Colts Gab

Looks like QB Peyton Manning is getting a little frustrated about the whole Tom Moore-Howard Mudd situation. Today’s Indy Star reports that Manning is throwing out questions about what the future is going to hold for the now former coaches, and what is going to happen next:

Colts QB Peyton Manning wants to know how the Tom Moore/Howard Mudd situation is going to play out. “I wouldn’t say I totally like the way it is right now,” Manning said Tuesday during a break in one of the team’s summer practice sessions.

“It’s not normal not having a full coaching staff. “It’s not a situation that I’m just thrilled about. I think the communication has been pretty poor, in my opinion. . . . Somebody says one thing, then somebody else says another thing. I’m not sure everybody’s on the same page in this building.” At issue is the recent retirement of Moore, Manning’s coordinator since 1998, and Mudd, who has coached the offensive line since ‘98. They have been two of Manning’s most valued advisers, and cornerstones of the NFL’s most proficient offense over the past 11 seasons.

Clark Judge of CBSSports.com reports Howard Mudd and offensive coordinator Tom Moore are no longer are full-time employees, but, according to Colts’ owner Jim Irsay, have tentatively agreed to return as consultants — there to help guide the club through the 2009 season from beginning to end. “I’ve talked to them,” said Irsay at this week’s league meetings, “and know they would like to come back and do it and be part of it. They’re going year to year [as far as their futures], but they want to be part of it, and I’m for that.”

Count Colts center Jeff Saturday as one of many that want the team to find a way to bring back a couple of the recent coaches that “retired” from the club. Saturday said as much in Tuesday’s Indy Star:

Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday hasn’t resigned himself to the fact the Indianapolis Colts offense is moving on without line coach Howard Mudd and coordinator Tom Moore. The longtime assistants, integral parts of the team’s coaching staff since 1998, retired last week because of concerns with the NFL’s pension plan. Saturday hopes the departure of Mudd and Moore isn’t “written in stone. To be honest, I’m kind of holding out that something may change,” he said.

It has been a crazy 24 hours for the Colts, as team lost offensive coordinator Tom Moore and O-line coach Howard Mudd to retirement over a change in the NFL pension system. While the team didn’t expect to have to replace the pair, they moved quickly to do so on Friday.

The Indianapolis Star reports that the team has filled the voids of both Moore and Mudd:

The Indianapolis Colts have moved quickly to fill the voids created by the retirement of offensive coordinator Tom Moore and offensive line coach Howard Mudd. During a morning interview with 1070-The Fan, team president Bill Polian said Clyde Christensen has taken over the coordinator’s duties and Pete Metzelaars assumed full-time offensive line responsibilities. Christensen had held the dual role of receivers coach and assistant head coach while Metzelaars was Mudd’s assistant.

It seems like the pension change that the NFL is putting forth is officially costing the Colts two of their coaches. The Indy Star reports that both offensive coordinator Tom Moore and O-line coach Howard Mudd are calling it quits.

The league passed a ruling that allowed teams to revise their pension plans. Under the current bylaws, the coaches could take a lump sum of their retirement money, whereas they ran the risk of having their pensions reduced had they stayed on.

It’s a huge blow to the club to lose both, as Moore has been around a number of years and was a big part of the development of QB Peyton Manning. Assistant OL coach Pete Metzelaars and WR coach Clyde Christensen are expected to take over as OL coach and offensive coordinator.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated is out with his first power ranking of the season, and despite the many changes in the offseason, he likes what he sees, as he has him ranked 5th in the league. Here’s what he has to say about them:

5. Indianapolis
As long as Peyton Manning walks, talks and leads the way he does, the biggest question about the Colts is what they do in January, not October. I’ll be interested, as we all will be, to see what kind of tweaking takes place on the defense, with a more aggressive style now that Tony Dungy and defensive coordinator Ron Meeks are gone and the more aggressive Larry Coyer has been hired to run that unit. I don’t expect an overhaul of the Tampa 2, but I do expect the secondary to be more aggressive, particularly in some blitz situations, and I expect emerging star safety Melvin Bullitt to be used more, even with Bob Sanders in the game.

