We are finally here: The Colts’ season in review. This post will be shorter because not only have all the other writers already expertly covered every aspect of the Indianapolis Colts‘ season, but also because its just painful to recap.
The Colts’ season was like one of those terrifying roller coaster rides at 6 flags.
At first, when you are planning the trip, you tell your buddies “this looks fun, I’m ready, we’ve got this!”
With a healthy Bob Sanders, Anthony Gonzalez and practically the same team intact from a Super Bowl run the year before, Colts’ fans were excited and many around the league pegged the Colts as clear Super Bowl favorites.
Then you get to the park and you actually see the 14 loops on the roller coaster and hear people screaming in the distance. Suddenly, doubt creeps in. Did we do enough to shore up the offensive line? Is Kelvin Hayden really worth his contract? Will Fili Moala finally emerge as a run-stopping force?
At the same time, your friends are watching, so you brush off the concerns and keep going. You can’t show hesitation in front of them so you convince yourself that the worries are overblown.
Then you get in line and the cracks in your confidence remerge. Houston blows out Indy in week 1 and now you start panicking.
After getting on the ride you calm down and tell yourself that you are good. You’re going to get through it. Houston was an isolated hiccup and things are back on track.
The ride, like the season starts rising with only minor twists and downturns in between… 3-2, 4-2, 5-2, 6-3. So far you are fine and start believing again. It wasn’t so bad right?
Not so fast…
Then comes the first terrifying spiral downwards. Gut-wrenching losses to New England and the Dallas Cowboys and a vomit inducing obliteration at the hands of the Chargers send you hurtling towards rock bottom.
Tag Archives: Indianapolis Colts
Season in Review: Indianapolis Colts
Posted by admin
on March 4, 2011
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Shorts out to show skills
Posted by admin
on March 2, 2011
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN—On Sunday afternoons during the football season, there is one former Mount Union wide receiver, the Indianapolis Colts’ Pierre Garcon, on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium. On this particular Sunday afternoon, however, it was former Raiders receiver Cecil Shorts III who was on the field.
Shorts, a Cleveland Browns native, Collinwood High School graduate and University of Mount Union product, worked out in front of the scouts, coaches and player personnel staff at the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine Sunday. Prior to the workout, Shorts spoke with the media on Saturday.
“It’s a lot of fun. I didn’t know what to expect coming in,” he said. “I’ve met some of the players and interviewed with coaches and everything. It’s going well so far.
“I’m trying to prove that I didn’t belong at Mount Union and that I can play at this level,” Shorts added. “I’ll play with the chip on my shoulder. I went to the bench press and had 21 reps there, one of the highest here so far. Cheap Football Jerseys.That’s a good start and I hope to keep it going.”
NFL Replay: The ‘next man up’ proving critical to ailing teams
Posted by admin
on November 24, 2010
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Next man up.
That’s the mantra that everyone can relate to in the NFL.
“It sounds like a broken record,” Indianapolis Colts safety Antoine Bethea said after Sunday’s loss at New England. “But everyone here is capable of playing at a high level. So if somebody goes down, the next man up has to come in and play ball.”
The Colts, limping along at 6-4 but very much in the thick of the AFC playoff picture, have had more practice than most with this next-man business. They have 12 players on injured reserve, tied with Jacksonville for the league high.
On Sunday, Indianapolis fielded the same starting lineup on defense as it had in the previous game for the first time all season. The Colts offense, meanwhile, has had seven different starting lineups in 10 games.
Such is life in the big leagues. Gear up for a hot quarterback. Scheme to block a tackling machine at middle linebacker. Gut it out in the NFL’s annual war of attrition.
10 QUESTIONS: How are Giants sinking so fast?
“I don’t like talking about it,” star quarterback Peyton Manning said. “It just sounds like you’re making excuses. It is what it is. I would agree that it is challenging, but it is doable. We’ve just got to keep grinding and try to find a way to win some of these close games.”
Manning nearly pulled off another fourth-quarter comeback win at New England, helping Indianapolis rally from a 31-14 deficit to threaten to tie the game or score a go-ahead touchdown in the final seconds. But Manning’s corner pass for Pierre Garcon was underthrown and intercepted by James Sanders.
Asked if strategy was affected by the loss of wideout Austin Collie, knocked out of the game in the first half with a setback in his return from a concussion, Manning scoffed.
“It looked like I threw two touchdowns to the guy who came in for him,” Manning said, referring to rookie Blair White, whose fourth-quarter scores narrowed the gap to 31-28. “So I don’t know if you were watching the same game out there, but it really affected nothing. Whoever’s in there has got to be accountable.”
