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At first glance, I wasn't sure what was happening.  The Baltimore squad seemed game enough in their front 7, which played the run intelligently and tackled swiftly and with authority. But then Manning throws a strike against a young secondary (McAllister and Rolle are injured) and we blow up for a big touchdown. Then the Colts' D comes up with a big pick-6 and it seems like we have enough points to win. Then the D stuffs the ravens again and Manning throws another deep strike on a drive that showed him passing the ball around with precision and impunity. After 27 first quarter points the Colts start the second quarter in the I-formation. Do you have any idea how fricking rare that is? I peed a little. Peyton's line was 13 for 17 for 249 with 4 touchdowns, no sacks, and a rating of 157.5. Peyton was in for one possession of the second half, threw one pass (a TD bomb to Gonzo) and was taken out. Peyton clearly saw something against their secondary and went right for their throats, and the line blocked well. Baltimore played well against the run, Keith and Addai only had 48 yards between them, but Peyton was simply out of his head. With huge years from Brady and all of his weapons and the newcomer Romo and all of his tools, it was nice to see Manning get up and say, "Hey, I know how this thing works and I have some guys that can catch a little."
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Was Baltimore beat before the game or were they beat during the game?
Well, both. From watching the game it is clear that the front 7 were
ready for their yearly mouth-busting chess game with Manning and
Saturday, but after the artillery starting coming in, the secondary
clearly didn't have any fight left. The Baltimore offense was
miserably bad. The Colts have made a few offenses look bad this year,
but they had help in Baltimore. Boller would look horrific and then
throw a really good ball on a really good read. Every time he did it I
echoed Jack Cobra's thoughts, "Who the Hell is this guy?" McGahee was
game, but Bob Sanders was hitting people so hard the fans had bruises.
That guy is something else. Say what you will about Reed, Polamalu and
Wilson, I ain't so sure I wouldn't take Bob above them. He doesn't
have the size of the other guys, or the hands of Polamalu or Reed, but
he hits harder and tackles surer than the lot. He is also fooled far
less often in coverage than Reed. He really out-shined Reed, who
seemed to be frozen by Manning and didn't get in on many run plays.
Sanders, on the other hand, hit everything that moved and racked up 10
tackles in 2 quarters. Dungy had to pull him out, it wasn't fair.
When the Colts were getting on the bus after the game a wind gust
rattled a trashcan in the parking lot and Sanders hit it. The trashcan
was so honored it refused to press charges. |
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2008 Cubs Preview
It looks like Peyton only needed some consistency in knowing what weapons he would have each game. The Colts look very good right now. It will be interesting to see how they play out these last few games....will they keep Peyton and the boys in as the score dictates or will they pull back the reigns to give them some rest since they should clinch the division this weekend.
Historically Dungy rests them. The Colts have never been the kind of team to be running up scores for no reason, and Dungy has never been too proud to sit guys and rest them for an unimportant win. Even when Peyton was throwing all those touchdowns two years ago he sat a lot of fourth quarters (and also threw a lot of touchdowns in losing efforts). Regardless I think they start to sot. Sanders didn't play the second half, Mathis was only in in pass situations.
While caution dictates the lowering of standards for the postseason given injuries, I see no reason why they cannot make a strong run at another Conference Championship. They appear to be very complete and balanced right now. I would, however, trade Ryan Lilja for Art Donovan at any moment. Lilja looks proper bad.
As a Pats fan, I'm happy to see that the real Super Bowl will be played again in the AFC chip game against the Colts. It will be epic to say the least.