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Bear with me readers, it is 2 in the morning and i just got back to  Bloomington from the primetime asspounding the Colts just handed the Saints. I am dead on my feet and two shots of tequila and a beer short of being hammered. The happy buzz is starting to be replaced by the get the hell in bed humming sound and I am going to attempt to be academic about this. If you are reading this you are probably a Colts fan (God knows you aren't a fan of mine) so just come on in and I will talk about the Colts a little before I hit the hay.
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I wasn't right about everything that happened in the game. The Saints were far more stagnant than I had anticipated. Some of it was playcalling and some of it was an inability to determine when to adjust the gameplan. I will get into that later. The Colts were almost exactly what I thought they would be. If Giordano hadn't picked off that last ball and returned it for a touchdown I would have called their score exactly. I will take that.
For starters, it was tough getting up to Indy for the late game. I needed about thirty minutes at the house to let my balls breath before Hot Tub and I headed up. That pushed our departure back and we just got to our seats at the requested 8 bells. I had my game clothes ready. I wear my Merrells to the game because we gotta do a little walking and they are good for it. I had my sliding shorts on for undies. They work really well because they have extra padding int he ass to keep that metal bleacher from giving me a headache and I can fit a flask into the jock that is built into the front. Oh, and if you think that is gross or weird, screw you. They want six and three quarters for a pound of beer. No way. I just fill my flask with whatever is handy, gin (Tanqueray) has been fashionable of late because there is generally a young girl sitting next to me at the games and I don't want to set a bad example by stinking like whiskey or slobbering around in a fanciful rum drunk. You can't smell the gin as easily and it mixes well with Sprite or Coke (only three and a half). They pat us down at the gates, so sneaking in beer cans is tough, but they won't touch your junk and they stopped using the wand so we can get flasks in if we keep them close to our nuts. So Hot Tub and I chug a 24 oz. Bud in the parking garage (three blocks away and only a 5 dollar bill and no you don't get to know the secret) and then we head in, pick up something to mix with, and head to the seats. Everything went smoothly until some girl I have never heard of butchered the Star-Spangled Banner so badly it started a small race war in the cheap seats that spread like wild fire. Just as I was trying to mix some gin into my cup some joker hit me and I dropped my flask back into my lap which gave me a good helping of liquor on my business. I had the piny scent wafting up from my nuts all evening. I left Hot Tub at The GM's house and drove home nekkid waist down with my gin covered clothes in the bed of my truck for fear that a cop might pull me over and think I had been drinking.
Offense: I was on Ugoh's ass all preseason and he really  made me look stupid tonight. He played exceptionally well. I had said that they would keep a tight end over him all night to help with Will Smith, but after the first quarter, Tom Moore moved the strongside back to Peyton's right and let Ugoh block Smith one on one. He was very good. He looked much quicker in pass protection and was routinely able to make Smith give him inside moves and then Tony would carry that move into the guard. Solid tactic and it was executed well. Will Smith is a different kind of end than Ugoh will normally see, though. In the AFC the abundance of good quarterbacking has led teams to invest more in speed rushers on the edge. The Colts are no different. But in the NFC there is a premium on run stopping at the end position and Smith is a bigger, stronger player than Ugoh will mostly see. Ugoh's athleticism serves him well against this kind of player. The offensive line was really solid all around, though. They opened up huge holes to run through, at one point I commented that Lyle Lovett could run behind Ryan Lilja, he was that dominant. Wayne fights hard for extra yards, and I give him credit for it, but that is what caused his fumble early in the second quarter. It was a needless thing to do in that situation, too. Still, the Colts offense was very careful with the ball otherwise and we won the turnover battle. With about 11:30 to go in the 2nd quarter Peyton got the corner and the safety mixed up against Reggie and he underthrew a ball by about six feet. Jason David (former Colt) was the corner that got mixed up and he was far behind the play. He caught up but was unable to make a play on the ball or look back for it. It appeared from our angle that he jumped into the path of the ball with his back turned, which is faceguarding and a penalty, but it was a no call. It was a third down play and ended the drive when the game was still close. I don't know what crew officiated the game, when they announced them we couldn't hear, but the referee was bad. The line-judges were all right and the back judge was right on two offsides calls, but the referee was real bad. That brings up something else, if you have never been to a game in the RCA Dome you haven't heard loud. The only time you can speak to anyone is when Peyton is on the field, then you can hear his cadence even from the upper deck. If you are making noise someone will shush you like you are in Sunday School. One thing I like about the Colts offense is that they don't like to see people gimmick the Colts defense. They have a real oneupmanship complex