showdown, shootout/spread fear within, without

Let's head on over to the Really-Real World for a minute. All I've heard all week is how Baltimore is the last team the Colts wanna face in the Divisional Round. The reason? Well, because the Ravens can run the ball and because the Ravens defense always gives P-Money problems.

Really?

Sure, they can run. But so can Miami, the Jaguars, the Titans, and the Rams.

What do all these teams have in common, other than losing to the Colts? That's all they can do.

But does the Ravens defense always trouble Peyton Manning?

The answer is simple enough. Hardly.

Over the last 7 years, the Ravens and Colts have played 7 times (including earlier this season). In these match-ups, the Colts are 7-0. The Peyton Manning lead offense, in those 7 games, has scored 173 points (roughly 25 per). As a matter of fact, the Colts have outscored the Ravens 173-81 over that span. The Ravens are only averaging about 12 points per game. That's a difference of 13 points, so we're more than doubling the average offensive output by the Ravens... but that's neither here nor there (at least, as far as this post is concerned. i'm focusing more on Peyton Manning vs the Ravens defense).

So let's get into it, shall we?

Over these 7 games, #18 has piled up 1776 total yards (averaging 254 per game), 12 touchdowns (almost 2 per), 5 interceptions (just over 0.7 per game) with a high of 299 passing yards vs a 170 low, 4 touchdown high vs 0 low, and 2 interception high vs 0 low (4 games with 0 INTs).

He's only had 1 bad game, the 2006 playoff game. He went 15 of 30 for 170 yards and 2 interceptions with 0 touchdowns. That's a bad game, by any standard, but we won.

Counter that with one most excellent game in the 2007 regular season where he went 13 of 17 for 249 yards and 4 touchdowns with 0 interceptions.

What're we left with?

5 still pretty good games.

Only one of those 5 games left did he throw for multiple interceptions. A game where Manning was 1 yard away from throwing for 300 and completed 71% of his passes.

So 3 games gone, leaving 4. Over those four games, he threw only 1 interception vs 7 touchdowns.

I'm not seeing anything that says to me that the Ravens defense troubles Peyton Manning regularly. Quite the contrary, actually, as Peyton has only played 1 bad game against the Ravens. A game we won anyway.

Where's the basis for this silly thought? Because there's certainly no proof of it.

You can't point to the 2006 playoff game, because that's CLEARLY the exception, not the rule.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen. The 2009 NFL Draft is upon us. Today (April 25) is Day 1. Everyone knows that Indy is in bad need of a defensive tackle, and most Colts fans are begging Bill Polian to draft us a beast. With the loss of Marvin Harrison during the offseason, however, there's speculation that Bill Polian will draft a wide receiver with the first pick. Gotta keep Peyton loaded, after all. There's also talk about drafting a running back, although I don't agree with that personally. In my opinion, our running problems last season wasn't our running back (my main man, Ja), but crappy play of our offensive line. It's that that needs to be addressed. Joseph Addai isn't any less good than he was in years prior.

So what's it gonna be?

Who can really tell with Bill Polian?...

Not I.

Join me, and other less important Colts fans in the Chat today at 4pm Eastern (1pm Pacific) and discuss the Colts picks as well as the picks of the other 31 NFL teams.

people (read: fans and talking heads) are writing off one of the most dangerous teams the football world has ever seen: the 2009 Indianapolis Colts. i don't know why... for the life of me, i can't figure it out. so what do i do? dare them to tell me why they won't take home the trophy in Miami one more again.

what makes the Colts so scary good? well, self, i'm glad you asked.

defensive tackle -Moala, E. Johnson, A. Johnson, Taylor. all 300+ lb guys. Big Ed Johnson was dominant in his rookie year with the Colts, he was excused from the team last year after getting caught with marijuana. after Coach Dungy's retirement, new coach Caldwell quickly resigned him. Antonio Johnson came from Tennessee. Titans coach Fisher tried his damndest to keep Mookie, offering to match what Indy was going to pay him but #99 wanted to play, something he wouldn't do very much with the DT rotation the Titans had. he came in midway through the season and was coming on pretty well. with a full offseason to train with the Colts instead of the Titans, he'll be somebody to reckon with. Moala and Taylor both played at big-time colleges (USC and Michigan, respectively), so they both know how to play. whether that translates to the NFL remains to be seen, but inside the organization the defensive tackle position is said to be one of the strengths of the team where it has been weakness before. this will open up the rest of the defense to play Colts football. Clint Session has moved from strong side lineback back to weak, his natural position. you'll be seeing a lot of him. get used to the name. Marlin Jackson is also back from injury as well as Bob Sanders. The Hit Squad is full force again... the secondary will be as good as it was in 2007 (not that it sucked last year, being the #6 pass defense in the league).
the most significant change to the defense, though, was losing Ron Meeks and bringing in Larry Coyer at defensive coordinator. Coyer previously coached in Tampa, so he knows the Cover 2 defense and he's nowhere near as vanilla as Meeks was. this squad has the talent and coaching now to be a top 5 defense. our DEs can pressure the quarterback without the need of blitzing. our DTs can anchor themselves during run plays to keep offensive linemen being able to get to linebackers and breaking RBs for big gains and they can push the pocket on pass plays. our linebackers can do what they were brought in to do, and Session/Brackett/Wheeler are all very good at what they do (provided they don't have o-linemen in their face). our secondary as a group, Kelvin Hayden/Antoine Bethea/Bob Sanders/Marlin Jackson, is argueably the best in the league.

