Upon further review...

I finally finished the tape of Sunday night's game. Here are some of my observations (the rest I'll save for the podcast):

1. I was stunned by how different the game seemed on TV with Madden and Michaels announcing it. They painted the Colts as much worse than they seemed live. They were wrong about a lot of things, primarily Madden's observation that Manning didn't look deep enough. I counted 12 times Manning looked deep. There were 2 drops, 1 hurry, 1 sack, 2 coverage throw aways, Wayne didn't get his feet down once, 2 dump downs, 1 defensive penalty, 1 time Wayne had a ball knocked away, and the other was a ball of Wayne's fingertips in the endzone. Three times of 12, the receivers messed up by dropping a ball or failing to get feet down, 4 times the protection wasn't good enough. The 12 deep attempts netted one contact penalty and two dump-off passes. The Colts looked deep fairly often, but the line and receiver play was poor.

2. Here's the breakdown of Manning's incomplete passes:
WR drops 3
Dump offs under pressure 4
Hit as he threw 1
Throw away (good coverage) 2
WR failed to get feet down on sideline 1
Tipped passes (Manning's fault) 2
Tipped pass (O-line) 1
Bad throws by Manning 4
Misread of defense 1

Manning had about 7 passes that were off. 10 of his incomplete passes were failures by the wideouts or O-line, and 2 more can be chalked up to good coverage.

3. Stan's assertion in the comments yesterday that the failure to run the stretch play hurt the Colts offense may prove true in the weeks to come, but there was no evidence of it in this game. He also wondered about the Bears coverage. The Bears coverage was not really that good, and only came into play 5 or so times during the game. The Bears pressure was good, not their coverage. That jived with what we saw at the game, as we only commented on the coverage on two plays. Looking down on the play is where you can best judge the coverage and the QB intent.

4. The loss of Clark was devastating as Robinson couldn't have played worse as blocker. More on that in the podcast. The whole line played bad. Ugoh had the best game by far, but even he gave up a sack late. Charlie Johnson was horrible. Again, more on the line play in the podcast.

5. The lack of a run game late had more to do with the score and the failure of the deep plays than anything. A couple of negative runs in key spots were ugly, but there was yardage to be had most of the time.

6. I'll talk about the 4th down call on the podcast, but let's just say that one guy failed miserably to do his job and a play that should have worked, didn't. I still believe that a punt in that situation would have resulted in a Colts loss. We would have been down two scores and gotten the ball back with time running short and only 1 time out. The Colts were down two scores and were going to be down two scores even if the Bears took a short field for a TD (which they did). A first down might have saved the game. It might have been the wrong play choice, but I still think it was the right call. Over time, the numbers bear out that going for it on fourth and short is a better strategy than punting.

7. Bob Kravitz is on crack. In what may be his worst published piece ever, he litters his report card with inaccuracies and bizarre conclusions:

• He questions whether the run game problems were Joe Addai's fault. Watch the tape, Bob. IT WAS THE LINE. Addai several times made men miss at the line of scrimmage to get big runs. He had a couple of key runs for losses where he was annihilated as he took the hand off. To blame Addai is ignorant and lazy.
• I'm not sure how he figured the Colts YPA, but it should be 5.2. He lists it at 4.7. He may be including sack data, but I doubt it. I think he's just lazy. He claimed Manning had 'rust' that was 'mental'. There is simply no indication of that. Again, watching the tape showed the Colts attempting to do all the things they always do, but poor line and WR play doomed the offense. I'm not sure what 'ghosts' Manning was seeing, but he didn't look confused on tape. He looked frustrated at his line, but not confused.
• He called the Colts special teams "atrocious". Again, without any real reason why. The Colts special teams outplayed the Bears. For once, they were not the cause of the loss. There was a poor strategic decision early and one penalty on a return. They also made a great play on Hester's hesitation return.
• He is 100% wrong on the volume of the stadium. The Luke was extremely loud in pregame introductions. He admits he couldn't hear because the press box is sealed, and then says it wasn't the fans that weren't loud, it was the stadium. The fans were full throttle through the first Bears possession, but then the pace and events of the game took them out of it. Sorry Bob, you weren't paying enough attention. The crowd WAS the reason for the lack of noise, but if you came out of the press box once in a while, you might know that.

8. I don't like our chances on Sunday. As long as Charlie Johnson is playing, we are in trouble. He was amazingly bad.

9. The dumbest thing a fan can do is kill the coach for decisions that didn't decide the game. Don't criticize a coach for challenging a big play. Stupid coaches (Jack Del Rio) challenge spots (like whether it was a TD for the Jags or a 2nd and goal from the two inch line) or meaningless 5 yard catches. On huge plays like the saftey and the fumble, challenging the play is the right thing to do. Never forget Troy Polamalu. There was never a play that looked less overturnable than that.

Dungy didn't lose that game.

Marvin Harrison, Charlie Johnson, Ryan Diem, Jamey Richards and Gijon Robinson lost that game.

Links:
Simmons whines about Brady's knee.

Vince Young is a nut job.

FO looks at our injury situation

I get why the Colts drop, but how does San Diego not fall farther? We have an excuse. What was theirs?

Here are those DVOA rankings.

Quick Reads says Peyton didn't do too bad, but I'm still fuzzy on the new stats.

Floyd Reese isn't always very smart, but I'm really hoping he doesn't remember how bad the Colts line was last year.

Any Given Sunday is more about the Bears playing well than the Colts sucking.

Brighten your day

Pre-Game Coin Toss Makes Jacksonville Jaguars Realize Randomness Of Life
Thanks Jacob.

Oh yeah, and Clark's injury appears minor.

More to come today, including a further beat down on Kravitz and a chronicle of all 19 incomplete passes by Manning.

Good Dog, Bad Dog

I made the 2 hour drive home from Indy this morning in relative peace. Instead of listening to sports radio, I chose to relax my frayed nerves by listening to the amazing Cincinnati group Over the Rhine . They really are wonderful; check them out on Itunes (start with the title of this post). I mostly stuck with A Drunkard's Prayer which sort of fit my mood. It was, however, the words to All I Need is Everything which resonated exactly how I feel about last night's debacle:

Calm down.
Be still.
We've got plenty of time to kill.
No hand writing on the wall:
just the voice that's in us all.
And you're whispering to me,
time to get up off my hands and knees,
'cause if I beg for it, it won't come.
I find nothing but table crumbs.
My hands are empty.
God, I've been naive.
All I need is everything.

In my own postmodern way, I'll let each person interpret that for themselves. It made me feel better though. Way better than I would have felt if I had tried to listen to Colin Cowherd for two hours.

One more note about the Luke: they seem to have worked out the crowd flow issues. Demond made it from his car (parked for $3) to the seats in 22 minutes. I walked my parents through the stadium for the first time, and we found it easy to navigate from the North Gate to the South Gate escalator with no crowd crush and no waiting. We left their house in Northwest Indy about 7:15 and were in our seats by the coin flip (including a stop at the Pro Shop). Again, we got there fairly late and still parked for $3. Amazing.

