Come on Peyton, Pull it Together
Last weeks loss to the New England Patriots at home was a little disappointing, but it did show that if you play your “A Game” and play the entire game, that New England is not the unstoppable juggernaut that the sports media would like you to believe. (Through the first three quarters the Patriots had one touchdown and one field goal. And not to mention their paranoid cheating allegations. Enough said.)
But in the overall scheme of things, the loss last week wasn’t such a huge deal. It only means that there’s a better chance that we’ll have to play in Foxboro in January instead of the comfy Dome.
Now to the game tonight against the San Diego Chargers…
I’ll start on a positive note as to not sound too bitter.
- Our defense (which supposedly sucks according to all “expert” accounts) was excellent. They allowed only 10 points, all in the first half. They had two interceptions. And they recovered a fumble for a touchdown. Oh, and did I mention that they suck?
- Our offense controlled the ball for 60% of the game.
- We had 386 yards of total offense.
- We only had 21 penalty yards.
Now to the more negative, the excuses as to why we lost this one that should have been another mark in the “W” column.
- We just came off of a bad loss.
- Peyton Manning threw a career high six interceptions. Not one. Not two. Not three. Not four. Not even five. SIX interceptions. He had four interceptions total in the whole first half of the season.
- It was raining.
- Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
- We only had 17 active offensive players (and 15 by the end of the game).
- Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
- Our special teams were anything but special, allowing for two touchdowns and not realizing that a touchback, or even an out of bounds kick, is better than giving up a touchdown.
- Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
- Vinny was apparently having trouble seeing where the uprights were located. Twice. (Dare I mention nightmares from our previous kicker who was also one of the NFL’s elite?)
- Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
- We received the losing end of an “inadvertent” blown whistle after an interception.
- Dare I mention for a sixth time that Peyton Manning threw six interceptions?
Say what you will about the above game killer list, but in my opinion this loss has to rest on Peyton Manning’s shoulders with the ridiculous amount of interceptions. Sure, it’s tempting to point to the special teams issues and the fact that so many players were out of the game on both sides of the ball, but you can’t really do that when your quarterback has an extremely unusual “off night”.
Yes, a few weeks ago Tony Romo proved that you can pull out the win while playing very poorly, but he was really lucky with his five picks and he knew that. And yes, we had ample opportunities to win the game and came close to doing so, but regardless if we had pulled it off, the interception issue seriously needs to be evaluated so it doesn’t happen again. (And you know Peyton is probably already watching the game film as I type this.)
Now don’t get me wrong. Being 7-2 still isn’t bad. And looking at our schedule I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose one or two more games to finish the regular season at either 12-4 or 13-3, still winning the AFC South. But my worst rational fear is that we’ll do this sort of thing in playoff game against a team that can capitalize on these sort of silly mistakes (like the Patriots or the Steelers). It has happened in the past and I’d rather not go there again.
So let me stop rambling about the past and look toward the future. We have seven games left and have a good shot at wrapping up the division and possibly even getting a first round bye for the playoffs (depending upon how the Steelers play). So there’s an outside shot at one home playoff game and a handful of really good playoff games. Another trip to the Super Bowl will not be an easy task, but it is doable. Let’s see how the rest of the regular season shapes up first though.
NOTE: If you want to leave a voicemail comment for The Trolley Dodgers Podcast, you can do so at 317-565-425.
November 12th, 2007 at 2:34 am
Brian, you sound very bitter, and you give no mention of how bad the officiating was last week in Indianapolis – totally favoring the Colts. You also don’t mention how no other stadium, including San Diego, has the ultra-extra volume of the RCA Dome. The Patriots should have won 48-0 last week – the refs made suspect calls (well, not even suspect when you see what they did to Ellis Hobbs and Randy Moss) and that digital glitch on the recorded applause, reminded me of that Star Trek episode. You really are missing the point – Indianapolis is a one trick pony and San Diego studied last week’s game – and Peyton fell right into their trap.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Brian, Joe makes a couple of good points. I am a Patriots fan and I do like Peyton Manning and the Colts have some really good players and I do respect them. Their defense last week against the Pats was a lot better than I realized. Playing at home is always an advantage no matter what team you are.
As far as Manning goes, yes, he did have an awful game. Special teams lost the game for the you guys last night not Manning.
Blaming coming off a bad loss to the Pats is as bad as Pats fans blaming playing a tough game against the Chargers last year and losing to the Colts in the AFC Championship game. A lot of the Pats players last year had the flu before the game and I am sure that contibuted their collapse in th esecond half. Oh well, such is life.
