Monday, November 3, 2008

Beggars Can't be Choosers


Colts 18 Patriots 15
Hey. We'll take it.

15 comments:

Christopher said...

To steal a line from Dave Chapelle: What can be said about the Colts' 3rd down defense that has not already been said about Afghanistan?

I think I'll send Billy Belichick a fruit basket for giving us that game with some ridiculous decisions.
Great picture by the way.

shake'n'bake said...

The Colts are 1/2 game out of a wildcard.

If the Steelers lose tomorrow, the Colts are a game out of second in the AFC.

Bob M. said...

My biggest quibbles of the night (you see, when we win, I look for things to complain about and when we lose I get all optimistic. I know, psychotic):
Al Michaels talking about the depleted secondary before gthe kickoff "thank(ing) God they are not playing against Tom Brady." Yeah, Al, they were all probably in church this morning pissing their drawers at the thought of Brady.
Al Michaels Pats-fellatio #2 at the end of the first half, with the clock runoff issue. "That's justice." As if an injustice had been done? #1 I don't agree--19 seconds minus 10 leaves some time. I assume the refs determined Indy burned the surplus 9 seconds. How could you BLAME them because they saw the clock stopped, so they went slowly. Just like an inadvertent whistle calls--why doesn't a wrongly stopped clock count the same way. "Play's dead folks, let's move on."
If Michaels had said "according to the rule book, this is what you do," or did the math with the seconds, I'd have been irritated, but using a word like "justice," makes it sound like the Pats have been abused by the refs all season and finally got evened up. What a tool.

Next quibble--in the read zone before the 1st TD, 1st down IIRC, the Pats have 10 in the box and we run for like no yards. Um, isn't this the offense that audibles into the right play every time? Maybe PM thought they were bluffing. I didn't. I had a better vantage pt, but he's got the edge in experience. hmmm.

Lastly, in the post-game interview, Andrea Kremer asks: "How are you feeling?" After saying I feel good, PM launches into the "take what the D gives you, play at the same level or improve, move forward to face Pittsburgh next week...." cliche fest. Um, Governor Palin, can you answer the actual question? He really answered the question he wanted... makes me wonder if he really is okay. Seems like we've seen evidence on both sides of that. I guess we have to wait 15 years for the autobio to find out for sure.

Good to have the win, but while our shattered D showed me some good things, our stabilizing O did not really impress me except for two drives that just looked inevitable.

Bob M. said...

Shake, that is just insane. I feel so... Jags-like. We don't quite deserve it, but I guess nobody else really does either.

Anonymous said...

I am not encouraged by how we got this win, but we did win. It also looks like we got out of this game healthy, hopefully practice this week is the same.* Our team is getting healthier, and hopefully consistency on the line will help us put more points on the board. We just have to keep trudging along, winning some games and getting to at least 10 wins on the year so we can get into the postseason tourney.

*I am fully anticipating that Robert Mathis (or someone) will get hit by a bus or something on Wednesday.

Bob M. said...

Mea cupla, the stonewalled run into a 10-man box was on 1st and goal from the 7 before the 2nd TD. Loss of 2. Otherwise, I like the play selection and don't mind our 21 rushes for 47 yards--far bette than abandoning the run.

Hey refs, how on earth do we get NO sacks yet NE gets no holding penalties? 3-step drops, I guess, but still....

Zac, maybe if we call out all the unlikely injuries, lightning strikes, domestic knifings, etc, we'll innoculate the team against it. The opposite of saying "we're al healthy now" minutes before the team bus goes over a cliff. You have Mathis and a bus, I'll take Brackett and an Acme safe landing on his head, Manning swallowed by a whale, and Addai gets frostbitten toes while climbing Everest. Whew, now we're safe against those!

Bob M. said...

nice quote:
"Whether you agree with it or not, it was called," Light said. "One of these days, (the officials) are going to let us play this game."

Pats OT Matt Light actually said this after the Pats went 7 quarters without a penalty against them. I guess he was gunning for perfection.

Deshawn Zombie said...

