It feels like we are right back to where we were three or four weeks ago doesn't it? The Patriots are mauling an AFC East team, so everyone assumes it's metaphysically impossible to beat them. Meanwhile, Peyton "Hawkeye" Manning and his lovable band of wacky military doctors are just sort of plugging along. You all should know by now how we feel about the rest of this season...nothing counts until January. I suppose that's slightly overblown, as in 13 days, the Colts should have a pretty tough matchup with the Jholes, but in essence it's true. The Colts can afford one and possibly even two losses and still have the two seed. It's not about playing well, it's about getting healthy.
That being said, the lack of pressure was disturbing yesterday from the D-line. It was pressure that keyed the defense against the Patriots in the first half, and when that ran out, the Pats hit some big plays. Watching the NE game yesterday (admittedly, only for about a half a quarter) it looked like a return to the Brady-has-a-half-an-hour-to-throw-days of several weeks ago. I'm still a little baffled by how horribly bad these teams play against the Pats. The Bills had an awful game plan and horrible execution. I think that bad weather in January will help slow NE down, but in the end it's going to take consistent pressure on Brady to win. Freeney's injury may kill us all yet.
I think we've all come to accept that Marvin isn't coming back anytime soon. My best guess: they'll roll him out for the playoffs after being out all season. Why? Simply put, they haven't put him on IR. The Colts are incredibly thin right now and desperately need the roster slot (they cut a staple veteran every week just to make the roster limits). If Marvin absolutely wasn't playing, they'd put him on IR. At this point, I think they are keeping him around just to trot him out against Pittsburgh and NE. Or he could play Thursday, who knows?
A couple of quick links (remember those?): FO still likes the Colts as the only real challenger to the Pats.
Peter King thought going for it on fourth down was crazy. I was espousing Dungy's logic yesterday, that the Chiefs were likely to be forced to punt to the Colts, and they would have a chance to move into FG range anyway. The real mistake was taking the timeout with 6 instead of 2 seconds left. Demond mentioned it yesterday, but I've seen lots of coaches do this. I'm not sure why. We did it against Denver last year as well. I get doing that on 3rd down, in case of a bad snap, but on 4th down why not just let the clock run down to 2 secs? Lots of coaches do that and it just makes no sense.
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21 comments:
My husband also commented that he cannot believe how badly other teams are playing against the F-Pats. It seems like nearly every team EXCEPT Indy has just decided to lie down and die when it comes time to play them. The Bills left Moss open or guarded by only one meansly guy pretty much the whole game (or at least for the half I managed to choke through--I swear Al and John have got to stop talking about Brady like he's the best thing since sliced bread; sure, he's pretty good, but he's playing with a crazy-strong arsenal, too...). You can't leave Moss open like that. Duh.
I mentioned that I made it halfway through the game...I went to bed at halftime when I simply could no longer take the man love spewing from Cris Collinsworth's mouth. Ugh. Just sleep with Brady and be done with it; he'll dump you right afterwards anyhow. I can't listen to him talk about how great Brady is and how the F-Pats are the best football team in the history of the league.
It was funny, though, when the other guys made fun of CC for saying, "they [the F-Pats] may never lose another game." What a buffoon.
Cry in your coffee, colts girl. It ain't any more sickening than a Peyton Manning love fest. If Peyton and your pathetic team were so much better than the 'F-Pats', your Dolts would have won the game. But they showed their true colors a couple of weeks ago, just like your beloved franchise quarterback, a bunch of soft, finesse choke artists. Losers!!!
just as the patriots have no class, it's quite obvious that the patriots fans suffer from the same lack of class. all of you pats fans need to get down from your ivory towers and get a life. there's no need to come to other team's fan sites and scorn their fans for having a valid opinion about how the patriots are simply ruining the game of football. if you want us to believe that the patriots have any sense of decency, then why not try and set an example by being a good fan, instead of rotten sore winner like Belicheat?
Pats fans just can't talk like people. They come here with no plausible arguments, and it looks like they're all in junior high.
The first anon is a true Ivy League scholar.