I do agree that the officiating this year seems to be excessively worse than previous years. But, that is part of the game that really needs to be reviewed by the league.
Don’t blame the rain as the Bolts played in the same weather.
The Steelers will lose to the Pats so that will give them two losses too. I also think the Colts need a better strengthening coach as too many players are getting injured and that too is part of the game. Just bad luck I guess.
GO PATS !!!
November 12th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I agree that officiating across the board this year has been horrendous, both with calls and non-calls, and seriously needs to be looked at (wasn’t it only a few years ago that this was also the case?). And yes, the Colts were gifted with a major pass interference call against the Patriots last week. But these two teams know that you can’t leave the game up to the officials to decide the outcome. Over the past few seasons the Colts have stopped playing for the fourth quarter come-from-behind wins, which is great.
When it comes to the Patriots, I’ll admit that they’re a really good team and I have to root just a little bit for Roosevelt Colvin to do good (I went to Jr. High School with him…and he along with Matt Light are fellow Boilermakers).
That said, I cannot stand Bill Belicheat and am still furious that the NFL basically swept the whole filming fiasco under the rug. Seriously, how much are some fines and lost draft picks going to hurt the Patriots? Not at all. Maybe the NFL should take a look at the NCAA to adopt some real punishment measures for the entire league. If you’re caught cheating then eliminate the possibility of the post season for that season and then lower the team salary cap for the next two or three seasons after that. Who in their right mind would try anything then?
And then the “noise” allegations and brushing Tony Dungy off after the game (that the Patriots won). What a miserable man.
Anyone who has ever been to the Dome knows how loud it is in there. Football. Basketball. A concert. A marching band competition. A conference. It’s all the same. It is really loud. The “noise pumping” allegations have went on for years and luckily will cease after this season, because I’m tired of hearing about it.
And finally, what is up with needlessly running up the score against teams when you have the win in hand? Let’s look at their winning margins…
NY Jets 38-14, San Diego 38-14, Buffalo 38-7, Cincinnati 34-13, Cleveland 34-17, Dallas 48-27, Miami 49-28 and Washington 52-7.
Now I can understand wanting to be up by three scores going into the fourth quarter, but later in the game you’ve seriously got to just start eating up the clock and stop putting your starters needlessly in danger of injury. And they wonder why people say that they’re only after an undefeated season and the season passing touchdown record.
But back to last nights game…
My “excuse list” was meant as a “this is what the sports media will say”. There isn’t a single thing on that list that the Colts cannot overcome and actually win a game. Rain…come on, did anyone watch the Super Bowl last year? Special teams have never been all the special on either side of the ball. Excellent kickers missing crucial field goals…does Vandershank ring a bell? Hurt players…that one actually does hurt a bit, but it actually might help the cause from time to time since no film study will do a bit of good.
But the six interceptions is killer. Not killer in the sense that the Colts can’t overcome that, but killer in the sense that there was obviously no synergy on the offensive side of the ball. And as the leader of the team, the poor play falls on Peyton’s shoulders, fair or not. Yes, Vinny stepped in and took the blame, but it honestly should not have came down to the missed field goal at the end of the game.
But that game is over and we’ve got to look at the rest of the schedule for both New England and the Colts. New England has a pretty easy schedule, with the exception of Pittsburgh whom I actually think has a good chance at winning the game. (I’m undecided at this point in the season if that would be an overall good or bad thing as far as the Colts’ post season goes…ask me at about week 15.)
November 12th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Who is Peyton blaming for his 6 interceptions? That’s one of the reasons I’m so glad the Pats have Brady. And the RCA dome noise? from all reports its horrible in there. They need to get some sound engineers and figure out a way to reduce it. Oh, I’m sorry. It only hurts the visitors, right? And Brady played most of the game without coach to QB communication. Just a glitch, I’m sure. It does happen. It has happened in Foxboro too. Only then, the Pats are cheating.
One thing I’ve found interesting about the cheating controversy is. It happened in the first quarter of the first game. How long is the rest of the NFL going to depend on that crutch? Must be a very comfortable crutch. Good luck with it! seems you guys need it!
November 12th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Jay, Chris, you are right on target.
San Diego made some horrendous plays last night – wasn’t that a fumble in the endzone? And we used to love Adam Vinatieri – I mean I’d still like the guy if he was on our team but I love what Stephen Gostkowski’s done filling those shoes admirably.