Links:
Peter King may well be insane. He ranks the Jags (who were horrible with no excuse) 5 spots ahead of the Colts. Whatever. Jacksonville had every chance to win that game (better field position, the Titans backed up 3rd and 15, ect), and were incapable. That team isn't very good. All in all, it was one of his weakest efforts in some time.

Saturday might practice this week? The coaches must have watched tape of the line last night.

There were interesting scout comments on the game last night.

Brady is done, in case you haven't heard. I take no pleasure in this. If Brady had to get hurt, I would want it to be with a crippling case of anal warts, not a blown ACL. In fact, I will root for the Pats openly all season now. Mostly because I want Cassel to throw 40 TDs to Moss so no one is ever confused again as to why the Pats were great. Or maybe not.

Audibles at the Line was surprisingly uninspired this week. At least in terms of our game, which is the only part I've had time to read so far.

Half Full, Half Empty

Days like this are when I hate running a blog. Before 18to88, whenever the Colts would lose a weird crappy game, I'd ignore the world for 4 days, watch the tape and move on. Now, I have to show up and talk about a game that at first blush people are making too much about. Let me preface everything I'm saying by saying that I'll watch the tape later, and until I do will withhold final judgment. These are just thoughts off the top of my head:

1. The fact that the four major contenders in the AFC South had awful days makes me feel better. NE had the worst day, despite winning. The Jags were the second worst. The Chargers had no excuse to lose their game. All in all, things could be worse.

2. Manning looked fine to me. He moved and threw well. He had a couple of off passes, but mostly played fine.

3. The defense was basically ok. They played with a lot of short fields due to Hester-itis, and other than Bethea (and a linebacker who I'll name later once I see it again) blowing the 50 yard TD run, did about what we've come to expect.

4. Harrison's knee is fine.

5. The Luke is loud. Just as loud as the dome.

6. Freeney looked 100%

7. Basically, this looked like a team that hadn't played any preseason games. The stats on the game were very even despite all the problems, and if Harrison hangs on to the effing ball, the Colts probably win this game.

Now the bad news.
1. The next two games are against better versions of this same team. Better fix some stuff or 0-3 is a real possibility.

2. The WRs were awful. Gonzo, Wayne, and Harrison had great moments but dropped passes, and Harrison screwed the game by fumbling.

3. The O-line was being obliterated. Manning's numbers looked pretty good for a guy on the move. I don't want to hear crap about "happy feet". First off, he always moves his feet like that, and secondly the line was not adequate. I'll assign appropriate blame after breaking down the tape. This is troubling. Again, I expect these problems to be fixed soon, but it was ugly out there. Running the ball wasn't even an option.

The early coverage on this game has been a little over the top.
Greg Doyle's piece was accurate in terms of the wideouts, but sort of insane in its tone.

Kravitz was wrong about more things than I can count:

• First off, I know it was an obvious headline, but he didn't have to steal it.
• He says the game could have been worse, but it could have been better just as easily. That game was closer than the score indicated, and basically flipped on one play.
• He says the "down by contact" call on Roby was dicey. It's because he doesn't understand the rules of football. To overturn a "down by contact" call there are two elements that have to be present. 1. a clear fumble (check) 2. a clear recovery by the defense. That was why they didn't overturn. If there is a pile up, and the defense doesn't CLEARLY recover the ball on the tape, there can be no overturn, EVEN if the defense recovers the ball under the scrum and the runner did indeed fumble. Bob doesn't know the rules of football.
• What did he see to make him say the special teams were awful? There was some dicey strategy early in trying to kick away from Hester, but once they went right at him, things were fine.
• He was 100% WRONG about Dungy's judgement in going for the 4th down. There was no other choice in order to win that game. You can question the play call, but going for it was the best way to win. The Bears were running the ball too well to hope for a three and out. A punt and you find yourself down 9 with 7 minutes to play and 1 timeout (at best). It was the right call to go for it.
• He says Manning was tentative all night. I'm not sure what that means, but he was looking and throwing deep downfield all night. On several plays, the rush made him dump it off, and on two others Harrison dropped a huge gain, and Wayne failed to tap his feet. He overthrew Reggie in the endzone by about an inch. It's true that there were timeouts, but a couple were because guys ran on the field late (Tamme!), and the ) O-line didn't seem to know what was going on.

I won't have time to peruse all the coverage until later today, but that's a start anyway. We'll probably record 18 Plays tomorrow night. Check back later for more links.

Demond Sanders: Good thoughts. I'm pretty depressed right now, but I said going into the game that even if we lost there was no way we could have worse day than New England. It was the first game of the season, but, as you mention, the next two are going to be very similar opponents. Scary. They need some kind of running game.

Not Ready for Prime Time

Bears 29 - Colts 13

That was frustrating, but not jump of the roof bad. We'll react tomorrow, but off the top of my head, without seeing any tape, the O-line looked piss poor.

Bears - Colts Live Game Blog

So Deshawn and Demond are at the game so I'm (Westside Rob) filling in to provide the live game blog for tonight. For those that don't view the comments, I'm a pretty regular commenter here and over at Stampede Blue, not that that really qualifies me for this job but I volunteered...

Tonight's game pretty much boils down to how fast Peyton can shake off the rust vs. how much the Bears can regain their defensive form of two years ago. If the Bears can get pressure up the middle on the Colts "new" interior line then the Colts could be pushed, but there is no doubt the Colts have more talent overall.

Obviously based on what happened earlier today (Update: NBC is already reporting that Brady might be out for the year) the most important thing is for Peyton to finish the night upright and unhurt. With JAX and SD losses today the Colts have the opportunity to get out early on front of their likely Conference competitors. I gave DS and DZ my mobile number so I'm hoping they'll give me some updates on crowd noise and atmosphere for the game.

Game ON!
Q1

• Will the Colts kick to Devin Hester? As good as the special teams have been in preseason I almost want to see how they can handle him. Though maybe we should see if we can put a couple touchdowns on the board first.
• Slightly scary moment on the first return...but turned out OK.
• Interesting that the came out with the "2 back" set with Gijon as the h-back.
• Every pundit can SHUT UP now! Big 3rd down pickup with pressure coming.
• Solid protection so far but Peyton and the offense are clearly going to need a few series to shake off the rust. AG needs to catch that...
• I'm sure DZ is screaming for Hunter to STOP out kicking our coverage!
• Lucky break for the Bears on the "Illegal snap"
• Good pressure on Orton. Freeney almost beat the double team.
• Marvin is BACK!
• Peyton is definitely wearig a brace on that knee, which actually makes me feel better.
• Nice makeup by AG! Great footwork!
• Beautiful run by the Jaddai Master. RED ZONE!
• TO: Time for some comments: O-Line looks fine so far. It's clear the team is game planning some rollouts and clear outs to counter extra pressure up the middle and so far it's working. Peyton doesn't look too rusty. His passes have been more on target then most of what I saw from other QBs today (and most of those guys played the full preseason). Addai and the run blocking have been good.
• I spoke to soon...that running play never had a chance. They aren't showing many replays so it's hard to tell who blew that.
• Yikes, we get inside the 10 and then self destruct! This is the rust I was expecting.
• AG is having an up and down night, but that catch wouln't have helped much.
• 4's leg looks strong. He definitely is looking stronger this year.
• I don't like that decision on the kickoff. If you don't want to kick direct to Hester fine. But that was not good.
• Well that SUCKs! Brackett, Sanders, and Bethea all to blame on that play. Not good!
• Followed by more breakdowns. This is likely to get overturned though I'm always confused by when the Ref calling a play dead is reviewable and when it is not. I doubt this one turns out for the Colts.
• OK so I'm wrong. I'm glad I'm wrong but I don't really know what happened there.
• God do I love the TE screen. I'd love to see 2 or 3 different versions of that play.
• Wayne got leveled on that one. Follwed by a good punt this time.
• The run defense is looking a little soft tonight. Deon is probably sitting out there saying "Just like I said man"
• Bob and Gary need to regroup the boys. They need to buck up. The Bears are gutting us right up the middle. Let's see more effort and focus in the 2nd qtr.

