18 to 88

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2010-01-23T23:16:00.002-03:00

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2009-12-29T20:04:00.002-03:00

We've moved (Sort of) to 18to88.com

2008-12-04T19:07:00.004-03:00

This will be the last post at 18to88.blogspot.com

As part of our long-promised arrangement with MVN.com, you can now find us as part of their network.

The good news...there's plenty.

1. It's the same 18to88 as always. No changes.
2. We are easier to find than ever. Just type in 18to88.com

The articles from the old front page aren't linked up yet, but they soon will be. You'll finally be able to find ALL of 18to88.com in one place. Conveniently enough known as: 18to88.com.

So just to be 100% clear:

DON'T COME BACK HERE ANY MORE!
WE'VE MOVED! GO TO 18to88.com

Brackett: out. Deshawn: depressed.

2008-12-03T20:36:00.005-03:00

The news that the emotional and mental leader of the Colts defense is out (likely for the rest of the regular season) with a broken leg is crushing news. For a team that has already had to deal with a back breaking run of injuries over the past 14 months, this one is especially painful because the Colts are likely starting something called a Buster Davis instead of a Pro-Bowl caliber MLB who excels in coverage. I'm not going to get into the merits of this seemingly insane move, because I'm sure Tony has his reasons for it. Still, the downgrade from Brackett to a guy who has spent most of the season on the inactive list is huge. Couple this with the loss of Dawson for a couple of weeks, and the future doesn't look bright. The Colts will probably still win these next three games simply because their opponents are among the dregs of the NFL. Still, any hope we had of seeing this team finally get healthy and come together to play at the level we all believe them to be capable seems gone.

If Gary Brackett is truly done for the season, I can't imagine the Colts beating any playoff team. Even Denver. Yes. He's that important. I suppose we might see something truly insane like Bob Sanders playing MLB, with Bullitt on the field for the playoffs if Brackett can't go. I don't think the Colts would try this in the regular season because of the injury risk for Sanders, but in a pinch, it would at least get their best available players on the field all at once.

Yikes.

Demond Sanders: Check out the latest MVP rankings from Bucky Brooks. He's got three of my five, and I certainly can't fault him for having Eli at the top spot. He's got Portis and Peterson on the list, which I understand. They have very similar numbers and they both star for teams with a limited passing game. I'll consider adding them next week, but I'm not totally sold on them yet. Peyton is nowhere to be found, which isn't a surprise. He is going to look a lot better after Sunday.

My Five Favorite Grandpa Ted Moments

2008-12-03T14:37:00.002-03:00

In driving around town the last couple of days, I put on my audio copy of Super Bowl XLI. It happens to be the last game in which Ted Marchibroda served as color man. A quick listen to the tape reveals why...as well as some of the most unintentionally funny moments in broadcast history.

1. Ted insists on referring to Bob Sanders as Robert throughout the entire broadcast.
2. Ted refers to great seasons by "so many players" including someone named "Alvin Betheeeah"
3. During Bob Lamey's monologues recapping the season, Ted spends the entire time mumbling incoherent assent with everything Bob said. No matter what Bob said, Ted would reply, "mmmhmmuh youahr righ".
4. In the broadcast of the AFC Championship game, Ted was so excited to pointout that Fletcher had a mismatch in his favor that he almost comes out of his shoes pointing it out after Peyton hit him with the huge pass down to the NE 38.
5. After a Ben Utech catch he inexplicably says, "He looked it right into his chest and dropped it. You can't just catch every one with your hands". One play later, Manning would through a TD to Reggie Wayne. Ted attributed it to a major mistake by the Colts secondary.

I'm not trying to pick on good old Ted. I just found it hilarious, that's all. He's a good man, and valued member of the Colts community...but it's a good thing he's not in the booth any more.

I can't stop watching this

2008-12-02T21:15:00.001-03:00

MVP Update

2008-12-01T20:21:00.002-03:00

This week was a debacle for most of the MVP favorites. As a result there has been a signifcant shake-up in the order and the addition of a player who was nowhere to be found last week. You could put these five players in almost any order and I would not argue. Peyton is ranked first based on the fact that his next two opponents are a combined 1-22. There is a ton of football left to play and the pressure is on each player to distinguish himself.

1.) Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Stats: 19 TDs, 12 INTs, 2948 YDs, 85.3 Rating
Team Record: 8-4, 2nd place AFC South
Last week: 2 INT in a win at Cleveland
Remaining Games: CIN, DET, @Jax, TEN

Manning's stats took a big hit this week, but remarkably his MVP stock rose. The race is far from over, and he will need to pad his stats over the next two weeks. Peyton is certainly aware of the opportunity in front of him. Don't expect to see much of Jim Sorgi as Manning subtly guns for the award.

2.) Eli Manning, New York Giants
Stats: 19 TDs, 8 INTs, 2624 YDs, 91.3 Rating
Team Record: 11-1, 1st place NFC East
Last week: 1 TD, 1 INT in a win at Washington
Remaining Games: PHI, @Dal, CAR, @Min

Little brother has better stats and more wins, but that alone won't be enough. He'll need to keep it up and hope the other contenders struggle down the stretch. The media and fans have slowly warmed to Eli and thus an MVP award would only be a minor upset.

3.) Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals
Stats: 24 TDs, 11 INTs, 3741 YDs, 99.4 Rating
Team Record: 7-5, 1st place NFC West
Last week: 3 TD, 3 INT in a loss at Philadelphia
Remaining Games: STL, MIN, @Pats, SEA

I could have dropped Warner much farther, but I think Peter King was harsh enough for the both of us. I think the Cardinals are a fraud and Warner has played poorly in their toughest games. Sadly, I can still see a path to the MVP for him because of a relatively friendly remaining schedule (3 of 4 at home).

4.) Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
Stats: 21 TDs, 8 INTs, 2559 YDs, 103.2 Rating
Team Record: 8-4, 2nd place NFC East
Last Week: 3 TDs, 1 INT in a win over Seattle
Remaining Games: @Pit, NYG, BALT, @Phi

Romo is having another great season, despite missing three games with a hand injury. Dallas went 1-2 with Romo out. He is currently the NFL's highest rated passer. He would be much higher on this list if Dallas didn't have a difficult remaining schedule. Don't be surprised to see Romo rising to the top.

5.) Brett Favre, New York Jets
Stats: 20 TDs, 14 INTs, 2708 YDs, 90.4 Rating
Team Record: 8-4, 1st place AFC East
Last week: 1 INT in a loss to Denver
Remaining Games: @SF, BUF, @Sea, MIA

Favre has plenty of time to make up for his unspectacular play against Denver. His remaining schedule is favorable so there is no reason to count him out.

Others in the conversation: Matt Ryan (needs stats), Adrian Peterson (needs wins), Michael Turner (needs stats)

If you have any names to add to the list please shout them out.

Head on over...

2008-12-01T15:45:00.002-03:00

to Stampede Blue for a nice little clash over whether or not the Colts are 'average'. Some one has taken exception to my statement last night. I defend it (rather conclusively) in the comments below.

For the record, I said they were average with an 'it' quality. It's not much of an explanation, but then again, I don't really have one. The Colts are 8-4. They probably shouldn't be, but 18, 93, and 98 have been amazing all year. Without any one of those guys...I don't want to even think about what the record would be. Anyway, enjoy the debate.

Ok, so let's speak of it one more time...

2008-11-30T22:52:00.006-03:00

So here's a quick postmortem of one of the least satisfying wins in recent history. These observations are in no particular order.

The day actually turned out great for the Colts, as they now are assured of a playoff spot by going 3-1. They may not need that extra loss, but it's nice to have it in the back pocket.
The Jets got a a lot of pub for whipping the Titans, and then stank at home. I think the moral of this story is the Titans aren't as good as people think they are.
Oddly enough, Manning came out of his worst game in solid shape in the MVP race. All the other major QB candidates had really bad games AND lost. Brees is done for sure, as two picks in the final 2:30 cost his team the game. Favre was exposed, and Warner sucked on national TV (sort of). Manning didn't play well today (although the game looks different if Wayne hangs onto that TD pass), but ultimately his one turnover (not three as reported some places-the hail mary was irrelevant and the Colts actually recovered his fumble). In the end winning matters. Basically the whole race is more screwed than ever as the Skins lost too, which dings the Portis campaign. It may come down to Eli by default, though I haven't heard anyone mention him. Maybe APete goes nuts tonight.
This team needs Jeff Saturday on the field. Richard played fine, but couldn't handle his matchups on too many plays. Still, no sacks today, so he didn't fail miserably.
Anyone notice that I haven't said one negative word about Charlie Johnson in weeks?
We missed the passes to the RBs today. Addai had to stay in on blitz pick up (which he did wonderfully). I don't know if that was scheme related or because the Colts didn't trust Richard.
I said at the time that passing on the FG was a mistake at half time, and I was right. The weather made this game nearly impossible to score in, and you can't turn your back on points. Those three points would have changed the complexion of the second half.
Whipping boys Session and Jennings both had very nice games. The Colts pass D held Cleveland under THREE YARDS A PASS. That's insane.
Freeney and Mathis. Nothing else needs to be said.
The Browns are awful. Derek Anderson's trade value is at the same level as the Loch Ness Monster...they don't exist. If this game had been played on a calm day, it's not even close. Outdoor football in bad weather isn't fun. It's pointless.
The Cleveland DBs made a couple of nice plays in this game. It almost was the only aspect of the game they played well in. Actually the LBs closed the holes pretty will on our running backs. There was space at the line, but it disappeared at the next level.
Ultimately, the Colts are still an average team on the field that has some kind of special 'it quality'. Every week either Manning saves us, or Mathis/Freeney does. Those three players are operating at an other-wordly level that seems to make the difference in close games. This team is 8-4, but won't truly roll until it gets Saturday and Sanders back. On top of that, now we have worry about Brackett and Dawson. Fun.
Once Indy took the lead, we all knew there was no chance in hell for the Browns to score. Anderson was awful. He made exactly one really nice throw all day.

Ultimately, winning beats the hell out of losing. Imagine how we'd feel today if that had gone against us.

Links:
Don Banks this is a good kind of win.

CHFF says the D is a winner.

I don't think he put it right, but this season at least, Perloff is right. Manning's three worst games were the wind games at GB, Tennessee, and Cleveland. It's not the elements, it's the wind. Manning's won plenty of bad weather games, but he struggles to run this offense this year in the wind. The lack of a consistent run game is part of the reason.

PK elevates Manning to the top spot. When you look at his list, how can you argue?

Let's never speak of this again

2008-11-30T17:20:00.004-03:00

Colts 10 - Browns 6

Colts/Browns Live Game Blog

2008-11-30T10:30:00.002-03:00

Once again, if you know you are going to participate, please email us at 18to88@gmail.com, and we'll send you a panelist invite.

Please limit comments to mostly complete sentences about the game and try to limit exclamations.

Eye've been busy

2008-11-29T23:21:00.005-03:00

Hey, so what if Eyes in the Backfield is super late today. No one is reading this on a holiday weekend anyway, right? Here's a preview:

Another week, another miracle. In what once seemed to be a lost season, the Colts have stormed back to three games over .500 with a chance to put themselves on a serious roll. All that stands in front of them is a matchup with the inexplicable Cleveland Browns. The Browns are not devoid of talent, as proven by their prime time thrashing of the Giants, but still flounder near the bottom of the league, prompted up only by the Bengals in the AFC North. This week watch for:

1. Watch for the back-up who's really the starter, but only temporarily ...probably. The biggest story swirling around the Browns is their inscrutable QB situation. Two drafts ago, they traded up for Brady Quinn, only to start Derek Anderson (after trading Charlie Frye after one game). They then didn't trade Anderson, but rather signed him to a long term deal before benching him midway through the season, thus killing his trade value. They stuck with Quinn for two and a half games before head coach Romeo Crennel benched him mid-game and brought Anderson back. Now, Quinn is gone for the season with a finger injury, and the Browns have Anderson back. God only knows what Anderson is going to do on Sunday, but Colts fans certainly hope that he'll be as utterly confused by the cover-2 as he has been by his role in the Browns future.

2. Watch third down. Peyton Manning slaughtered the Chargers on third down last week and the Colts are once again leading the NFL in third down conversion percentage. Manning has made it brutal on teams trying to get the Colts off the field. The Browns have been better on third down than on first and second, which is usually the sign of a team that is actually worse than their record. That's a scary thought for Browns fans.

Check out the rest here.

Thanksgiving Leftovers...

2008-11-29T22:25:00.004-03:00

The holiday prevented us from doing the podcast (shocker!), so here's my thoughts and observations leftover from the Chargers game:

3-1-IND 42		(6:10) 18-P.Manning pass deep middle to 87-R.Wayne to SD 32 for 26 yards (32-E.Weddle). Clark and Addai stay in on max protect to pick up the blitz. Wayne beats a double team off the P/A fake

3-2-SD 25		(:20) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers pass deep left to 80-M.Floyd to IND 44 for 31 yards (33-M.Bullitt). 6 man blitz, LT picks off on of them. No one gets there. Bethea gets beat in single coverage which is obviously a bad matchup.
1-10-IND 44		(9:40) 18-P.Manning pass deep middle intended for 88-M.Harrison INTERCEPTED by 23-Q.Jammer at SD 11. 23-Q.Jammer to SD 11 for no gain (88-M.Harrison). Great pocket, the ball was terminally underthrown, unless there was some route issue we can't know. Bad throw.
3-7-SD 14		(8:46) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers pass deep middle to 80-M.Floyd to SD 37 for 23 yards (31-K.Ratliff). Rivers slides wide of Freeney, as both ends cut to the inside. This left no one pursuing Rivers to the back side (think Rosenfels in Houston on the Mathis play). It's a simple hole in the zone on coverage.
1-10-IND 39 (5:05) 17-P.Rivers pass deep middle to 83-V.Jackson for 39 yards, TOUCHDOWN. P/A fake, no rush at all. Brackett just can't get deep enough. Either Bullitt or Bethea was late coming over.
3-1-IND 38		(4:13) 29-J.Addai left tackle to SD 39 for 23 yards (32-E.Weddle). Great block by Reid, and Addai cuts back inside.
3-2-SD 13		(:43) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass short left to 11-A.Gonzalez for 13 yards, TOUCHDOWN. It's a simple pick play that was legal thanks to the defensive chuck on Wayne.
3-12-IND 14		(11:08) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers sacked at IND 24 for -10 yards (98-R.Mathis). FUMBLES (98-R.Mathis) [98-R.Mathis], RECOVERED by IND-79-R.Brock at IND 25. 79-R.Brock to IND 34 for 9 yards (79-M.Goff). One of the plays of the game for sure. The D made two great run stops to set up the passing down. Mathis flat beats his man, and Rivers tries to slide (see play 5) and starts to square his body to throw. Big mistake there Phil.
3-4-SD 46		(8:10) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass short right to 11-A.Gonzalez ran ob at SD 17 for 29 yards (42-C.Hart). No rush, AG is wide open due to an ankle breaking juke. This was a Harrisonesque route by Gonzo. He's getting better all the time.
4-1-SD 1		(3:54) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass short left to 38-D.Rhodes for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN. Simple juke and cut by Dom, with EXPLOSIVE speed out of the break. Ugoh blocks no one, but 18 still gets the TD.
2-6-SD 48		(1:44) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers sacked at SD 45 for -3 yards (sack split by 98-R.Mathis and 68-E.Foster). Freeney beats the double team, and Mathis and Foster clean up the mess.
3-7-IND 45		(14:04) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to 44-D.Clark (42-C.Hart). PENALTY on SD-42-C.Hart, Defensive Pass Interference, 5 yards, enforced at IND 45 - No Play. Manning is pressured (Ugoh gets beat again), and throws four yards short of the first down. The confusion on the PI call is becuase it was called on the wrong guy. 20 actually does interfere with Clark. He's chucking Gonzo, who drives him into Clark as he makes his cut. Thus the DB contacts the intended receiver which is...Pass interference. Tough call, but a right one.
3-12-IND 48		(13:35) (Shotgun) 18-P.Manning pass deep left to 11-A.Gonzalez ran ob at SD 33 for 19 yards (42-C.Hart). This is just a sick throw as Gonzo beats the zone.
1-10-IND 45		(9:30) 17-P.Rivers pass deep right to 83-V.Jackson to IND 27 for 18 yards (58-G.Brackett, 26-K.Hayden). Great throw and catch by the Chargers. Hayden plays it perfect, and even tries to jump the route. No complaints. The Bolts earned this. Great D, better O.
3-1-IND 39		(4:06) 29-J.Addai up the middle to IND 37 for -2 yards (95-S.Phillips, 94-J.Tucker). Phillips just abuses Dallas Clark to make the play. CJ and Ugoh had the play blocked for a first down run, but Joe never had a prayer. Dallas barely touches him.
3-15-IND 42		(1:49) (Shotgun) 17-P.Rivers pass short left to 86-B.Manumaleuna to IND 29 for 13 yards (23-T.Jennings). Freeney stunts to force the check down (again...Rivers got scared of him in the second half). Jennings and Bethea ALMOST blow the tackle. At the end of the play Norv utterly loses his mind.
Timeout #1 by SD at 01:35.
4-1-SD 48		(:26) 18-P.Manning pass short left to 88-M.Harrison to SD 34 for 14 yards (23-Q.Jammer). See note at the end of this list.
3-9-SD 33		(:02) 4-A.Vinatieri 51 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-48-J.Snow, Holder-17-H.Smith. Money.

Some thoughts on the big fourth down conversion: Almost everyone but the Colts screwed up this play. First, I believe Indy's intent coming out of the review was to let the clock wind down to about 10 seconds, run fourth down, call timeout and kick the field goal. This would have prevented the Chargers from having time to run a play and kick. This strategy SHOULD have been countered by Norv Turner who had two time outs left. He should have called one once the fourth down was measured. This would have forced Indy to punt. You can't go for a fourth down with 26 seconds left at midfield. Norv effed up royally. Oddly enough, so did the officials who NEVER WOUND THE CLOCK. Had the Colts not gotten the first, San Diego would have had around 16-18 seconds to run multiple plays becuase the officials did for Norv what he was too stupid to do. Fortunately, Marvin was wide open. Much was made out of the pick with the official. It was clear on tape that Marv had ALREADY lost his man at that point. By the way, it was Williams (who almost won this game by himself) that forced the quick throw by 18.

Other thoughts:

No one could watch that game and tell me that Dom runs better than Addai.
Dungy as magnificent in the final minute.
Rivers really is painfully accurate. He made nice throws all night. Conversly LT is not the same player anymore.
Sessions played great in spots, but missed some tackles too.

Links:
Hmmm, someone familiar snuck one into Ask Vic. Gratifying answer from a guy who mocked the Colts for drafting four centers and also declared Manning to be done during his live game blog in September.

Judge gets more Manning V Manning hype rolling. Whatever. I'd be thrilled with it.

Kurt Warner for MVP?

2008-11-28T00:39:00.004-03:00

Nah gah dah

Things for Which I am Thankful

2008-11-27T07:43:00.007-03:00

I suppose it's cliche to do a thankfulness piece on Thanksgiving day, but seriously, I do this for free so you don't get to complain about a lack of creativity. I am immensely grateful for the myriad of true blessings I have received in my life, and will dedicate the rest of this day those. But for the purposes of a football blog, I am thankful that:

Bart Peterson wanted to keep the Colts in Indy, and we got the new stadium built before the economic roof caved in.

Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in football.

We don't need Bob Sanders for at least a month.

Jeff Saturday has played hurt all year.

Dwight Freeney has picked up right where he left off.

Norv Turner is such a terrible coach.

For the sack/strip.

Tony Dungy didn't retire last January.

Anthony Gonzalez is such a hard worker that he visibly improves every week.

That Charlie Johnson isn't our left tackle anymore. He's played really well at guard.

For Cleveland, Detroit and Cincinnati.

For the right leg of Adam Vinatieri.

For winning in Pittsburgh in my lifetime.

For not losing to the Texans at home in my lifetime.

For Bill Polian. And consequently, that my team is not run by Ted Thompson.

That Jack Del Rio signed a 3 year extension in the offseason, and is all but impossible to fire.

For at least a few more weeks of watching 88 in blue and white. I hope that isn't all we have.

For tiebreakers breaking our way.

For one of the great seasons in Indianapolis history, despite all odds and logic.

Links:
There is so much unintentional comedy in Vic Ketchman's Happy Birthday Jags column, that I laughed out loud three times. There wasn't a joke in the piece...except for the Jags themselves.

Whitlock KILLS ESPN. Wow. There's some real hatred there.

How great would a Manning bowl be? Mostly freaking awesome, except that I don't think the Colts would have a prayer of stopping the Giants run game. Still. . . we can dream.

Demond Sanders: Vic's article sounds more like a farewell than a happy birthday. Maybe he's caught wind of something. The Whitlock article is awesome on so many levels. He's dead on about ESPN. Also, I watched the CMU game he refers to and it was the most biased, poorly called game I've heard in a long time.

Learning to Love Football (all over again)

2008-11-25T11:45:00.011-03:00

For a decade now, Colts fans have gotten used to making the playoffs and being considered a contender. We've gotten used to historically fast starts and having our team bandied about with the greatest teams of all time. We've gotten used to insane arguments with Patriots fans who couldn't seem to understand what made their own team so great. Somewhere along the way, a lot of the joy of the week to week was drained out of the game for us. Colts fans in general became more concerned with only winning titles rather than celebrating and enjoying each win.

Then came this season. We were all geared up for another title run with what Bill Polian called 'the most talented team' he's ever had. Then, disaster struck. One injury after another decimated that talent, and left the Colts in trapped in a coffin gasping for air while many outsiders prematurely danced on their half dug grave. It was easy to get despondent when watching the Colts play because their flaws have been so obvious and consistent almost every week. It was like watching the fall of Rome from your barcalounger every Sunday.

Then, almost shockingly, something clicked. The flaws? They didn't disappear, but suddenly they didn't matter as much. The offensive line gelled just enough. Manning gritted his teeth a little more firmly. Freeney spun out of one extra hold. 88 picked up just one more first down. Without warning or reason, a team that had been torture to watch started to win games. They haven't won them pretty, but they've gone up against some of the most talented squads in the conference and walked away on top.

