I know what’s coming; Eighteen’s coming.
–Ed Reed, Baltimore Ravens

So, I was grumpy about the Colts pulling their starters against the Jet a few weeks back. I got over it after 2 or 3 days. It was good to have a meaningful game to wash away that sour taste. The media was full of predictions that the Ravens would run over the Colts and their stingy D would overpower a rusty, bye-jinxed Colts offense. Turns out, not so much.

The Colts defense was stingy, allowing only 3 points. The Ravens were shut out for the last 47 minutes of the game. A good bit of that was their own doing – having penalties wipe out good plays. But, for a lot of those, the penalized conduct was instrumental to the good play: no block in the back = no long run back, etc. The Colts offense was effective. You can’t say enough about Manning and the receiving corps. Reggie Wayne, in particular, made some excellent catches under tight pressure. The running game was mostly non-existent. With respect to the running game, it is baffling to me how the O line can keep a good pocket in place for Manning when it’s a pass play, but it’s like a sieve when Manning goes to hand it off. Probably there is an easy explanation the more football savvy would know.

Next week, the Colts will host the AFC Championship game against the winner of the Jets/Chargers game today. I think either one will be tough. I think the Colts are capable of beating either one. Even losing the past two seasons to the Chargers, I still don’t feel the same grudge or sense of uneasiness I always did against the Patriots. In any case, this football stuff is a whole lot of fun.

Marcellus: Night of the fight, you might feel a slight sting. That’s pride fuckin’ with you. Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps. You fight through that shit. ‘Cause a year from now, when you kicking it in the Caribbean, you gonna say to yourself, “Marcellus Wallace was right.”

Marcellus Wallace, Pulp Fiction, telling Butch to take a dive in round 5 of the fight.

The Colts played the Jets for most of 3 quarters, then took a dive. And, Marcellus was right, even as a spectator, my pride was stung. I can only imagine what it felt like for the players. Jim Caldwell and Bill Polian have voluntarily put a giant monkey on their backs and on that of the Colts. It will be chittering loudly in their ear throughout the playoffs, and if they don’t win the Super Bowl this year, they will have broken Curtis Painter’s psyche for nothing.

I don’t know that the extra quarter of rest that Manning and the rest of the starters will add to the next 3 weeks of rest were worth the trade. (Shake-n-Bake over at Stampede Blue would say that the rest is beneficial.) Presumably Polian and Caldwell (and Shake-n-Bake) know better than me, and I hope they do, but last night’s game was horribly disappointing. The Colts were playing solidly and had a small lead through most of three quarters when coach Caldwell benched Manning and most of the rest of the starters. Backup quarterback Curtis Painter was placed in a horrible situation where the pressure of 23 consecutive regular season wins and a 14-0 season was abruptly placed on his shoulders in front of a very unhappy crowd. He crumbled. He went 3 and out. He fumbled a ball into the end zone for a Jets touchdown. He threw an interception. And then I turned off the game.

Maybe taking the next 3 weeks off will leave the Colts fresh as daisies and sharp as knives cutting through the playoffs like warm butter. I sure hope so. But, the decision to quit on the regular season just added more pressure to those playoff games. Quitters never win, I’ve been told. Hopefully the Colts can prove that old adage wrong.

After playing 2.5 quarters of outstanding football, the Colts beat the Broncos and clinched the #1 seed in the AFC with home field throughout the playoffs. The Colts jumped out to a quick lead then stalled for 1.5 quarters or so, and then went on a back breaking, game icing drive for their final touchdown, winning 28 – 16. With that win, they also set the record for most consecutive regular season victories with 22 – a stat that’s a little silly to me since it requires overlooking the playoff loss to the Chargers; but what the heck.) And, they became the winningest team in a decade with 114 wins, beating the Montana/Young led Forty-Niners of the 90s.

So, now begins the tiresome play ’em or rest ’em debate. It’s certainly a luxury that we’ve been able to have this debate on several occasions. For my part, I say you don’t put a guy in if you need heroic measures to do it; but don’t rest someone just to rest them. Don’t turn these into pre-season games. Years past seem to show that rust outweighs rest in the balance of things.

The AP has a good article on Bill Polian, Colts president, has been instrumental to the Colts’ success over the last dozen years or so. I’d probably put him as reason #2 behind Manning, but, clearly Manning wouldn’t be as good as he is without the talent Polian has put around him.

Polian has an eye for talent. In particular, he has an eye for talent that can be drafted in the later rounds or simply recruited outside the draft. Consider that center Jeff Saturday, second to only Manning in longevity on the team, wasn’t even drafted but has gone on to play in three Pro Bowls and has anchored the offensive line. Collie came in round 4, Mathis came in round 5, Garcon in round 6.

