Tag: Indianapolis Colts (Page 8 of 12)

My usual early morning routine is something like this:
Get the girls up, get them breakfast, and then get them on the path to getting ready for school. When I reach the point where they are getting dressed, I start running through Twitter to see if I missed anything overnight.

Well, last night I apparently went to bed right before the news broke that the NFL found that 11 of 12 balls used by the New England Patriots in Sunday’s AFC title game were inflated less than required. And my Twitter feed was abuzz, from the moment the news broke to early morning Tweets from folks in Indy. One local weatherman said that perhaps the Patriots could learn something from Tim Smyczek, the American tennis player who gave Rafael Nadal a do-over after fan noise interfered with his serve attempt. You know, sportsmanship and such.

Come on, people.

The Patriots won 45–7. It was not close. They ran the ball down the Colts’ throats, just like when the teams played in Indy in November. Let’s not act like the outcome would have been completely different had the Patriots been using balls with the same amount of air in them as in those used by the Colts. Sure, the Colts receivers had a number of drops. And Andrew Luck was not terribly sharp. But, again, the Colts could not stop LeGarrette Blount. And they could not get their running game going to take the pressure off Luck and his receivers.

Maybe the Patriots got a little extra boost from Tom Brady having a better grip than Luck. And maybe his receivers hung onto balls that the Colts receivers could not because they could squeeze them a little tighter.

But 45–7.

End of story.

However, it is worth noting that even if this did not affect the outcome of the game, it’s another controversy that surrounds Bill Belichick. Another bizarre example of a franchise that likely doesn’t not need to break the rules to win doing so anyway. As Belichick is passing legends of the game in playoff wins, Super Bowl appearances, etc. I think the general opinion outside Boston is, “Sure, he’s a good coach. But he only won with Tom Brady. And they got caught cheating twice. How many other times were they breaking the rules without getting caught?”

Belichick is going to go down as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. But like baseball players who were in their primes during the steroid era, there will always be questions about how he did it. Questions that I think will keep him from reaching Tom Landry, Don Shula, Bill Walsh, Chuck Noll levels of respect.

Which is the worst way to end a season?

In an utterly crushing, heart-breaking manner, losing a game that seemed convincingly won, and in which any of a series of singular, seemingly simple, plays over the final minutes would have been the final nail in the coffin of the eventual winners?

Or to be completely outclassed and embarrassed and made to appear to be frauds to have even had designs on advancing to the Super Bowl?

I have to say A is worse, and thus people in Green Bay feel a lot worse today than people here in Indy. The Colts’ loss in New England yesterday will be but a footnote to whatever happens in two weeks in Arizona. But that Green Bay loss is going to live forever, even if Seattle does not defend their Super Bowl title. Along with the 2004 New York Yankees, they’ve become a go-to example of teams that had playoff games (or series, in the Yankees’ case) completely wrapped up only to lose them in terrible fashion.

Another vote in favor of Green Bay as the worst loss? I didn’t have to watch the entire Colts game. We were watching with friends at their house and headed toward home as halftime was winding up. As we began out 20-minute drive home, New England scored to go up 24–7. By the time the girls were in bed, it was 38–7 and thus I settled down to finish my current book rather than watch the rest of the blowout in Foxboro.

Packers fans, on the other hand? They had to watch every last brutal second of their game. The rug was pulled out from underneath them. Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, and Jermaine Kearse ripped their hearts out and stomped all over them.[1]

And, let’s be honest. Even the most optimistic of Colts fans realized it would take a monumental effort to pull off a win in Foxboro. A lot of us figured it would not be close by the fourth quarter. So while 45–7 was ugly and wiped out a lot of good feelings that came out of last week’s win in Denver, it’s not like the Colts were up by two scores late in the game only to walk away losers.

