for starters, they actually took a lead into the fourth quarter and were able to hold onto it. That has to be another sigh of relief for Colts fans who watched last year’s team turn 9 halftime leads into a measly 4 win season. Although the offense was very vanilla and has yet to really put in any real wrinkles that we’ll see in the regular season, it was nice seeing the team move the ball and get the win. It also has to be a big morale boost for the players who were on last years team to come away with a win.Other players who stood out to me/who I want to see more of: RBs Jordan Wilkins and Marlon Mack, WRs KJ Brent and Kasen Williams, LBs Skai Moore and Matthew Adams, OL Joe Haeg and Quenton Nelson, CB Nate Hairston. The BadAlthough the team did come away with the win, the first team defense wasn’t really a reason why. The lack of corner talent was evident from the word go as Seattle’s receivers were effortlessly getting open. The starters along the defensive line struggled to get any pressure or contain Russell Wilson. The linebackers were missing tackles. Outside of a couple of bright spots like Skai Moore rotating in and Nate Hairston’s nice interception, the defense looks like it has a ways to go. Obviously we don’t want to overreact to a preseason game but we knew going into this year that the defense was a work in progress. Still though, hopefully we see some improvement in second preseason game. Some rookies had their fair share of struggles. I don’t really want to harp too much on this as they are rookies getting acclimated to the NFL game but some of them definitely struggled last night. Nyheim Hines had a rough night returning punts as he muffed two in the fourth quarter along with having another fumble being saved by the refs calling his forward progress stopped. 2nd round guard Braden Smith had some trouble last night in pass protection. Seahawks rookie Rasheem Green blew past him in the 3rd quarter for an easy sack. WRs Deon Cain and Daurice Fountain didn’t necessarily hurt themselves with poor play but both not being on the field last night paved the way for guys like KJ Brent and Kasen Williams to look pretty good. Overall though, these rookies will get better. This was their first game and we should all expect improvement going forward. Some other players who had poor games/who I don’t want to see more of: S Shamarko Thomas, RB Christine Michael Womens Eric Ebron Jersey , OT J’Marcus Webb, LB Antonio MorrisonThe GlowinskiNow obviously after last night’s game I have to name this category this way for the rest of the season. Right? I’ll leave that up to you all in the comments but that QB/Center exchange between 4th string Quarterback Brad Kaaya and 3rd string Center Mark Glowinski was pinnacle preseason football. In three consecutive snaps in the fourth quarter, the two could not figure out how to successfully get the ball into the quarterback’s hands. The third and final snap in this laughable series of events saw a ball sail past Kaaya’s hands which led to a mad scramble around the goal line and a touchdown for Seattle’s defensive tackle Joey Ivie. It was so bad that Joe Haeg, who started the game at tackle, had to finish the game at center so the offense could actually run a play. So yeah, that was some ugly right there. Honorable mention to Shamarko Thomas and that ejection deserving hit though. What the heck was he doing on that play? Just a boneheaded mistake by him. The Colts offense is starting to turn the corner and look more like what we expected it to as the various position groups get healthy. The wide receivers have been consistently a weakness, as we expected they might be, to some degree. However, what is becoming harder to ignore is just how good the tight end group is. The Colts tight ends account for 9 of Andrew Luck’s 20 passing touchdowns this season so far. What’s more shocking is that this has taken place with their best player at the position out with an injury. Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesOver the past two seasons, Jack Doyle has proven to be a valuable and consistent contributor in the Colts’ offense, a player who can move the sticks as well as provide solid blocking in the running game. He has been Andrew Luck’s favorite target on those downs where they have to get a completion. With him absent, the Colts certainly felt the effects. Doyle was used heavily in the first two games as a blocker. The offensive line was decimated with injury and that resulted in the need to use him as a blocker more than a receiver. With his loss, the impact on the running game was felt immediately. Now however, with the offensive line clicking after Anthony Castonzo’s return, the running game is starting to get some traction. If Doyle is able to return following the Colts’ bye week, he provides yet another receiving threat to be paired with an already potent tight end group. Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesJust how strong is this group? Well, Eric Ebron, the Detroit Lions’ first round “bust” that Chris Ballard signed in the offseason has already bested his career touchdown marker with 6—5 of which have come in the red zone. That number ties him for 2nd in the league in receiving touchdowns, trailing only the electric Tyreek Hill. The guy who would likely find himself the TE3 upon Jack Doyle’s return? That’s Erik Swoope. The Colts’ pet project, a basketball player converted to tight end http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/al-woods-jersey , has bounced back and forth from the practice squad throughout the season. Even so, he has 7 catches on 8 targets. 3 of them are for touchdowns. That’s more than Zach Ertz, Rob Gronkowski, Tyler Eiffert, or Jimmy Graham. I’m not sure how you can get better production out of your 3rd string tight end than that.Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty ImagesUnderstand, I’m not saying Swoope is better than those guys. What I’m saying is that we’ve got a coach who knows how to put tight ends in a position to win matchups, and we’ve got the tight end talent to do it. If Jack Doyle is able to return after the bye, this offense gets even more dangerous. Why, exactly? Because his return will let them run in 12 personnel with their best players on offense. 12 personnel just means 1 running back and 2 tight ends are in the formation. With such dangerous receiving threats at tight end and with a budding running attack, 12 personnel can prove to be an absolute nightmare for defenses to cover. With an extra tight end in the game, you have better blocking for your running backs. However, when your tight ends are also dangerous receiving threats, the defense can’t overplay the run, because a play action pass can kill them. Oh, and once you’ve covered them, you just have to deal with T.Y. Hilton, one of the most dangerous deep threats in the NFL.This is exactly the problem Frank Reich wants this offense to create for opposing defenses. If the offensive line can continue its run of excellent play and the running game can continue to be effective, that is exactly what the offense will do.