I spent half the time bawling over the sad and touching 9/11 tributes and the other half crying and shaking my head at how unprepared the Colts were in their ugly, ugly, fugly loss to the Texans. Peyton Manning was not there and it clearly showed.
Speaking of Manning, please send the tough guy some well wishes. As the rest of the world probably already knows, he took a chunk out of his hip bone to use for his third (second this year) neck surgery. It's a more painful and aggressive procedure and has the potential to cause him lifelong hip discomfort, but he opted for the procedure because of the potential for a speedier recovery (6-8 weeks). While the Colts still have not put him on IR, my gut tells me he will not be returning to the field this season. Even if he did recover that quickly, I still would not want him on the field until he was 110%. The thought of him taking hits just months removed from serious surgery makes me cringe.
And Manning is such a team player. He instructed his agent to "protect the team" in case his neck didn't heal as planned, so the Colts can opt out of his contract. The Colts seriously owe it to him to do everything they can to be a better team offensively, defensively, and special team-sively.
But, back to the Week 1 game.
As I am currently in Asia for work, I stayed up until 4 AM watching a livestream of the game. I wanted to turn it off and not ruin my sleep schedule for the rest of the week, but I just couldn't! It was like watching a train wreck. It was so bad, I just had to keep watching. Anything that could have gone wrong went wrong.
Carnage:
- Kerry Collins - sacked, fumbled, turned the ball over, stood like a statue in the pocket. Is it me or does he look like the oldest 38 year old ever? He makes Matt Stover (former Colts' Kicker) look like a teenager.
- Special Teams - allowed lots of yards on punt returns and even a punt return for a TD (Adam "Money in the Bank" Vinatieri missed an easy field goal. He also missed an easy on in the preseason, but he nailed a 50 yard one too. Not worried about Mr. Clutch.)
- Tackling - What? What tackling? Exactly.
- Penalties - I know, it's just the first game of the season, but the Colts are usually pretty clean on penalties.
- Right side of the offensive line - It's going to take some time for the OL to get it together, but I was hoping for more.
- Coaches - I really dislike Coyer. What on earth is he doing to allow the Texans to run so many bootlegs. Hello! It's all they do against the Colts. And Caldwell. Sigh. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that behind the scenes, he is different from the way he presents himself to the media and fans (a well-fed and less competent Dungy). But he does not seem inspire... anything. Confidence least of all. When I think of him, instead of thinking of the fire and passion a football coach should have, I think of fish. Cold fish, like sashimi too. Wtf.
- Dierdorf - Still one of the worst sports announcers ever.
- Reviewing EVERY scoring touchdown - Blah, just slow down the game even more why don't you.
Some Salvation:
- Awesome shoes and gloves (I love you America!)
- Reggie Wayne - This guy played his heart out. And he actually has a really big heart. Before the game, he was talking to a military vet in the stands and the guy asked Wayne if he could have the football if he caught a TD. Wayne remembered after the game and gave the guy the ball.
- Castonzo looked good in his debut
- Addai ran well. I am happy he was re-signed.
- Pat Angerer, Gary Brackett, Dwight Freeney played their hearts out.
- Saturday fought under the pile to hold onto the football. (Ahem, Hank Baskett, take notes please.)
- Schaub still has stoner-Ben Affleck face.
I wanted to see more of Austin Collie, but he was noticeably more invisible. Garcon didn't have a circus catch, but Dallas Clark had a one-handed catch that was cool to watch but ultimately didn't make an impact.
Watch highlights of the game here:
Credit: NFLTanooki
Next week, the Colts play the Browns. Hopefully things will get better. Like Dwight Freeney said, "It can't get worse."
Pause.
"I hope."
Doh.
On the other hand, for once I will be able to watch the Colts play football with relatively little stress. With no Peyton Manning in the game to be potentially injured, I am way more relaxed during the games!
Go Colts!
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