So the season ends for the Colts, with some good feelings about winning another division title and two playoffs games but the realization that they were pretenders to the AFC throne. And it kicks off an off-season that could be hugely important to how the next phase of the Andrew Luck era goes. Can they get a solid running back who can stay healthy? Can they solidify the offensive line? Can they find D-linemen who can stop the running game and a legitimate pass rush threat? Make smart decisions this year and the Colts will be set up nicely to ascend as the Brady-Manning era comes to a close. Swing and miss, and the Colts could fail to capitalize on the skills of the game’s next great quarterback.

But in Green Bay? Where the Colts are at the beginning of a potential window of consistent Super Bowl contention, the Packers could be on the back end of theirs. Aaron Rodgers is the best QB in the game right now, but how long will he stay healthy? How long will the other stars around him continue to perform, or remain with the Packers as their contract status changes? Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have shown that a quarterback can continue to be elite deep into his 30s. But there’s no guarantee that the Packers will be this close again in Rodgers career.

This one is going to hurt for a long, long time in Green Bay.

OK, all that aside, that was a bat-shit crazy game in Seattle. The Packers smacking the Seahawks in the mouth early, picking off Wilson four times over the day, moving the ball at will early,[2] and sucking the life out of the loudest stadium in the NFL. What if the Packers had gone for it, and scored, on either of their fourth-and-goal from the one opportunities? What if Morgan Burnett keeps running after his interception late in the fourth quarter? What if the Packers don’t go vanilla to run clock? What if they grab the onside kick? What if Ha Ha Clinton-Dix makes even a half effort to knock away the two-point conversion pass that put the Seahawks up by 3? What if Wilson doesn’t still have the confidence to make two perfect passes in overtime?

My friend and I, who had no real strong rooting interest, were screaming at the TV as the fourth quarter wound down. That was an incredibly entertaining game to watch. Shame the Colts didn’t give us a reason to watch all 60 minutes in the nightcap.

Some weekend of heated action on the old gridiron!

Most significantly, to me at least, was the Colts going to Denver and, aside from shaky first possessions on both sides of the ball, completely controlling the game and escaping with a border-line shocking 11-point win.

I say border-line shocking because while many people this morning are acting like it wasn’t that big of an upset, there weren’t many people outside central Indiana picking a Colts win before kickoff.

It was a masterful performance on defense. Other than the early, long touchdown throw, they kept the Broncos in front of them all day. Even knowing the weapons that the Broncos had on offense, there was never a time in the second half where the game felt in danger. Denver’s receivers dropped too many balls. CJ Anderson got yards, but never gouged the Colts’ D. And Peyton was thoroughly awful.

It’s kind of a shame that Peyton played so poorly, and that today word is breaking that he played with a torn quad. Because that overshadows how well the Colts D, which sucked the last two months of the regular season, played. How solid the offensive line was in creating holes for runs and in protecting Andrew Luck. And how the Colts receivers made big catches time-after-time, in sharp contrast to the Broncos receivers. Luck wasn’t other-worldly, but he also did exactly what you have to do to win on the road in the playoffs. He was smart, tough, and the only mistakes he made were not crippling ones.

The Colts reward? A trip to Foxboro! Yay!

As for Peyton, this news that he played the last month with a torn quad adds an interesting angle to discussions of his future. It’s hard to see him going out on a performance like this. Especially if he was suffering from a relatively minor injury.[1] But the Broncos are facing serious free agency issues in the off-season. There’s no guarantee he’s going to have all the weapons he’s enjoyed the past two years back again. Forget being physically ready for another season. Is he prepared to break in a new series of skill players?

Right now I think it’s more likely that he does return for the 2015 season. But it would not surprise me if he hangs them up and decides to finally start making some money outside of football. He should look into making commercials. I bet he’d be good at that.

I really don’t know what to say about THE CALL in Green Bay. Dez Bryant caught that ball. Only the rules say he didn’t. I totally get Dallas fans being furious with the reversal. And I can totally understand the logic the refs used in overturning it. As Peter King wrote, it was the correct usage of a bad rule.

That call speaks to a bigger problem with instant replay. We want it to be quick and decisive. And most of the time it is. But fairly often it is a lengthy, messy process to get to the final judgement. And the legislation that instant replay forces makes coming to a decision more difficult.