The 1995 Colts are on the top of most long time fans' lists of favorite Colts teams. They repeatedly pulled off amazing comebacks. Their quarterback defied logic with his play. They entered the playoffs as a wildcard team, and beat a poor west coast squad, before knocking off the best team in football, and walked into Pittsburgh and should have left as conference champions. There was no burden of history with that team. They just wanted to win every game they could and make the playoffs. Then when the time came, they were battle tested and ready to win in any way necessary.

The 2008 Colts seem to be their natural brothers. In 2007, Indy played a total of 4 games worth watching out of 16 (@Ten, NE, @SD, @Oak). Already, in just 11 games, the Colts have played seven games that went down to the wire (winning 6). They have played 4 different games that could challenge for our Greatest Wins list. I can't find a way to rank the Minnesota, Houston, Pittsburgh and San Diego games because they were all thrilling. Finally, it dawned on me yesterday...I love this team. They are make all the wrong kind of mistakes, but somehow 18 and 4 and 93 and 98 and...always seem to make the one play they have to. No team this beat up should be 7-4 against a tough schedule. This Colts team has made it fun for me watch football again. Forget championships for a minute and just appreciate rooting for a team that won't quit.

I really look forward to the games now; gone is the nagging dread of a loss. I've accepted that this team isn't the best in the NFL this year (NY Giants have been from week one). They still might win it all, or at least more than they ought, but they don't have to in order for me to feel good about this year. It'll take a nice playoff run to unseat 1995 in heart, but if a team ever had the chance to, this is the year it could happen.

Thanks 2008 Colts. You made it fun again.

Links:
This isn't really a link, but here are the updated projections for Manning and Cassel:
Cassel (link to last week's post for comparison)

Comp	Att	%	Yards	YPA	TD	INT	Rating
346	522	66.3	3804	7.3	19	12	90.5

Manning

Comp	Att	%	Yards	YPA	TD	INT	Rating
387	617	62.7	4106	6.7	28	15	87.2

The biggest change for 18 is that his completion % is now within normal limits. The only number he has that won't fully recover by the end of the year is his YPA.

SI's Playoff projection is sort of lame.

IU gets off without anything worse happening. That's all that matters.

Never in the history of man has anything been more predictable than Easterbrook's comments on Sunday's game.

18to88.com makes another appearance in Walk Through. He confuses Demond and I because of the whole Facebook presence, but whatever. It's a great piece anyway, and mostly my fault he was confused.

Demond Sanders: Mostly your fault? LOL. You created a Facebook account with my name and operated it as if you were me. Yes, I'd say the confusion was mostly your fault. For the record: I don't believe in Facebook as a concept. I thought awkwardly bumping into people you only know tangentially or haven't seen in 20 years was a bad thing. . .

DZ responds: It's not my fault that Facebook wouldn't accept Zombie as a last name. They are bigoted against the undead.

A look at the MVP Race

2008-11-24T21:03:00.007-03:00

Anyone who has crunched the numbers knows the AFC South division title is over. The Titans won. Tennessee can clinch the division by winning any two of its final five games. Trust me, I ran the tie-breaker scenarios and did the math.

So besides the wild-card positioning what is left to root for? I suggest rooting for Peyton Manning. He has a ridiculously good shot at his third MVP award. Here is my unbiased look at the front-runners. If you think you have a better candidate in mind, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Keep in mind that this award is nearly always won by a QB or RB.

1.) Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals
Stats: 21 TDs, 8 INTs, 3506 YDs, 102.4 Rating
Team Record: 7-4, 1st place NFC West
Last week: 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 Lost Fumble in a loss to NYG
Remaining Games: @Phi, STL, MIN, @Pats, SEA

Warner is still the odds on favorite, but he didn't help himself any with his second uneven performance in a row. The NFC West is horrible, but Warner will still get the credit for the Cardinals first division title since 1975. If no one emerges with a serious case Warner may be the default winner of this award.

2.) Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Stats: 19 TDs, 10 INTs, 2823 YDs, 87.2 Rating
Team Record: 7-4, 2nd place AFC South
Last week: 2 TD, 1 INT in a win at SD
Remaining Games: @Cle, CIN, DET, @Jax, TEN

Manning's stats are not eye-catching, but his growing list of clutch wins is very impressive. He certainly deserves to be in the conversation as long as the Colts continue their winning ways. If the race is tight Manning may have an advantage because of his consistently great play since his last MVP win in 2004.

3.) Brett Favre, New York Jets
Stats: 20 TDs, 13 INTs, 2461 YDs, 94.1 Rating
Team Record: 8-3, 1st place AFC East
Last week: 2 TD, 1 INT in a win at TEN.
Remaining Games: DEN, @SF, BUF, @Sea, MIA

As a wise man once said, "Brett Favre is Brett Favre." I could have easily put him in second place. He is leading arguably the best team in the AFC in the biggest media market in the world. The media wants to give him this award, but he'll probably need to win the East and finish with 30 TDs.

4.) Eli Manning, New York Giants
Stats: 18 TDs, 7 INTs, 2319 YDs, 91.6 Rating
Team Record: 10-1, 1st place NFC East
Last week: 3TD, 0 INT in a win at AZ
Remaining Games: @Was, PHI, @Dal, CAR, @Min

I know I recently said there was no way Eli would win the MVP, but 3 touchdowns against a decent Cardinals squad changed my mind. Is he important enough to his own team? I don't think so, but he is the leader of the best team in football. I don't ever remember an MVP race this balanced, so it wouldn't surprise me if the voters gave it to a member of the far and away best team.

5.) Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons
Stats: 1088 YDs, 13 TDs, 4.3 YPC
Team Record: 7-4, 3rd place NFC South
Last Week: 117 YDs, 4 TDs in a win over CAR
Remaining Games: @SD, @NO, TB, @Min, STL

Turner is a sleeper pick whose candidacy is dependent on his team finishing strong and winning the division. His quarterback, Matt Ryan, deserves a lot of credit, but he is a rookie and his numbers are pedestrian. Turner has been a revelation in Atlanta and could steal this award with a late season surge.

Others in the conversation: Drew Brees (needs wins), Randy Moss (needs stats and wins), Clinton Portis (needs wins), Adrian Peterson (needs wins), Brandon Jacobs (needs stats)

Make a note of it

2008-11-24T14:12:00.004-03:00

I finally got a nap after only 2 hours of sleep last night, so I think I can form a few coherent thoughts about the game.

What kind of a season has it been when this is possibly only the third or even fourth most exciting game of the year? How do you rank these wins? The Colts are the best watch on TV. Between Minnesota, Jacksonville, Houston, Pittsburgh, and San Diego, the Patriots game (which was decided in the fourth quarter on a 50 yard AV FG) seems like crap. Amazing every week. I'm ready for a break.
This was a valiant effort by the defense. Yes, they completely wilted in the fourth quarter (which we all saw coming), but again, you have to feel like Bob Sanders stops at least one of those scoring drives. Bullitt is a solid replacement, who makes plays and mistakes. He's not Bob Sanders.
Tony Dungy is a great coach. He had the guts to try and go out and win the game, not once but twice on tough fourth down decisions that could have cost him. He coaches mostly without fear. I still wanted one more fourth down try early in the game, but I have no problem with what he did. His team has been destroyed by injuries at literally every position on the field in the last 12 months. He's going to post another double digit win season and guide his men to the playoffs. If this is it for him, he could not have gone out better.
The Colts have to get better to have a chance to win it all. The truth is that they are winning almost every game at the wire on Manning's will, Freeney's spin, and AV's cannon leg. The problems last night were obvious. There is no pressure at all ever up the middle. If Freeney and Mathis don't break free, there is no pressure. The secondary isn't sound enough to hold up under that kind of strain. On offense, Manning still is underthrowing deep balls which is making it tough on the offense. Jamey Richards played valiently, but wasn't as effective as Saturday. The O dominates on third and fourth and short, but at a key time Dallas Clark failed to block his man, and it almost cost Indy the game.
The Chargers have talent all over the field, but are run by clowns.
Tom Moore's passing routes have been amazing in their design.
When 18 says that 88 was the first option all the way on the two most important passes of the game, that says something. It's still hard for me to get away from how weak his numbers are, but who am I to argue with Manning.
No drops last night. The Chargers dropped the ball late and it cost them the game.
If we never see the Chargers again, it's all right with me. Oh crap, we'll most likely see them next year. Sigh.
For my money, the best team I've seen in the AFC all year is still Pittsburgh. I don't buy the Jets, but I really don't by the Titans. I think New England will be a nasty out by the end of the year. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see 5 and 6 meet for the AFC Championship. If you don't chop the head off of Dungy and Belichick teams, you'd had better be ready to lose.
The numbers still say the Colts are pretty average. The PF/PA against isn't strong. They've won a lot of games they have no business winning, largely because everytime they play they have the single best player on the field. If that isn't the definition of MVP, I don't know what is.
I'll post updated projections for Manning and the new golden boy Matt Cassel tomorrow.

Links:
Peter King is all over the board. He puts the Colts behind NE and Pittsburgh this week, and at #6. He still has Manning at #2 on the MVP list. He says the Zombie is a great guy...just before he eats your brain.

ESPN says that Manning was unconscience on third down. Yup. That's our boy.

CHFF thinks the Patriots have to start asking some tough questions. No kidding. Especially because it will likely take Tommy boy all next year to really be himself. Can they really afford to just like Cassel walk?

They also have a great stat on the dominant four in the AFC.

Audibles is good this week. Tanier thinks the Colts O must drive teams crazy.

Ask Vic is a miserable place to be. I love it.

Streaking

2008-11-24T01:43:00.000-03:00

Colts 23 - Chargers 20

Colts Chargers Live Game Blog

2008-11-23T17:30:00.000-03:00

As always, limit your comments to, you know, actual comments. If you are a regular and want to help us free up spots, email us at 18to88@gmail.com, and we'll send you a panelist invite. Other than Demond and I and panelists, we can only have 10 other participants at a time, so if you leave mid chat, please let us know.

Happy Birthday Deshawn Zombie!

2008-11-23T14:57:00.016-03:00

Happy birthday, DZ!! Here are pics of some of your favorite sports stars over the years. Hope you have a good birthday in Argentina.

He has to go

2008-11-22T19:15:00.009-03:00

Indiana lost the Old Oaken Bucket to Purdue today by a score of 62 - 10. Words can't really express the embarrassment Hoosier fans feel over this latest football humiliation. Here is my stream of consciousness during the first 15 minutes of the game:

Neither of these coaches will be back next year. Kellen Lewis is from Jacksonville? No wonder he sucks. They are going to be 3-9 one year after their bowl. Purdue is kicking onsides? They are clowning us. 17-0 in the first quarter. Goodbye Billy. Don't let the door hit you etc. I'm done with IU football forever if Lynch is retained. But he was 8-2 at DePauw!!! He looks forlorn. Like he knows there is a -1% chance Lewis could lead a 24 point comeback. Yes, a negative chance. In fact, if IU got like 6 turnovers and defensive scores. . . Lewis would definitely throw several picks on obvious running downs just to make sure. All the little things that have gone wrong. Penalties, fumbles, dropped picks, and it is still the first quarter. Punting into the end zone from the 40 when you are down four scores?! Good job you held them below 30 in the 1st quarter.

FLASHBACK: On November 26 of last year Indiana University announced that it was removing the interim tag and making Bill Lynch its head football coach. This turn of events prompted us to post a not-so-ringing endorsement. Just under a year later our initial reaction appears justified. Was this the worst hire in recent Hoosier history? No, but only because of the Kelvin Sampson disaster. All I can say is thank goodness the AD, Rick Greenspan, is stepping aside next month.

A special thank you to Bob Kravitz for insisting that Lynch should be hired last year. Funny that despite a long search I couldn't find a link to that column.

DZ Comments: The original piece by Kravitz is gone from the Star. Here's a blogger's breakdown of it.

UPDATE: Kravitz was gutless today. He avoided Weis (yikes!) and Lynch altogether. The weird thing about the whole Lynch situation is how painfully obvious it was from the start. Indiana had 8 home games. They didn't play OSU or Michigan. They played two MAC teams.

They won 3 games.

I wouldn't say Kravitz avoided the issue, so much as buried it at the bottom of his column. Here's his take:

Now, though, there will be questions about the future of the guy across the field, Bill Lynch, whose Hoosiers were thoroughly embarrassed. This effort recalled Gerry DiNardo's farewell performance in 2004, a 63-24 loss here in West Lafayette.

Let's just say this: It's possible this was Lynch's last game. But it's not likely.
First, lame-duck athletic director Rick Greenspan will not make the decision. IU let a lame-duck president named Adam Herbert hire Kelvin Sampson, and that didn't work out so well. If anyone is going to make a move any time soon, it's going to be incoming AD Fred Glass, although I don't see that happening. Not right now.

Second, Lynch signed a four-year extension last year after leading the Hoosiers to the program's first bowl appearance in 14 years. It would be both rash and financially irresponsible to pull the plug after one bad season/horrendous performance. At the very least, he needs another year.

Kravitz is correct about the complicating factors that will effect Fred Glass's decision. But the question is do you compound a terrible decision made by your predecessor with a mistake of your own?

Eye Swear Eye'll Stop with the Puns

2008-11-22T10:10:00.005-03:00

No. Probably not. At any rate, Eyes in the Backfield is read for this week. Take a peek:

Other than Bob Sanders' absence killing the defense, we were pretty happy with how last week's Eyes turned out. This week the Horse faces the toughest test left on it's regular season slate: the San Diego Chargers. With both teams fighting for potentially the same playoff berth, Sunday's prime time clash should be true test of Indy's progress. This week watch out for:

1. Watch for 300. Manning has gone over three hundred yards in his last three games against San Diego, and went over 400 last January. The Chargers have one of the worst pass defenses in football, so it stands to reason that Manning is going to pile up the numbers. He's gotten on a roll in recent weeks, and there seems to be no reason to think that will stop this week.

2. Watch Cromartie. Thanks to a bizarre set of circumstances in San Diego last year (including rain, hurt linemen, and something called a Craphonso) Manning threw 6 picks, 3 to Antonio Cromartie. Cromartie used that game to springboard himself to the Pro Bowl with 10 picks on the season. Whether teams have wised up to him, or he's having a down year, he only has 2 picks this season. Because of the connection with Manning, he'll be in spotlight Sunday night.

For more...you know the drill.

UPDATE: Bob is out. Suck.

Derek Schultz on Bob Lamey

2008-11-21T14:38:00.009-03:00

We recently asked Derek Schultz of XL 950 to give his take on long time Colts broadcaster Bob Lamey. Here's what Derek had to say:

"Lamey is among those that I didn't particularly care for. He is a really nice guy and a passionate Colts fan, however sometimes he lets that bleed over too much into his broadcast.

I find it particularly annoying when he constantly complains about officiating. I hold p-b-p people to a higher standard than color guys because I believe it is there responsibility to be professional throughout. The "fan" in the booth is supposed to be the color guy (i.e. Ron Santo). Actually, a perfect example of an outstanding broadcast team is Santo and Pat Hughes on Cubs' broadcasts. Hughes gives you the meat and potatoes - he's your eyes and ears. Santo is emotional and reactionary - he's your head and heart. That's what I want from every broadcast team.

Also, I don't like Lamey's voice (just my personal opinion), but I know that's something he has no control over. He is also inaccurate at times, especially with gains/losses as well as down and distance (and Vinatieri's FG miss at San Diego last year).

You have to take what I say with a big grain of salt because I am not a Colts fan. I think Hawk Harrellson is the worst announcer ever but I know die-hard White Sox fans that will throw you down a flight of stairs to defend him. Fans tend to love their home p-b-p guy and I know plenty of people that love Lamey. I believe that grading announcers is all a matter of personal opinion. Vin Scully, Marv Albert, and Al Michaels are three of the best ever, and I guarantee that there are people out there that can't stand them."

Big thanks to Derek and XL 950 for helping us out. You can hear Derek on XL 950's Xtra Large Lunch, weekdays from Noon to 1 pm. I'm curious how many of you agree with Derek's take on Lamey.

DZ Comments: I can't judge this at all. I love Lamey because other than that weird stretch with Joe McConnell that wasn't pretty at all, he's always been the voice of my Colts experience. I can remember our dad always hated him because "he yells no matter which team has something good happen". In local announcing, I believe that stability is almost as important as quality. Lamey works great for me because he's a conduit to every great Colts team in my lifetime. I love his work, but am way too biased to judge it. For the record, I love the Hawk's home run call, but I think Ron Santo is human waste when it comes to announcing (and that sound is exactly zero people fainting with surprise).

Links:
The Sports guy rips on new fields citing the Colts Bears game as a prime example about the loss of home field advantage. The Luke (or the Stable as some of our readers were calling last week) can be every bit as loud as the dome. I believe that based on my experience there in week one. Our fans act depressed this year. They are still in shock. I expect them to round into form eventually and make the Luke just as loud as the Dome was.

He also calls 18 the MVP while reinforcing the truly dubious nature of his own heterosexuality. Seriously, given the kinds of arguments Pats fans used for years, surely they would have to recognize the greatness of this season. At least he's consistent.

18 Plays is back this week...but still only in written form. I'm still having technical difficulties. I really do plan on podcasting again some day. Just not today.

The Edge of Reason

2008-11-20T14:11:00.008-03:00

I should be slapped for daring to reference a cheap chick flick (and a sequel at that!) in a post about one of the toughest, best players to ever wear the horseshoe on his helmet, but whatever. It has come to my attention that some Colts fans don't hold fond memories of Edgerrin James. The knocks on Edge seem to be among the following:

1. He didn't have enough power to pick up short yardage plays
2. He was selfish and only cared about stats
3. He was a mercenary who left the Colts for a big pay day
4. He wasn't clutch
5. He was cocky and full of himself.
6. His lack of production in AZ proves he wasn't a great player
7. He wasn't a Hall of Fame player.

Let it be known that I couldn't possibly disagree more with this assessment. Perhaps the most unfair comments are the ones aimed at his character. Edge was one of the hardest working, hardest playing Colts ever. Manning said of him after he signed with the Cardinals:

"It's been different when you'd had a guy behind you for seven years. You start to get accustomed to it. Edgerrin James has been one of the best teammates I've ever had in my entire football career," Manning said.

"We won't be teammates anymore, but we'll still be friends. But I'm sad about not being teammates anymore. That's kind of where the business side of the game comes into play. Arizona took great care of him, and I'm happy about that."

He was gracious when he left Indy, and didn't have unkind words for anyone, showing up at the Super Bowl to root on the Colts. He challenged Matt Leinart to work hard to elevate his game to that of Peyton Manning. He described his time with Manning this way:

James says Manning forced players to come up to his level if they wanted the ball; James is trying to bring the same sense of urgency to Arizona. "P wasn't going to throw it to you if you weren't open," he says. "You always had to be on your game. Absence creates that. If you don't have that ball, then you have more respect for it. When it comes your way, you want to do more with it.

Edge wasn't a jerk or lazy or anything other than a player who left his body and soul on the turf at RCA. As of today, he has gained more yards from scrimmage than any active NFL player. He is 12th all time, and if he sees the field at all this year or next, he'll likely finish in the top 8 all time. He's 8th all time in most rushing yards per game. He needs just 300 rushing yards to be 8th all time. He's a four time Pro Bowler and 2 time rushing champion, despite playing in a pass first offense. His career page is littered with reasons to recognize him as one of the great players of this age.

He was spectacular before his knee injury and incredibly consistent after it. The Colts struggled in short yardage situations during his tenure, but Edge still posted record setting success rate numbers. He was a hard hitting runner, and allowed the Colts to function with a below average line for many years. Between his hard running and Manning's quick release, the Colts didn't need a great line to have success.

The only bad thing about Edge was that he never wanted to come off the field. That's a hard thing to criticize a player for. The Colts found success with two backs after Edge left, but that isn't Edge's fault. He wanted to play. And he he did. He was a savage blocker on passing downs, as well as a consistent threat out of the backfield. It was these qualities that endeared him to his teammates.

Edge didn't hold out and gripe when the Colts put the franchise tag on him. He knew he was done in Indy after that year, but still posted more than 1500 yards, averaging more than 100 yards a game. Polian had no interest in resigning a 28 year old RB for premium money, when he was faced with a great RB draft in 2006. Edge's struggles with the Cardinals said more about how terrible that team was than it did about his true skill. Most RBs start to decline in their late 20s (just look at LT). Edge managed to get his big payday before it was too late. Everyone seemed happy for him.

Let me end this ode to the Edge with this quote from an Arizona Central story:

Sometimes, Edgerrin James can be a bit bashful. Like when it comes to talking about his kids (he won't do it). Or when it's time to talk about his new Super Bowl ring, the one he recently received from his previous team in Indianapolis.

"I wanted to keep that a secret," James said.

Understandable. The ring is a symbol of the past. It brings up uncomfortable topics, like how the Colts won a championship without him. It reinforces conventional wisdom, and how it's unwise to spend big dollars on prime-time running backs, like the Cardinals did with James.

But you know what else it says?

It says that James really mattered in Indianapolis, and that the Colts openly recognize that they couldn't have won a title without him.

"Peyton (Manning) tells me all the time that, in the 19 to 20 years he's been playing football, Edgerrin James is the best teammate he's ever had," said former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, father of Peyton and Eli. "The one regret they all have is that they couldn't have won while (James) was still there."

In a coldhearted business like the NFL, that is the ultimate compliment.

You can't read that quote and not realize that this was a special player. I gave Demond a helmet signed by James and Manning for Christmas one year. It's not dated or passe at all. It's a symbol of the rise of the Colts. Edge James is a Colt forever in our hearts. I hope he makes it back into blue and white before it's all over. I hope I can make it to Canton when he's enshrined.

Links:
Shake does a great job defending the Dungy Era in Tampa, and Dungy in general. Fine work.

Big Blue goes Ricardo Montebaum on us. Since I've been letting my 4 year old watch "The Arena" all week, I can freely admit that I love the reference.