Here's the thing, anonymous F-Pats fan: the only real hype about Manning and the Colts was just before the game with the F-Pats. For the most part, the Colts tend to fly under the radar (unless you count Manning's endorsements, of which he has many--can't Brady get those? Tough to get endorsements when you seem like kind of a whiny jerk). The Colts have gotten some press lately because of the number of injuries they've sustained and the difficulties that have ensued since. Injuries are part of the game; everyone who knows the sport knows that. It's not an excuse; it's a complication.
I acknowledge that (and I did in my original post) Tom Brady is a pretty good quarterback, and everyone raves about how hard he works. The real difference between Brady and Manning, though, is that Brady is working with a tremendous number of outstanding tools on his offense, while Manning's is enduring some complications. Not an excuse, just the facts. It's easy to look like "the best quarterback in league history" when you have a great arsenal to work with.
I look forward to a playoff game in Foxboro. Truly, I do. I hope both teams are healthy and ready to go so that there can be no excuse-making on either side, but even if we aren't entirely healthy by then, I still think we'll hit the F-Pats where it hurts: the scoreboard.
For an example of a writer who clearly has no idea what the hell he is writing about, check this http://ind.scout.com/2/703221.html?refid=400&CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=5
Receivers aren't open? Pass pro is almost worthless? Line can't block for the run? Doesn't matter. Peyton needs to throw long completions and TD passes anyway! I'm surprised people like this can find their way home.
I am always amazed by the dumbass Pats fans who claim that Brady never had good receivers until this year. His entire career, every time I've ever watched, he has had people open. He's always enjoyed solid pass pro. Note to fools -- the incompletion is not the receiver's fault when he's wide open and the QB, with time to throw, bounces the ball in front of him or throws 10 feet over his head.
Wouldn't it be a good idea for people to actually evaluate a QB based on the pass pro, the routes, and the coverage? Perhaps they might even think to evaluate fundamentals in the running game and try to contemplate the advantage an offense gets from the no-huddle. How much credit should a QB get when his handoffs (and play action faking) create running room for the RB?
There are no stats for this, but let's remember how incredibly frustrated Belichick was when he first faced the Colt no-huddle in 2005. He couldn't rotate his def line. He couldn't sub with down and distance personnel. As he got increasingly agitated into the 2d half, he finally decided to try to get away with running subs out there anyway. And when 18 promptly burned him for a 5 yard penalty, BB almost burst into flames in frustration.
How much value do you put on that ability? Shula, Shanahan, Gruden, Fisher, et al consider it so important that they say it has raised the level of QB play to a never-before seen level. And it has nothing to do with TD passes or passer rating or 300 yard games.
Peyton could throw for only a 100 yards a game and he'd still be head and shoulders better than anyone else. Based on the value he adds to an offense.
S
To be fair to SOME Pats fans, I get sick of the Manning-love in the media too. In fact, I prefer us to fly under the radar like in 06 rather than, say, 03, 04, and 05. So when they complain ab out it, there IS history. Not much this year, thank God, but you can't deny the media love-fests for Peyton and the Colts from years past, when the Pats were winning the SBs.
Loathesome and stupid-sounding as it is (Moss and the OL are NE's "real" MVPs), let the media love for TB and the Pats continue. They have to sell advertising and the glamorous/easy story does it just like it did two years ago when we were 13-0. (that sound you hear is my teeth grinding.) Let the Pats believe it. Let other teams stew. If not us, then somebody else will remove TB's head during one too many 4th quarter TD pass wile up by 28. Or go for Moss's knees. Take either of them out, and they're back behind the other elite teams (Ind, Pit(?), Dal, GB).
And colts girl's 2nd post got me wondering... when and why the heck did Foxboro change its name to Foxborough? Kind of flaky if you ask me.....
One more thing: I offer my pity to the Pats fans who have to troll opposing teams' fan sites to hurl flaming turds. Don't you people have higher self esteem? Jobs? Lives?
It's one thing--not noble but understandable--to gripe when you've lost, when you were jobbed by the refs or injuries or a boneheaded mistake; people pat you on the shoulder then tell you to shut up. Quite another to do that when you have won; people knee you in the groin and push you off a bridge. I can only hope.