I honestly think that’s a bigger problem in college basketball than in the NFL. There was a replay review at the end of the KU-Baylor game last Wednesday that took nearly five minutes. Two referees went over to the scorer’s table, waited for the replay to queue up, then watched it. And watched it. And watched it. Then they discussed it. Then they waved over the third referee to take a look. Then they huddled up and discussed again. Finally they ruled that the original call was correct.

It was a very close call. But should it take stopping play for five minutes to get it right? Shouldn’t refs be given a maximum time, from the moment they see the first replay, to either make a decision or stick with the original call?

Throw in all the fouling, substitutions, and time outs along with the one or two replay reviews that liter the end of a typical college hoops game, and the game is becoming damn near unwatchable.

THE CALL aside, Green Bay made some big damn plays in the fourth quarter to win. But they will be overshadowed by a ruling made on an instant replay.

Seattle-Carolina was interesting for awhile, but ended up about where I expected.

I missed most of the first half of the Baltimore-New England game, so when I tuned in the Pats had already made their first rally from 14-down.

I keep saying that this New England team doesn’t seem as good as their previous Super Bowl squads. But they sure do keep finding ways to win games. They are wonderful at making in-game adjustments. It seems like a different player steps up each week. And where Peyton Manning may be ending his career with a(nother) playoff whimper, Tom Brady is making huge plays in crucial moments again. He’s not going to hand the Colts the game this week like Peyton did yesterday.

I suppose the good news for the Colts is that they are due to win one in Foxboro in January. That’s about the only positive I can find right now.

As for tonight, I want the Ducks to win. I fear St. Urban is going to get the Buckeyes the win.

Indy is a little bleary-eyed today. And for good reason.

Man, was that some game last night. From the Colts fan perspective, it had about all we could ask for. The brief, but appropriate, tribute to Peyton Manning before the game. The quick three-and-out by Denver to start the game. A vintage Manning drive after a couple punts that put an “Uh oh, here we go,” vibe in the stadium. The huge plays by the Colts defense to change the tide of the game (Four different times, no less!). Andrew Luck and the Colts offense getting rolling in the second and third quarters. The constant feeling that there weren’t enough points on the board and Peyton always had a chance to get back in it. The inevitable Broncos rally and tense final moments. And the joy of taking the final snap, kneeling, and walking out not only beating Peyton, not only giving Denver their first loss of the year, but also of winning a third game against one of the elite teams in the league.

The Colts likely aren’t a true elite team. I think a true running team will still give them fits. And they’re getting killed by injuries. But with the AFC South looking awful, they have a terrific shot of reclaiming the division title a year earlier than I expected. And, who knows, if the Chiefs can out-distance the Broncos in the AFC West, maybe Denver comes back to Indy in early January.

But that’s thinking far too out in the future.

More about last night’s game.

It was awfully angsty around Indy this week. Someone asked me if it was kind of like when KU played Roy Williams and North Carolina in the 2008 Final Four. There was a little of that feeling. But Roy spurned KU, and at that point, a lot of KU fans were still angry at him. We wanted to beat him badly and watch him cry afterwards. The Colts are the ones who turned their backs on Peyton. I think there was a minority of fans who thought that was a dumb decision, conveniently forgetting that the Colts success over the past two seasons hasn’t just been about Luck, but about rebuilding the entire roster, something they could not have done with Peyton’s contract on the books. But I don’t think anyone in Indy was really mad about letting Peyton go anymore. We were excited he was coming back and eager to give him a formal thanks for his years as a Colt. But there was also a nervousness about how well the Broncos had played through their first six games, and fear the Colts would be on the short end of another video game score. We wanted to beat Denver, but there was no ill will in it the way Jayhawks fans wanted to beat Roy. Also, I think there’s a huge difference in the pressures of a regular season game vs. that of a chance to play for your sport’s championship.