Is Peyton Manning having a down year?

2008-11-19T08:06:00.010-03:00

That's been the assertion by many. We've covered a lot of the reasons why that might be the case (a very difficult early schedule, line troubles, no run game, dropped passes, the knee, Marvin Harrison's troubles). There's only one big problem...it's not actually true. As always...numbers can help. These are Peyton's projected stats for 16 games this year:

	Att	Comp	%	Yards	TD	Int	YPA	Rating
2008 (proj)	374	608	61.6	4109	27	14	6.8	86.6

Here are Manning's stats for the last 9 years (rookie year excluded)

	Att	Comp	%	Yards	TD	Int	YPA	Rating
1999	331	533	62.1	4135	26	15	7.8	90.7
2000	357	571	62.5	4413	33	15	7.7	94.7
2001	343	547	62.7	4131	26	23	7.6	84.1
2002	392	591	66.3	4200	27	19	7.1	88.8
2003	379	566	67	4267	29	10	7.5	99
2004	336	497	67.6	4557	49	10	9.2	121.1
2005	305	453	67.3	3747	28	10	8.3	104.1
2006	362	557	65	4397	31	9	7.9	101
2007	337	515	65.4	4040	31	14	7.8	98

These are the averages for those seasons:

Att Comp % Yards TD Int YPA Rating

349

537

65.1

4210

7.8

97.2

Observations:

Manning's completion percentage has been lower than in previous years. The Colts have also dropped more passes than any of us ever remember. Marvin Harrison has only caught 51% of passes thrown to him as opposed to numbers around 70% in his best seasons.
Yards, TDs and picks are all completely within normal ranges. 27 TDs is 'below average' only if you count 2004. 2004 aside and Manning throws 29 TDs a year. His interception % is actually LOWER this year than average due to what would be a record number of throws and a typical number of picks.
His YPA is legitimately lower than ever. He also has had no running game at all. This has lead teams to play deep all season and not respect the play action.
His rating is lower than some years, but on pace with what he did in 2002 when he took a 10-6 team to the playoffs in Dungy's first year.
These projections assume a steady pace for the rest of this year. As we've noted, the Colts schedule was front loaded with tough pass defenses. It is likely that Manning's final numbers will spike significantly by the end of the season. While I doubt he can get his final completion percentage to 65%, he most likely will get his rating up over 90, and has a good chance to get his YPA well over 7.
His numbers look very similar to his first 4 years when he only had one reliable WR. Reggie Wayne began to emerge in 2003 (and wasn't a force until 2004). That was when Manning's efficiency stats jumped to another lever. It's clear that Harrison's struggles this year have hurt Manning's numbers.

So the next time someone tells you how funny it is to see Manning struggle this season, just point to the numbers. Most of them are fairly normal, and the ones that are low are likely to rebound. It's too early to call this a successful season, but by the end, it will likely be a fairly ordinary one statistically, and an extraordinary one given the context of the season.

Links:
More blips on that radar. Adam Schein says Manning is #2 on his MVP list and is currently underrated.

The Polian corner addresses the play of Ugoh. He sounds pleased, but he talked that way about CJ at LT too. Ugoh has been up and down some, but there is no question that his return has solidified the O-line.

Edge wants out of AZ. So sad. Who can blame him really?

Blip on the screen

2008-11-18T17:12:00.010-03:00

Maybe it doesn't merit it's own post, but #18 showed up on another MVP list today:

Bucky Brooks has him at #5.

A big win this week, and you'll only see him get more and more attention.

In other news:
SI predicts the playoff field. They have Indy going 11-5, winning this week and losing at Jacksonville. I would reverse that (especially if Bob is out), but 11-5 is what I'm going with as well.

The guys at Hugging Harold Reynolds have come up with at really great idea for a website. The get local eating tips from various bloggers around the sports world. Fanfoodie is a great place to check out before you head on a road trip. Oh, and the Indy entry? I think you'll recognize the contributors. I'm open to argument on our post. If you disagree with our pick, please comment on the post there or here. And yes, I missed a chance to try and push "The Stable" nickname. I didn't feel it was the place to drop a new nickname.

Bob sends us this link that posits what we all know to be true: the dumpster is definitely ablaze.

The DVOA numbers are out. The O-line numbers are fascinating. Indy is #1 in pass pro, and number 27 in rushing. For those that care: Dom and Joe's numbers are virtually identical. What does this tell us? The line isn't that good, but Manning's completion % has taken a hit this year because he's getting rid of the ball and avoiding sacks.

Demond Sanders: I am optimistically leaning towards an 11-5 finish as well. I think the Colts will beat the Chargers in a very high-scoring affair. I think they might lose to Jacksonville, although the Jaguars are truly terrible so a 6-0 finish is possible. Not that it matters since they can't improve their seeding beyond the 5 spot. Now we know what it has been like to be Jacksonville the past few years.

I think its interesting that Bucky dropped Eli Manning from the 3 spot last week to unranked this week. Maybe he realized there is no chance in hell Eli is winning it this season. I love Eli and he has good stats, but he's not important enough to his own team to merit the MVP. I think the Kerry Collins ranking may also be a courtesy thing. If he finishes with 20 touchdowns AND 15 wins then maybe, but that won't happen.

Read this before judging Marvin Harrison for having his gun used to shoot a convicted murderer.

The Colts may add another TE. I wonder if Santi will be IRed

I told you so?

2008-11-17T22:39:00.004-03:00

Earlier this week I wrote, "I think the Colts are about to go on the offensive and Marvin will be a big part of it." So far, so good.

I was a little worried after Marvin put up only one catch in the first half against Houston. But then it happened. The second half. Thirty minutes that could have major implications for the rest of the season. 8 catches. 6 first downs. 1 touchdown. Am I being overly dramatic? Probably, but you have to admit it felt pretty good to see #88 reach back to grab the ball, keep his knees off the ground, and fight to get in the endzone for 6.

Is it time for I told you so? Uh, no. It was just one game. Remember that Marvin had 8 catches against the Bears in week 1 and promptly disappeared for two months. But, I expect to see a lot more out of Marvin from here on out.

What a difference a week makes. Here are the Colts updated receiving stats:

Player	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
Reggie Wayne	56	790	14.1	65	5
Anthony Gonzalez	40	473	11.8	58	2
Dallas Clark	39	459	11.8	29	3
Marvin Harrison	39	434	11.1	67	4

DZ Comments: I sure hope you are right. This is one time I won't mind being wrong. The six first downs were significant. These weren't short passes the D didn't mind giving up. They were chain moving catches. Watching him fight for the ball and the score helped quiet people who questioned his desire (which I didn't and wouldn't do). Ultimately, you are right. One week proves nothing. Let's see he show up big on Sunday night in a tough game, and a lot more of us will believe.

Why I'm so excited about a 6 point win

2008-11-17T08:57:00.007-03:00

We predicted a slaughter, and got a dogfight. Why am I so happy? First off, if we had known Bob Sanders would be inactive, we would never have expected the defense to shut down Houston. This team is radically different when he plays. More important than the margin of victory was the reappearance of all phases of the offense. Here's what I noticed:

1. Hey! It's the run game! It was great to see Addai SLAM ahead in the fourth quarter for a big first down conversion. As the game went along, he looked shifty and fast. If this team starts running effectively, it will be hard to beat (see 2006, postseason; don't see 2005, 2007).

2. Harrison did what I wanted to see (my exact quote was: Harrison may be getting open deep, but he's not getting open short). Kravitz complained that all Marvin's completions were short. GOOD! Look, deep balls are freaky. They can result from perfect throws or blown coverage. It's the slants and hooks for first downs that move the chains. THOSE were the plays where Marvin hadn't shown any separation all season. It was those same throws that Manning kept having picked in weeks two and three. These were the routes that Nick Harper(!) was batting down. When corners get sick of giving up first downs to 88, that's when they bite on double moves and big gains follow. Marvin needs a few more games like this convince everyone that he really is ok, but this was a start.

3. Dwight Freeney seems to make all his sacks big ones. He has long been one of the most 'clutch' players on the Colts D (he was the only one to show up for Black Sunday against Pittsburgh). He had two sacks yesterday and both were big.

4. Melvin Bullitt has four picks. That's second in the NFL. He's had three 'game enders'. That sounds impressive, and it's a nice stat for him. It's not that big a deal really. Those are good plays, but none of his picks have been particularly tough plays. He struggled yesterday.

5. Clint Session has improved dramatically from early in the year.

6. Ugoh struggled on the one bizarre drive to end the first half, but Williams had no sacks of Manning. Penalties are bad. Sacks are worse. Given the run and pass offense yesterday, I don't think you can score that matchup as any worse than a wash. Ugoh hasn't always been pretty, but this line is better with him. I say it every week, because it's obvious.

7. Peyton was brilliant again yesterday. Ever since the two back to back games in the wind against great pass defenses, Manning has been unstoppable. His completion percentage is down this year thanks to lots of throw aways from pressure and an ungodly number of drops. His cumulative stats continue to improve each week, and while a couple of the efficiency stats may be lower this year, he'll still throw for 4,000 yards and 28-30 scores. He needs a huge game against SD to get the MVP train chugging at full speed.

8. Sunday night's game is massive. A win, and the Colts are sitting at a very solid 7-4 looking at a spate of winnable games. A loss, and they are right back where they've been...scratching and clawing each week. In fact, a win and they are right back on track for an 11 (or 12) win season. This season may yet be about the improvement of the Titans (re: VY got benched) more than the decline of the Colts. Really the only 'bad' loss the Colts have was the debacle against the Jags, where the officials blew several obvious calls and turned a blow out into a loss. The Chargers MUST have this game Sunday. It's going to be tough. Everyone pray for Bob's knee this week!

9. The Jags are done! The Jags are done! After the game Jack Del Rio repented of his harsh treatment of the team. He ordered the locker room repainted with pastels, and bought all his players muffin baskets. He then demoted MJD to the practice squad for 'giving him a dirty look'. What a clown.

Links:
Peter King puts Manning at #2 in the MVP watch, but then says he thinks the Colts would be 3-7 without him? Really? Which 3 do you think they win? I'm thinking 1-9 would be generous.

Demond Sanders: After Warner's middling 1 touchdown, 1 pick effort against Seattle it is fair to say the MVP race is on like Donkey Kong. Someone is going to win their record-tying third MVP. Warner is the sexy pick right now because he's leading an exciting young team. He also has the comeback story working for him. Manning can overcome that, but it will be difficult. Lots of wins and touchdowns are in order.

Dallas Clark talks to ESPN

Manning plummets in Quick Reads...all the way to number two for the week. He had been on top the previous two weeks in a row.

Vintage

2008-11-16T18:29:00.000-03:00

Colts 33 Texans 27

Colts Texans Live Game blog

2008-11-16T08:34:00.003-03:00

Demond will be at the game today (Happy birthday, man), so I will covering things by myself. I liked the flow last week, so again, try to keep comments limited to mostly complete sentences. If we keep the "wow!" and "ooohs" to a minimum, it makes the chat easier to follow and read later.

If you are sure you want to participate today, email me at 18to88@gmail.com, and I'll send you an invitation to be a panelist. This frees up spots for more people to participate, as I can only auto clear 10 non-panelists at a time. Thanks.

Eye am ready for this game

2008-11-15T12:55:00.003-03:00

Like clockwork, Eyes in the Backfield is all ready to go today. Here's a preview:

After winning a game that we thought would be impossible, the Colts look to get on a serious roll. As luck would have it, the Houston Texans roll into Indy this week. And while games in Texas Stadium have always been tight, games in Indy never are. We are all looking for a dominant performance on both sides of the ball this week, but how will it play out remains to be seen. This week be on the lookout for:

1. Watch the deep ball. The Colts have been herky-jerky all year on deep pass, and it's imperative to get the deep game working in order for the offense to truly click. With Wayne and Gonzo out of practice for much of the week, 18 and 88 have been working a little extra with one another. Don't be surprised to see Marvin grab a least one pass over 30 yards.

2. Watch the corners. Even Colts #1 corner Marlin Jackson had trouble containing Andre Johnson in the first game. Johnson is a serious beast, and #3 and #5 corners Jennings and Ratliff will have more than their hands full. Watch for safety help at all times on Johnson, who may have to take some big hits after catches. If the Colts can limit Johnson, the Texans don't have a chance.

My favorite part is the picture this week. For more, just click.

18 Plays...technical difficulties

2008-11-14T14:39:00.004-03:00

So, last night we sat down to record 18 Plays, and spent a good 50 minutes rehashing the Steelers game. When I went to edit the recordings, I found they were worthless. For some reason, it recorded Demond talking over me, so the whole thing was a mess. Since we went to all the effort, I decided to transcribe the 18 Plays (mostly). Here's the result. We'll try the podcast one more time next week, but a three hour time difference between BA and Indy is making it hard. I have to wait until midnight to start recording, so it's safe to say the future of the podcast is in doubt. 18 Plays may have to become a regular feature on the site. We'll see.

Links:
Tony Dungy appears on Mike and Mike. He rooted for the Jets last night because of 'tiebreakers'.

John Lynch got hit in the head one too many times. Retiring as a Buc AND a Bronco? Um, that's just called...retiring.

Numbers I find interesting...

2008-11-14T13:38:00.010-03:00

		Comp	Att	%	YPA	TD	INT	Rating
Matt Cassel (proj)		369	562	65.8	7	18	12	87.3
	2006	319	516	61.8	6.8	24	12	87.9
	2005	334	530	63	7.8	26	14	92.3
	2004	288	474	60.8	7.8	28	14	92.6
	2003	317	527	60.2	6.9	23	12	85.9
	2002	373	601	62.1	6.3	28	14	85.7
	2001	264	413	63.9	6.9	18	12	86.5

Anyone want to guess the mystery QB whose stats are listed below Cassel's? It's interesting. That's all I'm saying.

I also forgot to post the yardage totals:

Yards
3911 (Cassel projected)
3,529
4,110
3,692
3,620
3,764
2,843

Demond Sanders: Could it be this animal lover?

Ted Thompson's Day Off-A MMTTB Report

2008-11-13T11:19:00.010-03:00

Since we last visited the bosses of Cheeseville, the Pack has dropped two games AND resigned Aaron Rodgers through 2014. This has to be one of the most baffling moves of the reign of Thompson and McCarthy. On one hand, they draft Brian Brohm in the second round, and now, before the halfway mark of his first season, the ink Rodgers to a massive deal, despite only being one game over .500 at the time. I realize that there is some cap advantage to doing this deal before the end of this season, but ultimately, it makes the Packers brain trust seem eerily similar to Ferris Bueller's pal Cameron of whom Ferris said,

"Cameron has never been in love. At least, nobody's ever been in love with him. If things don't change for him, he's gonna marry the first girl he lays, and she's gonna treat him like s*** because she will have given him what he has built up in his mind as the end all be all of human existence. She won't respect him, because you can't respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn't work."

Thompson and McCarthy jumped into bed with Rodgers too soon, and now they married him. Since then, the Pack has dropped two games including losing to the Vikings in a game in which Rodgers couldn't win despite a defensive and special teams score.

Oh, and Brett Favre? He's been uneven but the Jets are 6-3 and looking to claim a division title if they can beat the Pats tonight.

This week, it seems that the collective MMTTB IQ is about on par with a kid who would steal his dad's vintage Ferrari. Let's place them at about 110, but with a low self-esteem that makes them do really stupid stuff.

Links: Big Sexy hates on some coaches, including Mad Jack.

CHFF thinks the Colts are rolling

Mike Tanier had a great line today:
Texans at Colts: Sage Rosenfels wants to redeem himself for his fourth-quarter fumble against the Colts in Week 5. And his other fourth-quarter fumble in Week 5. And his fourth-quarter interception in Week 5. And the interception he threw in the red zone at the end of the third quarter against the Vikings. And all of the passes he threw right into Ray Lewis' chest last week. And ... well, he'd like a mulligan for all of 2008, if that could be arranged. Colts.

The Sports guy is back. Honestly, he's been pretty weak for a while now, but I laughed out loud 5 times reading this column. His platform for Czar of Sports is flawless. Pieces like this are why people bothered to read him in the first place. He still seems to act like he wants to get fired, but I'll hand it to him...he was on his game today.

A Make-up Gift

2008-11-13T10:37:00.003-03:00

Sorry about no post yesterday, in addition to the MMTTB report which is coming shortly, I wanted to treat you all to this gem from 2003. I just found it in a stack of magazines I had saved. I just want to say an extra thank you to my buddy Nate (the same one who has been letting me watch the games on his sling box) for giving this to me 5 years ago. Needless to say, that's getting framed and going on my wall. Don't take my questioning of Marvin the last few days as a statement of how I feel about him as a player. You find few people who are bigger 88 fans and supporters. I hope he makes me look like a fool. Here's to 50 catches and 6 scores over the last seven games.

And no matter what...this site will ALWAYS be 18to88.

The Train is Leaving the Station

2008-11-11T15:33:00.025-03:00

The Peyton Manning for MVP Express is just getting revved up. Today we had the first serious mention of Manning as an MVP candidate. I realize that it was just Peter King and not a serious journalist, but still. We'll take what we can get.

For those who missed my comment yesterday, Manning's slate of pass defenses is about to get incredibly attractive. He has a very real shot at 30-35 TD passes the rest of the year. Should the Colts go 6-1 and get to 11 wins, Manning will have to be seen as a front runner for the MVP award. To get to 30, he'll have to throw just over 2 a game.

This may seem a little far fetched given the offensive struggles this year, but now that the toughest games on the Colts schedule are behind them, the odds of Manning throwing together a very credible statistical season seem strong. The media is funny about these things. They'll start talking about rhythm and timing and healing, and some of those will be factors. The main reason the Colts offense will 'get better' will be that they aren't playing as good of defenses. Manning may not actually play any better from here on out, but it'll look like he is. Ultimately, if the Colts make the playoffs with 11 wins (or more?), it will be hard for voters to look off a QB who lead some daunting comebacks and has a Hall of Fame pedigree.

Don't misunderstand me, I think the Colts are improving on offense. But I think the results will appear out of line with the actual improvement. Indy will probably have several 30+ games the rest of the year, making it appear as if they've hit some new plane of being. In reality, the improvement will be slight but magnified by a string of really weak teams.

The key to true elevation of the offense isn't the run game. I think that will happen naturally as Addai gets healthy and the line continues to gel (which it has shown signs of doing). The real key will be Harrison. He will have to either start making plays or be deemphasized in the offense. Demond and I have been debating Marvin for two days. Here's how his FO stats look compared to the other Colts WRs (through 8 weeks):

		DYAR	Rank	YAR	Rank	DVOA	Rank
87-R.Wayne	IND	163	8	139	12	15.90%	21
11-A.Gonzalez	IND	147	11	140	11	28.00%	7
88-M.Harrison	IND	-42	69	-42	70	-22.00%	69

VOA	Passes	Yards	Eyds	TDs	Catch Rate
11.70%	71	569	705	5	61%
26.00%	47	412	512	3	72%
-21.90%	57	320	303	4	47%

This chart shows a couple of things. First, all the Colts have seen slight drops in production over previous years. It also shows that Harrison has been horrible. He's gotten 10 more passes than AG, but Gonzalez has more catches and yards. I know that it has appeared like Peyton has missed Harrison on some deep balls, but his number are so much worse than the other two WRs that it is impossible to place all the blame on Manning. Harrison may be getting open deep, but he's not getting open short. Marvin has been the weak link. If he indeed is just 'out of sync' with Manning, fine. That had better show up fast. He's drawing a lot of passes from Peyton and simply not catching them. His catch rate is 14% worse than Wayne's, and an amazing 24% worse than Anthony Gonzalez's. This is astounding because AG has dropped at least 5 significant passes this year. AG gets open. Marvin doesn't. He's always had catch rates in the middle to high 60s or better. This was even during seasons when his #2 was Jerome Pathon, and he was double and triple teamed on every play. I hate to say it...but he's seriously not ok. It can't be all Manning's fault. It can't be MOSTLY Manning's fault. The other guys are posting solid numbers. Marvin isn't. Same QB. Same line. Different results.

In other news, Jack Del Rio is hilarious. He acts the fool right before his team plays one of the worst clubs in history, and then uses the win to justify himself. Classic.

Links:
FO looks at the divisions by DVOA

Demond Sanders: I disagree with your take. I think Joseph Addai's play is a bigger problem right through 9 games than Marvin. Harrison has struggled, but he is one of four playmakers through the air (Wayne, Harrison, Clark, Gonzalez). The Colts aren't struggling on offense because of him, and I think he has already been deemphasized to a degree. I think Addai's lack of production has had a much greater impact. He's already missed nearly three full games with an injury. In the games he has played he has looked less capable than his older, less talented backup, Dom Rhodes.

I think both Marvin and Joe will improve as the season goes on. There is no way 18 and 88 will continue to miss on deep balls. I promise you that. But the offense will improve even if that classic connection does not. The run game is the bigger problem, and as you say it will get better as the line gels. This will also help Marvin because DBs will have to be more aware of what is going on in the backfield. At Addai's current production (3.1 yards per rush) safeties and corners don't have to give a second thought to helping out against the run.

Besides if you are blaming Addai's play on injury and the line, can't the same be said for Marvin? He's coming back from a major injury and Peyton's timing on deep routes is clearly being effected by the O-line. It is getting better and I expect a breakout game from those two on Sunday.

DZ Responds:
Marvin has played under all the same conditions as Wayne and Gonzo. He has played dramatically worse. Addai and Rhodes have NOT played under all the same conditions (the line was much, much worse earlier in the year). Even still, their performance has been nearly identical. The Colts lost two games that Addai didn't even play, so it's hard to argue that Dom provided some kind of boost to the offense. Marvin was the intended target of 57 passes. He caught less than half of them. That's about thirty times he produced no gain on a play. Add in the back breaking fumble week one, and it's really not even an argument as to who has played worse.

Addai has been essentally at replacement level this year. So has Dom. Marvin has been WAY below it. He is hurting the team right now. He has to get better.

LINK: FO says DZ is right.