Q2

• I'm not sure why the Bears try to throw that deep ball when clearly there wasn't anything there. Then run an obvious draw on 3rd down and kill a good drive. This is a big part of why the Bears didn't make the playoffs last year.
• Nice first catch for Wayne. Mannng is starting to look a little more settled. The O-Line is looking OK. Quick throws are helping. NBC just reported Dallas is hurt...what the heck is going on in the league today?
• Awesome YAC by AG. That's what we need from him. I think they are playing AG wide and Wayne in the slot...funny. Who just misses a slightly overthrown TD pass...
• What's Madden's fascination with Peyton's weight? AV4 puts a squeeker through the uprights. I like what I see from the offense. Still clearly rusty especially in the red zone, but I think they'll get sharper and sharper as things go. I'm a little more worried about the defense. We need to be more stout up the middle.
• Sanders just LAID the WOOD on that one. That's was pretty!
• Starting to see some pressure but we need to stop the run to setup those longer downs. Hayden is down...will anyone on any team be left to play at this rate?
• Looks like Clark and Hayden will both be back. Nice play by Orton on that one.
• Madden reports that the Luke doesn't sound very loud. I would say through the TV that I was thinking the same thing. It will be interesting to hear from DZ and DS their take on that.
• How did Hayden drop that interception? I guess that's why he moved from WR to DB.
• I guess Orton wants to keep this job. Though taking hits like that are a good way to end your night.
• Roby has not looked strong on the returns tonight. I don't know for sure but I suspect Garcon is one of the inactives for tonight. I wonder if we'll see him get a chance at KR later in the year?
• What in the heck were the Colt's thinking there? You don't run wide from the endzone. I just don't get that call. Well evidently the Colts want to put themselves into a big hole to play out of.
• Gijon missed the block on that play. He did a total "Olay" on the guy who tackles Addai. So much for him being the best blocking TE the Colts have ever had. Give me Pat Beach.
• There is some serious holding going on at the line. We need to get some pressure on Orton. The Colts are totally on their heals right now. They better make some adjustments at halftime. Better gap control and stop the over pursuit which has costs us on a couple of the running plays (as usual).
• Nice sack, big time for it.
• I hate it when we put a LB wide on a TE. It almost always turns out bad for us. I'd rather put a safety and have the LB play deep.
• Not a good half for the Colts but they've kept it close. Our offense can still turn it on and put points on the board quick. Let's hope they regroup and knock the rust off quick.

2nd Half Q3

• We really need to win this game. If Brady is out for the year (which NBC is reporting "rumors are spreading Brady has a blown ACL) we need to establish early that we are the big dog in the league. I hope we can turn the switch on in the 2nd half.
• Made him pay for show boating. Love seeing that.
• Nice 3 and out to come out from the half. This is why Dungy is a Hall of Fame coach, because the team almost always comes out and plays better in the 2nd half when we haven't played well in the 1st half.
• Side Note: Paul Kuharsky at ESPN throws Vince Young under the bus (where we all know he belongs as the WORST starting QB in the NFL): http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth
• C Johnson has not looked strong at Guard. He broke down bad on that pass to Wayne.
• Very nice run by Addai, good move to avoid the safety.
• TD WAYNE! Good methodical drive by the Lucky Charms. Nice route and read on that pass. I suspect the Colts found a wrinkle in the Bears D that they are now exploiting. If the D can keep it up like they did on the last Bears posession then I think we can take control of this game this quarter.
• WOW are these special teams for real? We all know they looked much improved in the preseason but you have to like what we've seen from them so far.
• Olsen is a great TE. Reminds me a lot of Dallas though maybe a little bigger.
• The Bears definitely made the right decision starting Orton. I don't know how far he can really take them but he's cleary a better choice then Grossman.
• Defense is looking a little better even though they gave up that first down. Just need to tighten up a little more.
• OK 3rd and 6. Time for Freeney, Mathis, etc. to make their money!!! AND THEY DO!
• OH Crud! Definitely a fumble. Well there goes the momentum!
• Well let's pour some salt on the wound and get a penalty on the return so we have really lousy field position. Come on guys. Let's get something going.
• I know that pitch stretch is more dangerous the the normal stretch play but man it seems to setup faster so I like it.
• J Richard has looked good at Center. On all the run plays up the middle he's way down field with the RB which is what you want to see. I'm not sure C. Johnson or Federkiel have been quite as strong. I'm hoping Pollack is back soon as I think he'll be an improvement at Guard.

4Q

• I think you have to go for this. Put in Hart and GO! You have to score to win, you can't Punt from behind. Jax proved that today, you have to keep your drive alive if you want to win.
• I said Hart not Rhodes! Dom has never been a good short yardage runner. Richard was NOT good on that play.
• D needs to step up! Bend but don't break won't get it done when you are behind 2 scores in the 4Q. That's run is not stepping up.
• Unless the Colts get this goal line stop it's probably game over. I never count out Peyton but he doesn't look poised enough to lead this comeback. As I typed they scored...we're sunk!
• Though with Jax and SD losing, and Brady not looking good losing isn't the end of the world. Clearly this team was not ready to play a "Real" game tonight. You'd think playing in a new stadium would have gotten the Colts rev'd up but it didn't look like it. It's a long season and if the real Colts that we know come around in the next few weeks I know we'll be fine. I just wanted to get out to a good early start again....
• So we lose Addai and Dallas tonight. We were already down Saturday and Lilja. Now it's starting to feel like last year...
• Big 3rd down pickup by AG
• One thing I can't figure out is why we haven't made the Bears pay for having their LBer's play so close to the line. I know Dallas is out but we need to make them pay for playing up and close to the line...
• Game over...too much rust not just on Peyton but on the whole team. Didn't come to play tonight. It almost seemed like everyone just expected Peyton to come in a do it all for them. It takes everyone doing their job to win and not everyone was doing their jobs well tonight. Including the coaches. We didn't have a good plan on either side of the ball. We didn't make the Bears pay for the the strategy they employed. Frustrating!!!
• Back to my point about making them pay for playing the LBs close to the line. They were running back on the snap on almost every play, so it seems like some quick running plays up the middle or even some draw plays to make them second guess their committment either way. We just played into their hands all night. Bad game plan, no adjustments, nothing to really be happy about. At least I didn't have to pay to be there. I feel even better now about selling my season tickets for this year. Bad over priced seats to watch this would just be TOO painful.
• One other thing. The other team plays too, and give credit to the Bears. They were more physical tonight on both sides of the ball. The more physical team usually wins, and that was true tonight. The Bears D is tough again, and their offense looks much better getting rid of a horrible QB and RB and replacing them with a QB that won't hurt thm and a RB group that is pretty decent.
• Good Job Bears....let's hope the Colts take this loss and learn from it. We need to play better and bring our A game every week. Good night and thanks again to DZ and DS for letting me fill in for them tonight. I have deeper respect for them as this is a lot harder then it may seem. The game moves fast when you are trying to type comments. I'll look forward to DZ and DS's comments and thoughts from the Luke.