Of the 53 players on Indy’s active roster, 31 were originally drafted by Polian. Seventeen of those draft picks were in the fourth round or later. Only four Colts players, including kickers Adam Vinatieri and Matt Stover, have played in a game with another NFL team. Twelve players, including defensive captain Gary Brackett, safety Melvin Bullitt, cornerback Jacob Lacey, right guard Kyle DeVan and three-time Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday, weren’t drafted all.

With another remarkable come back, this time against the Texans, the Colts advanced to 11 – 0. And, with some help from the San Francisco 49ers in their win over Jacksonville, the Colts also clinched the AFC South with 5 games yet to be played.

The first half against the Texans was a little tough to watch. The Colts were simply unable to get the Texans off the field, and they methodically marched up the field. I don’t know when the Colts scarred me so deeply, but on some level, despite some fairly sustained success, my mental image of the Colts’ defense is one that consistently lets the opposition march slowly up the field, typically with a lot of 3rd and 2 or 3s that the defense can’t stop. On offense, things looked a little sloppy, and the Colts didn’t score at all in the first quarter.

The second half was a completely different story, thankfully. The Colts poured it on. The defense was getting pressure, and causing turnovers – notably Clint Sessions’ pick 6 and Robert Mathis’ strip of Matt Schaub. The Texans collapse was pretty dramatic. It wasn’t as epic as last year’s Rosencopter episode, but still notable. I almost feel bad for the Texans – not so much because they are losing to the Colts, but the defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory manner of the losses.

So, the Colts are going to the playoffs for an 8th straight season. How spoiled are we? Since Manning arrived, I think there have been 2 seasons the Colts missed the playoffs – his rookie season in 1998 and that awful 2001 season. And, they’ve won 6 out of the last 7 divisional titles. Remarkable stuff.

Over the past few years, the Colts have stood up to the Patriots well enough that I realized I’ve gone from simply hating the Patriots to loving hating the Patriots. In honor of the occasion, here is one of xtrarant’s Colts/Pats propaganda posters from a few year’s back:

Belichick is still the NFL equivalent of the evil dojo master from the Cobra Kai. “Sweep the leg, Johnny.”

The Colts won an ugly one yesterday over the Forty-Niners, 18 – 14. The one touchdown for the Colts was a gimmick pass from Addai to Wayne. The Niners defense bit hard on the run, and Addai lobbed one up that Wayne hauled in. Other than that, it was Stover kicking four field goals. He looked like he was trying to nail the right upright all afternoon, but it kept hooking back to score.

The Forty-Niners broke one huge run for 64 yards and had one good scoring drive at the end of the first half. Other than that, the Colts defense was pretty tough. Aside from the monster run, the Colts held running back Frank Gore to 12 rushes for 27 yards. Manning had an “off” day with 347 yards passing.

Of note was the rash of Forty-Niners cramping injuries in the 50 degree weather. Oddly, they seemed to happen only on third down when the Colts were driving with their no-huddle offense. The Forty-Niners offense was not similarly affected somehow. The Forty-Niner “injuries” were almost McGinest like in their timing, allowing San Francisco to stop the clock and get substitutions at key moments without using time outs. Coincidental, surely.

Anyway, the Colts uglied out a win and now go into a fairly tough stretch, facing second place divisional rival Houston two of the next four games with New England and Baltimore sandwiched in between and Denver coming after.

I spent most of the 1st half of the Colts/Dolphins game putting together a million piece (estimated) Lego Star Wars battle tank for Cole. Consequently, I listened a lot more than I watched. And what I heard most was “Wildcat!” The announcers were really taken with the Dolphins’ gimmick of snapping the ball directly to a running back. Oh, and with time of possession. The Dolphins absolutely dominated both the time of possession and the Wildcat! statistics. Time of possession was 45:07 Dolphins to 14:53 Colts. And, the Colts have a great quarterback and receivers, so they don’t mess around with the Wildcat!

For the Dolphins, the trouble was that the Colts averaged about 10 – 11 yards per play versus about 5 per play for the Dolphins. Hopefully the Colts can stiffen up on 3rd down and get the ball back for the offense, and hopefully our running game gets more consistent. In the meantime, if the only thing our team does better than the other team is score more points, I’ll have to find a way to live with that.

The Colts beat the Jaguars in the season opener, leaving them 1-0 atop the AFC South with the Titans, Texans, and Jags all losing their first game. Just 15 more wins, and we’re in the playoffs!

The defense looked stout. Manning, Wayne, and Clark all looked good as usual (a little rust notwithstanding). The big tragedy was Anthony Gonzalez going out with a knee injury. (Will this be the Curse of Marvin? All the right side receivers going out with knee injuries? *Cue scary music*). Our running game looked pretty anemic though.

For a (very) amateur football watcher like me, it’s too early to draw any conclusions. Maybe the Jaguars were a weak team that we just barely beat, and this bodes ill for the future. Maybe they’re a powerhouse and other teams will fall like houses of cards. Probably something in the middle. I’m just happy that football season has started.