Colts Gab

NFP has reported that the Colts have made some moves on the roster as they get set for another week of sitting players:

The Colts re-signed quarterback Drew Willy to the practice squad after cutting him this week from the active roster after he was promoted over the weekend to serve as the third quarterback. This sets the stage for Willy possibly being promoted again for the one-loss Colts’ regular-season finale. The Colts promoted wide receiver Sam Giguere to the active roster from the practice squad.

Two years ago, the New England Patriots were two and a half minutes away from the NFL’s first ever 19-0 season. This year, the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts were both three games away. Now, the hopes of a team going undefeated have faded yet again, this time with an even worse taste in the mouth of fans.

Colts fans have been irate for the past two days since the team basically decided that the long term health of their team was more important that a record. GM Bill Polian and coach Jim Caldwell decided to sit QB Peyton Manning and a number of other starters, and much to the anger of the Colt fans, the team fell for the first time in 2009.

The Colts have sat players in the past, but at the same time, it’s never come at a point where the team was undefeated with just two games left in the season. It has always come after the team had lost at least one game. Now fans are demanding a refund for having to watch preseason players play in a late-December game.

That’s the risk you take when you buy a ticket.

There’s always a chance that the best players may not play, but yes, fans today do have a reason to be upset with the Colts and their GM and coach deciding to take away history before it was decided like it should have been. History doesn’t come every day, and players like Manning and others can be hurt any day, any play.

The Colts fans deserved better, and it was a shame to see what could have been history taken out of their hands. Sure it will all be forgotten if the Colts raise the Lombardi Trophy on the first Sunday of February. But if they don’t, then isn’t it about time that teams realize that sitting players isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

Colts Gab has gotten quite a few negative comments about yesterday’s decision to sit Peyton Manning and others in the loss to the Jets. Here are what some of our readers are saying:

“The Colts team management sucks. To have a team that is undefeated after 14 games and allow the team to lose just prior to the playoffs is cowardly. This can’t be good for the morale of the team. Why would the coach snatch greatness away from such a great team? This team was totally capable of going undefeated and greatness.

The coach decided that they would throw their hands up and hang in the shadows of the league so they could be good in the playoffs. Didn’t he notice how good they have been all season? If I was a member of the Indianapolis Colts I would be pissed. Nobody will talk about the Colts winning the Super Bowl like they would talk about the team going undefeated for a 16 game season. This calculated losing to win strategy is anti-American, selfish and speaks to everything that is defeatist with our country.

The Colts winning all of their regular season games would have been great for our country and for the NFL. As it is now, the colts have shown they don’t give three flying flips about greatness, they just want the ring on their hand so management can shove a bunch of green in their pocket. This is crap.

When will America value winning and breaking records over putting money in their pocket. Indianapolis sucks and I hope they lose in the playoffs. If they do, justice will be served.

Bulldog”

“Sugestions:

1. send Buffalo Bills letter of consession !
2. save big bucks NOT traveling to Buffalo, Avoid Costs, and avoid Travel Risks.
3. Garenteed, no players will be injured.
4. Everyone gets an extra week of rest !”

For about a week or so, the big question that was tossed about in light of the Indianapolis Colts’ quest for an undefeated season was whether Peyton Manning and Co. would play the entire game Sunday against the New York Jets. The issue was laid to rest in the third quarter when head coach Jim Caldwell brought in the reserves; the Jets capitalized on the act of mercy as they rallied to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, defeating Indianapolis 29-15 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Colts struck paydirt first as Joseph Addai scored on a 22-yard run while adding a 22-yard Adam Vinatieri field goal to jump to a 9-0 lead; a 25-yard Jay Feely FG helped New York get to within 9-3, which would be the score as both teams went to their respective locker rooms at halftime.

The Colts’ downfall began when Brad Smith fielded Pat McAfee’s kick to start the second half 6 yards into the end zone, ran it out, found a seam along the right side and raced down the sidelines. He even managed to stay in bounds after getting hit at about the Colts 20, going 106 yards to give the Jets a 10-9 lead. But the Colts came right back. They moved 81 yards, the last coming when Donald Brown bounced off two Jets defenders and scooted into the end zone to make it 15-10 with 10:13 left in the third quarter; Brown’s conversion run failed. At the 5:36 mark of the third quarter, Caldwell pulled Manning and Co. with the Colts holding a 15-10 lead. That was it for Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai – and the Colts’ win streak.

When Curtis Painter, Manning’s replacement, returned to the field for his second series, the boos began. They grew louder when Painter was hit by linebacker Calvin Pace and lost the ball, with Marques Douglas recovering and scoring. A 2-point conversion pass from Mark Sanchez to Dustin Keller made it 18-15 and put the Colts’ hopes for victory in jeopardy. The Jets would ice the win in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard Feely FG and a 1-yard Thomas Jones TD run.