Declawed

Titans 17 - Jaguars 10

Hee hee.

The 2008 season is on like Donkey Kong

It Bears Repeating

I know it has been mentioned, but to further psych you up for tonight's game let me remind you of Bill Simmons' take on how the Colts season will begin:

Prediction No. 6: The Colts will barely make the playoffs:

And I mean, barely. As in, "Manning will limp around and look like absolute crap for the first few weeks." As in, "Merril Hoge and Ron Jaworski will spend copious amounts of time showing us replays to prove how much the Colts miss Jeff Saturday." As in, "Everyone who took Marvin Harrison in the third, fourth or fifth round of their fantasy draft will want to fire two gunshots at themselves and then intimidate any potential witness from testifying." As in, "ESPN.com will lead with a 'What's Wrong With The Colts?' headline and a picture of a downcast Peyton Manning on the Monday after Week 5 (a shocking loss in Houston). As in, "Peter King will break the story that the Colts are quietly hoping Tony Dungy will pack it in after the season." And just as we're finally writing them off when they're 5-6 after a Week 12 loss in San Diego, they'll run the rest of the slate, finish 10-6, grab the sixth wild-card spot and immediately become "The First-Round Team Nobody Wants To Play." Sometimes this is too easy.

Oh Bill, how foolish you will look come midnight tonight. I'd be harder on you, but at least you are man enough to admit that the Pats have screwed up their last few draft classes.

I'm Ready! I'm Ready! I'm Ready!

It is almost here. The best day of the year. Here in Indy we are getting Bucs-Saints, Cowboys-Browns, and Jets-Dolphins on the tube. Not great, but not terrible. I'd rather be watching KC upset the Pats or the Jags and Titans whack each other's brains out, but hey it's football!

I'm super psyched for the Bears game. Here is an interview DZ did with the MVN network to get you in the mood. In case you didn't already know, he's not afraid to offer up a strong opinion.

Staring down a Bear

Our regular Friday feature Eyes in the Backfield is up. Here's a taste of what you'll find:

It's been a long offseason, and everyone is more than ready for some football. We'll kick everything off this week by hosting the Bears and ushering in a new era in Indianapolis Colts football. The Bears aren't quite the same team we faced just 19 months ago in Miami; they threaten to be a doormat in the NFC North this year. Here are the 18 most important things to keep an eye on this week:

1. Watch Peyton’s left knee. All indications are that he’s on solid ground after recovering from offseason knee surgery, but until he comes out firing Sunday night, doubts will still linger.

2. Watch for pressure up the middle. The Colts are sporting three new starters on the O-line, but will have last year’s starters at tackle back. Last year, the line was beset by injuries, but there was only really trouble when the tackles were hurt. Howard Mudd mixes and matches better than anyone in the league along the line, so expect solid play up front. With last year’s whipping boy Charlie Johnson finally out of the tackle positions, he has the chance to prove that he is a legitimate NFL starter.

3. Watch Dwight Freeney spin. His health is the single most important issue for the 2008 Colts. If he is getting good pressure on the QB, the Colts will be set for a deep run again in 2008. The spin move is Freeney's signature, and if he can execute it at full speed without pain, it bodes well for the weeks to come.

Be sure to click the link above to check out the full piece.


So we did it! It's been a full week of pumping out enlightening content all designed to edify and encourage the fans of Indianapolis to still greater heights of knowledge, but it will all pay off with a big win on Sunday.

Again, if you missed the two articles from earlier this week be sure to check out our Lost Standings and 18 Bold Visions.
You can always find a running index of all our stories on 18to88.com.

LINKS:
You can join Joe Addai for fantasy football. His team name is Jaddai Council. So very very cool. He is forever more the Jaddai Master here at 18to88.com

Hack journalist, but good football man Mike Lombardi has three stats that matter if you want to make the Super Bowl.

Big Blue Shoe does his best JC impersonation for a highly entertaining season preview over at deadspin.

Just a note, Westside Rob will be doing a live game blog on Sunday night, so be sure to check it out. We'll both be at the game, but he'll be covering things for us this week and during the Jacksonville game. After that, I go back to the 'Tina, so I'll try to cover the home games from there on out.

Here's a video of The Jaddai Master:



Here's a great interview with Polian on Chicago radio.

18 Bold Visions for 2008

Submitted for your approval, 18to88.com's yearly tradition of putting down on virtual paper the grandiose claims that you all find here every day. We are nothing if not accountable for the things we say, so we like to have a compendium of our preseason predictions.

18 Bold Visions is the public record of what we predict for 2008. Everything on this list is coming true. You can agree or disagree, but be prepared for the total seriousness with which we take these predictions. You can bet the farm on every single one.


Assuming you don't mind not owning a farm any more, of course.

Check back tomorrow for Eyes in the Backfield.

Links:
That's the crazy old Bob we know and love! It's time to expect more of Manning? More than his finest year at QB like he had last year? More than him throwing for 400 yards and completing 16 straight passes against a great defense like he did in the playoffs last year? More than giving his team the lead in the fourth quarter only to have his defense fold to a back up QB/RB combination? Good old, Kravitz. Saying crazy stuff again. I almost missed it.

Pre-vision links

I'm still working on our 18 Visions for 2008, but in the meantime feast on a smorgasbord of links. I'm really starting to wonder if the 2008 Colts aren't incredibly underrated. I think people WANT change in the AFC South, but I'll be shocked if this Colts team isn't right at the top of the NFL again. The Freeney issue is still very much in play, but aside from two or three teams in the NFL, I don't think it will impede the regular season production. The embodiment of this is Bill Simmons, who just picked the Colts to "barely make the playoffs".

There are two very different schools of thought about the Colts and Jags, and really there is no middle ground. About half the experts think the Jags are juggernauts, and the other half predict them to miss the playoffs. The same people high on the Jags are down on the Colts. They have completely missed the fact that the Jags are WORSE this year than last year, and may be the worst team in the South. Those same people act like the Colts are beset with injuries now, while overlooking the fact that they are HEALTHIER NOW than they were last year when they lost two meaningful games by 5 points.

Wojciechowski has a variety of thoughts on the new season.

Judge weighs in with predictions.

John sent us this nice piece on Peyton.

Gary Horton opines on the loss of Saturday.

Paul Kuharsky thinks the South is the best.