The linked to article on the game is great too
The Colts are leaping up in DVOA. Even the D is above average for the year. They've played the 2nd hardest schedule, but have the 3rd easiest the rest of the way.

Demond Sanders: You have quoted FO non-stop to support your argument, but there's always more to it than stats can tell us. Here is FO's conclusion, "Until Harrison can start making more big plays, the Colts will not recapture their traditional dominant form. Given his age, we might safely say that the Colts offense will not recapture its dominant form this season." Well, the Colts rarely blow out good defensive teams and that's mostly who they've been playing. They make their hay against the Houstons and Detroits (see 2004). I think the Colts are about to go on the offensive and Marvin will be a big part of it. My wife can't believe we spent several hours debating this, but it happened. We'll have to agree to disagree. Here is a transcript of our final jabs:

Deshawn Zombie (6:59:44 PM): why are Marvin's numbers so much worse than the other WRs?

Demond Sanders (7:00:22 PM): he's 36 and coming off an injury and playing against great Ds

Deshawn Zombie (7:00:35 PM): so he sucks

Demond Sanders (7:00:44 PM): is that what i wrote?

Deshawn Zombie (7:01:31 PM): I'm saying he's not playing well because he was hurt and old. You are saying he's not playing well because he's hurt and old

Deshawn Zombie(7:01:34 PM): what's the difference

Demond Sanders (7:01:43 PM): you think he is done

Demond Sanders(7:01:44 PM): i don't

Demond Sanders (7:01:49 PM): i guess that would be it

Deshawn Zombie (7:02:05 PM): I think the evidence shows he's done, and he's going to have to play a ton better to convince me otherwise

Deshawn Zombie (7:02:57 PM): I'm saying I have no reason to believe he can be a good #2 in the league

Deshawn Zombie(7:03:03 PM): nothing he's done indicates that

Aftermath

2008-11-10T08:43:00.009-03:00

I'm still flying high from the win last night. I can't remember a game that I thought the Colts had less chance to win, only to see them pull it out. Honestly, it's probably been 10 years since they had a win quite like that one. Here are my observations about yesterday:

It was nice to get some breaks. There were tipped balls that fell just right yesterday, but the Colts have been on the wrong side fumble/everything else luck all year. The Colts didn't deserve to win this game because of the bounce of the ball? Fine. Give us back the Jacksonville game and we'll call it even.
The season is officially saved, because as Phil B pointed out, if you can go into Pittsburgh and win, you can win anywhere in the AFC. This team won't win the division, but you have to feel good about another 10 (11!) win season and a playoff berth.
This team played really well for the first time since Baltimore. We were all pessimistic last week because only one thing worked against the Pats (#18). Yesterday, the run game was useful. Bare in mind that the Steelers have the best defense in football. The numbers are going to be down against a team like that. The key is if there were useful plays. The Colts ran well on third and short. They had plays in the passing game, and if anything, it felt like they underachieved there. On Defense, there was pressure from Freeney, turnovers, and solid run stopping. When Hayden comes back, the pass D will get that much better. This was the first game this year that I doubt the 2006 or 2007 Colts would have fared dramatically better.
Tim Jennings. That pick he made was a legitmate NFL caliber play. This wasn't Joe Flacco airmailing a ball down 40. This was Ben Roethlisberger trying to pick up a first down to all but ice the game. Jennings was draped on the reciever and ripped the ball from his hands. We've begrudgingly admitted ever so slightly that Jennings has been improving. There is now no question about it. Mr. Jennings, I apologize. You've worked hard and can now be considered a viable NFL corner. As long as you don't pick up any more delay of game calls, I'm officially off your back.
Can we officially call off the dogs on Tony Dungy? This team has played one true 'stinker' this season. Since then, Dungy's boys have taken Tennessee to the fourth quarter tied, beaten NE and Pittsburgh. Whatever problems the Colts have had and continue to have are injury related, not coaching related. Three huge comeback wins (and should have been a fourth against Jville) aren't possible if a team quits. Dungy has his guys hanging on until the end. By the way, check out Kravitz's GREAT line under the coaching section of his report card. Calling the Jags "a dumpster fire" cracked me up. I can't believe I just said nice things about Tim Jennings and Bob Kravitz on the same day. That's what happens when you win in Pittsburgh for the first time in 40 years.
It was great to see the Colts throw to the running backs. Once that reappeared, the offense started to click. I truly believe that's a function of improved line play. There was also a lot more play action. This offense is very close to being 100%. Remember that I didn't say that after the Baltimore game. That was a lot more about hitting a few freaky big plays. The Colts offense is right when it can run and move effectively AND hit huge plays.
God bless Rutgers
The debate on Marvin is really starting to rage, and I understand his defenders. I know that on some of those balls, it looks like Peyton might be the one not hitting him. I'm not buying it. Marvin is a shadow of his former self. Manning has played absolutely great football in multiple games this year. Marvin hasn't. His catch rate is awful, and even when Peyton does find him, he drops the deep ball (more than once this year). I love Marvin Harrison. I'm obviously a HUGE fan. I think he's done. I want to be wrong about this. I wouldn't be surprised to see him rack up 100 yards this weekend. That won't change my mind. The old Marvin caught 65-70% of passes thrown his way. He caught short and deep balls. He was rock solid money all the time. I miss that Marvin. If he has three or four really good games from here to the end of the year, I'll back off saying he's done. At some point the numbers don't lie anymore. His are in the toliet.
The line has really rebounded. At first glance, I saw Ugoh get beat on a couple of plays (including a sack). Pollack got knocked back 5 yards to kill a run, but mostly Peyton had time to operate. Pittsburgh thrives on getting pressure. They couldn't yesterday. One of the sacks was on Manning for not unloading the ball. Pittsburgh had amazing coverage yesterday, but the line gave Manning time to find guys. Great job all around.
I'm not sure what to make of the play of the Gonzo. He is devestating in so many ways, but he has to cut out the drops. I know he got killed on that third down pass, but that's fourth big third down he's flat dropped this year. He's got to hang onto the ball.
My internet connection rules. At one point, I was watching the slingbox, chatting, and talking on a Vonage phone with no breakdown in service on any of them. All this to say: 18 Plays: The Podcast will be returning this week.

Links:

Peter King loooves to jump on the Colts bandwagon

FO audibles the game. Sounds like an Any Given Sunday is coming our way

Stat of the day: Through 9 games, Peyton Manning has faced 5 of the top 11 defenses in terms of defensive passer rating. In his last 7 games, he'll face 5 of the 10 worst defenses in terms of passer rating. My prediction: Manning throws for 35 TDs, posts an aggrate 110 rating for his last 7 games, and makes a serious run at MVP. Ironically, the health of the team will only be part of the reason for the revival. The schedule will just simply get easier. The Colts have only one bad weather game left (at Cleveland). The offense is about to get healthy real quick.

Vic Carucci says the Colts ground one out

USA Today says they did it with D

The Steelers blame themselves

Peyton tops Quick Reads (again)

Clawing out of the Coffin

2008-11-09T21:34:00.007-03:00

Colts 24 - Steelers 20

Oh, and by the way...that's three times this season Peyton has brought the Colts back.
On the road.
After being down by at least 10 points.

Links:

Chadia says help is coming from everywhere

Colts Steelers Live Game Blog

2008-11-09T14:47:00.003-03:00

We'll be here live at 4 pm to talk about the game. I hate the Steelers. It would be oh so nice to win today. Let's try a new tact today. If you choose to participate in the chat, try to limit yourself to comments about the play. If we limit the number of exclamations, the chat may flow better. Thanks.

If you are a regular participant and would like to be pre-approved, email 18to88@gmail.com. We'll give out a very very limited number of panelist invitations. This helps us free up spots during the chat. If you ask for an invite and don't get one, don't be offended; we have a limited number. Just join in like normal, and we'll clear you.

Why we hate them

2008-11-09T12:08:00.003-03:00

1.) Kordell Stewart was playing wide receiver for the first time, and it showed.

2.) It's as simple as two names: Lamont Warren and Quentin Coryatt. So much pain.

3.) Aaron Bailey.

4.) Nick Harper.

DZ Comments: Don't forget how they broke Harbaugh's jaw in the 96 game. We couldn't figure out why he played so bad until we got in the car after the game. Then we obviously forgave him.

Hide Your Eyes

2008-11-08T18:29:00.004-03:00

I was busy moving into my new place today, so Eyes in the Backfield is a little late. Sorry it's such a bleak one this week, folks, but I can't see the Horse winning this game. Honestly, I'll be encouraged if it's even close. Here's a taste:

Last week we came up with a big win. This week, the Horse comes up against a tough team playing at home. The Colts and Steelers haven't met since that awful day in January a couple of years ago. The stakes aren't quite so high when the two teams meet at Heinz Field on Sunday, but it's a big game nonetheless. This week:

1. Watch for Roethlisberger to shoulder the load. He had to leave Monday night's win with a bum wing, and didn't practice all week. He came back to practice today, and will probably start on Sunday. With Willie Parker already out, a gimpy Roethlisberger is going to have tough it up. If he isn't effective, the Colts may well have a chance to win.

2. Watch for total domination. The Steelers are 18-5 against the Colts all time. The Colts franchise hasn't won a game in Pittsburgh since the 60s. This series has been utterly one-sided. The surprising thing is that the teams have only played 23 times. Considering that neither Indianapolis nor Baltimore is that far from Pittsburgh, it's odd the conference rivals have met so infrequently.

As always, if you want more, just click here.

Slump Buster

2008-11-06T22:14:00.004-03:00

Colts 26 - Steelers 20

That's what I'd love to post this Sunday around 7:30 pm Eastern. The Colts badly need a statement win to kick start the 2008 season. I think the odds are currently at or below 50% that Indy will make the playoffs. A win at Pittsburgh would dramatically change their fortunes. I'm curious how the rest of you see this going. Feel free to post your final score predictions here.

The Worst Possible Theory

2008-11-06T16:35:00.002-03:00

Don Banks wastes virtual paper today writing about the Colts coaching situation and positing that it might be a reason for the team's struggles.

Can I be clear about something? Unless Jim Caldwell has been clubbing players in their sleep and ripping their hamstrings and popping their ACL's, he has had NOTHING to do with the Colts struggles. Unless Jason Garret took a shovel to Tony Romo's finger, I doubt he has either.

If the Colts were healthy and intact along the defensive and offensive lines, there would be no discussion about this team. There was only one game this year they looked unready to play (Green Bay). Several times, they've come out strong with their season on the line, and seem to still respond to their coach. Even in the Tennessee game, no one can argue that Dungy didn't have those guys up for the game. They folded late, but were toe to toe for three quarters.

The Colts problem is a lack of healthy talent. Some guys are playing hurt; others are just coming into form. If enough guys get healthy and in a groove, this team may yet be good. As for right now, 4-4 isn't bad considering some of the combinations they've had to run out there.

I think the media just gets bored sometimes.

What we talk about

2008-11-05T10:57:00.007-03:00

Demond and I started this blog oh so many moons ago because we figured we should have an outlet for the kinds of conversations that take place on IM between us every day. Here's an example:

DZ: Peter King is retarded

he rips on people saying the Browns should have dealt Derrick Anderson

last year

calling it 'Revisionist history'

no Peter. That's called paying attention

Demond: haha

DZ: that he had a great first 8 games

and a very mediocre/poor last 8 games

GM Phil Savage said, "He saved all our jobs!"

um, then you shouldn't have one

did you read that Ask Vic from yesterday

Demond: yeah basically a dream come true

DZ: made my night

Vic admitting that maybe trading up for Harvey made no sense

Demond: haha

DZ: uh, you think Vic?

Demond: he knows that a. there probably won't be a team next year

and b. if there is the coach and GM won't be around

DZ: it's all over the subtext

they just extended Mad Jack though

Demond: so might as well be honest for a change

DZ: so he's probably safe by default

although if the sale goes through, he's gone

Demond: yeah it helps that the owner wants the team to fail

DZ: but if its in negotiation, he'll be around

Weaver ain't payin anybody 1 penny more than he has to

If Mike Tomlin had a brain, they'd already be gone

he sold about 6000 season tix to the Jags by going for 2 from the 10

Demond: ha

DZ: that's the other good thing this week

Tomlin isn't the best coach in terms of game strategy

I read Phil B's chat,

Colts' fans are retarded

Demond: ?

DZ: they don't know crap about football

the stuff they ask him is so stupid

they all like to kill Joe Addai (who shouldn't have played on Sunday)

as if Dom has great numbers

Dom's numbers aren't very good either

that line is pretty bad

here's the thing about the Pitt game...

it'll turn on turnovers

and the Pitt style passing game should play into our hands

they don't run the short route crap

the last three teams have played

Demond: you're doing it: you're trying to convince yourself this isn't a blowout

this just in: the colts suck

DZ: lol

they don't suck, they are just average

Demond: they do, they won't beat either pitt qb

DZ: probably not

Demond: pitt is much, much better than us

DZ: yeah

don't worry, I'll predict a blowout when the time comes

Demond: ha

DZ: I don't see how it won't be

big blue shoe is a riot

he posted the other day about how the Colts aren't an average team

I'm just like, whatever dude. They are 4-4 and average in every category.
They may have talent...but they are incredibly average.

Demond: yeah he's been saying that for awhile

i don't get it

DZ: take the beer goggles off and see the skank for what she is

big hands, small t***, and a weird mole
Just becuase she puts out sometimes doesn't make her a catch

Anyway, pardon the pessimism. These conversations are more indicative our mood at any given moment rather than how we actually feel about the team. It's just how we felt this morning. About half of America woke up celebrating a new dawn of peace and harmonic convergence. The other half is scared spitless and immediately went to the gun store and bought generators to prepare for the coming apocalypse. Us? We just woke up pissed that Tim Jennings is playing corner, and we have the worst run offense in football.

Linking up

2008-11-04T18:27:00.005-03:00

I'm frantically scrambling to get our new house ready to move into, so my days (and energy) are shot. I may be without regular internet for as many as two weeks as I wait for installation, so if I'm AWOL a lot in the next several days, you'll know why. On the bright side, I have been told I have a fighting chance of having the Sunday Ticket ready this weekend. I'll take it.

Here's some links:
Peyton tops Quick Reads. The comment is dead on.

The Colts move up slightly in DVOA. Note the schedule has been brutal, and it's going to get easier. This team may start to look a lot better just because they are playing worse teams.

PK shares Jim Fassel's thoughts on Colts Pats

CHFF says the Colts are on an insane pace. Too bad MJax is done.

Ask Vic is a hoot today.

Thoughts on the "win"

2008-11-03T10:25:00.006-03:00

DZ is crazy busy today, so I'm going to try to sum up our thoughts on the win last night against Bill Belichick's Patriots.

1.) Bill probably lost his team the game by not going for it on fourth down. That was weird. The only other time I've seen poor coaching out of him was in Arizona last February when he punted inside Giants territory.

2.) The defensive line is struggling right now. The lack of pressure turned a potentially easy win into a tossup game. I know Cassel threw underneath, but he still held it long enough to get sacked at least once.

3.) We should be proud of the patchwork defensive backfield. They didn't get beat deep by Moss and helped hold Welker to 37 yards on 7 catches. Not sure why the Patriots didn't try to go up top, though. I guess they were happy running the ball and shortening the game and not getting into a shootout. It almost worked.

4.) Peyton played a great game. They rarely looked deep, but the receivers had plenty of room underneath. I think it is telling that even though Manning was excellent the team still struggled. Indy's problems are much deeper than rust or a nagging injury.

5.) The poor running game made #18's play all the more impressive. It was strange because they usually run well against New England at home. And they ran the ball well at times versus the Titans last week. Is Ugoh healthy? Is Addai missing holes? This seems like a solvable issue, but I'm not seeing a lot of answers.

6.) Marvin is the most controversial part of the team right now. Why is he returning punts? Is he done? The answer is who knows. At this point we just need to try and enjoy him. This is possibly his last season.

7.) This team is average on offense, average on defense, and average on special teams. It is no surprise that they are 4-4. It's really tough to find 6 wins left on the schedule, even assuming they sweep the rest of their home games. They aren't that good, but there is a lot of pride left on this team. They won't go out quietly. There could be some real joy in watching Peyton rally an undermanned team into the playoffs.

8.) Adam Vinatieri shamed me last night. I've been down on his ability to hit long field goals. I was wrong.

9.) Feel good about this: Anthony Gonzalez is heating up. His second touchdown came on third down against tight coverage. Clutch.

10.) It is better if we try not to think about the Steelers game on Sunday. My heart says they can pull an upset if they score a lot. My head says the Colts should lose by two or three scores.

11.) If your politician wins on Tuesday, congratulations. Our readership is purple, so if you want to gloat please post about it somewhere else.

LINKS:
Don Banks learns stuff from the game. Obvious stuff.

Ross Tucker hates on Mad Jack. Hee hee.

PK still likes the Colts waaaay too much. Pats too. Figure it out Pete. This team has a great QB and NOTHING else right now.

Scouts Inc sees stuff. Sort of

CHFF loves on AV

They also have Indy in first in their meaningless standings

FO talks about last night's game

Gregg Doyle wants to be in AV's shoes

Clark Judge liked seeing Peyton back. I thought he was back three weeks ago. There was nothing wrong with him recently but two tough defenses on windy days.

Beggars Can't be Choosers

2008-11-03T00:58:00.004-03:00

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

Colts Pats Live game Blog

2008-11-02T18:21:00.000-03:00

Gotta win it boys. Join us back here tonight just before kickoff. DZ actually gets to watch the game on a real TV this time!

Nice Start

2008-11-01T23:43:00.003-03:00

The Boston-fest that is this weekend got off to a good start as the Blue and Gold hopped up off the mat with a rousing win over the defending champion Celtics tonight. Apparently the NBA season started without anyone realizing it. The Pacers also resigned Danny Granger to a long term deal this week. All of this is significant for two reasons:

1. It puts Boston fans in a bad mood. The Celts are the only team they have left right now, as many have written off the Pats.

2. It fulfills our obligation to talk about the Pacers for a few weeks. Look, we love the guys, but there's only so much energy to be invested, and until the football season is out, they are second fiddle. On the bright side, the Hoosiers will lose 20 games this year, so they have a chance to gain traction in our lives again. Now we've reminded you all that we do love the Pacers so no one can charge us with being bandwagoners when they pull it together and get good again. We paid to see a game last year. That indemnifies us. Anyone who paid to watch the 07-08 Pacers gets a life time pass on the Pacers wagon.

Speaking of IU, which I was ever so briefly, how long is it before we start to see LYNCH LYNCH t-shirts. Good lord, man. Losses to Central Michigan and Ball State at home in the same season? Forget 'Defend the Rock'. Just call it, "Come in and piss all over the rock, please! We do it on a weekly basis!". Note to self: NEVER HIRE THE INTERIM COACH PERMANENTLY.

Here's Looking at You...

2008-11-01T12:29:00.008-03:00

Eyes is done and I found a great stat that should make us all feel a lot better about this season on offense. Without further ado, here's this week's taste:

Last week's Eyes wasn't far off, on anything but the score that is. But why dwell on the past? Especially when the most hotly anticipated game of the year is coming up tomorrow night. It's finally here! Colts vs Pats, let the hype...just sort of peter out. This season hasn't gone the way fans of either one of these once dominant teams have wanted, but with one eye on the past and the other on the future, it's easy to miss seeing just what will happen this week. Be watching for:

1. Points. Neither one of these teams is really clicking right now, although the Pats have had a couple of solidish games in a row. The big weakness on both clubs is in the secondary, where the Pats got old fast and the Colts got injured. Now New England has also lost cheater/thug/team leader Rodney Harrison forever and the Colts lost the only viable nickle back on the roster in Marlin Jackson. Wes Welker and Reggie Wayne may be in for huge games.

2. Watch for a course correction. Everyone has been questioning why Peyton Manning has had such low numbers. Some of that is due to injuries to himself and the offense culminating in a massive loss of practice time. Some has to do with a brutal schedule of pass defenses. In just 7 games, Manning has played 4 of the top 5 defenses in terms of passer rating. In fact, he's played the three best in consecutive weeks. Both the Titans and the Packers allow opponents under 60. The Ravens and Bears join the Bucs in the top five. The truth is that the Colts ran into the worst kind of opponents at a time when the running game was struggling and the passing game was out of sync. New England's opponent passer rater is almost 90. Manning is going off this week.

Here's the rest of this week's Eyes

Links:
JC sends in a picture of his Halloween exploits. Why so serious?

Bob Sanders may well have fathered this kid. Holy crap. Thanks Shake for the link.

Tape Worm

2008-10-31T13:42:00.003-03:00

Here are my observations after watching the tape from the Colts Titans:

1. ESPN did a terrible job with replays. Way too many tight shots on replays. I guess they are 'dramatic', but they don't tell you anything. They never replayed the key fourth down incompletion to Harrison. Awful.

2. Mike Pollack really did play poorly. He was dominated all night. Ugoh struggled a bit early, and there were a couple of plays where either he or CJ failed to block the right guy. Ugoh played better as the game went along. Pollack is the weak link right now. (Horray for CJ! He's off the bottom of the totem pole!)

3. Darrell Reid completely missed blocking the guy who tackled Rhodes in the backfield on the key fourth down play. If he makes that block, Dom has a chance. He didn't, and he didn't.

4. Manning actually played significantly better than I initially thought. He was off on a couple of throws, and the Titans made a play or two, but mostly he was ok. There were a lot of plays on early downs where Pollack would miss a block and Manning would quickly dump off. The line was better in the sense that Manning at least had time to unload. It was not better in the sense that he tons of time. I never had a good look at the Clark pick until I just saw it. Yikes. The ball hits him in the hands and then in the shoulder. Gotta make that play, 44.

5. Clint Session played GREAT on run D, but struggled in coverage. On the key 3rd down with the Titans up 17-14, the Colts actually put Bethea in at linebacker, but he made the same mistake Session did. Neither guy got deep enough in the zone to take away the out route to the WR. In all, the linebackers were wonderful. It was easily their best game of the year.