A saw a couple comments last night that the pre-game tribute to Peyton was too short. Dumb criticism. He’s going to get an awkward 15 minute tribute complete with highlights, testimonials, and long readings of all the records he set as a Colt after he retires. The night he came back as the QB of the opponent was not the occasion to make it a formal Peyton Manning Night.

I wondered if Al Michaels would mention the oddity of having the roof of Lucas Oil Stadium open. He did not disappoint. The rule has generally been the roof, and north window, are only open when it’s dry and the temperature is between 60 and 80. Which lots of people here have commented is a terribly dumb policy. Football is an outdoor sport, and playing in the dry chill of fall isn’t imposing too much on either the players or fans. In fact, as many taxpayers of central Indiana have pointed out, why spend the money on a roof that opens if you’re going to limit yourself to using it a couple times a year? Awfully interesting that the first time they diverted from standard procedure was the night Peyton came back. Gamesmanship can be fun.

Robert Mathis is an absolute beast. Watch him on the sidelines when he has his helmet off. He looks like he was created in a lab to torture quarterbacks, not born and brought up in Alabama. Dwight Freeney was an all-timer. But Mathis has been incredible for the last 4-5 seasons.

Since I adopted the Colts the year we moved here, I’ve loved several of their players. Bob Sanders. Edgerrin James. Jerraud Powers. Freeney and Mathis. But my favorite player has always been Reggie Wayne. When we first got here, I loved his youth and brashness, which were a perfect balance to Marvin Harrison’s experience and reticence. Still, I hated it when Reggie called out Peyton back in the ’03 or ’04 season, saying Manning needed to throw him the ball more. But, to everyone’s credit, Peyton told Reggie that he needed to work harder to earn his trust, Reggie did exactly that, and turned into the consummate pro. He’s never popped off since then, and turned into a warrior in practice, in games, and in the community. And all Colts fans loved him for spurning offers from the Broncos, among others, and choosing to stay in Indy to help with the rebuilding process. So I, like a lot of folks in Central Indiana, felt sick when his knee slipped last night and he writhed around in pain. Losing him for the season would be a huge hurdle for the Colts.

How the hell does Wes Welker make some of those catches?

I’m generally pro-offense when it comes to football rules. And the Broncos run their pick plays to perfection. As Cris Collinsworth noted, they run them in a way that they usually don’t make contact but still free up receivers. That said, I’m not sure how Welker got away with shoving a cornerback, in the back no less, right in front of an official while the ball was in the air and the CB was making a play on it. Fortunately for the Colts, there were two DBs in the area and the play ended up going for a loss.

Ironic that the Colts are so handsy on defense, given it was the Colts of a decade ago who complained loudly about Harrison and Wayne getting mugged by New England DBs and were the impetus for the rules changes that neutered NFL d-backs.

One final note on NFL passing rules. If a receiver complains, whines, or throws a fit about getting a pass interference call, the penalty should be halved. “Pass interference, number 39 on the defense. That is normally a ten-yard penalty, but number 88 on the offense whined like a little bitch, so we will only be marking off five yards. Second down.”

Vontae Davis’ Tom Brady misspeak after the game was an all-time great one. Who knows if it was deliberate, a slip of the tongue, or if he was so nervous to talk on NBC that he really had no idea what he was saying. But it was fantastic ending to the week, as was Bob Costas’ reaction. “Thanks to Andrew Luck, Robert Mathis, and especially Vontae Davis, who apparently had his own game plan for tonight, preparing for Tom Brady rather than Peyton Manning.”

Jim Irsay should shut his trap.

So a great night at Lucas Oil. The Colts are 5-2 after a tough first-half schedule, two games up in the division, three over Houston. They have a bye week coming up, then go to Houston. After that, they have the Rams, Titans twice, and Cardinals before a tough December stretch of at Cincinnati, Houston, and at Kansas City in three weeks. When I looked at the schedule at the beginning of the season, I kept ending up at eight wins. The Wayne injury makes the math tougher, but now I’m coming closer to 11 wins. We’ll see how it all works out.