The FO writers were more kind to the Colts than the numbers were. That's usually the case. The Colts have a unique trait of letting off the gas (both in games and during seasons) more than most teams. That affects numbers that rely on trends.

Get Lost! Our 2008 NFL Predictions.

When it comes to proving the full extent of our geekhood, we figured the only way to top comparing NFL teams to a wildly popular movie that millions have seen was to compare NFL teams to a reasonably obscure niche show with a complex story arch and lots of arcane references to pop culture, sci-fi, historical and literary icons.

Yeah, you got it... this year we take on Lost. If you don't watch Lost, you may not get the joke, but consider that your penance for not watching Lost. So without further ado, enjoy our 2008 NFL Predictions.

LINKS: CHFF gets it right on the AFC South. Listen, the Jags haven't added anyone in the offseason. Porter and Williamson both suck (Porter can barely walk), and they traded their whole draft for a guy who won't be effective for two months at least. Everyone is worried about the Colts injuries but: 1. The injuries were worse last year and 2. Interior line injuries aren't as bad as tackle injuries and 3. The rest of the roster has improved. We still don't know if Freeney is ok, but that won't matter for the division. The Jholes are primed for a MAJOR regression. It's far more likely that VY figures it out in Tennessee or Houston stays healthy and makes the leap. Jacksonville is the 4th best team in the South.

Dr Z has the Colts really low. That will work itself out soon enough.

ESPN moves up to fourth.

Prisco gives us some love. That's trouble.

Peyton is ready to go. Yawn.

FO lists the DVOA numbers. They hate on the Colts D. Explanations may be forthcoming. Thanks to Shake for the link.

Hard at work

This week will be light on the posts as we scramble to get our preseason articles up by Thursday. Last year's Star Wars Predictions were a big hit, and our preseason visions were dead on (mostly). We'll be posting our 2008 versions soon, as well as celebrating the return of Eyes in the Backfield, in which we help you focus in on 18 things that will define each and every week for the Indianapolis Colts. Eyes will be up every Friday.

As always, don't forget to check out 18to88.com for the kind of articles and regular pieces that don't fit well on a daily blog. We are now archiving the MMTTB Report, and we still have three games available in the Important Wins contest. All submissions can be sent to 18to88@gmail.com.

Links: The Footballoutsiders look at the 'perfect game' according to Passer Rating.

Jaguar Julie is unintentionally hilarious

When worlds collide: Florio takes on the Jaguars.

Peter King thinks the Jags are going to win the South and that Garrard is an MVP candidate. Hmmm, that'll be tough with no wideouts there Pete.

TMQ has its haiku predictions out.

Demond Sanders: The title of this post should really be Hard at "work", but that's a minor quibble. It is a stretch to say our Bold Visions were mostly dead on for 2007. We whiffed pretty bad on Brady/Moss, Garrard, and JDR. I think the hate clouded our vision.

More Cuts

The Colts have claimed LB Buster Davis from Detroit and DT Daniel Muir from Green Bay. In order to make room on the 53 man roster they have cut safety Jamie Silva and LB Ramon Guzman.

Buster Davis was highly touted coming out of FSU despite being only 5' 9" tall. I remember reading his name in connection with the Colts leading up to the 2007 draft. He was picked by Arizona in the third round. He was later cut by the Cardinals and spent the season on the Detroit practice squad. He appeared in just one game. Check out the Freep for his full backstory.

Final Cuts

The Colts made the necessary cuts to arrive at their 53 man roster today. Maybe a couple mild surprises (six receivers), but no big shocks. Looks like Pierre Garcon and Courtney Roby can breathe easy. The same can't be said for the oversized quarterback duo. Lorenzen and Gray have both been cut. Many, myself included, predicted correctly that the team would again go with two quarterbacks. If the big boys are needed at some point this year I'm thinking they'll be available and waiting by the phone.

On a brighter note, I hope this officially puts to rest the Peyton Manning injury drama. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Also of note: Ryan Lilja was placed on the PUP list and won't be available for six weeks. Mike Hart is on the team. I think many of us would love to see a renewed emphasis on the run this year.

DZ Comments: I'm glad they found room for Roby. I was always rooting for him, but I didn't see how he could make it if they kept a 3rd QB. This is great news for the team and officially craps all over Mike Lombardi's retarded report. Remember that the main idea of his report was that the Colts were hiding the severity of Manning's injury and that it was far more severe than they were letting on. He may or may not have been right about a second 'procedure', but that wasn't the real point of his report. The real point was that "there is MUCH more going on here than meets the eye".

No Mike. There wasn't. You were wrong.

In a related story, Mike Florio owes the Indy Star reporting team a serious apology. They didn't make a big deal out of the story because there wasn't anything to make a big deal out of. Manning came back exactly according to plan. Might he get hurt if he gets popped in the knee in the regular season? Sure, but that could happen anyway.

Texans cut Indy native Colvin

Rosie Colvin got cut. I guess that wasn't worth all the time we spent speculating on it, was it? Still keep his name in mind if we have LB injuries. He must not be 100% healthy.

Link:
Here's a video interview with Manning from Colts.com. He plans to play on Sunday.

Living in special times

Here's a bevy of links starting with a very fun one from Cold Hard Football Facts (see guys, I can play nice!). They look at why Manning vs Brady is the best QB rivalry of all time. I would have liked to see how Elway and Marino stacked up on the list as well, but I don't remember them playing in the playoffs that often, so it probably wouldn't have rated anyway. No matter who you think is better, everyone from a Southie to a Hoosier will agree that the NFL is better than ever because we get to watch these two go at it. Can you believe that realignment robbed us from TWO Manning/Brady games every year?

ESPN ranks the fan bases. Indy? A middling 16th. I'm not arguing.

Don Banks makes his predictions. Um, don't you need a QB to win it all? I'm not convinced the Chargers have one.

Finally, thanks to my buddy Chad for this oldie but goodie from SNL. It has no relevance. It's just funny.

The MMTTB report

That's what I'm calling the weekly look at "How Big are Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson's Brains?". Since last we met, Aaron Rodgers has been a house a fire eviscerating the Broncos and showing up in last night's game just long enough to throw one pass which went for a 68 yard TD. Frankly if Rodgers plays well, it doesn't matter how Favre does in New York. All this preseason glory bodes well for the embattled leaders of the Pack. Going into the regular season they appear to be geniuses whose brains are so large, they've actually sprouted Einstein hair. We'll put their IQ this week at an astounding 160, on par with with nuclear physicists, string theory mathematicians and the 9 year old Asian kid that was in my high school calculus class.