Last year Brady was 6th in QB DPAR Rankings. This year, P. Manning is currently on 4th. I don't see what is the problem with playing worse if you have a less powerful arsenal with you. Sometimes you see receivers like Wayne dropping easy TD balls. That's not Manning's fault.
DPAR source: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb.php
I've been wondering about the Foxboro/Foxborough thing, too. I'm glad I'm not alone.
The F-Pat (I love that) fans are starting to make Eagles fans look reserved, modest, and polite. That took work.
I'm actually curious, upon learning that the Packers are being investigated because players are making side bets in the locker room (they're "illegal incentives" *guffaw*), if anyone in the league ever followed up on visitors to Foxboro losing radio communications. Seems like the latter is a threat to the integrity of the NFL, while the former is part of its storied history (ask Bill Cowher)...but that could be the very reason they refuse to look into it.
to be fair gents (and gal, apparently) , there are a fair number of level headed new england fans. we just don't see them as they're wise enough to stick on their own forums.
i too fear facing the patriots in the playoffs without an active pass rush. its not impossible if we get nearly everyone else back (read: diem and ugoh), but dungy and meeks would have to call a nearly perfect game to throw brady and the line off enough to get three or four drive killers. if he doesn't, we'd be down to a hope and a prayer of a +2 T/O win to have a hope, along with an offensive production we're used to.
oh. and no special team foul ups.
also: as the ex-colt revenge tour went, so does the ex-colt DUI tour, apparently.
I had never really noticed about the name difference between Foxborough/Foxboro until Bob M. pointed it out, but according to Wikipedia “Foxborough is the official spelling of the town name, although the alternative spelling Foxboro is also frequently used.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxborough,_Massachusetts And to be honest, I hate to admit in public that I have spent this much time, energy thinking about the F-Pats (it is a good name).
GO COLTS!!!
The Pats are not the only teams to benefit from comunications glitches at home. Bellichick claimed they had no coach to QB system function when the Pats were in Indy a few weeks ago. Of course, we know what his word is worth, but this time I tend to believe him--even a broken clock is right twice a day. You hear about it a lot (just not in your headset!).
About the "bounties"... if they are explicitly forbidden, that's one thing. But it sounds harmless to me. I'd have a problem with it collective bargaining/salary-cap wise if it was a coach or organization offering $5,000 for a specific milestone, but among coworkers, jeepers, it sounds like harmless fun. That being said, all I heard about was "keep him under 100 yards" and not "knock him from the game" like some of the Bears/Packers bad blood about 20 years ago when one DL wore a towel with the uni numbes of the guys he knocked out of games. Stupid and, well, criminal basically.
good points, Bob
you people live in a bizzaro land. it's awesome. quick - what's more pathetic than a pats fan reading a colts blog? hmm, lemme think...ah i got it, whining about the pats on every monday morning post and then spending the rest of the week commenting about one of the greatest NFL teams in history. keep it up peeps, it's great entertainment!
take this to bed with ya - Brady won three superbowls with exactly ONE WR who had over 1,000 yards. ONE. talk about lack of firepower but still found a way to get it done.
thank god for your sake peyton had marvin and wayne last year.. oh and the fact the competition was a high school JV football. phew..
The six-second rule has to do with holding calls. Bill Polian said on the radio show that 6 is the magic number to seal a game with a field goal. This is because if the kicking team gets hit with a holding penalty or other similar call on the kick they don't get that time back to re-try the kick. It actually only takes about 3 seconds of clock for the kick, but they buy insurance with the extra three seconds.
Mosi,
The fact that Brady threw too many bounce passes and overthrows to get his receivers higher yardage totals doesn't mean it was the WRs' fault. I think you have to give Tom credit for understanding that he doesn't throw a very accurate ball downfield and adjusted by throwing lots of short passes to his backs and TEs. Given the awesome pass protection he has always enjoyed, we know his failure to throw accurately isn't due to the pass rush.
Thanks anthony! That helps
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