that I enjoy. it is good gamesmanship. When the Saints were running several reverses, the Colts were having trouble establishing who had backside contain (I will get into that a little later) and I was getting frustrated. Then the Colts ran the end around with Dallas Clark when he was coming form the SE position and it was like, "Anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you." (I sang the first verse and the chorus to the people in the seats nearby, they had it coming) It was reminiscent for the hardcore Colts fan of the game when Manning broke the touchdown record. Against San Diego, with Brees at QB no less, San Diego was having trouble turning red zone ops into touchdowns and used an inside-trap shovel pass on the goal-line to score one. A couple quarters later Peyton Manning ran almost the exact same play he drew up in the fricking turf to toss a shovel pass to James Mungro and tie the all-time touchdown record. I like that kind of mentality, it is competitive. I also liked the end around with Clark because while they were doing it with Bush and Henderson we did it with our TIGHT END. That sort of versatility also highlights why Clark is so important to the Colts. His ability to draw coverage from various positions be it the slot or down end free up others. Reggie's first touchdown was a blown assignment on the part of the safety because he broke too early on Clark's route and found himself caught in space. Twice Jason David looked bad because of someone else's mistake. Addai ran better tonight. He does not cut well into the gap. It appears that he does not sit down low enough with his hips in his breaks and cuts to drive out of them with speed and quickness, but he does seem to have a good top gear and he fights tacklers well with low pad level. He had 118 yards on 23 carries. He sure as shit got pasted on that first play, though, it nearly made me crap myself. here is something to yell about, Marvin has better footwork than anyone, ever. He has better feet than rice, he does, sorry. Lynn Swann might be close, but no one has ever been as good against the sideline or against the back of the endzone.
Defense: The defense was just straight dominant. I always said they were going to be better than last year, but this was something else. I was glad to see that most of the things I said about the defensive players came to fruition. One of my buddies was sending me quotes from my posts every time one of them appeared to be coming true. It was great for my confidence. Raheem Brock was more important than his stat line suggested. He was great in run game by simply using his speed off the ball to defeat blocks. He didn't need bulk or strength to do it, just speed. He had two solo tackles, both for loss. I preached on Giordano being our best special teamer and who made the first tackle on special teams? Another interesting twist is that all last year Giordano lined up on the kicking right side during kickoffs and most of the big returns busted on us went to the kicking left. This season the Colts put Giordano on the kicking left and he was in on the first three kickoff returns and he had two hits on punts. The Colts looked green and inexperienced in the nickel defense with Hughes on the slot guy. In the second half they moved him to the outside and he looked more comfortable. A new wrinkle in the Colts defense is the use of a dime package they have tailor made to take advantage of Matt Giordano. The Colts have never really had a dime before but now, on clear passing downs, they bring on Giordano and Hughes with Giordano as the fourth corner lining up on the slot guy and using outside leverage. Giordano has size and good tackling form so he plays the position as a hybrid linebacker. It was effective all night. The first time they used it Brock blew up his blocker and made a play so we didn't see the secondary do anything, but later we saw it in action and Giordano picked one off and took it to the house. He has a nice top gear as well. Pretty quick for a white guy. Freddie Keiaho and Marlin Jackson were everything I hoped they would be. They inserted their brand of physicality on the game from the get go. KEIAHO was EVERYWHERE and I hope that he proved to some of you that what I was saying about him being better than Cato June was true. Rob Morris has completely reinvented himself as a strongside backer. Last year he was relegated to the special teams because he was originally a middle linebacker and Gary Brackett took his job. Gilbert Gardner was starting at strongside but couldn't perform and late in the year Morris moved in. It has been his ever since and he has made play after play. At one point Reggie Bush took a toss sweep to the outside and he was one on one to the corner with Morris and Robo RAN DOWN REGGIE BUSH. Nice. One problem I did have with the Colts was that when the ends use inside technique it becomes unlcear who has responsibiity for outside contain. The Colts clearly showed a tendency to over-run plays in the preseason becasue the Saints quite rightly used cutbacks and reverses to take advantage with success. I have to believe it was something New Orleans saw in tape of this preseason because the personnel changes on the defensive side are so widespread that they couldn't predict it before this year. But they certainly saw something against certain Colts' rotations and exploited it. I will have to look at more tape to see what personnel package was being hit with it, or if it was a defensive posture rather than a personnel key that led them to that gameplan. it was well executed and well conceived, though, hat is off. Oh, and Bob Sanders took somebody's lunch and ate it tonight, if you know who it was maybe you should let them know, it wasn't very nice of him.