Sanchez was efficient, at best, going 12-of-19 for 106 yards while Manning went 14-of-21 for 192 yards; Painter was decidedly worse, going 4-of-11 for 44 yards and an interception. The Jets rushed for 202 yards, led by Jones with 105 yards on 23 carries and a TD while Shonn Greene carried the ball 16 times for 95 yards; Addai led the Colts with 40 yards on 6 carries.

Jerricho Cotchery led the Jets receivers with 4 receptions for 45 yards while Keller caught three for 19 yards; Austin Collie led the Colts’ wideouts with 6 receptions for 94 yards while Dallas Clark caught four for 57 yards. New York’s (8-7) playoff aspirations are on the line next Sunday when tey host the Cincinnati Bengals while Indianapolis (14-1) finish their regular season when they travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills – also next Sunday.

Colts.com reports that the team has placed WR Anthony Gonzalez on IR:

The Indianapolis Colts have placed third-year veteran wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez on Injured Reserve, the club announced Thursday. Gonzalez has been inactive since suffering a knee injury in Week 1 vs. Jacksonville. Gonzalez, a 2007 first-round draft choice by the Colts, has started 12 of 30 games in his three seasons with the club, totaling 94 receptions for 1,240 yards and seven touchdowns. “Anthony has been diligent in the rehabilitation of his knee, but it has not progressed to the point that it allow him to return to the field this season,” Colts President Bill Polian said. “We look forward to his healthy return next season.”

Colts Pro Bowl defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis were among six injured starters who missed practice Wednesday.

Freeney (abdomen) and Mathis (quad) both played last week at Jacksonville.

The practice report has more significance this week because coach Jim Caldwell said he will decide who to play based, in large part, on who is healthy.

Other starters who sat out were: receiver Pierre Garcon (hand), left tackle Charlie Johnson (foot), cornerback Jerraud Powers (hamstring) and linebacker Clint Session (knee).

Three-time MVP Peyton Manning was listed again with an injury to his backside but did practice. Receiver Anthony Gonzalez (knee), who practiced Monday, also sat out.

Adam Vinatieri (knee) will do some kicking later this week and may be able to return to action against the Jets on Sunday, according to the Indianapolis Star. Vinatieri was pretty much just as effective Weeks 1-5 and Matt Stover has been Weeks 7-15, so it’s unknown who the Colts will go with as their placekicker once Vinatieri is healthy enough to compete.

Some R&R seems to be in order for some members of the Indianapolis Colts as they have locked up home field adfvantage through the AFC playoffs. More on this and more from Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star:

* It was a much-appreciated late-season departure from the norm for Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kelvin Hayden. He didn’t spend his weekend in zone coverage.

“Spent it on the couch,” Hayden said.

The upside of having so little rest and preparation time for a Thursday game at Jacksonville last week was having three days to recuperate before the New York Jets visit Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday. The weekend felt like a mini-bye week.

“It helps out a lot. You’re always banged up this time of year,” linebacker Gary Brackett said Monday.

Linebacker Clint Session said it’s a bigger boon mentally than physically. Left tackle Charlie Johnson agreed.

“You just get away, mentally get away from football, get away from the grind,” Johnson said. “You come back on Monday and you feel refreshed; you feel ready to finish the last two weeks and however long you play.”

Colts coach Jim Caldwell said that for some players, playing Sunday and again Thursday might have compounded injury issues. So the coaches and medical staff will evaluate those cases individually this week, but Caldwell echoed his players.

“Did we need those three days? You’d better believe it,” he said. “I think they’ll help us in the long run.”

* The Colts went 6-0 in what might be the best division in the NFL, top to bottom.

The AFC South is 23-9 in interdivisional games and 11-4 against the NFC. The league’s next best interdivisional record is 21-15, compiled by the NFC East, which has gone 7-7 against the AFC.

“I think the whole division might wind up above .500,” Brackett said. “That’s pretty competitive football.”

The Colts are 14-0, Jacksonville, Tennessee and Houston all 7-7. Philadelphia leads the NFC East at 10-4, followed by Dallas at 9-5. The New York Giants were 7-6 going into a Monday night game at Washington (4-9).

* WR Anthony Gonzalez and RB Donald Brown practiced Monday, when Colts president Bill Polian said on his radio show that the club hopes Gonzalez can be ready to play against the Jets. Polian added that K Adam Vinatieri will do some kicking later this week to see if he might be ready to go. Gonzalez has been out with a right knee injury since the season opener. Vinatieri has missed the past nine games while recovering from a knee injury and Brown has been out three games with a chest injury. CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring) missed Sunday’s game and will be out this week and probably next week. . . . Peyton Manning threw four touchdown passes during the Colts’ 35-31 victory at Jacksonville to run his season total to 33 and become the only QB in NFL history other than Brett Favre with five seasons of 30 or more. Favre has done it eight times and has 27 this season. . . . Caldwell said Friday that he wouldn’t be surprised if the NFL weighed in on Chad Simpson’s post-touchdown run up the tunnel behind the end zone at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. Simpson kept going to celebrate his 93-yard kickoff return. So far, so good, he said Monday. Colts cornerback Jacob Lacey was fined $10,000 for celebrating a 35-yard interception return touchdown by sliding into the end zone at St. Louis on Oct. 25. Lacey appealed the fine and it was rescinded.