Undermanned or not, the Colts indeed had a chance to win at The Razor, just as they did two weeks earlier in Philadelphia when Manning threw a game-sealing pick while in striking range. Even so, it’s been a different type of year on the preparation front for Manning, spending significant time trying to get the fill-ins up to speed for game day.
In Week 3, White came off the practice squad and caught two TDs at Denver. More recently, the offense has had to adjust to the loss of Manning’s ultra-dependable Pro Bowl tight end Dallas Clark (fractured wrist), replaced by a third-year pro, Jacob Tamme, who had caught a grand total of six NFL passes until pressed into his super-sub role at the beginning of November. And the Colts are down to their third starting running back, too.
“Whoever we have that’s available, that’s who we take the field with,” said Colts coach Jim Caldwell. “Our objective still is to win.”
How teams like the Colts survive the attrition is again an X-factor for the stretch run that will affect the playoff picture, and perhaps even the eventual champion. Colts president Bill Polian has said he’s never dealt with the rash of injuries he’s seen this year.
Opponents hardly feel much sympathy. They have their own issues.
Indianapolis’ next foe, the San Diego Chargers, has had an NFL-high 70 players appear in games this season. During Monday night’s victory against Denver, the Chargers were left briefly with rookie Korry Sperry as the only available tight end as they lined up for a play at the goal line — which is why quarterback Philip Rivers conducted an impromptu tutoring session on the field to get players lined up in the right spots.
Sperry was just activated from the practice squad on Monday. Although Randy McMichael ultimately returned to the game on Monday night, the Chargers’ other two tight ends — all-pro Antonio Gates and Kris Wilson watched from the sideline as they nursed injuries. And Rivers’ revolving receiving corps took another blow when Patrick Crayton didn’t play the second half after suffering an apparent wrist injury.
On the season, six wideouts have caught passes from Rivers.
The Giants can relate. They are down four men from the season-opening receiving corps, the latest blow coming Monday when the leading target, Hakeem Nicks, underwent a fasciotomy on his right leg to treat Compartment Syndrome, swelling that compresses nerves and blood vessels. Nicks, who has 62 catches for 800 yards with nine TDs this season, is projected to miss three weeks.
New York’s other starting receiver, Steve Smith, will miss his third game this weekend due to a partially torn pectoral muscle. Ramses Barden (ankle) and Victor Cruz (hamstring) are on IR, which is why Derek Hagan caught a TD pass at Philadelphia just days after signing, and rookie Duke Calhoun notched his first NFL catch against the Eagles.
“You’ve got your top two receivers out, it’s always a blow,” said Giants quarterback Eli Manning. “But we learn how to fight through it, and other guys step up.
“You just move on, you adjust, you think, ‘Hey, who’s going to fill that spot? How are we going to game plan and how are we going to win this game?’ “
That’s the challenge echoed across the divisions. Although the NFL contends that the rate for serious injuries is down this season, Fox Sports.com reported last week that dating to the start of last offseason, 311 players were placed on injured reserve through 10 weeks — up from 277 at a similar point last season and on pace for more in any single season since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002.
A USA TODAY review shows 213 players currently on injured reserve, which doesn’t account for the offseason count but tallies those put on the season-ending IR list since the start of training camp that have not been waived-injured.
By any measure, injuries continue to pile up.
“This is my fifth year,” Bethea said. “You kind of know there’s always going to be a lot of shuffling with injuries, guys coming up from the practice squad.”
Bethea has lined up alongside three other safeties this season. After former NFL Defensive Player of the Year (but oft-injured) Bob Sanders went down in the opener, it was Melvin Bullitt, and now Aaron Francisco, who didn’t even start the season on the roster.
Yes, Bethea admits that he sometimes checks the injury report as the week’s practices begin to see who’s on board.
“But you really can’t worry about it too much,” he said. “That’s up to the front office to deal with. I’ve just got to come to work and do my job.”
Knock on wood.
Consider the state of affairs for the Redskins. Five key players didn’t even make the trip to Tennessee for Sunday’s game — cornerback Carlos Rogers (hamstring), safety LaRon Landry (Achilles’ tendon), running back Ryan Torain (hamstring), guard Artis Hicks (thigh) and linebacker Jeremy Jarmon (hamstring). Then running back Chad Simpson broke his foot during pre-game warmups.
Then six players, including O-lineman Casey Rabach and Derrick Dockery, and running back Clinton Portis (who was returning from a five-game layoff due to a groin injury) went down and never returned during the overtime win against the Titans.
Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, who praised backup tackle Stephon Heyer’s emergency switch to guard on Sunday, isn’t sure who would line up where for this Sunday’s match against the Vikings. He’ll check the medical reports as the week progresses, but already expects he won’t have Landry, Rabach (torn knee ligament), Portis and Torain.
Contingency plans, meet attrition.
In the world of “next man up,” quality backup players are so essential.
“We talk about it all of the time,” Shanahan said. “The first day we actually talked to the players, we talked to them about losing people during the season.?It’s going to happen and sometimes it happens in bunches and sometimes one a game or two a game.
“You’ve got to be ready. These guys are preparing themselves every week.?They’re one play away from being the starter.”
The injury bug has so struck the Redskins that even one of their trainers was hurt on Sunday. He slipped in the tunnel at halftime and hurt a knee. It might be a torn ACL.
Now that’s attrition.
Embarrassed Last Week, Patriots Do the Humbling
Posted by admin
on November 15, 2010
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PITTSBURGH — At one point in the first half Sunday, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was spotted blistering his offensive line for some perceived infraction. It was hard to tell what had Brady upset. He was barely touched by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who possess one of the most harrowing defenses in the N.F.L. And the expectations for the running game against a defense that had not yet allowed a 75-yard game had to be minimal.
But Brady’s fierce demand that even barely noticeable mistakes be fixed is one reason the Patriots have lost two consecutive games only twice in eight seasons. And after a thorough dismantling at the hands of the Cleveland Browns last weekend, the Patriots corrected their errors again, dominating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 39-26, to remain tied for first place in the A.F.C. East with the Jets. The Jets avoided dropping out of first when they held off the Browns, 26-20.
“It’s an emotional game,” Brady said. “Part of playing quarterback is trying to make sure everyone is into it.”
The Patriots’ play may be emblematic of the topsy-turvy nature of the league this season — from week to week, it seems almost impossible to predict what will happen.
“That’s the N.F.L.,” Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said. “If you knew what was going to happen in this league, you’d make a lot of money.”
In their 34-14 loss to the Browns, the Patriots’ defense was shredded by Peyton Hillis’s 184 yards rushing, and the unit continued a troubling inability this season to consistently pressure the quarterback. And the offense was entirely inept.
But against a better opponent, the Patriots were more balanced and more efficient than they had been all season. They pressured Ben Roethlisberger — “We were able to hogtie him down a couple of times,” Belichick said — while protecting Brady enough to allow the short passes on which the offense thrives. All that helped set the stage for the annual showdown with the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday.
“We know what they are all about,” Brady said of the Steelers. “I thought we showed what we were all about, too.”
In recent years, that game has often seemed like a battle for N.F.L. supremacy and for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. This year, each team has substantial flaws and there are no guarantees either will be in the postseason. But with a difficult schedule over the final two months of the season, the Patriots will stake claim to being the best team in the league if they can successfully traverse the Steelers-Colts fortnight. At least for a week.
The Patriots were different from the minute they stepped onto the Heinz Field turf. They forced the Steelers to punt after three downs, and on one of them, Gary Guyton slapped down a Roethlisberger pass attempt, the first sign that a pass rush that had generated only 13 sacks in the first eight games would be more successful Sunday against the Steelers’ injury-riddled offensive line.
When the Patriots had the ball, they relied heavily on their tight ends, often deploying two tight-end sets. The first drive shredded the Steelers’ defense, including a 19-yard touchdown pass over the middle to tight end Rob Gronkowski.
It was the first of three scoring receptions for the rookie Gronkowski.
“The last time I had three was a as sophomore in college, and that was Washington State,” Gronkowski said.
Roethlisberger was sacked twice on the next drive. When the Patriots got the ball again, they drove easily, although they settled for a field goal. Still, even when the Steelers tried to change the rhythm of the game by using a no-huddle offense, they had little luck.
Roethlisberger was sacked again early in the second quarter, thwarting another drive. The offense, already missing the starters on the left side of the offensive line, lost its catalyst when receiver Hines Ward was knocked out of the game on a hit to his head late in the first quarter. The hit to the side of Ward’s head by James Sanders left him wobbly on his feet. He sustained a neck injury on the play, but he spent the rest of the night on the sideline lobbying doctors to let him return.
The Steelers could muster just a field goal through the first three quarters because Jeff Reed, who is enduring an erratic season, missed a 26-yard attempt in the third quarter. So dominant were the Patriots in the first half — they allowed just 134 yards of offense — that the one-touchdown margin might have seemed like a disappointment.
The Patriots are so young that they must have wondered if they would be able to close out a team as talented and resilient as the Steelers.