6. On the Titans key drive to tie the game they converted three big third downs. One was on an illegal contact foul (which ESPN never showed). The second was converted on Dante Hughes and Matt Giordano. The third was completed on Hughes and Bullitt. Tell me that injuries in the secondary haven't killed the Colts. There was also a pick on the second third down play that the officials missed. It should have been offensive PI. Mostly, the officiating was clean from what ESPN showed (which wasn't much).

7. The score at the end of the third quarter was 14-14. Somehow I forgot how close that game was. It made watching it all the more frustrating. They should have won this game. Now we know why Tim Jennings is the #3 CB...because Kerry Collins completed A LOT of throws on Dante Hughes. The holes in the zone were just too big.

Mostly, I was encouraged by the tape. This looked like a team ready to break out. If so, it had better happen fast. There are some tough games on the back half of the schedule, and 5 losses at the half way mark might be too many to overcome.

Not excuses. Reasons.

2008-10-30T13:29:00.009-03:00

Talking about injuries is dicey. No one wants to make excuses for why a team struggles. In the NFL, you are what you are. There are no bonus points for style or playing hurt. At the end of the day, a team's record speaks for itself. The 2007 and 2008 Colts have seen a stunning wave of injuries, and they have left the team far from elite. Would they be better if everyone was healthy? Maybe, probably, whatever. Players aren't healthy, so the team isn't elite.

What injuries do provide is a reason for the struggles. The Colts aren't struggling because of Dungy's coaching. They shouldn't radically change the way they play long term (although obviously adjustments have to be made due to changes in personnel). There is no problem with the Colts philosophies or systems. They've been crushed by injuries. That's the reason they are 3-4. That's why they are 12-8 in their last 20 games. In the modern NFL, depth is a dicey issue anyway. A team might have a good back up at a couple of positions. The Colts have Dom Rhodes and Melvin Bullitt filling in nicely. Ultimately, whenever a team loses a lot of games by key players, that team will struggle.

It's fun to try and find the imaginary complex culprit, but it's right there in front of us. If the injury wave doesn't abate, the Colts will be washed under by it. There is simply nothing to be done about it. If they get players back and healthy (starting the same offensive line in consecutive weeks will be a great start!), they'll probably play a lot better. If they don't, then no other change will help.

By the way, for those who missed it, MJax may be done for the year. Yee Haw. 9 more weeks of Tim Jennings.

Here's some video from Manning shooting a Master Card commercial

My buddy Tim sent me this. It shows just how huge soccer is here in Argentina. It's also a little creepy. Seriously...read this even if you don't give a crap about soccer. It's hilarious.

Nice work by Shake again. Just in case someone out there was down on the Jaddai Master.

Mike Tanier looks back at the history of Colts-Pats

Congrats Philly

2008-10-29T23:06:00.002-03:00

It's about time. Kill that damn monkey already.

Life Below Sea Level

2008-10-29T08:36:00.004-03:00

It's been a long time since the Colts were under .500 for more than one week in a season. We are now going on our fourth week below the break even point (after Chicago, 2 weeks after Jacksonville). Demond complained to me that he didn't even want to go to the game Sunday, and it occurred to me that we all might have forgotten what normal life was like in the NFL. We have seen a historic run of playoff football and 10 win teams, and we've forgotten what it was like to follow a franchise that drafts in the top 5 all the time. So here's a fans survival guide for rooting for a mediocre team.

1. Have fun-It sounds simple right? We all watch football because on some level we like it. The problem is, once your team hits a certain level, it's easy to mistakenly think that the only way to have a good season is to win it all. Thus, for whole months at a time you feel bored or tune out, just waiting for the games that really matter. Now? Just go have fun at the games. Realize that your team isn't that good, and that they'll lose some. We have a beautiful stadium and a great down town. Go tailgate, enjoy a lovely fall evening...whatever. Just have fun. The pressure of getting a #1 seed is off.

2. Look on the brightside. Every game means something now? Remember all those useless December games we had last year? They matter now. If you have season tickets and can't make it to a game, you have a chance to sell your ticket for better than face. Plus, because Tom Brady is hurt, a lot of the venom has gone out of this week's Pats game.

3. Remember the bad old days. 3-4? I've been to enough games when we were 1-6, that 3-4 looks good. We root for a team that has some talent and hope for the future. About half the franchises in the NFL would trade places with Indy this season. There were years when 3-4 had everyone excited because if we could just get hot maybe we could finish at 9-7 and make the playoffs. Remember everyone's favorite Colts squad? The 1995 Colts were...9-7.

4. Remember that we won a Super Bowl. I agree with Bill Simmons 5 year moratorium on bitching about the team after winning a title. We won it all. Polian, Dungy, and the rest brought us something we had NEVER seen. This week, if you are the Luke, glance up at the banner and at the Pats on field and smile because we've won more recently than they have.

5. Look to the future. Eventually, even if it's next season, this team will get back to an elite level. For the last 12 months everything that could go wrong has. The following players have had serious injuries:
Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Jeff Saturday, Joseph Addai, Dwight Freeney, Ryan Lilja, Tony Ugoh, Bob Sanders, Kelvin Hayden, Rob Morris, Tyjuan Hagler, Robert Mathis...oh yeah and two DTs are gone for various reasons.
There is no reason not to assume that in a month or two, or at the worst by next season this team will be right back to where it was. Even if it doesn't happen this year, things will be ok next year. Plus, a weak season this year means better draft picks next year. Woo hoo.

6. Remember the Giants and Steelers. At this point in the season of their Super Bowl runs, both teams seemed to have played their way out of contention. Oops. Don't jump ship just yet. Having said that, there's no reason to play Pollyanna either. It's reasonable to doubt that this incarnation of the Colts will turn things around. They are very average. They have about two weeks of leeway before the shark has officially been jumped on 2008.

7. It could be worse. We could be 5-2 and Peyton Manning could be lost for the year. Everyone critiques every throw by Peyton and blames it on his knee. Imagine what it'll be like for Tom Brady next year? He's coming back to an offense that will have an even older Randy Moss, and there's a good chance he won't have as stellar a season as the media expects. Pats fans can expect to face AT LEAST one more year of nothing but Brady's knee talks. And if he never throws 30 TD passes again (and the odds are against him), they'll hear about his knee forever. Pats fans are in a no win scenario. If they win it all this year with Matt Cassel at QB, their immortal favorite player automatically drops several notches in prestige. If they don't win it all, they'll hear all offseason about Brady's rehab, and have to sweat his comeback well into next year.

We could also be San Diego fans at 3-5. Yikes. Worst of all, we could be Jags fans (if there were such a thing). The Jags are watching the Colts come back to earth just as they always dreamed...and they are muddling along at 3-4 utterly incapable of running the ball. Indy stumbles, and they couldn't take advantage. Ouch. That's got to hurt.

I don't know about you guys...but I think I can be thankful for 3-4. At least a little. At least until 8 o'clock on Sunday night.

Links:
Hugging Harold Reynolds wants to know why #18 so popular with gang bangers

Paul Kuharsky has an EXCELLENT post about the Colts 'window' not being closed. He says if anything, the Colts are too young.

Post Mortem

2008-10-28T07:35:00.004-03:00

Sometimes it's difficult to enumerate all of the things that suck, but I'll give it a try:

I can't believe that the game got preempted on ESPNI for a World Series game that only went 6 innings. Then they never switched to the game even during the rain delay.
I can't believe I was constantly as many as 5 minutes behind on the chat last night. I eventually gave up.
I can't believe that I woke up 6 hours after going to bed when I could have slept in
I can't believe we lost to that Titans team

And that's the one that really sticks with me. I watched most of that game thinking: 'Tennessee isn't very good', and 'This is exactly the type of team we used to beat'.

Ultimately, last night revealed nothing we didn't already know. This Colts team is painfully average on both sides of the ball. On offense, Indy got into Titan territory 4 times (and to the 50 another) with no points to show for it. On defense, they had Kerry Collins in 3rd and 8, 9, and 10 in the third and fourth quarter. The defense gave up 51 passing yards on those three plays, and two different drives ended in touchdowns. That's the game.

Random thoughts from someone who didn't get enough sleep:

I take it back about Marvin. If he was truly ok, he wouldn't be blanketed by likes of Nick Harper. I never thought I'd see the day. He and Reggie Wayne have become completely invisible. Marvin is still drawing coverage, but he's also still drawing throws...which aren't being completed. I'm sick over it.
The line showed signs of life last night, but for the second time this season, the Colts ran a huge fourth down play at midfield, only to see Dom get swallowed for a loss. That's not acceptable. I liked the decision to go for it there, because it felt like the defense was broken by the previous drive in which the Titans held the ball for nearly 8 minutes and went 4-4 on third down. The game was tied, but the Colts HAD to answer. The offense had four possessions in the second half, scored two touch downs and failed on two fourth down conversions. In other words, they were right there. The defense saw the field four times giving up 3 touchdowns and a field goal.
We never had a hero last night. Manning didn't come through, and I felt like he played one of his worst games. The defense never forced a turnover despite having at least four balls right on their finger tips.
This was exactly the kind of loss I was dreading yesterday. The in-between loss. This is the kind of loss that says, "the season isn't over, but it might be soon". Now we face a weird Patriots team that isn't good at anything and is 5-2.

I'll have to watch the tape before saying anything else. I expected to be ready to jump off the bridge after that game. I never expected the bridge to collapse right out from underneath me.

Links:

ESPN breaks down Manning's night by distance. Basically, they couldn't hit the deep ball.

Collapse

2008-10-28T00:34:00.001-03:00

Titans 31 Colts 21

Titans Live Blog

2008-10-27T21:00:00.004-03:00

Huge game tonight. This week we are participating in a live blog with some of the MVN writers. This should be fun. At least until Demond goes nuclear, taking out everyone within a 14 mile radius.

Interview #2

2008-10-27T08:35:00.008-03:00

Here's a link to the second interview I did for MVN. The worst part about watching this game in South America is that it won't start until 10:30 my time. It's not just that it's late at night, but that I'll wait all day for it.

The biggest consequence of yesterday's AFC massacre is that Indy can still make the playoffs even if they lose tonight's game. A loss tonight, and the Colts are still only a game behind the Jets and Ravens. No one wants to be on the outside looking in, but we all have to be careful not to jump off any bridges if the game goes the wrong way. More than a win or a loss, this team needs to play well. Another crap-fest on the heels of last week's dud, won't bode well for the rest of the year. If the team plays well, but loses on a freak play or bad call, it'll hurt, but in terms of record, won't necessarily preclude a playoff run.

Let's face there's a lot of teams that would love to be in Indy's shoes this morning. Jacksonville and San Diego have to have serious doubts this morning. Even the Jets have to wonder what is going on. Indy is only 3-3, but they wake up this morning with a chance to set their season right. Lots of other teams are wondering if that chance will ever come.

One note on tonight's live game blog. We'll be participating in a chat via MVN with some Tennessee bloggers and MVN people. They invited us to participate, and we said yes. They said they want interaction with our readers. Just so you all know, we won't be 'running' the discussion, so if some of your comments don't make it in, I'm sorry. It should be lively and interesting, and you can access it right here just like last week. As always, we appriciate both your participation and feedback, so if you find this format limiting let us know about it. The interface will look just like last week, and will be posted sometime before game time (as soon as they send us the data).

Links:
FO says defensive penalties don't hurt as much as offensive penalties. I'm sure it's true overall, but don't tell Tim Jennings that.

Kravitz likes the Colts. More importantly, he refers to Lucas Oil Stadium as "The Luke". You may wonder why this is so important to me. I have two friends who named kids after ballparks. One named his son Camden and the other named his daughter Wrigley. For an odd combination of family and bizarre Argentine legal reasons, if I have a son, we are naming him Lucas and calling him Luke. I just want to fit in the trend. Yet one more reason to root for another boy.

PK has a great quote from the Titans Mike Munchak on Freeney
"Freeney's the best rusher we face in the league,'' said Munchak. "He changed the game. You don't understand his speed until you play him. What we do is go heavy on speed during practice before we play him, and then hope we can get ahead of them and just pound the ball.''

Dallas Clark talks to Mike Tirico

Tarik Glenn offers his thoughts on the men who have replaced him. He's wrong. CJ has not 'played well' by any standard unless you compare him only with himself. He's playing better than he used to. This does not qualify as 'playing well'.

Does the AFC suck?

2008-10-26T20:26:00.010-03:00

It is a good thing the AFC kind of blows this year. It is no coincidence that the Colts had maybe their best day of the season without stepping on the field:

Miami 25 - Buffalo 16

New Orleans 37 - San Diego 32

Cleveland 23 - Jacksonville 17

New York 21 - Pittsburgh 14

Two teams got their second loss and the Colts gained some significant ground against much of last year's playoff field. Is it kind of sad that I'm so excited about these results? Yes. Do I care? No. The Colts need a lot of luck to get back on track and a bunched up AFC should do the trick. Hey, I'm just looking for a reason to care at this point. This was big.

Of course this day will only matter if they go on the road and beat the undefeated Titans tomorrow night. The Colts have won 8 of their past 10 against the Titans. Manning sat out last years finale and thus Tennessee's only "real" victory came on a 60 yard field goal by Rob Bironas. A win saves the season and sets up an unconventional Manning - Cassel showdown. Winner gets momentum and a potential tiebreaker.

We know how big this game is to the Colts, but what about the Titans? How about this: if they win this game they win the South. That sounds like hyperbole, but it is not an overstatement. They would be four games up on the entire division. Stunning, because we are just seven games into the season. They would also have a two-game lead on in the race for the AFC's one-seed. So, yeah, they have a lot to play for, too. If the Titans lose? The Colts would be two games back with the rematch taking place in week 17 in Indianapolis. Two games is still a comfortable margin, but Tennessee has a tough month ahead. After MNF they host the Packers before heading on the road to Chicago and Jacksonville. I think Monday night's game is as big as it gets in the NFL regular season.

For the Great Unwashed

2008-10-26T00:05:00.007-03:00

All of you who read 18to88.com regularly know what we think about the state of the team. For everyone else, it requires some explanation.

Here's one of my two interviews through MVN. I do my best to cut through the usual sound bite nonsense and illuminate what's really going on with the Horse. I really think that it's tempting as fans to get tired of talking about injuries becuase we have had such a nightmare 12 months. Just because we are tired of saying it, doesn't change the fact that this team isn't close to healthy and it shows. It's not an excuse; they HAVE to find a way to get it done. But let's not go all crazy if they don't. Sometimes you just don't have the horses on the field to win. It drives us nuts when Tim Jennings gets four penalties in one game, but it shouldn't surprise us. He's a below average nickle back. When he's on the field more than usual, he's going to look awful. Same with CJ, and Session (who has improved a lot actually), and the half dozen rookies that have started on offense.

By the way, we haven't really talked about it much (at all), but 18to88 is now part of the MVN Network, at least in theory. There have been platform problems that have delayed the launch, but eventually, we will re-launch 18to88 as one page instead of the site/blog division we have now. Someday, you'll just head straight to 18to88.com for everything. That day was supposed to happen several times now...but hasn't. They are having problems importing all the blog/website archives into the new format. Anyway, we'll keep you posted.

Also many of you may have realized that 18to88.com has a Facebook presence. Feel free to look up Demond Sanders (they wouldn't accept Deshawn Zombie as a screen name), and befriend us if you are in to that kind of thing. There is also a group called "Friends of 18to88.com".

Demond Sanders: You're right about the injuries. It is that simple. They need Ugoh back at his 2007 level or better. He was very solid last year, both run and pass blocking. This season has shown us that having healthy playmakers (Wayne, Harrison, Gonzalez, Clark) does not trump having healthy linemen.

Is there reason to panic? Yes, in the sense that they are playing a MUST win game tomorrow night. I think the worst part is that we have no idea what to expect from the team on a given Sunday. They have to win these next two, at a minimum. If they can do that they'll be right back in the playoff race, if not the division. I'm rooting for the Bills and Steelers to trip up today.

Moonlighting

2008-10-25T16:50:00.004-03:00

I've been busy today doing a couple of interviews with other sites (links to be posted here soon). The result is that I had precious little desire or energy to write anything for my own site. But have no fear, dear readers...Eyes in the Backfield is coming out anyway. Here's a taste:

Usually, we start each week with a look back at last week's Eyes, but I wouldn't blame anyone who just flat wants to forget the debacle that was the Packers game. Unfortunately, things don't get any easier this week as the Colts head south to take on the Titans. Tennessee is undefeated this year, and everyone is curious to see just how good they can be. Indy is already three games behind the Titans and simply must win this game to have any hope at all of keeping the streak of division titles alive. This week be watching for:

1. The real Slim Shady to stand up. Who are these guys? Perhaps the answer is as simple as a look at the lengthy injury list this year, but at some point fans start to get tired of the obvious answers and grasp at straws. One week the team looks like world beaters and the next they are like refugees from 8 Mile. Which Colts team will show this week? I don't know but the whole mess makes want to bust a cap in someone. (Note to self: Rap is not your thing. Stick with what you know). On the Titans front, the story is the same. The Titans are 6-0 but still have a lot of doubters.

2. Watch for a Hero. We couldn't find one last week as both the offense and defense failed to come through, and Peyton played his worst game in years. The line couldn't figure out how to manipulate time and space; Reggie Wayne couldn't fly with guys grabbing him constantly; Joe Addai couldn't heal himself, and Peyton...he looked like he was trapped in someone else's body. If the Colts don't have a couple of players come up large this week, the only future I'll be painting will be someone else in the playoffs. (Note to self: Ah, much better).

As always, if you want more, just click.

Links:
Phil B thinks Sanders and Hayden are close. Glory hallelujah! This team will be good at some point this year. It's just a matter of how bad things get record-wise first. Take any 3-3 team and add back multiple pro-bowl players and front line starters, and it'll improve. A Giants/Steelers-like run isn't out of the question. I'll keep saying that, and I'll let you know when I really believe it.

Staph Report

2008-10-24T11:38:00.006-03:00

So now the NFL is all a buzz about Staph infections. Tommy Boy apparently has had several, as has Kellen Winslow, and our own #18. I'm not a doctor. I've always heard that staph infections were very common in hospitals and could be real trouble. Bob Kravitz fears it's an epidemic. I think it's fascinating that now we find out that Manning really did have an infection because at the time he was missing from camp, the Colts said they were afraid of infection. The press laughed at them and made "just how dirty do you think we are?" cracks. Lombardi used the fact that Manning was staying away from the facility and rehabbing at home as 'evidence' that there was something seriously wrong with him, and concluded the Colts were 'hiding' things, saying that he had never heard of a player doing that before. Now we find out, that he really had had an infection, and in all likelihood, the Colts really didn't want him anywhere near the locker room and other places that could exacerbate the problem. Manning was in hiding because...they were afraid of more infection. In others words...exactly what the Colts said at the time.

UPDATE: The Colts now say there was no second infection. They say:
The second procedure (tacking of the skin to eliminate the bursal space) was designed to ensure the complete and swift resolution of the bursal problem. The procedure was successful. The second procedure was in now way, shape or form, related to the infection. The second procedure did not delay his rehabilitation or recovery materially. It also should be noted emphatically that, at no time, did he have MRSA.

I give up.

I no longer know nor care what happened. Unless something new happens with Peyton's knee, I can't see that has made any real difference in this season. It's hilarious that after last week's game, several people brought up the knee again, a week after declaring him fine. The Colts problem is not, nor ever has been Peyton's knee. It's the freaking line, who is getting better in pass pro, but still can't run block.

Are you Pondering what I'm Pondering? A MMTTB Report

2008-10-23T09:38:00.008-03:00

Well that went well! Last week, the Colts managed to waltz into Lambeau Field and make the utterly average tandem of McCarthy and Thompson look smart again, and at exactly the same time Brett Favre's Jets were falling in overtime to the Raiders, (though Favre did lead a game tying drive). So what to make of these two? Are they smart or not?

On the one hand, they are now 4-3, and the gimpy arm of Aaron Rodgers held up well last week for an efficient game. On the other, they had an NFC finalist team and have coached it up to 4-3. So are they smart? The media talked at length about how great Aaron Rodgers played last week, and McCarthy's decision to go for it on 4th and 1 in his own territory effectively won the game for the Packers, so we'll split the difference. Their combined IQ is still impressive, but somehow we still get the suspicion that their plans to take over the world will come up short before all is said and done. Let's put them at 145 this week...but note that it's an average of the two. One may be considerably smarter than the other.

Links:

Polian doesn't have any more or different answers than we do. That's what drives you nuts about this team. The answers are simple: injuries both past and present. There's no big secret thing. It's a banged up team with too many players out of sync and off the field. His answer on Ugoh is interesting, and his answer on 4th and 1 is ridiculous.

Fun Facts about the Pacers. Eh.

Edge is unhappy...sorry man. I wish better for you

Good notes on past and present Colts

Tanier likes the Horse on Monday. I have no idea what to expect. I don't think the Titans are 'Super Bowl' good. I don't know what to make of the Colts. Both teams desperately want this game...who wins? I have no freaking idea.

One guy still likes Eli over Big Ben. I think it's hard to argue against Roethlisberger's numbers.

(Sorry for the Blogger outage that prevented you from making comments and me from fixing some spelling errors)

RAAAAAAAZZZZOOOOR Shines has a job with the Mets. Thanks to Chad for keeping us up to date on our favorite ex-Indian.

Thank God for Baseball

2008-10-22T17:34:00.002-03:00

"It's baseball, Ray" Darth Vader said once. And he's right. It certainly is baseball. When your team is a mess...it's baseball. When your line is jacked all to hell...it's baseball. When Tim Jennings is your starting cornerback...it's baseball. Unless you are a fan of one of the defeated teams, the best part of extended playoffs is that it gives you a chance to heal up from the long (disappointing) season, and prepare for one last gasp of summer. I'm thankful on this Spring (living in South America is weird) day, that for a few more nights, baseball will be there with me. I don't care much for either team. I don't have to. It may be teal and maroon, but it's still played on a diamond. It may be under a roof and on plastic, but it's still 60 feet 6 inches.

Thank God for baseball. At least for one more week.