W=2008/(12-4)²

Barf

If there were ever any questions about why Roger Goodell smartly wants to shorten the preseason, all it would take to dispel them would be to watch a tape of the latest eye bleeder from a team that everyone concedes is one of the best in football. Here's my random thoughts for the night:

• We were going to do a sweet photo blog, but my buddy Nate forgot his camera. No problem, man. That'll be $75 for the ticket.
• The ushers were WAAAY overzealous. I almost got into a shouting match both with an elderly black lady and a guy with a voice box (both 'event staff'). It wasn't my finest night. The old lady insisted on checking my ticket (in the upper bowl!) every time I got up. It was ridiculous. Voice box guy was the third usher to move my group of friends out of an 'aisle'. The last time we were in a corner. I couldn't figure out where to go. On the way home, I heard the announcers lauding The Luke for wide concourses where people can congregate and talk. Yeah right. They treated every conversation like an Al Queda planning meeting. Get a grip, Lucas Oil staff. Start treating your CUSTOMERS like people and not annoyances. I know you are just doing your jobs, but don't let the power go to your head.
• The stands were shockingly empty.
• Dungy talked about keeping 4 QBs. There's no way that happens. Gray is cut. 3-12 with a fumble is inexcusable. He showed no pocket presence or accuracy.
• Courtney Roby did his best to make the team, but injuries may make that impossible. If the Colts keep Saturday off IR, and keep Sorgi even if he's hurt and not really available, I'm not sure that there will be room to keep a guy who ONLY returns kickoffs and would be a 6th WR. I hope he makes it, but keeping 3 QBs would be tough on him
• Jared Lorenzen is horrible, but he could well be a heartbeat away from the throne if Sorgi can't go. Chris Simms? Dante Culpepper? Dare I say....Jeff George? There has to be a better solution than this.
• So long KK. I wish you could have caught that ball last January. I at least wanted you to play ok to showcase your skills to someone else. Dress warm up in Canada, ok pal?
• The biggest cheers of the night were for a replay of MJax picking of Brady to send us to the Super Bowl and for #18 waiving to the crowd on his way out at half time. He was active and throwing on the sidelines (he dressed for the game), and looked fine in pregame workouts. I'd say the Floria/Lombardi train is very close to having officially jumped the tracks.
  
  All in all, we can mercifully close this sordid chapter in Colts preseason history. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to clean my face. My eyes have been bleeding all night. Both from the football I was forced to watch and from my fingers desperately clawing at eyes so as to stop the pain of watching Quinn Gray "play football".

Live Game Blog

Getting ready for kick off. Mark Herrmann thinks Jeff Saturday is the second most important player on the offense. Interesting argument, but I'd stick with either Reggie Wayne or Ugoh because of the importance of protecting Manning's blind side.

1st Quarter

1.) Former North Central standout Courtney Roby gets things going with a nice return out to the 45 yard line. Huge for him, obviously. Two unsuccessful carries by Kenton Keith. Probably a last ditch effort for him to make the team. I'm doubting it, but what do I know? Punt.

2.) Ryan Fitzpatrick opens it up by overthrowing his man. Scrambles on third for exactly ten yards. DZ calls to inform me that the building is only 60% full. Can't honestly blame the ticketholders. He almost talked our dad into going to the game, but someone reminded Dad that no one of significance would be playing for either team. I've spent most of this drive eating a corndog. Crazy long drive. Going on ten minutes. Mostly crazy scrambles by the QB. Down to the five yard line. Charleston whiffs badly on the Fitzpatrick. Somebody hit this clown. Terrible Jeff Saturday commercial for the millionth time. Touchdown Chris Perry. Bengals 7 - Colts 0.

3.) The home fans seem to be headed for another preseason treat. Garcon's return only gets to the 17. Interesting. Gray misses badly on his first attempt of the drive. Keith gets stuffed. Sack. Fumble. Bengals ball.

Second Quarter

1.) Touchdown Cincy. Bengals 14 - Colts 0

2.) This maybe an abridged live blog for two reasons. First, this is a terrible game. Second, my son keeps turning off the cable box. Roby out to the 21. Not much blocking to work with.

3.) Big gainer to Santi. 22 yards from Lorenzen. Gray has no business making this team. Neither does Lorenzen. Punt.

4.) The Terre Haute Colts don't looks so good tonight. Huuuge sack by Josh Thomas forces a punt.

5.) Courtney Roby takes the kickoff 104 yards for a score! Rosterize him. That's as clutch as it gets when you are fighting for your career. Bengals 17 - Colts 7

Saturday Mourning

It's really starting to get depressing thinking that Jeff Saturday is seriously hurt. I'm not worried about it from strictly a football standpoint. The truth is that center is a weird position. It is simultaneously over and underrated. The mental side of center, (making the line calls, leading the group) is critical to a team. Saturday is a captain. In that sense he is irreplaceable. As far as blocking goes, center is one of the easier positions to fill, and the Colts are stocked with young ex-college centers, so there is perhaps no position the Colts could possibly be MORE prepared to suffer a major injury at than center. Might we see some fumbled exchanges? Sure. But ultimately, the year isn't in the crapper just because we lost Big Jeff.

What really gets me down is that Saturday is one of the nicest, most articulate (hey, someone DID use that word to describe a white guy!) players in the NFL. He has been a leader on the team and in the league, and for his sake, I was hoping he'd have a great year so he could sign one more big time deal. As it stands, he's gone for probably a couple of months, maybe more. I have no idea what this does to his chances for getting resigned by the Colts (maybe it helps because now his market value is crap), but it probably won't be the big time offseason he and his family were probably hoping for. I'm sure he'll be in the Ring of Honor some day.

Links:
FO linked to a Scouts Inc. animation of every team's 'best play'. It's a cute thing, but like most stuff by Scouts Inc. it's flat wrong. It shows the Colts play as "Joe Addai's best run" and it's a run right. Any observant fan knows the Colts run dramatically better to the left behind Ugoh. And guess what? There are stats to prove it. The Colts are at their best when they run behind the left tackle (2nd in the league). The really cool stats at the bottom of that page show the percentage of plays run in each direction. The Colts ran around the left end 17% of the time, and the right end 18% of the time. They ran behind the tackles 12% of the time in both directions and up the middle 40% of the time. In other words, it's impossible to know where they are going. They keep an amazing left/right balance.

Bill Polian thinks you need a #1 WR. The Titans scoff. Who needs wideouts when your QB sucks?
Great news! The same idiots who don't know their left from their right, think Manning will struggle due to the knee injury. Chalk him up for 40+ TDs.

Scouts Inc. looks at the center situation.

Saturday's Agent: He'll be back

The bad news is Jeff Saturday will miss at least six weeks after tearing his medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

The good news is even if he chooses to have surgery to repair the tear he should return at some point this season. While there are no guarantees, this is sounds better than the worst case scenario.

Also, when searching for an appropriate video to celebrate this not-so-horrible news I came back across this great video.

DZ Comments: Holy crap. That video is amazing. I have never seen it before. I watched the Super Bowl with the international feed, and that wasn't included. I won't lie. I teared up.

18 Plays is back

I know you all missed our dulcet tones, so we have returned for one more season. We are back with 18 Plays (sort of) from the Colts/Bills thrillfest on Sunday. This will be the only preseason podcast we do, but we'll return after the Bears game. As always, you can download the podcast directly from our podcast page (linked above), or subscribe via Itunes. If you need the XML feed, you can find it here.

By the way, we still have openings for both of our contests. The first is the free 18to88.com fantasy football league (which does award prizes). We have 1 or 3 more slots open. The draft is Saturday, and remember that we don't allow Patriots or Jaguars players to be drafted or played. For details, email us.