But in the third quarter, the Patriots powered through the Steelers again. Their opening drive of the second half took 10 plays and 78 yards — where were the sacks or turnovers that usually define Steelers games? — and ended with another Gronkowski touchdown reception. When another drive was capped by a Brady run up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown, the Patriots led by 20 points and the buoyant Steelers crowd was silent.
By midway through the fourth quarter, the fans, clutching Terrible Towels at their sides, made an even stronger statement about their discontent. They headed for the exits just moments after Sanders intercepted a pass from Roethlisberger and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown that gave the Patriots a 19-point lead. Gronkowski’s third touchdown reception sent much of the rest of the crowd to the parking lots.
When the Steelers began the season 3-1, relying on the running game and defense in Roethlisberger’s absence, they looked like the best team in cheap football jerseys. When the Patriots had the best record, 6-1, they looked to be the team to beat. Supremacy is ephemeral in the N.F.L. this season. At least until next Sunday, it belongs to the Patriots again.
Colts push prime-time win streak to 11 games
Posted by admin
on November 2, 2010
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It’s a well-demonstrated fact that the Indianapolis Colts are at their best when they’re playing with a lead, and they grabbed one Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
They moved a half-game ahead in the AFC South by beating Houston 30-17 in a sloppily officiated game and put themselves squarely among the NFL’s front-runners. Their 5-2 record is inferior to a single team and the Colts get a shot at New England (6-1) on Nov. 21 in Foxborough, Mass.
The victory was the Colts’ 11th consecutive in prime time and quarterback Peyton Manning ran the best record of any quarterback in “Monday Night Football” history to 11-3.
The Texans (4-3) are 0-9 in Indianapolis.
“It’s not always going to be pretty or going to be perfect,” Manning said after completing 26-of-45 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns. “You’ve just got to keep grinding. Grinding is the term I used.”
Some of the loudest roars from the sellout crowd of 66,363 came at halftime, when former coach Tony Dungy was inducted into the club’s Ring of Honor. Dungy appeared moved by the honor, and he had to be pleased by the performance.
The Colts led all the way. The only deficits they faced were in their lineup. Three of their top five offensive skill players, a starting cornerback and their punter missed the game.
No matter. Running back Mike Hart, playing in place of Joseph Addai (neck), rushed 12 times for a career-high 84 yards. Tight end Jacob Tamme, in for Dallas Clark (wrist, injured reserve), caught six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, playing in place of Austin Collie (thumb), had four receptions for 55 yards.
The Colts also were without cornerback Jerraud Powers (foot), and punter Pat McAfee served a one-game suspension for his Oct. 20 arrest on a public intoxication charge.
“One thing we talk about year in and year out is you’re going to get your opportunity at some point,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. “We need every guy on our team.
“We certainly don’t talk about drop-offs. We certainly don’t talk about insufficient play. We expect no drop-off.”
It’s a well-demonstrated fact that the Indianapolis Colts are at their best when they’re playing with a lead, and they grabbed one Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
They moved a half-game ahead in the AFC South by beating Houston 30-17 in a sloppily officiated game and put themselves squarely among the NFL’s front-runners. Their 5-2 record is inferior to a single team and the Colts get a shot at New England (6-1) on Nov. 21 in Foxborough, Mass.
The victory was the Colts’ 11th consecutive in prime time and quarterback Peyton Manning ran the best record of any quarterback in “Monday Night Football” history to 11-3.
The Texans (4-3) are 0-9 in Indianapolis.
“It’s not always going to be pretty or going to be perfect,” Manning said after completing 26-of-45 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns. “You’ve just got to keep grinding. Grinding is the term I used.”
Some of the loudest roars from the sellout crowd of 66,363 came at halftime, when former coach Tony Dungy was inducted into the club’s Ring of Honor. Dungy appeared moved by the honor, and he had to be pleased by the performance.
The Colts led all the way. The only deficits they faced were in their lineup. Three of their top five offensive skill players, a starting cornerback and their punter missed the game.
No matter. Running back Mike Hart, playing in place of Joseph Addai (neck), rushed 12 times for a career-high 84 yards. Tight end Jacob Tamme, in for Dallas Clark (wrist, injured reserve), caught six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, playing in place of Austin Collie (thumb), had four receptions for 55 yards.
The Colts also were without cornerback Jerraud Powers (foot), and punter Pat McAfee served a one-game suspension for his Oct. 20 arrest on a public intoxication charge.
“One thing we talk about year in and year out is you’re going to get your opportunity at some point,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. “We need every guy on our team.
“We certainly don’t talk about drop-offs. We certainly don’t talk about insufficient play. We expect no drop-off.”