The Colts have now signed some new players in free agency and got some new guys from the draft. It brings me to the position battles. A lot of controversial picks but let’s see how it goes. These players will battle for the top, to win their position. Let’s go!

Quarterbacks: 1. Peyton Manning 2. Curtis Painter 3. Jim Sorgi 4. Chris Crane

The Battle: Second-String Quarterback

Who will be the second-stringer. It will never be Peyton Manning, the brain of the quarterbacks in the NFL. It will be between Painter, Sorgi, and Crane.

Painter has been flat-out great in his career, throwing for over 11,000 passing yards and 67 touchdowns. I see him as the second-stringer because he will be mentored greatly by the great Peyton Manning.

Although he might be backing Manning up for the next six years, by the time Manning retires, Painter is in.

Why? Because he has been behind Peyton for so long and will be about 27-31 years old by the time he is starter so he can be the man for the Colts for quite a while.

Then there is Jim Sorgi, who has only thrown for six touchdowns and one interception in his NFL career. He hasn’t been that good as a backup for Manning, and I can see why the Colts got those two other quarterbacks.

Sorgi will try to mentor and will probably be released during the season, but if he isn’t he will be at the third string.

Why? Because if he was in the Painter situation, he will be between 35-37 years old when he is starter. Indy won’t accept having him as starter for a year! That will just be unacceptable. It’s just too messed up that way.

Then there is Chris Crane battling. He won’t stand a chance. He has thrown for eleven touchdowns and 14 interceptions in his college career, which is pretty bad.

He had 10 touchdowns and 13 interceptions last year. He will need more time to improve. And that is why he is at the spot he is as we see in the depth chart.

Running Backs: 1. Joseph Addai 2. Donald Brown 3. Mike Hart 4. Lance Ball 5. Chad Simpson

Two Battles

1. Second String

Ah, the second string. It’ll be Donald Brown vs. Mike Hart for that spot. Mike Hart has one more year of experience but never did anything, only playing one game but only had one carry.

He was injured for the most part. But it will be Donald Brown because he was the first round pick for Indy and he looks to be the man to share the load with Joseph Addai. Hart looks to be something else.

But why Brown? Brown led the league, and it’s College Football of course, and was just spectacular. The Colts could have picked Chris Wells but Donald Brown fits the offense.

He will also be catching some balls, which Mike Hart might not be able to do. And that is why Brown will win this fight. But don’t feel too sorry for Hart, he has something, too!

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The issues with the Colts continued on Friday, as the team announced that the jobs of longtime player personnel official Dom Anile and several others in the scouting department were eliminated in recent restructuring efforts.

The 71-year-old Anile was a good friend of Bill Polian, the team president. “He played a major role in our success and in the development of an outstanding department and staff,” Polian said in a statement. “We will miss him greatly. On a personal level, I will miss him greatly as well. He is one of my closest friends in football.”

Anile was director of football operations for the Colts from 1998-2003, then was assistant general manager for scouting in 2004-05. Since then, he had been a consultant for player personnel.

A Colt that is coming back to the club, Ed Johnson, is going to have to sit out one game in 2009. Johnson has been suspended by the league for the first game for violating its substance abuse policy. He started all 17 games, including playoffs, as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2007, and missed the last 16 games last season.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King is reporting that former Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison is planning on retiring. The report stated that Harrison’s injured knee as well as his inability to get it healthy is the reason for walking away.

Here was a quote from King: “I’ve been told reliably that Marvin Harrison’s not playing any more. Knee hurts. Can’t get healthy like the old Marvin.”

It’s been a tough offseason for Harrison, who was released February 25th by the Colts after he didn’t take a pay cut. Since then he has been really unable to find any team that has a legit interest in him. Injuries, including the knee, have limited him to 20 games total since 2007.

It’ll probably come down to seeing if a team is even going to need Harrison if a player gets hurt during the remaining minicamps or training camp. Other than that, it appears that the ship has sailed on Harrison, and he’s no longer really a player any teams wants to deal with.