The second is the "Most Important Wins in Colts History" contest. We are currently looking for readers to research and submit summaries of five games. If your summary is selected (assuming it's accurate and spelled vaguely correctly it will be), you'll win an official Super Bowl XLI program. Email us with your submission. The five games we need write-ups for are:

3. The Halloween Massacre- Colts 55 Broncos 23 October 31, 1988
The first MNF game in Indy
4. Colts 24 Bucs 6 December 27, 1987
The Colts clinch their first playoff birth in Indy
5. Colts 31 Broncos 10 AFC Playoffs January 4, 2003
First Colts home playoff win helped secure a new stadium
9. Colts 17 Steelers 16 October 21, 1984
One of the first home wins in Indianapolis. The Colts score 17 in the 4th quarter.
10. Colts 31 Vikings 10 December 24, 2000
A big win over a good team to secure a playoff spot

LINKS: FO looks at the over/unders on wins with their own particular wit. Someone wants to take the Colts for under 11 wins and the Jags for more than 10? Baaaad decision.

SI has their season preview out. They have the Pats beating the Colts in the AFC Championship game. The preview of the Colts focuses rightly on the defense. Three second-half TDs against the Chargers backups were inexcusable last year, and before all the injury craziness, I was convinced Freeney's return would be the most important story. Now, it's injuries to the O-line combined with Manning's knee. If both were sound, I'd say we were golden. If either one is ok, the team will do very well. If both are bad...yikes.

Prisco picks the Colts in the South.

FoxSports.com lists the health of the Colts' stars as the #2 issue that could derail a title. Yup. Hard to argue with that.

ESPN's predictions are out. Here's their breakdown of the Colts. Two 'experts' picked the Colts to win it all.

Mike and Mike take on the Colts.

ESPN the Mag breaks down the AFC South

No. 2

It was always my favorite number growing up, but now it stands mostly for crap. Unfortunately, by that I mean the Colts backup QB situation. Don Banks ranks all the backups in the league, and Jim Sorgi comes in at a generous 23rd. We were going to discuss the issue in the podcast, but Demond's 20 month old isn't taking well to having a new baby in the house, and the chaos meant we couldn't get it done last night. Maybe tonight.

At any rate, the disaster that has been Jim Sorgi this preseason has only been eclipsed by the ugliness that is Jared Lorenzen and Quinn Gray. I was sure there was no way Lorenzen could make the roster after the first half on Sunday. Then Gray went out and threw 4 picks. Awesome. The best thing that ever happened to Sorgi was getting hurt. Giving the fans a look at the alternatives has definitely quieted the calls for his head.

I know that Kyle Orton isn't the greatest arm out there, but I honestly doubt our ability to beat ANY team in the NFL without Manning behind center.

By the way, with Peyton practicing today (and looking good, thank God), don't get excited until tomorrow. Marvin practiced on a lot last year (or at least ran), but couldn't go the next day. If Manning participates fully on consecutive days, then we'll have our answer as to a week from Sunday.

LINKS: ESPN the Magazine profiles the Manning boys.

FO goes over the best TE seasons and careers. Two Colts make the lists frequently, but Dallas Clark isn't one of them. Kenny Dilger was better than most realized, as was Marcus Pollard, who will soon join Dilger as a Classic Colt as soon as he retires.

Adam Dunn? He's doing just fine in AZ. He's having a good influence on everyone around him. Reds fans who hated Dunn were morons. I may never get over that deal.

Manning to practice tomorrow

I saw this on the Star page about two seconds before reader Justin emailed it to me. It's no guarantee everything is ok, but it sure isn't bad news.

By the original timetable, Manning is right on schedule...provided he actually does play opening day.

Links: Reggie Wayne is really good.

As linked on Stampede Blue, John Clayton says Saturday could miss a few weeks. Lovely.

The Luke (in brief)

Tomorrow night, Demond and I will be reviving 18 Plays for this season. We'll do a full run down of the game replete with commentary on the half time show which was at least as entertaining as anything we saw on the field tonight. Because it's a preseason game, and there is only so much to talk about, forgive for leaving some bullets in my gun until tomorrow.

I didn't see the idea about a full on photo blog until I got home tonight, but it's a good one. We'll try to get one done after Thursday game.

For now, I'll just leave you with these pictures:
This is the view walking into the Luke. The building is impressively huge.


I love the view of the Old Girl with the window open (why does that sound like I'm a stalker?). Someday soon it'll be the skyline. Rest in peace, Hoosier Dome.


Manning was on the field in pregames. You could pick him out by his gigantic forehead. He walked freely with no limp. He didn't seem to be favoring his leg. He did some mock passes and positioning with Caldwell, and seemed to be clowning a bit. Caldwell bumped him and he sort of 'stumbled naturally'. It had no effect on how he walked, and it didn't seem to hurt him at all. Honestly, if you didn't know he was hurt, you wouldn't have figured it out from tonight. I watched him for an hour solid. Now I really do sound like a stalker.


The view of the banner as the roof opened. I'll never get tired of that shot.


The view from our seats. We'll talk more about them on the podcast. We came out pretty ok. Westside Rob...I saw where your seats were. You got jobbed, bro. I'm really sorry. Come by 616 row 8 anytime.

First Trip to Lucas Oil

DZ and I are heading to Lucas Oil Stadium tonight for the preseason game against Buffalo. It's our first trip to the friendly confines. We'll fill you in on all the details later. Besides checking out our new seats, I'm especially interested to see how the parking situation shakes out. We've parked in the same lot for the past ten seasons. With the new stadium moving a couple blocks to the south we have to adapt. I fear change.

On a side note, did anyone watch any of the Pey-back Classic games on WNDY? Forrest Lucas (founder of Lucas Oil) was interviewed during the broadcast of the Noblesville - Fishers opening game. The announcer kept referring to the building as if Mr. Lucas owned it. It really annoyed me. He doesn't own LOS any more than RCA owned the Dome. I'm sure everyone wishes he had paid for it, but he didn't. He paid to have his name on the front of the building. Did he help make it possible by paying $120 million over 20 years? Sure, but it was the citizens of Indiana who bit the $700 million bullet.

BREAKING NEWS: ESPN Reporter doesn't know where footage came from

Well this sucks. A few days ago, we posted an ESPN.com report on Manning running walk throughs. Because of the knee wrap and the presence of Dom, we guessed that it was in fact from this week. I contacted Paul Kuharsky from ESPN to confirm that the video was current. Here was my question:

Paul, yesterday, you showed a video of Peyton Manning at a Colts' walk through. Then you said the practice was closed door. Was the footage from yesterday or was it stock? If it was from yesterday, how did you attain it if the practice was closed? If it was stock footage, shouldn't that have been made clear in the report? Was that important footage of Manning moving around well, or was it old video? Could you shed some light and clear up the confusion?

This was his response:

I sent an email to higher ups on this and did not get a reply. I apologize. It's an excellent question. I suspect stock footage and would agree we should have made it clear. Sorry I can't give you more. I'm just a simple blogger in a very big world.
My understanding is Manning was at a practice, not in a practice.Thanks for reading and taking the time to write...