Links:
Keith Kidd says Wayne is the master route runner. If he is, it's because he worked hard and learned from the best route runner ever: 88.

Scramble says Bobby was a traitor. Maybe so, but his son plays a nice Richie to his dad's Royal.

More teams are going for small ball from the wideouts.

I have nothing to say today

2008-10-21T19:16:00.006-03:00

I'm still in shock over that mess on Sunday. I'm depressed because I see no way for this team to improve quickly. There are too many guys hurt. I realize that some (Addai, Hayden, Sanders) may come back, but I'm worried that by the time this team gets healthy, it will be too late. I realize that it could be worse. We could be Cowboys or Chargers fans right now. Nothing I have to say about this team today will be constructive or insightful...so I won't say anything.

I didn't bother to download the game this week (can you blame me?), so I'll leave you all with Phil B's breakdown of the game, because he gets paid for it. The next two games will be on TV here, and three weeks from now I should have DirecTV back.

We are interested in your opinions about the game day chat as well. It was cool to see so many people participate (thanks to Mike Tanier of FO for stopping by), but it was unwieldy and hard to read after the fact. So here's the question:
What is more interesting to you:

limited live commentary by Demond and Deshawn using the new service with comments from readers posted in the normal comments slot
an open free for all chat where anyone can join in
something in between...

My guess is that one is more fun at the moment, and the other more useful the next day, but we'd love your input. Feel free to comment or drop us a line at 18to88@gmail.com

Here's this week's DVOA for those who are interested.

Trying Not to Overract

2008-10-20T08:28:00.007-03:00

There are a few things I can safely say about yesterday's game:

1. Tim Jennings is terrible. We've been pounding this theme for over a year now. He has had some nice plays, and good games (last week), but most of the time he's been bad. Anyone that doesn't buy that didn't see yesterday's game. Kelvin Hayden's injury may prove as devastating to the Colts as any we've seen, including Freeney and Sanders. I don't say that because Hayden is at that level, but because there's no way to hide a cornerback.

2. I realize that it was windy, but we said several times last week that we didn't think the offense was 'back'. I think that's been proven. There are still a lot of players out, and the whole unit just isn't right.

3. I continuously defend the coaching staff, and frequently feel that fans blame coaches for things that are out of their control. That being said, Dungy and company failed miserably yesterday. The Colts clearly weren't ready to play yesterday from go, and the '4th and 1' exchange of Dungy not going for it and McCarthy doing so altered the game irrevocably. I'd call it a trap game, except at 3-2 the Colts weren't good enough to fall into traps. They did so anyway. I have a feeling this team has a tendency to think of itself as better than it really is, so expect more games where they just fall asleep at the wheel.

4. This is a very average team. There may be reasons for that based on injuries, but at some point that ceases to be a factor that can be considered. Apparently, this is the kind of team that can blow out average teams, and can be blown out by average teams.

It's going to be grind all season long. There are going to be more weeks like this one.

Links:
Don Banks surveys the damage

PK says Dallas Clark is a nice guy

Scouts Inc says it was the penalties

FO spends a lot of time on the officials and talking about what a weird game this was

Flagged.

2008-10-19T20:20:00.002-03:00

Packers 34 - Colts 14

Packers Game Blog

2008-10-19T13:13:00.010-03:00

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Sleep in our Eyes

2008-10-18T11:15:00.006-04:00

Man, there's nothing like waking up on a Saturday morning and plunging into the world of NFL stat sheets. Anyway, the result of our diligence is this week's Eyes in the Backfield. Enjoy such eye opening nuggets as:

Looking back on last week's Eyes, it's astounding how much Peyton Manning and Dwight Freeney can cover up. The Colts defense was essentially flawless, and Manning played one his best games ever. It helped us to shut our eyes to the fact that the Horse still couldn't run the ball, and the line was spotty at best. 18to88 and a sunny day at the Luke made us feel like all was right in the world. Indy has now won three of four, and is seriously threatening to make a run in the AFC. To do so though, they'll have to brave the snow and ice of Lambeau field. Or maybe not. This week, keep an eye on...

1. Watch for rhythm. Having a big week is one thing, but putting together impressive wins is something else. The Colts are entering a tough stretch filled with the biggest games on their schedule. A strong game on both sides of the ball tomorrow will mean the Colts head into Tennessee having won 4 of 5 games and playing good football. If the offense can't consistently move the ball or generate the big plays that marked last weeks win, all the good feeling from the Texans and Ravens game will be gone in the depression of a three game deficit in the South.

2. We say it every week, but watch the line. You'll know the Colts offense is back when you see the offensive line allow Peyton to stay in the pocket and when it opens holes for the run game. That didn't happen last week, as Peyton made up for a lot of mistakes by the guys blocking for him. The coaching staff apparently feels more comfortable with Charlie Johnson at left tackle than with Tony Ugoh. That's fine, but he'll have to prove he deserves to stay on the field for reasons other than having a big heart. The Packers line has trouble applying pressure to the quarterback, so if the Colts can't stop them, they'll be in big trouble come next week at Tennessee.

For more, just click here

Links:
Great work by Shake. He looks at the fumble rate of Freeney and Mathis. Amazing. These numbers will shock you.

Notes From last Sunday

2008-10-17T08:33:00.006-04:00

No full 18 Plays this week, but now that I've put a deposit on a rental here in Argentina, I'm hopefully just a couple of weeks away from having real internet and TV again. Here's a few notes from our aborted attempt:

As good as Mathis was, Freeney was equally amazing. He was a factor from the go, forcing the pick. On several of the turnovers Freeney was in the backfield wreaking havoc. Jennings made a better play tipping the first pick than he did on the ball he actually caught.
Freeney and Mathis had several sweet crossing stunts where they looped around and ended up coming from the opposite directions from which they started. This lead to a sweet sack by Mathis to end a Ravens drive in the second quarter.
The Marvin TD was classic, right down to the play fake. I half expected to see Edge stone somebody.
Bullitt was a force on special teams. AV's kicks had me wanting to check his Wheaties for HGH. He had a cannon working on Sunday.
Bethea's pick was the result of a young QB who didn't look off the safety, and great discipline by Bethea not to bite on a pump.
CJ was generally bad. He almost ruined Dom's 38 yard run. Ugoh had better get himself figured out, becuase CJ is not a left tackle, running or passing.
The long pass to Wayne down to the 1 was as silky as any you'll ever see. Reggie only glances at the last second and barely raises his hands at all as the ball just lightly drops right into his palms. No one but Manning can make that throw. I've never seen it from anyone else.
The few passes the Ravens hit for any yardage at all were all against Tim Jennings, who made a couple of nice plays and big hits, but is still not the answer in coverage.
The defense was really hitting even into the fourth quarter. Jennings and Jackson both had big hits from the corner slot on the last Ravens drive. That kind of passion was inspiring.

My other thoughts were confirmed. The offense still isn't right, so if you see regression this week, don' t freak out. The big plays were there, but the consistent long unstoppable drives weren't. The line was still poor, and there were lots of missed assignments, but Peyton erased them by being amazing. Confidence is an amazing thing, and his seems to have ramped up.

Links: Phil Richards' piece on 88 is a good read

On this day he really was a Jaddai Master

SI breaks down the Packers/Colts

Simmons is bitter the Colts are back:
Thanks again to the Vikings and Texans -- they could have chopped Indy's head off Jason Voorhees-style, but instead, they just whacked the Colts with a machete a few times, walked away, turned their back and waited for them to get up. Now the Colts are 3-2 and rounding into January form. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be excited because Tom Brady's reconstructive knee surgeries went well. Damn it all. I might break the record for "Most NBA Games Watched In One Month" in November.

Shake the Rumor Monger

2008-10-16T15:02:00.007-04:00

Our favorite participant (sorry JC) Shake writes:

Apparently (according to Luke Paul Chandler for NES) Quinn Pitcock's facebook page says he's flying into Indy. The Colts also haven't filled the spot they had cleared on the roster for McCargo. I'm not adding those two together anytime soon, but I'm definitely intrigued. I'll keep my eyes out for anything actually reputable about it.

Shake

Ok, So we are grasping at straws now, but who cares? He probably just has pals in Indy. Still...
He also writes to say that McCargo practiced today in Buffalo. Weird.

Links: Gary Horton breaks down the Colts v Packers this week.

Clayton lists this weeks game as #2 on his list

Phil B talks to Joe about the discrepancies in his injury report

Don Banks likes the Colts D to keep getting better

Out of Touch - A MMTTB Report

2008-10-16T12:01:00.008-04:00

MMTTB comes home to roost this week as the Colts prepare to meet our intrepid heroes in close combat this Sunday. That makes today a perfect time to examine where the Pack stands on the season. A close inspection of the single most important stat in the NFL shows the Packers to be...
3-3.

Utterly, completely average. They win some; they lose some. Aaron Rodgers has played some good football and some ugly football. Tompson and McCarthy have constructed a team that is sort of like Top 40 radio. For every catchy ditty, there's a lot of annoying crap. They have become the Hall and Oates of the NFL. They are still popular in some circles, but they've had a lot Pack fans begging, "Say It Isn't So". They tried to obtain Tony Gonzalez, but Chiefs GM Carl Peterson, "I Can't Do That. No Can Do" at the last moment. They tried hard; they came up short. Average. Their IQ this week stands at a pedestrian 100. They look better than they did last week, but they still aren't on anyone's list to kiss. Unless something good happens fast for them, there'll be no Jingle Bell Rock come this December in Titletown.

Links: It's a Steelers thing, but I agree. How can the NFL fine Hines ward 10K for unnecessary roughness without explaining the violation? That's insane. He wasn't flagged during the game, and has asked for an explination, without being granted one by the league. He shouldn't pay that fine until he gets a clear answer from the league. That sounds like a grievance waiting to happen.

Big Sexy is back on board with the Horse

Mike Tanier's Walkthrough is pretty funny, except for the part where he thinks the Vikes beat the Colts in week 2. The best part is this conversation he imagines between Polian and a certain DT:

Bill Polian: Your name, son?

John McCargo: John McCargo.

Polian: Anthony McFarland, got it.

McCargo: No, it's McCargo.

Polian: Booger McCargo. Welcome to the team!

McCargo: I think you have me confused with someone else.

Polian: You are a disappointing former first-round draft choice that we acquired in midseason to prop up a run defense that never seems capable of getting off the field, right?

McCargo: Something like that.

Polian: We don't make mistakes like that here in Indy, son. Now try on this jersey.

McCargo: Why does it say "Simon" on the back?

Or Not

2008-10-15T21:24:00.014-04:00

McCargo has just combusted. Spontaneously. In a bizarre turn of events, ESPN is reporting that a herniated disc has voided yesterday's trade for John McCargo. Yes, the Colts have managed to lose another DT before he ever joined the team. The injury, of which the Colts were unaware, was revealed during a physical today. McCargo will rejoin the Bills and the Colts retain their fourth round draft pick.

Here's hoping LaJaun Ramsey is still available. For the record, the Colts roster lists its current defensive tackles as: Raheem Brock (DE or DT), Keyunta Dawson, Eric Foster, Daniel Muir, and Darrell Reid.

(Insert DZ joke about how we need to enlist Mulder and Scully to find out what supernatural force is offing the Indy DTs).

Here's a much more detailed version of the sordid story by Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star.

This just in...

2008-10-15T14:49:00.006-04:00

Joe Addai is likely out for this week. Kelvin Hayden is probably coming back this season.

This information is courtesy of Phil B Wilson, who is johnny on the spot. I'd usually just make this a link instead of a separate post, but it's pretty news. It's great about Hayden, but I'd feel a lot better about Sunday if Addai was going to be playing. His totals have been weak, but his play has been great. He's had zero running room this season, but always seems to makes something out of nothing. He'll be missed. At least we don't have to run KSquared out there again.

Update: Now they are saying Joe Addai is out up to a month. Lovely.

Links:
Great piece by Cold Hard Football Facts showing that you throw to win.

You never want to have to back your coach 6 games in if you are an AD.

SI ranks the Luke 6th over all. The survey is crap. The J-Hole finished 5th overall and first in accessibility. No freaking way. It's at least a 25 minute walk from any of the parking to that giant bowl. People were on crack when they filled out those surveys.

Peyton says the knee is a non-issue, and is as tired of talking about it as we are of hearing about it.

Prisco thinks the Colts will still win the South

Something Big is Coming...

2008-10-15T12:55:00.011-04:00

But not yet. We'll get to that later. For now, some links:

The Colts picked up Dawson and Simpson, IRing Hart. Tough break for the kid, who looked to have some playing time ahead of him. Here's a full list of all the transactions.

MDS of FO does an EPC on #18. That is to say, Michael David Smith looks at every play by Peyton. He loved Peyton's game, but lays serious hate on both the O-line and Marvin. Make of it what you will.

Dr. Z has the opposite opinion of #88 in his power rankings this week

ESPN the Ragazine says hold on to the Jaddai Master and Peyton

Scramble for the Ball compares players to video game characters. I can't believe they beat us to it.

Peyton is the AFC Player of the Week. Um, yeah. It's the 17th time he's won it. Wow. That's more than a full season's worth. You can basically count on Manning winning this at least one week a season EVERY season. Amazing.

In a piece about the Chiefs not trading Tony Gonzalez, J Whit makes an interesting point about signing marquee players to 'one contract too many' using 18 and 88 as an example.

They don't stream it anymore (thanks a lot Floria), but the Polian corner is still around. This week it's with Chris Polian as Bill is away at league meetings.

Colts Trade for Bills DT John McCargo

2008-10-14T18:10:00.021-04:00

What is it about the Indianapolis Colts and troubled Defensive Tackles? ESPN reports that Indy has traded an undisclosed draft pick to the Buffalo Bills for former first round pick (2006) John McCargo. The North Carolina State standout has fallen out of favor in Buffalo after registering 29 tackles and 2.5 sacks in 2007.

The Buffalo News offers greater insight into McCargo's situation. The Bills were in good shape at DT and could afford to shed some dead weight. This sounds like the case of a guy losing motivation after his initial big payday in the NFL. We've seen this before, but hopefully a new environment will help turn things around for this kid.

DZ Comments: What? We didn't trade for a running back?! I'm shocked! Scouts Inc, you lead me astray! This is welcome news. As long as the pick wasn't too high, I don't think anyone will complain about this deal. A fifth, and we can live with it. A third? It's a fleece. He should really be careful. Playing DT for the Colts is about like the job once held by this guy:

Let's hope "Spontaneous human combustion" doesn't get added to the list of: congenital career ending illness, car accident, blown knee, sudden retirement, and pot related shenanigans. The space between Mathis, Freeney and Gary Brackett is the Bermuda Triangle of the NFL.

It looks like a fourth. Blah. Seems high to me for a guy who doesn't seem to want to play. The upside is: the Colts don't make this move if they weren't 100% convinced they can win it all. I take comfort from that.

Links:

Will Carrol whines about the Manning injury. Yawn.

The Colts make a huge leap in DVOA. Most interesting is that their schedule is the 26th toughest from here on out.

Cold Hard Football Facts' comment on Manning is priceless

Here and There...

2008-10-14T08:14:00.009-04:00

Does anyone know who's good around here anymore? With the NFC East getting beat down by the likes of St. Louis, Arizona, and Cleveland, it's anybody's guess where the power lies in the NFL. All of a sudden the AFC South looks a LOT tougher (3-0 on Sunday), with three of the four teams back to .500 and better, with the Titans the last remaining undefeated team. This season is weird because it doesn't feel like playing on the road in the playoffs would be that scary. Whoever comes out of the AFC East won't be elite, and other than Pittsburgh is there a road destination in the AFC that scares you in January?

I'll be watching the tape today and preparing for 18 Plays (in whatever form it takes), in the meantime, here's some links:

Kuharsky breaks down Manning

Phil B repeated the Ugoh rumors in his chat this week. Everyone says Charlie Johnson played really well this week; I'll judge for myself shortly. It's going to take more than one good game to convince me that he's the answer. Ugoh's play on the field has been solid, but if he doesn't strap it up every week, what good does it do us?

Chris Carter says we can't run, and Shannon Sharpe wants to change his answer, I'm betting.

Big Blue Shoe and I agree to disagree

Scouts Inc is totally nuts. In a list of possible trades, they want Indy to give up a 4th round pick for Justin Fargas. What? If Addai had blown out his knee, maybe. But to give up a 4th round pick for what would be a third string running back for a team that can barely run the ball as it is seems insane. If the Colts were to deal (which they won't becuase that's not how things work in the NFL), it would be for a DT. That may take the cake for stupidest article since a Scouts Inc guy said the Colts were taking a huge risk by cutting Corey Simon.

Doug Farrar of FO looks at 'true value' by rushing title leaders. Hit the 'view image' button to see the graphic. Edge came out as having the two best seasons of any rushing leader in the last 10 years.

Gregg Easterbrook talks a lot with some football related...never mind, I'm bored just writing this.

Don Banks can't figure out who's good any more than I can

Stuff people are saying...

2008-10-13T13:57:00.006-04:00

that isn't true:

1. The Colts defense benefited from playing ahead yesterday. The D forced a turnover on the first possession, and played with a fury and intensity that hadn't been seen all season. Don't minimize the effort they played with by saying, "Well, they had a big lead". Even when the game was close, they were overwhelming the Ravens.

2. The Colts offense was in sync yesterday. Again, not really. The truth is that they hit a couple of the deep balls which have been there all season, but always seemed to end badly for weird reasons. The defense handed them the ball five times, and honestly, the O should have converted even more of those. Honestly, 31 points felt like underachieving. I'm not trying to be negative, but when the Colts are really on, they put up 50 on days where the D forces 5 turnovers and a handful of first downs.

3. The Colts ran the ball effectively. No. They didn't. Dom had one big run, which was amazing, but the overall production from the run game (admittedly hurt by injuries to Addai and Hart), simply wasn't acceptable. I get that Baltimore has a great run defense, and that's fine. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that yesterday was a run offense that we can live with.

I don't say those things to be negative, but merely to point out that it wasn't all wine and roses yesterday. This team still can improve on offense, and must if it hopes to finish over .500 in the key stretch of 5 games. If this team can finish the first ten games at 6-4 or better, they'll be set. The schedule eases up dramatically in the back half.

I also find it amazing that for all the whining about the Colts defense, they are 8th overall in scoring defense, while it's the offense that is a middling 16th. When this offensive line is finally healthy and playing consistent, smart football, this team might well be unstoppable. If Manning has time, he'll hit the deep passes, which will open up the run game. Then we'll really see something special.

Links:
PK is a clown. Now he has the Colts at 4 on this Fine Fifteen. Way to be a front runner there, Pete.

The Colts 'acknowledge' a second procedure on Manning's knee. So what? The original story that 'broke' the procedure implied Manning would miss significant time and that the injury was more severe than anyone let on. That's been patently ridiculous. Manning may or may not have been out of sync in the first few weeks, but he was moving fine. The original story was alarmist and wrong. But we've covered that before.

Dom talks to ESPN. His comments about coming back in 20 years to celebrate with these guys were awesome.

Ross Tucker gives the Colts an A and says they look a lot better.

Peyton and Reggie show up big time in Quick Reads

Prisco gives the boys a well deserved A

Brushing off the haters

2008-10-12T18:35:00.008-04:00

Quick takes on what I saw today at the building formerly known as the LOSer Dome:

1.) Marvin is Marvin. We've been saying it all season (and desperately hoping we weren't wrong). It only took a 67 yard torching of Chris McAlister to emphatically announce this fact to the world. Reggie may now be the Colts top receiver, but Marvin is still damn good. He was cracking me up by doing the international sign for brushing off the haters after both his scores. I couldn't find a picture of it, but I was glad for him.

2.) Peyton and Marvin are still not on the same page. Maybe this is an oversimplification, I don't know. They don't look right. Peyton missed Marvin on yet another deep bomb that looked like an easy score. This could just be caused by a mid-play adjustment that one of them expected the other to make. He also threw oddly behind Marvin on their second touchdown connection. They will get this fixed. This offense can be magic if they can get just a hint of a running game going to set up play-action.

3.) The Colts Special Teams are on fire. Everyone has noticed, but we were all too depressed until now to really care. They are fast. They shed blockers. They tackle. In other words they are everything they weren't last season. Oh and Adam Vinatieri must have roided up before the game because, damn, he was launching it.

4.) Reggie's touchdown that wasn't might have sunk my fantasy team. What? Nobody cares? Well, at least Tony Dungy does. He was livid.

5.) I think Tony was also mad about the 11 penalties on his team for 84 yards. Several of which were legitimate.

6.) Who played better today: Guys like Melvin Bullitt, Clint Sessions, and Tim Jennings. Super-subs.

7.) It's amazing how sure-tackling and quarterback pressure can make your defense look great.

8.) No turnovers on offense. Five on defense.

9.) The D nicely sniffed out a couple draws and unique running plays. That was satisfying. I guess playing the Bears, Vikings, and Jags did teach them something.

10.) Mike Hart's tough first down run didn't look like Colts football. I liked it. Hope he's okay.

Links:
Prisco liked what he saw, and thinks the rest of the AFC is sweating.

Kuharsky thinks this was a big statement

Banks liked what he saw from #18

Here's some people talking. Warning: Many of them are doing so out of their ass.

Watch CBS Videos Online

I think Mort is just making stuff up at this point.

Jeff Chadia thinks the Horse is back

Horsewhipped

2008-10-12T16:26:00.002-04:00

Colts 31 - Ravens 3

Ravens Game Day Blog

2008-10-12T12:00:00.047-04:00

Sort of. My reasons for hating Brighthouse Cable continue to multiply as I'm still limited to the audio version the game on channel 2. I did find a good site that hosts torrent files of the games, so I'll download it tonight. That being said, I'm not sure what good it does me to blog this bad boy out, but I'll try to pass on what I glean from Lamey and company. Demond will call in from time to time with his observations as well.

It sounds like most of the team is going to play today, apart from Hayden and Ugoh, so that's a plus. A win today, and the Colts will have run off 3 of 4 and are headed in the right direction. A loss...let's not go there.