“It’s déjà vu all over again”. Yogi Berra

The Indianapolis Colts never cease to amaze me; although to be fair, when you have been a Colts fan for as long as I have (39 years and counting), what they seem to do on a weekly basis seems eerily commonplace. When the Colts went to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars Thursday night, I didn’t expect a high-scoring event as most weeks the Jaguars are lucky to eclipse 20 points a game.

In any case, both teams hooked up at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and the game had the feel of a track meet, so to speak. Defense was definitely an afterthought and interestingly enough, Jacksonville held the ball for 11 minutes longer than Indianapolis. Both teams seemed to score at will (did I mention that not much defense was played?), but as has been the custom this season, Peyton Manning tossed a late touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne with 5:23 in the fourth quarter, enabling Indianapolis to remain perfect as they got past Jacksonville 35-31.

Manning was perfect in the first half, going 12-of-12 for 116 yards and had TD passes to Austin Collie and Dallas Clark; Clark made an improbable sliding catch in the end zone which put the Colts up 7-3 early in the second quarter. Collie’s 23-yard catch put Indianapolis ahead 21-17 withy 35 seconds left in the half; the Jaguars got ot within field goal range but kicker Josh Scobee came up short on a 57-yard FG attempt.

The Jaguars would take the lead at 24-21 with a 16-yard David Garrard TD pass to Mike Sims-Walker but Manning would again hook up with Clark on a 27-yard TD strike, putting the Colts ahead again 28-24; a 13-yard Garrard-to-Mike Thomas TD pass put Jacksonville up at 31-28 with 47 seconds. But Manning would lead the Colts down the field and with 5:23 left in the game, he connected with Reggie Wayne on a 65-yard bomb which put Indianapolis up for good 35-31.

Manning had good numbers, going 23-of-30 for 308 yards with 4 TD’s and an interception while Garrard went 23-of-40 for 223 yards with 3 TD’s and an INT. Joseph Addai led the Colts rushers with 16 carries for 59 yards while Maurice Jones-Drew rushed 27 times for 110 yards and a TD while catching 5 passes for 30 yards and a score. Wayne led all Colts receivers with 5 receptions for 132 yards and a TD while Clark caught 7 passes for 95 yards and 2 TD’s. Sims-Walker led the Jaguars receivers with 6 receptions for 64 yards and a score while Marcedes Lewis caught 4 passes for 53 yards.

Indianapolis (14-0) gets a long rest as they do not play again until Sunday, December 27 when they play their final game at Lucas Oil Stadium this season, hosting the New York Jets while Jacksonville (7-7) travels to Foxborough, MA to take on the New England Patriots, a week from Sunday.

The Indianapolis Colts look to strive for 14-0 on Thursday Night. And man, what a great week for NFL Network, eh? They got two undefeated teams playing on their channel, exclusively. They got the 13-0 Indianapolis on Thursday Night, like I said, and then the Saints against Dallas on Saturday.

But enough. It’s time to talk Colts. The Colts are going to probably rest a few players throughout the game, but I still think Indy can come out with a win. It really won’t be that hard, really.

I mean, I just can’t see a 7-6 teams getting at a 13-0 team, other than the Chargers in 2005. But the Chargers always get us (maybe not this year, though!). But this is Jacksonville people!

And then after that, Indy has New York, and Mark Sanchez always struggles. Then they end it with the Bills, which would most likely turn out as a win. The last three games look to be very easy. The Colts can get this easily.

Manning is only 95 yards away from 4,000 and one touchdown away from the big 30. Joseph Addai may be striving for 800-1,000 yards there, and Reggie Wayne is already having a fantastic year, and is well on his way to 100 catches.

Meanwhile, the only good thing for Jacksonville on offense is Maurice Jones-Drew, with his running. But David Garrard hasn’t even hit 3,000 yards yet, and only had ten touchdowns. And their leading receiver is Mike Sims-Walker. Let’s compare Sims-Walker and Wayne for a sec:

Wayne: 87 catches for 1,078 yards and 9 TD’s

Sims-Walker: 53 catches for 758 yards and 6 TD’s

Now tell me, who do you think wins this matchup? And Wayne wants 16-0 badly, as well as Manning, so you won’t see them benched. The Colts are going to move up to 14-0 people!

I am thinking of a score of 20-10, or something like that. It looks like a good game, and I am looking very forward to it watching it on TV on Thursday Night.

The Colts and Saints got a huge week.

And also, there’s NFL Network.