How could anyone have watched that game and STILL question Peyton's health? He had a virtually perfect game. Manning had back to back games against the #1 and 2 pass defenses in the NFL in windy conditions. If there was anything wrong with him it was that.

The reason none of us felt good was that we only one because BB went insane in the second half and the Pats got a really timely penalty called. The defense couldn't get off the field and couldn't make plays.

I think we all finished the game thinking...this team is very average, and they'll get killed next Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Apparently Dungy wasn't worried about Marvin returning punts because it wasn't going to happen very often.

Madden made an interesting point early in the broadcast -- looking at tape of the Colts this season, the receivers aren't wide open very often. He was right.

If 18 doesn't consistently squeeze impossible passes into tiny openings while his protection is breaking down, he's washed up.

stan

Anonymous said...

Let's hope PIT gets banged up in a tough road game tonight and has side-effects from a short week. Otherwise, I don't see us coming out with a win unless our defense improves drastically.

Demond Sanders said...

Yeah, Bob. I think you are thinking too hard. Peyton looked fine and played a great game.

Anonymous said...

I came away from this game rather exhausted and not very satisfied; maybe it's the time change, or maybe my knuckles were just so white that I couldn't take it any more.

I agree that unless something amazing happens with the D next week, we are toast against Pittsburg. I just kept cringing while watching all those first downs we were allowing. Then again, we did hold them mainly to field goals. Ah, well. At least it was an interesting game! :)

Anonymous said...

Does Pitt really scare us that much? The only 2 really good teams in the league this year are Tenn and NYG. After that most of the teams are just as flawed as we are this year. At this point I don't think you can expect much of anything one way or another. Each week will be decided by how healthy each team is, how well they execute there game plans, and how those game plans are tweaked to capitalize on matchup advantages. Do I think the current Colts team is anything more than medicore? No. But neither are any of the other teams in the league beyond Tenn and NYG (and if you remember we were hanging pretty tough with Tenn for 3 quarters before mistakes really did us in). I don't see any reason to jump off the cliff in terms of this team winning or losing. We just can't take any games for granted anymore. Even games like Detroit could catch us up if we don't execute and limit mistakes this year.

This team is not what it once was. We've all debated why...but the why doesn't really matter as much as the fact that the cliche "Any Given Sunday" was never more true than it is this year.

If the Colts get healthy and start executing better then they might be able to put a run together. If they do that and make the playoffs, they could get lucky and turn that role into wins in the Playoffs. Is that likely maybe, maybe not but do really see any other teams out there (besides Tenn and NYG) staking a claim to the mantle that the Colts and Pats have (temporarily I hope) conceded? Even the Titans would fall quickly if Collins, Haynesworth, or maybe even Johnson (their rookie RB) get hurt. Losing one or more of those players would dramatically affect that team.

I still like the Colt's chances at 10-6 (Means they have to go 6-2 the 2nd half of the season (which schedule wise should be slightly easier than the first half). Which likely means we have to beat:
Detroit, Cinci, Jacksonville, and Houston. Then take two from the Pitt, Cleveland, San Diego, and Tenn (the Tenn game might very well be a reverse of last year where they rest their starters and hand the game to us) I don't see any of the above as wishful thinking. Simply keep improving the execution on offense and limit the bleeding on defense, and limit the mental mistakes and penalties. Dungy Ball!

Demond Sanders said...

I think that is fair, Rob. It helps that the Steelers play tonight.

Bob M. said...

I agree wholeheartedly with Rob and am quite bullish on the 2nd half. It's the parity thing--everyone is blah--at least we have Peyton and Dungy, Freeney and Sanders (Moore and Mudd)--they give us a puncher's chance against anybody. I see 8 "sure" wins barring any major flukes or injuries, and 10 are well within reach. Maybe even 11. If we win-out (very unlikely) I say we win it all.

The final Titans game could well be last year's mirror image--I'll take it.

Pitt has some major holes and is their D so superior to Balt? Short week, a few key injuries, dinged RBs and suspect OL, a QB who holds the ball. I'll reiterate that Ben R generally worries me more than Brady, but I am less concerned about Pitt and SD than in years past.