Saints: The Saints weren't bad, but they sure did get a taste of what it is like competing with a top AFC team. Their gameplan was simple enough. They used the flats and tight ends in the middle to take yards in front of the cover-2 defense. I believe they thought that at some point the Colts would lose patience and stop dropping back and come forward to defend it. It became a waiting game of sorts. If the Colts come up the Saints go deep, Brees has the best completion percentage for passes over 30 yards in the league. That was dependent on the idea that the Colts would eventually come forward. Even when New Orleans moved the ball with success five yards at a time, the Colts defense remained patient and stayed back, never letting the seams or the deep corners come open. I only remember one pass over 15 yards for Brees. They never changed or adapted to overcome that. The should have tried to go deep earlier. Brees made only a few bad decisions, the interception to Keiaho was the only place he could go with the ball to or he could get sacked. Keiaho made a great instinct read and real atheltic move on the ball. Interception to Giordano was all his fault. He ahd pressure in his face but he should ahve taken the sack. Hindsight being what it is, and I know it was late and he was forcing something to try to get back in it, but nothing on that side of the field was open and he should have known better. it was uncharacteristically sloppy of him. his release ahs always been slow but has smoothed it out a little since college.
The run game could not change that scenario because the Colts run defense was suffocating. Tackling was unreal and neither Bush or MaCallister averaged over 4 yards. Brees should have had more help. Neither Bush nor Deuce caught the ball well out of the backfield. Bush couldn't catch a cold. Colston looked good, though. He has real, functional length. He isn't just a tall guy or a guy with long arms, he is a guy with both that understands how his length widens the margin of error for balls thrown to him. He went back for a ball tonight that looked a lot like a ball he had to reach back for in the playoffs last year. Not many guys will extend themselves like that. Owens and Moss don't extend back over the middle like that and neither do higher profile young guys who have come in touted for their size like Williams and Fitz. Scott Fujita had a great game until it got out of hand. Will Smith is really good. He didn't do much in the passing game that Peyton couldn't handle with ease (the protection and time to throw was unholy) but he was amazing to watch. On the stretch plays he collapsed the backside so quickly that big, inviting holes became tackle traps. Tremendous pursuit skills and upper body strength. Great length, would have numbers near ware or Merriman if he had a little more help. the safeties for New orleans cannot compete with the Colts. They were embarrassed, particularly that guy i mentioned as a key player.
Things you can't see on TV: I said the officiating was bad, well the referee sucked balls. In the third quarter he dropped his flag on the twelve yard line and went the entire drive without it despite standing next to it for three plays. He called a holding penalty on Ugoh late in the first half to stop a drive that was completely phantom and it was right in front of him. Ugoh had Smith hooked on a run play with his left arm in a side block but Ugoh had his pads infront of Smith, I don't know how you can make that a holding call. Horseshit. I thought that Jammal brown would have to be effective 1 on 1 against Freeney and he was, he held him all game. Freeney gets held a lot and doesn't get the call because he spins so much, but I can forgive that, it is hard to see because it happens while spinning, but Dwight dropped the spinning act because he had Brown beat with speed on the outside all night. Brown devised a genius little ploy. He would block on the side of Freeney, which is legal, while he would dip his shoulder and speed rush the outside but he would put his right hand inside the neck roll of freeney's pads and push him down which kept him from standign back up and accelerating into his pass rush. It worked but it was blatant and dirty, I am going to look for it on film tomorrow. I hope it is shown from the right angle.
it is four in the fricking morning and I am going to drink two more beers and go to bed, post questions if you have them and otherwise I will have tape broken down by monday baring any significant binge drinking.
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2008 Cubs Preview
What's actually worse? Smelling a little like Gin when a cop walks up to your truck, or having little willy out to play when he says "please step out of the vehicle?"
Gin on the balls has to be some new form of the Smoky Tornado.
Agree wholeheartedly that the referee was crap. Missed at least 3 blatant calls that I could see throughout the game.
Peyton was almost on every single commercial break throughout the game.
Ugoh did look good, but did have at least 2 offsides calls I believe. But, being a rookie in his first regular season game, protecting Peyton's backside is a pretty nerve wracking job.
I'll go ahead and take credit for saying Keiaho was going to be a stud when/if given the chance. The only reason he started one year in college was because he was behind tackling maniac, Kirk Morrison.
Ugoh is fine on the offsides calls. Remember Glenn was one to have those calls repeatedly. That blowout will shut up some of the analysts for at least a week. It seems that all talk about the Colts this preseason that I've heard from analysts was about how they came up with a miracle vs. NE to get to the SB and win and that they are not nearly that good this year.