Paul Kuharsky
ESPN.com

First off, thanks to Paul for his response. We all recognize that this wasn't his fault. Of most immediate concern to Colts fans is that this takes away some of the good feeling we had about Manning being available soon. Granted, he didn't say it for sure WASN'T from this week, but he also couldn't confirm it.

What this really calls into question is the editing process at ESPN. The fact that we can't get an answer to clear up their questionable editing is disturbing to say the least.

Demond Sanders: It has to be recent footage, right? Manning has a heavily wrapped left knee which tells me it is post-surgery film. And as you pointed out he is handing off to Dom Rhodes in a #38 jersey. I think he looks pretty good.

Still, I think you make a solid point about the sloppy reporting by ESPN. How did they get video of a closed practice? Weird.

DZ Comments: Slopping editing. The reporting was solid. The reporter isn't to blame for the editing of the story. He clearly shot his stand up piece, and they put it together. It's semantics, but I hate to kill the wrong guy. Kuharsky was stand up about it. The editor is to blame for the confusion.

Solid Gold

Argentina 1 Nigeria 0

(and yes, I stayed up for the whole thing)

Hey kids! It's time for everyone's favorite recurring feature...

How big are Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson's brains! When last we saw our intrepid football men, they were basking in the preseason glory that was Aaron Rodgers. My, how much changes in a week. Since last week's post, Bret Favre looked brilliant in green and white and Rodgers made the 49ers defense look like the Steel Curtain. Needless to say, McCarthy and Thompson have felt some moderate media heat. Their brains are smaller this week, but not too bad; it is just the preseason of course. We'll give them an IQ of 90. They are below average, but still ahead of say...James Harris of the Jags who traded the farm for the 8th pick and now won't pay the kid.

One big question...

For those who have been following the freakout in the comments section over at Stampedeblue over the report that Manning had a second procedure, I have one really big question:

Why would Michael Lombardi, who works for Sports Illustrated (he wrote for them as recently as a week ago), post this story on a nothing football blog?

Does that strike anyone else as more than a little bizarre? Maybe it happened and maybe it didn't, but don't you think he'd want to break that particular story on as big a stage as possible? The more you think about it, the less sense it makes. He has sources? Who? Who would know what really happened? It seems like the Colts are the only who know for sure, and why would they leak this information? It seems weird to me. Beyond that, nothing he says changes the fact the Manning is up and doing walk-throughs. If he plays week 1, and all signs still point to that, then what does this report even mean? The timing of it is really odd. It would have had more impact two weeks ago than it does now.

There are two big opinions that I think are unsupported. One is the Colts 'bad history' of injury reporting. Does that refer to the nagging nature of the Harrison injury last year? Does it refer to them cautious about Sanders in 06? Everyone seems to take it for granted that the Colts mislead us about those injuries, but I never remember them saying anything that wasn't accurate. Can someone remind me EXACTLY what was said that was untrue. Maybe I just forgot, but it seems the public read into what was said more than they should have.

Secondly, there is an accusation that: They are also just flat out BAD at rehabbing their players and getting them ready to play. They screwed it up for Bob Sanders in 2006, Marvin Harrison in 2007, and now maybe Peyton Manning in 2008.

I'm sorry, but that is an utterly ignorant thing to say. NONE of us have any idea at all how severe those injuries were. Unless you were a physician who treated those players and know the extent of the injury, there is simply no possible way to know if the staff did a bad or good job in rehabbing those players. They screwed it up with Bob Sanders? HOW? The Colts had a playoff spot locked up early. The Zombie showed up for NE, played like a beast, and was sitting most of the rest of the year. How was that the training staff's fault? How was it their fault that Harrison's knee didn't heal? The rumors last fall were that it was blown all to hell and that he would never play again. Sure seems like they did a good job now, didn't they? We have no idea if the staff is good or bad. To say otherwise is irresponsible.

As fans we can't take these rumors seriously. EVEN when they contain some truth, they are still filtered through at least two people before they get to us. We are all interpreting the interpretation of someone who was told something by a person who may or may not have any actual first hand information. Lombardi says he has the story "100% right". He can't say that. He has his SOURCES story 100% right but unless he's getting info from Manning, Dungy, Polian or doctor, he can't be so sure. That's what effed up John Tomasse on the Spygate mess. Unless a source is first hand, a reporter can only be sure of what the source said, not of the actual truth.
Lombardi isn't a journalist. He is an ex-NFL exec. He may have some nice sources, but that doesn't mean he has the truth.

Just ask yourself, why didn't SI publish this story?

UPDATE: A closer look at the National Football Post might reveal the answer to my question. It's a brand new site. The seem to have begun operations this month and clearly are hoping to break a 'big' story to get some national attention. This might explain why this story is conspicuously absent from Profootballtalk.com. They are trying to upend Floria's hack site. This whole story smacks of an internet pissing contest. If you think about it, this story is sort of perfect. If Manning misses any time at all, it seems like it's true. If he doesn't, all the story says is that there WAS trouble with swelling. It doesn't specify what procedure was done on Manning (perhaps they just drained fluid from his knee, the piece is vague). In fact, the only real assertion made in the piece was:
All I know is that there is MUCH more here than meets the eye.
It's a nice job of appearing to say a lot, but not really saying anything. The piece says that he might have a problem with swelling if he gets hit on the knee. Well, duh. It doesn't say he'll miss more time. It's a scare piece meant to draw traffic to their new site. Note they wrote two other articles about the SAME piece, one with 'fantasy football' implications, and the other a 'gotcha' type editorial.

What a sham.

Links: Prisco talks about the Zombie.

Wrigleyville

I'm not going to get into my experience in the bleachers last night. It would just be too easy. I've heard that the Cub fans disdain the bleacher crowd as poser preppies who like the trendy environment. All I will say is, now I see why. I've rarely been around a less engaged, more ignorant group of 'fans' than I encountered last night. Given the fact that there was a no-hitter into the sixth and NO ONE NOTICED, and it was a 2-1 game in which the crowd barely seemed to care, and given the fact that I was in full Reds gear and no one said even one word about it, it seems clear that my long held belief that the vast majority of Cub fans are ridiculous wannabes who know and care nothing about baseball has been confirmed. I will say that my brother-in-law Michael, who is a die-hard Cubs fan, was equally disgusted by the crowd. If you want to go to Wrigley, skip the bleachers. They are over-priced ($50 a ticket for seats that cost you 10 in most parks), and the atmosphere is lousy.
At least the scoreboard is great.


To update a story from yesterday: the video I posted last night. I wasn't sure at the time if it was Manning from yesterday or not, but on second look, you can see him handing off to #38. That means it has to have been taken yesterday, since #38 is Dom Rhodes, and that is his new number. If you didn't watch the video and are still worried about Manning missing game one, give it a look. He'll be fine.

Congrats on the newest baby Colt

I just want to take this opportunity to congratulate my brother Demond on the birth of his daughter today. I just bought my 4-year old her first pink Manning Jersey (she outgrew her blue one). I've always been against such things, but when your baby girl asks for a pink "Go Colts" jersey and hat, you are just so happy that she wants one, that you let your life-long opposition to girly versions of sports apparel go. Have fun man, little girls are great!