I don’t blame Adam for missing it – and was hoping he would -
because as much as I could’ve liked the Colts, Peyton Manning has been annointed the second coming and my observation of him is that he has great skills a la Drew Bledsoe, and is a little more sharp than Bledsoe, both having great arms, and both being over-rated. Hey, I’m a Bledsoe fan, but he couldn’t close the deal, and Peyton comes close to not closing the deal. Let’s face it, Brady has done more with less (3 rings) and as far as Belichick goes, he is a great coach that does what every other coach does. It isn’t only the coaches and staff who do questionable things, and not only the officials: the NFL does suspect things for TV ratings, as does Major League Baseball. We all delude ourselves that the game is nice and clean. We’re talking about an extremely violent sport – second only to boxing as a major sport that has ugly aspects to it. I can honestly say the violence in football turns me off; I like the chess match aspect and feel that artificial crowd noise favoring one team is unfair. At least when The Colts came into the old Foxboro stadium and the snowfield was mud and ice BOTH teams had the same disadvantage – it wasn’t like the Patriots had grass and the Colts got dirt.
Same for San Diego/Indianapolis, both had a torrential rain to deal with when San Diego had the upper hand and Indianapolis gained the momentum.
Peyton Manning did contradict himself, though, complaining about injuries last week after the Pats game and then last night saying he wouldn’t blame injuries. At least Tom brady is consistent – and unlike Tony Dungy attacking Belichick,
Tom Brady praises Peyton Manning. BIG difference. Which one is the gentleman, Tom or Tony? That’s a rhetorical question, of course.
November 12th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Hi Brian, thanks for the heads up with the email. Now my take on a few of your comments.
As for running up the score I say so what. This is the National Football League not the Pop Warner league. These guys are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to play a game. Is it the job of the offense to stop the offense, or is it the job of the defense to stop the offense? I think a great example of this is look how powerful the Colts offense is when healthly let alone beat up with injuries. Last years Championship game is a good example of never giving up. Also the Colts were down 23-0 last night and should have won the game. Should the Chargers have let up a bit being ahead 23-0. Not at all.
Plus the Pats have been ridiculed for their 3 out of 4 Super Bowl wins because they only won by field goals. Sometimes I think you just can’t win for losing.
As for Belichick and Dungy I can only say that is bad sportmanship but I also know from what I hear is that Bill could be upset at what Dungy said about “Spygate”. He did shake his hand and he was done and walked away and then turned back to say something. What I don’t know is what he said to him. I have seen film in the past where they hugged and they were in an embrace at mid field so this leads me to believe it has something to do with Tony’s comments. Dungy is a class act and I think he is a great coach as well.
As for cheaters every team cheats. No doubt about it. They have penalties in place for cheaters. The Pats were caught cheating with the camera after the WHOLE League was warned about such actions. So, shame on them.
Now there was cheating in the game last night too, a Charger defender grabbed a Colts jersey by the shoulder pads and pulled him down and he was never called for it. That was called “horse collaring” and is a penalty. The player cheated.
When an offensive player holds a defensive player and doesn’t get a flag thrown on him then that player cheated. He broke the rules of the game. So, I hope I am making my point here that everyone cheats in one form or another. It doesn’t make it right but it is part of the game.
Thanks for listening to my little rant. Football is a great sport and we all love our own teams and we will stand up for them at almost all costs. LOL
November 12th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
I said earlier I prefer Brady (big time) over Peyton, should also add I prefer Belichick over Dungy. I do think Belichick toes and steps over the line when possible. He did in fact violate rules that were reiterated… I don’t think he would have done it if he thought it would cost him a draft pick. The rest, I’m not sure he cares about. But the team, he definitely does. That, I think, is why the Pats were able to achieve so much with less talent (in previous years. this year the challenge is to stay focused. but with cameragate it is less a problem.) Its Belichick. He’s a driving force which is not always right, but is always going the mile and I think the players appreciate that.
Dungy is an excellent coach also… but. Ah. I don’t like Focus on the Family? Fundraising for that group is not….. I personally don’t like it. I feel that if a values judgement is going one way that could be applied elsewhere…. Both are excellent coaches. Leave it at that.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I was impressed that Peyton Manning was working the field the way Brady did last night (Patriots win over Jacksonville). The two games show the difference between the quarterbacks.
There were articles saying Indianpolis this year didn’t get any respect. Indy was a very good team this year, but not the best team. Manning is a superb talent, so was Drew Bledsoe.
What the world seems to forget is all the years the New England Patriots were where the Miami Dolphins are today.
It is New England’s time to shine. Let us enjoy it.
Thanks