Quarter One:
The defense forces the turnover, but now the offense is threatening to stall out early. A third and 9 leads to sack out of field goal range. Just awful. This line is just not competent.

The offense has another 3rd and long, as the run game has generated only 15 yards on 8 carries. The Colts play it smart on fourth and 1 and AV nails the 37 yarder for a 17 point lead.

The defense holds Flacco and company again, and the Colts should come away with solid field position, but a moronic penalty on the return moves them way back to the other 20. Any residual benefit from the early pick is now officially wasted.

HELLL YEAH!!!! 18to88! Marvin goes 68 yards! Demond calls to say he had McAllister burnt by 5 yards! He's obviously washed up.

Big hit by Bullitt on special teams followed by a sack by Brock. THERE'S BLOOD IN THE WATER, BOYS! TAKE THEM DOWN! FUMBLE is covered by Baltimore. Now's the time to follow this up with a score and put your foot squarely on their throats. Yeah, my frustrations are making me violent. Sorry. My football team has struggled, and my wife is 2 months pregnant and constantly sick. It tends to make one edgy.

With Joe Addai in the locker room for unknown reasons, the Colts go on a nice little drive. Mike Hart takes the third down carry, breaks tackles and picks up the 3rd down! Nice job, little man. The Colts are showing a commitment to the run early, but the results have been very mixed. Lamey says the line is playing better and giving Manning time.
TOUCH DOWN REGGIE WAYNE ON 3rd and LONG! BOOOOOOMM!!! LAY DOWN THE HAMMER! 10 plays in 4:53. That's bang for the buck.

AV whams another huge kick, and Melvin Bullitt is having himself a DAY. A pick, and two huge special teams hits early. MCLAIN FUMBLES, AND THE HORSE HAS IT! Wow. Freddy picks it up, fumbles it, and gets it back again. Brock has another huge play. The Colts are playing with the kind of verve they've been missing all year.

The run game is stalled big time (15 yards on 8 carries). The Colts play it smart and take the points on 4th and 1 from the 19. Putting the Ravens 3 scores down is smart football.

AV is CRUSHING kickoffs. On the last play of the first quarter, the Ravens almost pick up their first first down, but are still half a yard short. This couldn't have gone any better. It's time to play a complete game, and put fear back in the heart of the AFC who was just starting to feel good about themselves.

Quarter Two:
Flacco just barely picks up the first down on the keeper. As bad as the Colts run game has been, the Ravens have been worse with just 10 yards on 7 carries. Flacco picks up a third and 9, however by hitting the TE. The Ravens have a little drive working, but Flacco will have to hit some passes for this team to score today. Sessions makes a big play on first down to hit McClain for a loss. The Ravens are going no huddle, and trying to run the little draws that have killed the Colts, but are getting NOTHING. Third and long is must stop time. MATHIS with the sack as Freeney is causing havoc in the backfield. Merrill Hodge is checking the help wanted ads right now.

You have to think that somewhere Bill Simmons is sick to his stomach, as it looks like the Colts might have figured things out.

No sooner do we have a Mike Hart sighting with not one, but two big plays, but he gets hurt. Lamey thinks it looks badish. Now Lamey says, he seemed to be walking better. This drive goes nowhere, as the Colts play it fairly conservatively after a penalty. This is one of those 'a punt is a good play' drives. When you are up 17 points, you don't mind punts. What you do mind is stupid penalties that lead to rekicks. Hunter hits two punts off the side of his foot, but a penalty on the Ravens helps out.

Geeze, my internet resets, and I miss a pick by Bethea! Wow. A holding penalty on first down threatens to waste another turnover by the D, however. Marvin and Peyton can't hook up on third down, and there's another punt. It's funny, but even at 17-0, it feels like the Colts should be up by 30. Great coverage and a super bounce on Smith's punt pins the Ravens deep. A safety would be sweet here. I imagine the Ravens will run three times and punt. Ok, two runs and a screen. The D holds nicely. This time the punt barely makes midfield, so they can still take advantage of the pick two drives ago.

This is a huge possession. The Colts get the ball to start the second half, so if they can engineer a drive here, they can get two straight trips with the ball up 17 points. That's a good formula. DOM BUSTS ONE! ALL THE WAY TO THE 12. "What a humiliating run for Baltimore!" is the call on the radio. Three runs take the clock all the way down to minutes, and all but guarantee points for the Colts. Two runs and a field goal are more than ok with me right now. Dom runs it again down inside the five. Baltimore's timeout shows that they mean to try and get points before the half.

EIGHTEENTOEIGHTYEIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Suck it, Merrill.

AV picks up his third touch back. The other two? Bullitt nails a guy inside the 20. That's sick. I think Tony got through to these guys. This is a team that looked into the abyss last week, and now plays like they want to win it all. Wow. Mathis picks up a huge sack/fumble, but the Ravens cover it. Now the Colts take a timeout before 3rd and long. THEY WANT MORE. No wonder they hate us in Baltimore. The D forces the punt, and the O gets one more chance. A 57 yard punt that goes out of bounds? Geeze. Run and go into the locker room.

Just a question, but does anyone know who the karmic opposite of Amy Winehouse would be?

HALF TIME:
Well that went well. #18 posts a 137.3 QB rating, and the Horse is rolling. Let's get home with no more injuries (you know, other than two of our running backs, d'oh!), and we'll all go home happy. One more TD by the offense to start the third quarter, and it'll be Sorgi time.

Quarter Three:
The Colts go on a big drive, helped by a couple of nice catches by Clark, and Reggie Wayne being completely sick. First and goal, Colts at the one. If they punch this in, I'm done for the day. I'll catch you all after the game. And no. There is no way I post a picture before this one is officially over. If the reverse jinx works, I suppose the regular jinx might too.

Dom walks in the for the score. I think #18 is done for the day, and so, my friends, am I.

Seeing Clearly

2008-10-11T08:28:00.005-04:00

Hey, it's Saturday so that means Eyes in the Backfield is ready. Did you like how I just tacitly admitted that Eyes comes out on Saturday now? We didn't really plan it that way, but it always happens that we are a day late on it, so why not just admit it. Eyes is a Saturday feature. My favorite stat of the week concerns Joe Addai and catching passes out of the backfield. It's a part of the offense that has completely gone away becuase of the protection problems...look for it later in the article. Anyway, here's a taste of what's to come:

Last week's Eyes was pretty amazing, right down to the prediction that it would take Jack Bauer-like heroics to win. I'd say what Jackson, Brock and Freeney did to Sage Rosenfels qualifies as torture. The Ravens are coming off two losses just as painful as the Colts win was glorious. It's a bellwether game for teams as the winner has to feel good about where they are, and the loser will be left searching for answers. This be sure to keep your eye on:

1. Watch his back. Charlie Johnson is expected to start over Tony Ugoh again, leaving Peyton Manning's blind side virtually unprotected. If Manning doesn't have time to throw, the Ravens will pin down the run game and play everything short. The result could be disaster for Indy.

2. Watch for cushion. Tim Jennings is starting over a seriously injured Kelvin Hayden, and he loves to play off the wideouts and gives up a lot of easy slant passes. If he doesn't buckle it down, Joe Flacco and Derrick Mason could just play toss all afternoon.

For more Eyes...click here

I also want to comment on one of the worst uses of logic I've seen recently. I've seen this argument in several places, but I'll use Mike Floria's of PFT as my baseline. Some are saying the reason the Colts and Seahawks are struggling is because their coaches are on the way out, with replacements already named. Floria claims:
Though Dungy hasn’t said he won’t return in 2009, the players surely are wondering — and that year-to-year accountability that helps keep players focused and motivated and driven has necessarily been undermined.

There is one big problem with that line of thinking: because the replacement is in house and watching the players every day...the 'year-to-year accountability' that Floria claims is missing...is PRESENT. How can you argue that players aren't held accountable if they know that one way or another the next head coach is right there with them? You could argue that this set up would be divisive (no one is arguing that). You could argue that it's distracting (no one is). But you simply can't say that the players aren't 'accountable'. That logic is nonsense.

The Colts are struggling because they have played 6 rookies on the offensive line and TE spots. Most teams that do that will struggle. Period.

18 Plays...mostly

2008-10-10T10:47:00.004-04:00

The 18 Plays podcast is not dead...but it is in a coma. We sat down to record it on Wednesday night, and were depressed to discover that the slow internet connection I have here has made it impossible. It's really too bad, because this would have been a seriously fun game to talk about. There's nothing we can do about it until I get a house and real internet, so for now we are going to have to just do write-ups of the 18 Plays. Enjoy the first installment, such as it is.

Links:
Merrill Hodge looks at the tape and finds two things wrong with the Colts, and one surprised me. He says Freeney doesn't look right and isn't making as many game changing plays. Freeney is making at least one or two HUGE plays a game, but I think his lack of consistent impact has as much to do with the kind of plays teams are running as it does his health. The Colts O isn't scoring enough to put real pressure on teams to throw. When it does, you'll see Freeney make even more plays. Hodge's stat on mental errors by the O-line is right on and at the heart of what's wrong with the Colts.

Dr Z gets one question right and the other...he just got lazy. He crushes the Manning v Manning debate, but then totally misunderstands the context of the Bill Polian quote. He seems to think Polian wants fewer holding calls. The article made it clear that he wants MORE holding calls. Read the original piece Z, then comment.

What the crap is going on around here? - A MMTTB Report

2008-10-09T11:05:00.008-04:00

Packer fans have to be in shock. Just a few months ago, they had a home game in overtime with a Super Bowl on the line. Then their Hall of Fame QB retired, unretired, and was subsequently traded for a future conditional draft pick. Now five games into the season, the backup has developed a sore shoulder and the Pack has now lost 3 straight games, the last of which was to the Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau Field. How can this possibly be? Who could have wreaked such havoc on a franchise that is one of the pillars of the NFL?

No one but our favorite GM/Coach combo: Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson! While Brett Favre spent his bye week sunning on the beach of his swamp down in Mississippi, Aaron Rodgers was busy playing hard, but lofting ducks with his lame right shoulder. The Pack has fallen below .500, and while that may not be all Rodgers fault (Paging Ryan Grant! Paging Ryan Grant!), the media dogs have to be licking their chops while the Packers fans are definitely forming a posse to string up their front office. Their IQ this week sinks to 50, begging the question: what exactly do those to have in their heads? I don't know, but it doesn't smell real great.

Links:

It's not related to anything, but I thought Simmons did a really nice job with this piece.

The ESPN AFC South blog has two Colts tidbits. The part on fixing the Colts offense is largely gibberish. Manning is fine. You can see it. The offensive line is really awful right now. If there were any other QB back there, people would see it immediately, but Peyton makes those guys look way better than they are.

FO's Walkthrough likes the Colts this weekend, but Dr. Z does not. That's sort of like Demond and me right now.

How do you beat the Tampa 2? One guy says run. That's a great idea, unless Warren Sapp is playing tackle. We had a guy like that for about 5 minutes one time and won the Super Bowl.

Phil B says the news on Hayden is ominous and that Phil Wheeler might start this weekend.

Hold that thought...

2008-10-08T07:03:00.016-04:00

Great work by Phil B today. Be sure and check out his look at Sunday's game tape, and then move on his article on the noticeable decrease in holding calls. This is the kind of work that might eventually lead to comment from the NFL. It's going to take enough people noticing it and asking to put pressure on them to answer.

I've finally almost finished obtaining my copy of Sunday's game, and should have a new Wednesday feature up late this afternoon (NOTE: Never mind). Demond and I will record 18 Plays tonight.

Links:
Harrison is sued. The article is pretty hilarious. First of all, it omits the fact that the 'victim' is a felon (10 years for homicide). Secondly, it omits the fact that he was already charged with making false statements to the cops about this incident. What it does do is include this hilarious quote:

"Look, it's our position that Marvin Harrison was the shooter," said Dixon's attorney, Robert M. Gamburg, according to the Daily News. "But even if you believe the other theory, Marvin's gun was still used in the shooting, so he was negligent for leaving the weapon where someone else could obtain it."

So the dude's attorney says, "Yeah, Marvin shot him, but even if he didn't we still want money" That sounds like a real bang up case you got there, Mr. Lawyer-man. Have fun with that. Apparently the suit itself says that it is possible that someone else shot Dixon with Harrison's gun. High comedy. The 'victim' apparently doesn't know who shot him.

The case is only for $100,000, which seems really low to me. If there was anything to this, I'd think Marvin would have GLADLY settled it for that much or more.

Dr Z. moves us up a few spots

Shake nails it. He just did the leg work comparing Eli to Peyton counting seasons 2-5 of their careers. Um, Peyton's better. And no, it's not close.

Gary Brackett was named the AFC Defensive Player of the week. The Colts suck for having him at middle linebacker. Listening to sports radio can make you stupid.

Ross Tucker's quote about Jags fans is priceless:
"...people are going to comment on the Jags having arguably the worst fans in the NFL, and I will not dispute that in the slightest. People in Jacksonville would probably be more excited to watch an SEC clash between Kentucky and Vanderbilt"
Told you so.

Reader Steve sent this article written by his wife Amy. It describes their experience of being Colts fans in enemy territory and then staying until the end on Sunday. Good on them for hanging in there.

Phil B says that Hayden is out this weekend. It's Tim Jennings' world, the rest of us are just living in it, 10 yards away. He also echoes some of the things we've said here today on other topics.

Stampedeblue has a brilliant interview with ex-Colt Tony Mandarich. Ok, I say this with zero sarcasm: I honestly thought we already knew he was on steroids back in the MSU days. Seriously, when I heard he had 'come clean', I was like, "really? Didn't we know that?". He was a solid player with the Horse for three years. I'm glad he turned his life around in time to help the Horse, but more glad he turned his life around for himself and his family.

Thin Blue Line

2008-10-07T08:37:00.007-04:00

The Bill Polian show yielded some interesting tidbits last night. I've become deeply worried about the status of Tony Ugoh. He was healthy on Sunday, but the coaches decided to go with Charlie Johnson. Now, I admit that I have yet to see the tape, and have no idea how CJ played on Sunday. I also admit that he has shown the ability to run block from the left tackle position. There were rumors last year that the coaches weren't happy with Ugoh's inability to stay on the field, though he seemed to play well when he was out there. The fact that they went with CJ, who has been a massive liability in pass protection over Ugoh, is disturbing. I hope the reason is because Ugoh didn't get the practice time last week that CJ did (which is what Polian said). If the Colts plan on going with CJ at left tackle for the rest of the year, I don't think the line will ever improve. He's not an NFL caliber left tackle. He's proven that over the past 12 months. If Ugoh is wimping out, and the coaches are tired of it, that could be a major blow to this team.

Polian also suggested that part of the problem with the offensive rhythm is that Manning is having to slow everything up to make sure the protection is correct. There are so many new players and rookies playing, that the team can't go with a pure no huddle hurry up. This will hopefully improve with time.

Links:

Easterbrook makes the same mistake others made when comparing Manning to Brady. Only this time it's Manning to Manning. Comparing Peyton's first five years to Eli or Brady's or ANY OTHER QB WHO DIDN'T START WEEK ONE is simply not fair. Sure, if you take Peyton's 13 losses and 27 picks on an awful team and average those in with his first five years, his numbers are comparable to some guys who didn't start right away. If someday you want to compare Peyton to Joe Flacco, Matty Ice, or even very appropriately Ben Rothlesberger in the first five seasons, then fine. Otherwise, use years 2-6. It's a better comparison set. Look, I love Eli because Peyton loves Eli, but if you are going to do comparisons then make them apples to apples.

PK tries his hand at analysis. He could have just said, "yeah, the O-line is a mess". That would have done it.

The Colts/Texans game will be replayed on NFL network tonight at 8.

Ten Things

2008-10-06T18:33:00.006-04:00

1.) I haven't listened to sports talk radio for the last month. I got back on the horse today. During my absence radio has apparently timewarped back to 2002. Callers on 1260 were openly bashing Bill Polian for not using high draft picks on defense. Really? Are we really back to those days? Someone (JMV) needs to remind these fools that they lost one DT to an apparent mental illness and another DT to weed. You can't plan for those things. The current strategy has won you a Super Bowl and a hell of a lot of football games. Now we are going to question it because the team is 2-2? Ridiculous. Another caller ripped the team because Gary Brackett is the starting middle linebacker. You, sir, are a clown.

2.) The play with 7:00 to go when Manning hit Wayne over the middle for 11 yards as Manning was going down was spectacular. It isn't a play that will get mentioned much, but it was classic.

3.) I love when Manning scrambles. He only does it in the most dire situations which makes it all the better.

4.) Tom Santi's catch was made in the tightest coverage imaginable. Draped all over him doesn't begin to describe it.

5.) This team hasn't found its identity on either side of the ball. The best thing that can be said is that the Special teams coveage looks ten times better so far this season. I guess it should also be pointed out that the team has mounted impressive comebacks in three consecutive games.

6.) The past month would be much harder to swallow if Tom Brady was still around. He's not.

7.) Can you please crush Baltimore next Sunday? Beat the living hell out of them.

8.) Marvin clearly showed he can still catch tough balls in traffic, but people are writing off Marvin's big play ability. I hear he's lost anywhere from a half-step to a step and a half. However you go about measuring such a thing, I'm not buying it yet. Marvin was in position for a deep score twice yesterday. I still think it is coming and when it does it will be a "holy crap that was sweet" moment.

9.) The Colts are in second place in the South.

10.) And much better off than the Chargers.

Links:
Quick Reads loved the Wayne catch

The old Lefty gets a shot at the Hall. Head for home, Joe. I voted for you.

Ray Ratto praises Cubs fans for not really caring that much

Holding on to Hope

2008-10-06T06:57:00.017-04:00

So we gave the worries a rest for a few hours and celebrated one of the most impossible comebacks imaginable. Part of the reason I posted a picture of Reggie Miller yesterday is that the last time I felt that something was just so incredibly impossible was his 8 points in 18 seconds against the Knicks (yes, I know the photo I posted wasn't from that game).

I spent the last two minutes after the Wayne TD yesterday freaking out. Demond and I have a rule, if something is going on in a game, I call him. He turns games off for the safty of his family, and I call him to alert him of a miracle. The last time I called, I woke him up in time to see Robert Vaden lift IU to first round win. Yesterday, I picked up the phone and it was dead. Someone had unplugged my Vonage router, and my direct line to the States was cut off. Long story short, in my frantic efforts to plug the phone in during the timeout after the TD, I unplugged the modem for the internet, and spent the next several minutes frantically rebooting everything. Sigh, life in Argentina.

So today we are all left with our "where were we when" stories and stunned memories of one of the truly ridiculous wins any of us have ever heard of. There's just one dark cloud: it shouldn't have happened. The Tampa win 6 years made us feel like the Colts were legit because the offense rose up and took that game. Tampa had some dumb penalties, but no turnovers in the final few minutes. Yesterday, however, felt like Houston fell apart more than Indy won. Granted, the Robert Mathis strip was perhaps the single coolest defensive play I've ever heard of (it's likely to be my new desktop photo for a few months). But at the end of the day, the sick feeling we all had around 4 pm yesterday shouldn't be forgotten.

This team has serious issues, and we all need to honestly admit that it might not be a playoff caliber team. The offense may still work itself out, and getting Ugoh and Lilja back should help. But for now, the line just doesn't give Peyton enough time to hit the deep ball and makes the run game inconsistent. All season, the Colts have been throwing long, but something just seems off. Peyton's throws are a hair short or long; the WRs continue to drop passes (while alternately making insane catches). By the way, how weird is it that Peyton throws 2 TDs in the final four minutes, and he's only reason #5 or so on the list of reasons we won that game?

On defense, however, we need a 2006 like transformation. There were three pieces that saved the day in that fateful year. The first was the addition of Booger McFarland. It didn't help right away, as the Colts worst days on D happened after he joined the club. But by the time the playoffs hit, Booger was a major force, dominating the KC game. Unfortunately, there are no former pro-bowl tackles sitting out there for the Colts this time. Secondly, Gilbert Gardner was replaced by Rob Morris. This year, Clint Sessions has been a major offender on D by not maintaining his gaps. The good news is that Tyjuan Hagler is coming back as soon as he's eligible (Green Bay game). Finally, Bob Sanders got healthy. The Zombie was around for most of the first game and a half, and the run D wasn't strong, but it wasn't this shaky either.

A huge worry on D has to be the corner play. The Colts just aren't as deep at corner in 2008 as they were in 2006. In 06, they had Harper and David with MJax in the nickle and Hayden as a fourth. Now Jackson and Hayden start and Jennings comes in to give up third down conversions. Jackson had a rough day yesterday, but that's been the exception rather than the rule. It's easy to throw around meaningless sayings like: "They have to 'fly around' more" or "The coaching staff has to 'coach them up'", but in the NFL games usually come down to talent. I don't think it's a given that they the 2008 Colts have enough of it all over the field. Freeney and Mathis are clearly special players. Gary Brackett is above reproach. We haven't seen Freddy Keaiho make the leap, and there are may be too many holes to fill.

Can the Colts win this Sunday? I suppose that's always the only question that matters. Sure. They SHOULD win. There's no indication that Baltimore is any good. They've lost two tough games to good teams, so people have given them some modicum of respect, but they don't strike me as world beaters. The bottom line is that if the Colts can't beat Baltimore at home and a suddenly reeling Green Bay team on the road, they probably don't have the horses go a long way this year. This may just be an 8-8 team. They could be dramatically better in 4 weeks, but I'm no longer as sure of that as I once was.

Injuries or not, you shouldn't need miracles to beat the Texans backup QB after you go up 10-0. Something is broken, and if it could be fixed, you would have seen it yesterday. The Colts won, but I'm not sure anything was fixed.

Links:
Audibles at the Line from FO deals more with the Texans than the Colts. It's hard to argue that approach.

If you think I was exaggerating what would have happened if we lost that game, just listen to the post game quotes by the Colts. Dungy called it "a season saver". We were dead folks.

Clayton didn't have much to say about the game, but the photo is great.

Here's a great interview with #98. He carried the D for stretches last season, and won the game yesterday. He'll be a classic Colt someday for sure.

