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I have no idea what is going on. I have been drifting the last three days in an English malaise. I suppose this year, more than other years, I had a sense of ... destiny (sorry about the cliche, its the best word for the job) about this Colts team. No... not the team. It was Manning, he was in such a groove, so clearly moving in that seam of time and space where everything slows down and comes together. In the zone or not, Freeney and Mathis performing or not, the Colts proved that three men alone cannot win games in the NFL.
Everything that the Colts did to win games this year happened against the Chargers, and yet they did not win. Manning was sharp, accurate, full of guile and that indefinable quality that makes people look at old pictures of #19 and lean back in careful thought and comparison. The game was back and forth but never out of reach. The offensive line was crappy, but did just enough give Manning a place to stand. The defense was bad but they made a few plays here and there, and even forced a couple three and outs. I even thought they were decent against the run on first down (relatively speaking). We went for it on a fourth down and didn't get it. We even came up with a turnover late in the third quarter that any other week we would have turned around into a scoring drive to ice the game.
But the magic DID NOT HAPPEN. You spent all night making meaningful eye contact with the quiet but playful girl across the bar who just happens to be talkative when not confronted with your rugged, insatiable appeal. Finally, after she has had enough of staring at you from cornered eyes you go over and pick her up without having to say a word. She has all the parts, all the regular cash and prizes that normally trip your switches. And yet, when you have crossed the point of no return and you are beyond feigning whiskey dick and bundling her out the door, you find your heart is not in it. Everything happened the way it was supposed to. She had all the accoutrement (smell good, cookery, walked slow enough) but there was no atrial kick. Nothing.
I really thought, as I never had before, that we were the ones rolling, that we were the ones with the upper hand. Sometimes signs are signs and sometimes they are lies. This time? Lies.
The Colts were never the kind of team that could be a dominant playoff team and we were fools to believe that they had the tools for it. Sure, there is no substitute for good quarterbacking, but there has to be efforts in other areas. No legit playoff team tackles as poorly as the Colts tackle. No legit playoff team can field backup corners as small and poor as ours and expect to be successful stopping the outside run or the short passing game. No legit playoff team can be as weak at the linebacker position or the defensive tackle position. No legit playoff team can start a gimpy center (and lets admit it, Saturday was not himself this year) and rookie guards and expect to block the middle.
Disagree if you will, but I don't believe I am wrong. We all thought the Colts were looking strong, and we thought that Manning was so far out of our comprehension that he could not lose. In reality, because the Colts failed so miserably in so many other parts of the mechanism, it becomes clear that their eventual loss was simply a matter of circumstance. As soon as a team was able to hang with the Colts and keep pinning them deep late, it was over.
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The Colts were never the kind of team that could be a dominant playoff
team and we were fools to believe that they had the tools for it.
Sure, there is no substitute for good quarterbacking, but there has to
be efforts in other areas. No legit playoff team tackles as poorly as
the Colts tackle. No legit playoff team can field backup corners as
small and poor as ours and expect to be successful stopping the outside
run or the short passing game. No legit playoff team can be as weak at
the linebacker position or the defensive tackle position. No legit
playoff team can start a gimpy center (and lets admit it, Saturday was
not himself this year) and rookie guards and expect to block the middle.
Disagree
if you will, but I don't believe I am wrong. We all thought the Colts
were looking strong, and we thought that Manning was so far out of our
comprehension that he could not lose. In reality, because the Colts
failed so miserably in so many other parts of the mechanism, it becomes
clear that their eventual loss was simply a matter of circumstance. As
soon as a team was able to hang with the Colts and keep pinning them
deep late, it was over.
A few honest realizations have to be accepted by all parties before the world of the Colts can move forward.
Tony Dungy did not get as much out of this team as he could have and should have.
Despite the early season declarations by Dungy and Polian that this team was as talented as any during the Dungy era, the talent they spoke of was clearly not enough to make up for the lack of depth.
If Marvin is not going to be a larger part of the offense he must be let go or have his contract halved.
Either we have to get bigger defensive linemen or we have to get bigger linebackers.
Bill Polian has failed to address personnel issues at the proper time during the draft.
The Colts preference for smaller, faster players may well be responsible for their injury problems.
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2008 Cubs Preview
Is that a Fight Club style title up there. If so, I like it. I am Jack's raging bile duct!