Sunday, August 10, 2008

Disorganized thoughts

I'm still blurry eyed from getting up at 5 am to watch Argentina win (Messi is utterly amazing. If you don't like watching Argentine Seleccion play soccer, you'll never like soccer and shouldn't try) in Soccer and lose at the buzzer in basketball. Here's what I took away from last night's game.
  • Sorgi should thank his Maker that Quinn Gray threw that last horrible pick. Playing with an elite group of offensive talent, in a system he has worked in for several years now, Jim Sorgi proves almost weekly that he is NOT an NFL caliber QB. If the Colts cut him, would anyone else sign him? I doubt it. He's not out of a job yet, but he seriously needs to upgrade his performance. He simply can't process the reads fast enough and/or doesn't have enough confidence in his arm strength to make tough throws. I fully recognize that there is an apples to oranges component to preseason QB evaluation. Still, it can't be denied that both Grey and Lorenzen seem to spark and move the offense, while Sorgi looked lost.
  • Is there anyone left who thinks Mike Hart doesn't make this team? FO did a piece on obscure RBs who post a huge YPC in the preseason. Mike Hart now has 73 Yards on just 6 carries in two games. I'm not saying he's a Hall of Famer, but it looks like this kid belongs in the big show. It will be interesting to see if a. he gets to the 25 carry threshold over the next three weeks (he needs around 6 carries a game to do it), and b. he keeps that YPC over the magic number of 3.94. I think the odds of both occurring are good.
  • Kenton Keith dropped a pass! I know there has been an undercurrent that questions the anti-Keith sentiment on Footballoutsiders because he had such a sick success rate last year, but anyone who watches this team cringes whenever he goes out into a pattern.
  • TJ Rushing looks faster. He had several nice returns and seems to have found a new gear.
  • It is hard not to notice Tim Jennings improving. Several have blogged that observation from camp, and it showed up. I know that FO gave him a very high success rate last year, but honestly I question their game charters. I don't know if they realized that Jennings wasn't the nickleback. He came in in nickle situations, but they would move Jackson inside. In almost every major passing situation, it seemed that Jennings was targeted by the opposing team. All that aside, he looks like he's greatly improved.
  • Tony Dungy is a great coach. On 4th and 2 from the 10 in the fourth quarter, he decided it was more valuable to see Gray work than kick what would have been the game winning field goal. Gray delivered the ball late to Tamme, and it was picked, but how great is it to a. have a coach who is smart enough to not care about winning preseason games and b. have a franchise that has had enough success that it doesn't need 'moral victories' in the form of preseason wins. This team will likely go 1-4 (at best) in the preseason, and everyone with a brain should feel just fine about that.
  • It's absolutely impossible to evaluate our defense right now. There are just too many players playing now who won't be in four weeks.
  • Tamme looks like a player. Seriously, will anyone be able to defend this offense once 18 comes back? The O-line needs to pull it's act together (it's a crazy young group really), because massive pressure on the QB is the only thing that could possibly stop this unit.
  • How great was it to see 88 on the field again?
  • All in all, it was fun to just watch football again. I taped the HoF game and will watch it sometime this week.
  • Finally, what's with this quote from the Star critique of the Luke (and yes, it's the Luke. And pray to God it doesn't become the LOSer Dome): Holding up the arched roof trusses, the steel “superframes” in all four corners are both beautifully complex and intimate — “you can nuzzle right up to the beefy I-beams as you walk through the top concourses,” Cheek says.

Um, I don't know about you guys...but there is no way in hell that I'm nuzzling any beefy I-beams.

Links: Coldhardfootballfacts posts a list which shows exactly how stupid it is to judge a QB by winning %. Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton both make the top 7. Wins are the product of teams, not quarterbacks.

***On a personal note, I would appreciate your prayers for Demond. Apparently, he didn't have the flu. He was admitted to the hospital late last night with appendicitis. His appendix did rupture this morning as they didn't get him into surgery in time, and he has just come out of the OR. The doctors say that everything went very well, but it's obviously a difficult situation. His wife is 38 weeks pregnant.

Thanks.

UPDATE: I spoke to him this afternoon, and it seems that Demond is fine and hoping to get released today.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes I will send my prayers to Demond. I wasnt born at the time my mom had her appendix removed but I do know that because she waited out a long time, she nearly died.

Deshawn Zombie said...

Yeah, apparently, the surgeon said that considering it actually burst (which is very dangerous), it seems to have come out as a best case scenario. He hasn't woken up yet, but things look good.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hey guys. I've read your site since you started it after XLI but haven't commented until now.

Just wanted to say that I hope Demond gets well soon. Appendicitis can be nasty, but it sounds like he's doing ok.

We're all looking forward to another season of your thoughts and podcasts on the colts.

HeatherRadish said...

Oh, gosh, I'm glad he's gonna be OK.

JH said...

Here's to Demond having a speedy recovery. Good that he's getting this appendix issue out of the way in the preseason so that he's back at full speed by the first game.

Demond Sanders said...

Doing much better now. Thank you. Extreme gut pain is over.

I am chilling back at home, appendix-less, watching some women's gymnastics.

Anonymous said...

In the new Esquire - the one Tom Brady plays the roll of baddest cat on Earth on the cover - he throws mad love to Peyton.

Says he's his favorite player to watch in the NFL.

Demond.....suck it up.

Only playin man I;ve heard that's a painful 48 hours.

Bob M. said...

Demond, you stud, that's a fast release. Glad to hear you're back on the field and as Jareb said, a "go" for the first week.

JC, you know they love each other's game and have the highest respect for each other, right? It makes the fan arguments about who is better even funnier, really. In reality, who can understand each other's life, work, pressures, etc better than Manning and Brady.

Unknown said...

I would daresay that no one truly understands Manning and Brady, save eachother. Two of the best QBs in NFL history, inextricably tied together. Manning, the obsessive perfectionist. Brady, the man with liquid nitrogen in his veins. It's amazing to think we're watching history happen.

Anonymous said...

Demond,
Glad to hear your OK. Home games are on the horizon so heal up quick.

Anthony Bullard said...

I hope Demond gets better and is back in the swing of things soon. I have always loved his work here, and I look forward to more great writing in the future.

Anthony Bullard said...

Wow, should read the comments. Good to see you back so fast Demond! I just read about your appendicitis today...

Demond Sanders said...

Thanks very much guys. Here's a tip: if you puke all night Friday, have gut pain all day Saturday and then start puking again Saturday night. . .

IT'S NOT YOUR LACTOSE INTOLERANCE ACTING UP - GO TO THE HOSPITAL.

Picky said...

I have been praying for you Demond (after getting updates from your mother-in-law). My son's appendix burst when he was 5 and he's just fine (of course he spent two weeks in the hospital...that was six years ago.

Hope everything goes well with the other expected arrival. If you can work it Demond, have the baby come when Linda's not working, ok? Cause she said she's just gonna leave when she gets the call. That makes it harder on the rest of us. :-)

shake'n'bake said...

Glad to hear your doing well. Sudden stuff like that is scary. Had a friend scare the crap out of everyone for two weeks this summer with what they finally figured out was bacterial meningitis.