Michael Silver comments on the game

Prisco can't belive it

Demond Sanders: That was a fair assessment of what happened yesterday. I think the Colts themselves would tell you they weren't very good yesterday. I do not think that's being negative, I think that is being realistic. Eventually it comes down to players making plays. The Colts don't have the same players they have had in the past. Over the next three weeks (BALT, @GB, @TEN) we'll find out if the current lineup has what it takes to win in the NFL. But as for today, I'm just glad they aren't 1-3.

Do you believe in miracles?

2008-10-05T15:52:00.006-04:00

Colts 31 - Texans 27

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Links:

Don Banks says the Colts could be 0-4. Yeah, there's no question. They could also be 3-1. They didn't get a single break from the start of the Jacksonville game right up until Bracket scooped and ran like a roly poly bat out of hell this week. You are what you are. Not what you could be.

Paul Kuharsky recaps the game for ESPN

Done.

2008-10-05T15:14:00.006-04:00

Colts 31 - Texans 27

This team isn't very good. They aren't good on offense or defense. They aren't going to playoffs this year. If this was fixable, you'd have seen it fixed today.

(PLEASE TELL ME I CAN DO A "DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES POST")

Texans Live Game Blog

2008-10-05T12:59:00.059-04:00

Hey everybody. Huge game, again. Let's win this one.

First Quarter

1.) Peyton and company will start at the 27. Play action to Clark to midfield. Threw it just over a leaping linebacker. Joe falls forward for a gain of four. Big third down and Peyton gets knocked over as the completion to Marvin comes up a yard short. They'll go for it on fourth down. Timeout. You don't punt here, obviously. Unless you are Indiana football coach Bill Lynch. Addai needed only to break the forty, but he gets 6 yards. Shifty move to get to the outside. The Colts need to get out early with 7 points. You know it's true. 3rd and less than one. The run is blown up by an unblocked linebacker who forces Joe to the outside help. This 46 yard field goal attempt by AV has miss written all over it. Nope - cash money. Colts 3 - Texans 0.

2.) Great job of coverage on the kickoff return by Andre Davis. The Texans will start at the 17. Sage Rosenfels is in a QB. Schaub is out with an intestinal infection. Nice stuff of Slaton on both first and second downs. Andre Johnson is about a foot short on his third down reception. Great job of tackling. Brackett, Giordano, and Jackson all hit him at the same time to halt his momentum. Punt.

3.) The Colts will start at the 36 after a short return by Forsett. The run blocking is leaving something to be desired early on. Stuffed on first and second down. Diem got manhandled. Marvin snags a HUGE third down and ten exactly at the sticks. Wow. Dierdorf makes a great comparison between Johnson's third down route and Harrison's. Game of inches. Third and four. The refs mark Gonzalez way short of where he appeared to catch the ball. They are going for it again, wisely. Play action to Reggie for a big time gain of 36. Two feet in baby. First and goal. Addai manages a couple on first down. Santi down to the one. Manning looks great so far and Dungy's gambling is paying off. Big third down - TOUCHDOWN. Joe "Houston" Addai punches it in. Colts 10 - Texans 0.

4.) Good blocking as Davis gets out to the 29 on the kickoff. Quick toss to Andre Johnson for 7. Owen Daniels has 9 for the first. Jackson is way off Andre Johnson and Rosenfels is starting to make it look easy. Rosenfels bootlegs and finds Owen Daniels all alone for 20 yards.

Second Quarter

1.) Texans are at the Indy 23 yard line. Time to tighten up. Or let Green bull you over for 6 yards. First and goal from the ten. The D looks off balance. Green for 3. Interference on Jackson in the end zone. Unfortunate, because there was no way Johnson was catching that ball. Touchdown, Slaton. Poor performance by the D on that particular drive. For my money, that's as bad as they have looked all year. Colts 10 - Texans 7.

2.) Forsett returns the kickoff out past the twenty. He's starting to scare me by doing too much. Rhodes appeared to badly misread that run. Second down - sack. Now this looks more like the 2008 season. Third and 15 and Gonzalez flat drops a brilliant pass from a scrambling Manning. Awful drive. Punt.

3.) Need a turnover. Quickly third and one after two short interior passes. Huge pass to Andre Johnson for 39 yards. Nearly outran everyone. Oh, that's why Marlin Jackson was giving him so much room before. Should have stuck with that strategy, I guess. Third and 9, terrible direct snap to Green. He fell down, so it is hard to tell if that would have worked, but I doubt it. Field goal. Colts 10 - Texans 10.

4.) Forsett to the 29. Mike Hart didn't hold his block long enough. The offensive line has been shaky again this week. This time they are solid as Peyton has 2+ seconds to find Clark at midfield. Addai for two. Need a two for one, if possible. Bullet to Wayne on the slant for 5. Third and 3, wow. Marvin is back, baby. He gets crushed, but snags it in traffic. Wow. First down. False start on Charlie Johnson. Thanks, big guy. Overthrows Marvin to the endzone. Coverage was there, but Marvin was out in front. Addai for three. Third and 12, Peyton underthrows it to Wayne in the endzone. Broken up. We'll be thinking about that play tomorrow. Missed 49 yarder by AV. Not sure that is even worth attempting with a 36 year old. He did hit a 46 yarder, though.

5.) Houston is quickly driving. The second quarter has been all Texans. Two minute warning. Need to hold them to three. Big third and 2 coming up. Timeout. 6 yards to Andre Davis and a first down. We're in serious trouble, folks. Just not enough pressure as Rosenfels finds Johnson to the five. Houston uses its last timeout. Touchdown Andre Johnson. Houston looked like the better team in the first half. 17 unanswered points. 1-3 looks like a distinct possibility. Texans 17 - Colts 10.

6.) Colts start at the 20 with under 30 seconds to play. Play action to Clark for twenty. Timeout. Pick. Well it was worth a shot.

The Colts aren't very good at football right now. The hard part is that there isn't a clear culprit. Both sides of the ball have looked both solid and awful at times. The Offense and Defense haven't bothered to play well at the same time yet. The result is a team that, at this moment, would be doing very well to secure a wild card spot.

Third Quarter

1.) Davis out to the 34. Looked like they had him blown up. Driving again. The Indy D looks overwhelmed by the play of. . . Sage Rosenfels. Hey, uh, guys. Your season is on the line. Make a damn play. DZ points out that this meltdown can't be blamed on being on the field too long. Too drops in a row saves the D's bacon. Freeney gets a little bit of pressure. Hasn't been very much of that today. So so so so so lucky. Punt. Touchback.

2.) The Colts O must make the Texans pay for that failed drive. It didn't look like there was any way they'd get off the field without points scored. Nice screen for nine yards to Clark, blocked by Saturday. 2nd and 1. Well blocked first down run around the left guard by Joe for 8 yards. The Colts need to score a lot in this half. Strange fake end around to Wayne followed by a failed screen to Addai. 12 yards left by Addai to midfield. Charlie Johnson hustling ahead. AAAH. Manning misses again to Harrison. Third time today he's had one of his boys deep and missed him. This one was egregious. Third and 8, delay of game. A good drive is unraveling. Manning under pressure dumps it to Addai who bats it in the air before finally catching it. Punt.

3.) Texans start at the 9. Need a stop. Incomplete. Good pressure. This is huge. 3rd and 1, and Slaton easily picks it up after a hard count throws the Colts off balance. Out to the 40. Where are the turnovers? Not there, but Freeney nearly had one as he strips the QB for a loss of 10. 3rd and 17, and wow. Automatic first down. Just unreal. Defensive Holding on a run. Terrible call. There was nothing there. That, my friends, was probably the play of the season. Offsides. Foster just misses a pick. Couldn't find the ball in the air. That hurts so bad. Third and 6, and a huge conversion. Hilarious. The breaks are not going our way to say the least. Third and 7, and a quick stop. Field Goal. Those three points should never have happened. Twenty unanswered points. Texans 20 - Colts 10.

4.) Forsett runs right into a group of Texans, instead of following his blockers. The Colts need to score points and fast.

Fourth Quarter

1.) I have to admit I'm shell-shocked right now. I can't believe we are going 1 - 3 to start 2008. It is starting to sink in. Must score drive obviously. Wayne for 16. Addai for 3. Another 3. He's squeezing through nothing-holes. Third down and season? Sack. Thanks for playing. Punt. Touchback.

2.) Who do you even point fingers at? Everyone, I think. It's kind of bizarre. 10 points? Sage Rosenfels? I'm glad I'm not on that flight home. I'll let the rest of the game speak for itself.

The Eyes of Texas

2008-10-04T11:40:00.006-04:00

Here's this week's entry of Eyes in the Backfield. It contains my two favorite stats for people who are freaking out over the 08 Colts (highlighted in red)...

So things haven't exactly gone according to plan, but with the bulk of the season still in front of them, the Colts look to rebound from the gut check loss to the Jags, by taking on the winless Texans. Houston was a preseason darling of a lot of people, but were blown out by the Steelers in week 1, and it only got worse from there. Indy needs a win badly, and if things go well, here's what you'll see:

1. Watch for points. The Colts have had a healthy bye week just in time to gain rhythm and players back healthy. The Texans showed an ability to move the ball last week. This should be a high scoring affair. Indy has scored 39 points in their last 30 minutes of Time of Possession. The Colts defense has only allowed 3 touchdowns through three games, but the offense has 'helped' out by allowing 16 defensive points of their own. One way or another, the Colts O is scoring points.

2. Watch for Mike Pollack. The second round pick was slated to be a starter at guard this season, but a knee injury has kept Howard Mudd scrambling to fill his spot. Together with the return of Tony Ugoh, the Colts line is as healthy as it has been in some time (though it is still missing Ryan Lilja).

For more just click.

Links:
This joke just isn't funny (to me). It's hilarious to everyone else in the world.
Friday morning at O'Hare Airport, a voice came over the p.a. system, puzzling many passengers: "Paging Kosuke Fukudome, paging Kosuke Fukudome … Please report to the Cincinnati Reds. You have been traded for a player to be named later." Some of the passengers waiting for flights laughed; others cringed.
Oh no. Please no, never.

WHAT?!? I just found out that I'm screwed. The Brighthouse pissing match with WISH just hit home for me 10,000 miles away. My friend with the slingbox? Guess which cable company he has. SUCK! At least they are going to air the radio play by play. Fun times. Ok, Bob Lamey! It's me and you tomorrow, bud.

This is an appropriate metaphor for the 2008 Cubs. Spend a long time building them, then shake them up and watch them disappear. Thanks to Ruth Ann for the link.

Hurting the Ones I Love

2008-10-03T09:12:00.006-04:00

Believe it or not, it's hard for me to write this post today. I agonized over it for some time. Finally, my friend Andy sent me this article by George Will, and it has forced me to comment publicly. It argues, among other things, that rooting for a losing team causes the fan to enhance his ability to delay gratification and therefore improve reasoning skill. Will takes this interesting premise and uses it to encourage fans of that scrappy (rhymes with crappy) little ball club...the Chicago Cubs.

Seriously and with no sarcasm at all, I want to let this go with out comment. Most of my best friends and some of my family are desperate die hard Cubs fans. One of my very best friends pours hot coals on my head by generously following the Reds as well, causing me to ask myself why my heart is so malevolently cold as to refuse to do him the same courtesy. But, the fact remains that I am a deeply flawed individual, wholly incapable of taking the high road in this case.

George Will's premise may well be true for the fans of a great number of clubs, and was almost certainly true for the Boston faithful until a few years ago. It is not true, however, for 'fans' of the Chicago Cubs. With obvious exceptions, my experience with most Cub fans is that they don’t really care about winning and losing, but rather the ‘fun’ of hanging out at Wrigley and drinking. Now most of those have been priced out by rich people who like the status symbol of…hanging out at Wrigley and drinking. Implying that there is some kind of real psychic scar involved with being a Cubs fan means that you believe the Cubs fans actually understand the action on the field or really care if the team wins or loses. In most cases, I simply don't buy it.

I know there were real tears shed by real fans as the Cubs kicked the ball around the infield last night. I know many a true fan wondered if the basepaths and not just the walls were coated with ivy after watching that futile display of fielding ability. But the simple fact remains, that for the majority of Northside fans, it simply doesn't matter if the Cubs win or lose. They show up, drink, and act obnoxious (home or away!) if the Cubs are in first or last. Their happiness is only slightly connected to actual performance on the field, and even then only to the extent that they get to sing if they win. Most of them still haven't figured out that Fukudome isn't actually a good player and are all primed to punch him into next years All Star Game (along with their yearly write-in vote last generation's most overrated player: Shawn Dunston). Their reasoning skills aren't heightened by rooting for the Cubs...they don't follow the Cubs for wins and losses; they follow them becuase they like to drink (thus expressing their masculinity) and because bear cubs are cute (thus providing an outlet for their more latent tendencies).

So now I've gone and done it. I've ranted on Cubs fans again. I hate myself for it, but there it is. For the true blue among you, I apologize. Hating the Cubs is as much a sickness for me as loving them is for you. Best of luck in game three. At least you'll have a new right fielder!

There is (almost) always hope!

Oh, and if anyone knows where I can score a nice Manny jersey...let me know.

Leaving Olympus-The MMTTB report.

2008-10-02T09:25:00.008-04:00

Here lies a fallen god. His fall was not a small one.

Yes, it is with a heavy heart that I bring you all the MMTTB report today. Just a few weeks ago, we were all basking in the collective glow that emanated from the countenance of everyone's favorite front office combo. Their combined luminescence promised to usher in a new era of harmonic convergence among us mere mortals. But now? Oh what rough beast is man! Our enlightened duo has fallen hard from the slopes on high where they supped with the divine, and now wallow in the mud with the rest of us.

Since last we saw Thompson and McCarthy, their protege Aaron Rodgers has lost not one, but two games and seen a precipitous drop in every major passing statistic. The Packers have gone from being seen as a potential contender in the NFC, to being one of the major question marks. What's more, terrible luck has befallen the new Packers QB! He is injured! There was surely no way to forsee this! He is nursing a sprained shoulder, and his ability to play and/or produce is in serious question. This is just bad luck, right? Aaron Rodgers has no history of getting hurt? Right?

Meanwhile, the cursed Favre played Dr. Lecter on the Arizona secondary, throwing for a career high 6 touchdowns. For one so callously tossed from the halls of football's valhala, he's doing pretty well for his new team. So what to make of Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson? Whereas once the media had deemed them worthy of the highest prose, they are now reduced to cheap cliches. That is to say...we see the wheels turning, but the hamster might well be dead. Their IQ this week: 69. They are morons, but highly functioning ones!

Links:

This is freaking amazing. The Onion informs us that a new ally has joined the fight against the WNBA.

The FWJG comes through with a nice little piece about the attitude of the Colts WRs

Read only if you have time. Simmons blames Boras for the Manny trade. He's dead on.

Don Banks ranks the divisions

The Best Possible News for the Colts

2008-10-01T18:52:00.004-04:00

Vince Young is back. The man who has held back the Titans for a couple of years now, came back to practice today, and Colts fans did a jig. The Titans rarely beat themselves, but now that Young is potentially in the mix, the potential for the Nashvillians to self-implode runs high. By all accounts, Young is popular with his teammates and in part from the whole old white dude/young black guy angle, it remains to be seen if the a locker room rift could form in Nashville. The best thing that ever happened to the Titans was Young's timely injury, and his return could be just the elixir the rest of the AFC South has been looking for.

I wanted to do a playoff preview today for baseball, but life events haven't cooperated. Suffice to say that I'm looking west to make the next few weeks bearable. Also, congrats to Jr. on making it back to the playoffs. Nice throw, Kid.

Pity The Ex-patriot Sports Fan

2008-09-30T07:59:00.006-04:00

No, this post has nothing to do with our buddies up in chowder-land. Today, I hope to give you all a bit of a look into what's it's like to be a huge sports fan, but live outside the good ol' USA. I've mentioned from time to time some of the things that I do to stay connected to the world of balls and bats while living in South America. Paying a little extra for DirecTV and making sure that I have the highest speed internet available have helped me keep me more up to date than a lot of people stateside.

Right now, however, I'm staying with friends while we arrange for permanent housing here in Argentina. This means that I'm forced to live 'down' to the level of most sports fans who live overseas. What is it like? Well...

Most US sports fans abroad are probably lucky enough to live in a country that likes at least one of the big three sports. Europe loves basketball; Asia and the Caribbean love baseball. That helps. You might pick up a local telecast of a game, but at least can depend on ESPN's international wing to bring you a game or two week on basic cable. That's not bad, but unless you are a Yankees or Lakers fan, you aren't ever going to see your favorite team but once or twice a season. Me? I live in Argentina which means I get some Spurs games, but no baseball or NFL.

If you don't spring for 1 MB or better internet (which can be pricey), even watching highlight clips on NFL.com or ESPN is a chore. Fast internet also means streaming events. The NFL now streams some games for free (though often content is blocked if they detect you are outside the States), and the $15 for MLBs audio package is money well spent. If you have friends and family back home, you can always set up a Slingbox. This is a nifty device that plugs into your friend's cable and internet and allows you to watch their TV from anywhere in the world. I have a buddy who has given me access to his, but this doesn't do me much good on a 256K connection. I watched some NFL on it last Sunday, and at this speed...it's rough. The audio works though, so it's better than nothing.

If you don't have good highspeed internet or a great cable system, you are probably reduced to just getting scores and reading your local paper from back home online once in a while. Maybe you find a blog that covers your team well, but largely you are reduced to following local sports. For most of us who live overseas, that means Football (which means Soccer).

Here's the thing to realize about soccer if you don't live in the USA: it's pretty freaking cool. In the States there are two kinds of soccer snobs; the first consists of people who hate soccer and say it sucks and mock everyone who likes it. I used to be this kind of soccer snob, so I understand the mentality. Most soccer that exisits in the USA does suck. MLS is impossible to watch. Team USA is ok, but really is a third tier power right now. The second kind of soccer snob is scarf wearing elitest guy who looks down on the great unwashed who don't take off work to watch every UEFA match. This guy probably studied abroad in France for 6 months, and now thinks he's better than you becuase he follows some obscure Dutch team like Ajax (or if he's really a poser...Man U). I get how annoying that guy is, and don't blame you for hating him.

The thing you have to understand about most of us who become soccer fans is that it starts out as a necessity. If you want to have friends and fit in, in most countries you'd best follow soccer. And when played at full speed by experts...it really is a beautiful game. Most everyone in the States sort of gets that now, which is why the Euro Cup and the World Cup get huge ratings. Soccer, when played by men who know what they are doing, is amazing. If you don't dig it, that's fine. I'm not going to go all Soccer Snob #2 on you. Just understand, that it helps the ex-pat sports fan survive. Remember to pity those of us who grew up playing baseball and now have to play pick-up soccer. It isn't pretty. I pretty much head to the goal keeper spot right away. It's basically the right field of pick up soccer.

So pity the ex-pat sports fan. When he comes home, he's often ill-informed and ignorant of the 'big issues' going on in the sporting world. Some friends in Africa used to love to get video tapes of the Super Bowl (one month late). It's tough to be that guy. He used to hold his own at the barber shop, but now is on par with slightly effiminate guy who listens to too much Belle and Sebastian.

On the other hand, if he goes the distance and stays connected to US sports, he'll always have a wealth of information he can't bring up in any conversation he'll ever have with friends in his new country. That guy might just exhaust his poor wife by constantly talking about sports anecdotes and observations that she cares nothing for. He'll wear out his other US friends in country (who don't follow sports nearly as closely) with endless descriptions of games he watched or listened to on line. He might get so desperate to talk about sports that he does the absolutely unthinkable...

He'll start a blog.

Pity the expatriate sports fan.

Links:
This is what passes as a positive review for Pacers fans these days.

Does anyone know what's going on around here?

2008-09-29T08:35:00.006-04:00

One of the chief reasons for optimism for Colts fans is that it's pretty difficult to figure out who in the AFC is actually any good. Yesterday was a prime example. Buffalo and Tennessee both won moving to 4-0. We all know enough to take the Titans sort of seriously, although you have to wonder how things will shake out when Vince Young gets 'healthy' (whatever that completely entails). I'm willing to say that this team is legit(ish). They obviously have had an excellent defense for some time, and the offense is just trying to stay out of the way. It can't believe what terrible luck it was for the rest of the NFL that he got hurt. If Young could only have stayed healthy, the Titans could have been counted on to be a second tier team.

After the Titans though, it's anyone's guess. San Diego and Jacksonville both sucked out yesterday and came away with wins. Denver wandered into their own house of horrors. I suppose if Baltimore beats the Steelers tonight, we can assume they are good. I'm still not sold on Buffalo, though I freely admit that I can't articulate why off the top of my head.

If the Chargers or New England had bolted out of the gate, I think we'd all feel pretty sick right now. As it stands, the Colts are still right in the thick of things, although it's basically imperitive to win 3 of the next four games (including at the Titans) if they hope to keep their division hopes alive. Three of those games are on the road, although whether Green Bay is any good is anyone's guess (MMTTB will be fun this week!).

Links:
It's from last week, but I avoided the media last week. Whitlock gently wonders about Dungy's coaching schedule. It's a fair question, but I think that there are enough other things that have clearly gone wrong. Unless the rest of the NFL is practicing on Friday nights, I doubt this is the culprit.

This Star piece on Irsay's daughter was great yesterday.

Peter King claims he isn't shocked over the state of the NFL. His nonsensical intro (in which he claims that the topsy turvy-ness of this NFL season is to be expected) actually helps me articulate why I don't trust the Buffalos of the world. Because it's a long season, and a chunk of the league hasn't even played 4 games yet, it's just silly to talk about the NFL like there has been some sea change. I can buy Tennessee because we've seen this coming from them for some time. All it took was removing VY from the equation. As for other pretenders like Buffalo, it takes a lot more than 4 games to convince me that they've arrived. King would be better served telling people not to overreact to four (three!) games worth of data and just calm down a little. Instead he acts like the way the standings look now is the way they'll finish up.

Cool Hand, Luke

2008-09-28T12:01:00.001-04:00

Good bye, Paul. The screen, the salad, and the track will miss you. Thanks for 83 years of being awesome.