on offense, we still have P-Money at quarterback. i have no need to explain why he's the best in the game.
our offensive line is embarrassed about their play last year, particularly the running game. Jeff Saturday is 100% again and Ryan Lilja returns to the team after being sidelined most of last year with an injury. those guys feel like they have something to prove... that last year was a fluke. they'll be playing with a chip on their shoulder and they will be one of the best groups again.
the RB position is the strongest group besides QB. Joseph Addai + Mike Hart (who broke every major school record at Michigan in his 4 years there. back from season ending injury) + Donald Brown (lead the NCAA in rushing yards last year) = one of the most dynamic backfields in the NFL. each can catch the ball in the passing game, each is fairly adept at picking blitzes (Ja is the best in the league right now, with Edge not having a team), and each has a different running style that very much compliments the others.
Marvin Harrison was let go this offseason, and as much as i hate it (the guy was the definition of greatness) it could actually be a good thing for our offense. the last two years, we've pretty much been without him. in 2007, he had the injury and last year he was barely there. defenses didn't respect him as much anymore and he gave them no reason to. Reggie Wayne has been carrying the #1 receiver role here for some time already, so don't expect him to faulter now. Anthony Gonzalez is ahead of the curve of WRs in Indy. coming into his third season, he's already better than Reggie was at this point. he can get YAC, something the Colts haven't had in a while. both Reggie and Gonzo can play at all three primary receiver positions (split left, split right, slot) and be effective. in the passing game, Dallas Clark is as big a mismatch as there is. too fast for linebackers, too big for DBs... and he's Peyton's favorite target after Reggie Wayne.

the back-ups at all positions (except quarterback) got significant playing time last season with all the injuries Indianapolis had, so in back-up roles this year they have the experience necessary to be next man up.

couple all this with the head coaching change and you've got a very dangerous team.
"but you lost Tony Dungy."
yeah... we did, and Dungy's a HoFamer without question. but Caldwell has been in Indy as long as Dungy has. he's a Dungy guy and brings the same attitude that Tony had. he also brings something of his own: unpredictability. during the offseason, he and his new staff have been adding wrinkles to our scheme, both on offense and defense. he also brought in an actual Special Teams coach. Moore and Mudd, two of the best at their position (OC and o-line coach), retired because of muddied pension plans... but Colts GM Bill Polian has said they'll definitely be back as consultants, which means they'll be doing what they've done the last 12 years only with the title of Consultant rather than Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach.

so you tell me... if not Indianapolis, then who?

but i tell ya, kid/you're better off playing leap-frog with a unicorn/that's right

The Colts are 8-0. Have won 17 regular season games straight. Peyton Manning just set a new standard with 40 grand in passing yards in a decade. He's four touchdowns away from another standard in play (300 touchdowns in a decade). He's tied for fourth all time in wins. Caldy is the first rookie head coach to go 8-0 since 1930something.

And that's just what I can remember from this passed Sunday.

On top of all that, coming into the game our defense was #1 in scoring, allowing a meager 14 points a game (though that'll go up slightly with the 17 the Texans scored). It's been a great year so far, bitches.

Here we are.

The game everyone has been waiting for.

November 15th.

Week 10.

The New England Patriots.

I'm glad Tom Brady looks to be playing his usual, albeit pansified, game. I'm also glad that after beating them, we'll tie them for second longest winning streak. It'll make it that much sweeter. No excuses.

Since 2005, we're 4-1 against them, including The Greatest Game Ever Played. Four of the five games have been won by seven points or less (with the Colts having the only blowout win, 40-21 in Foxborough). As recent history has shown, it should be a good'n. Sunday Night Football at it's finest.

As it stands now, the Colts are alone atop the AFC with the Broncos just one game back. In the AFC South, we're killin' it. Up 4 games over second place Houston with a head-to-head victory on top of that. The Patriots are 6-2, and likewise are clear favorites in their division. This game, midway through the season, could be huge come playoff time... but that's a lot of speculation I don't really wanna get in to.

Last couple weeks, we've not been so hot on offense. I'm not one bit worried, though. It's still the same offense, and Peyton's still lighting it up like Drew Barrymore did in Firestarter. We'll get into the endzone. And often.

Expect a big score by the end of the night. It could easily reach the 80s by the end of the night (that's combined, folks. settle down). This game will have all the NFL media buzzing like a 12 pack of Killian's. I like it.

"But KY, what do you think the score will be?"

86-3 Colts.

The Patriots can suck it.