Here are six quick-hit observations of the Colts’ huge 34-24 win over the Jaguars on Sunday.

1. Colts are now in the driver’s seat.
Congratulations Jaguars, you just put Peyton Manning in control of the Colts’ playoff destiny. With their win on Sunday, Indy needs to win its final two games and the Colts will win thier 97th straight (numbers exact) AFC South crown. Not that beating Manning on his home turf was going to be easy, but the Jags had a golden opportunity to put the Colts away for good and couldn’t do it. Now it’s a footrace from here on out, as the Colts travel to Oakland in Week 16 and Jacksonville hosts the Redskins.

2. Seriously, Josh Scobee?
When I think of horrendous onsides kick attempts, I think of Josh Scobee’s feeble try late in the fourth quarter. After the Jaguars had stolen a lot of the momentum back with a touchdown to get within three at 27-24, Scobee dribbled a kick about five yards in front of himself and Tyjuan Hagler returned the gift 41 yards for a touchdown. Recovering an onsides kick is tough enough. It’s even tougher when your kicker rolls one right to a defender so he can return it for an easy touchdown.

3. Why is Sean Considine still in the league?
How Sean Considine still has a job after proving he couldn’t start all those years up in Philadelphia is beyond me. The Colts knew the Jaguars’ weakness was the play of their safeties and Manning attacked them early and often. Considine, specifically, had issues with both the run and the pass. The Colts, who usually struggle running the football, rushed for 155 yards against a Jacksonville run defense that had been stout. Donald Brown had a breakout performance, rushing for 129 yards on 14 carries and one score. Of course, he was aided by the fact that Considine’s head didn’t stop spinning from the opening kickoff to the final whistle.

4. David Garrard continues to be inconsistent.
Garrard made a couple of nice throws on Sunday but too many of his passes sailed high. Marcedes Lewis made a great play to pull down one of those high passes for a touchdown in the third quarter but Garrard airmailed a pass over Jason Hill that was intercepted by Antonie Bethea in the second half. The interception proved costly because it not only stopped a potential scoring drive (the Jags were around midfield), but the Colts also turned the gift into three points. Good teams need their quarterback to step up in games like this and while Garrard did throw for 294 yards and two touchdowns, he needed to be better in the second half if the Jags were going to pull off a win. He wasn’t and they didn’t.

5. It’s too bad about Austin Collie.
Austin Collie is a gifted receiver and if he could only stay healthy, he could turn into one heck of a player in this league. He caught eight passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns, but Daryl Smith’s arm banged into his helmet in the first half and Collie had to leave the game with a concussion. It’s his second of the season and after he had just gotten back from his first, this has to be frustrating for the young receiver.

6. Will the Colts slip up?
The Colts play the Raiders and Titans to finish the season so while it’s not a foregone conclusion that they’ll win the AFC South, things are in their favor. That said, traveling cross-country is never easy and the Titans gave them a game in the second half a week ago in Tennessee. You know the Titans would love to play the role of spoiler, so the Colts’ work is far from over. That said, they’re in complete control of their destiny and two more wins will get them to the postseason, which seemed unlikely just two weeks ago.

In terms of reading defenses, making adjustments at the line of scrimmage and putting the ball in a spot that only his receiver can make a play, Peyton Manning is the best. But if his performance Sunday night against the Chargers is any indication, then he’s at the point in his career where he needs more help around him.

Indy deactivated six starters for their Sunday night matchup with the Chargers, who promptly crushed the Colts 36-14. Manning completed 31-of-48 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns, but he was intercepted four times, two of which were returned for touchdowns by San Diego.

Among the key players that were out for the Colts were Dallas Clark, Joseph Addai and Austin Collie. And outside of Jacob Tamme, there hasn’t been any backup that has stepped up in the trio’s absence. (Donald Brown has been unimpressive and inconsistency continues to plague Pierre Garcon.)

Try as he did, Manning was overmatched on Sunday night. Eric Weddle should have been called for pass interference on his interception-turned-touchdown, but take that play out of the equation and Peyton still struggled. He never seemed to get settled because he was taking hits inside the pocket and a lot of his throws sailed on him because he rarely had time to set his feet. Granted, he should have been better. He missed open receivers, he forced passes into coverage and even when he did make a competition, he wasn’t always on target.

He was bad. But if the Colts were completely healthy I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that he wouldn’t have played as poorly as he did last night.

The Colts have now lost three of their last four games but the good news is that they should start to get some players back next week. Addai seems to be getting closer to returning and Collie (concussion) should be medically cleared to play soon as well.

For Manning’s sake, let’s hope that reinforcements are on the way. The AFC South is still the Colts’ division to lose but the Jaguars hung with the Giants on Sunday in the Meadowlands so they’re not likely to go away soon. Indy has a fight on its hands.

Football is an emotional game and emotions are bound to come out following big plays, nasty hits or yes, when players feel that an official missed a call.

But to watch Asante Samuel dance around the field in disgust over a call that a ref made during the Colts-Eagles game as Indianapolis receiver Austin Collie lay motionless on the field was, for lack of a better word, unfortunate.

Collie had been knocked unconscious after three Eagles defenders sandwiched him following a reception (or what was perceived to be a reception) late in the second quarter. As trainers attended to Collie, Samuel began hopping up and down in protest of the call (either the unnecessary roughness penalty that had been drawn or the call of an incomplete pass when it looked like Collie had secured the catch and then fumbled, which resulted in a recovery by Philadelphia).

I realize that helmet-to-helmet hits are a sore subject between the players and the league right now, but Samuel could have handled the situation with more class. There was Collie lying motionless on the ground and Samuel picked that moment to bitch at the official. I wonder how he would have felt if one of the Falcons players did that while his teammate DeSean Jackson was knocked out following a big collision a couple of weeks ago. Again, emotions come out in football but Samuel should have held his in check right before Collie was carried off the field on a stretcher. There were more important things at hand than whether or not the official got the call right.

Hopefully the reports on Collie will be positive. I’ll update this post when I hear more.

Update: Collie is said to be “sitting up and responsive” in the Colts’ locker room, which is great news.

Apparently no hand is safe inside the Indianapolis Colts’ locker room.

A day after reports surfaced that tight end Dallas Clark is out indefinitely with a hand injury, the Indianapolis Star confirms that receiver Austin Collie underwent surgery on his hand earlier this week.

No timetable has been given for Collie’s return, although he’s expected to miss several games. Anthony Gonzalez (ankle) is expected to return to his third receiver role in Week 8 and Blair White will serve as the team’s No. 4 wideout. Peyton Manning has a way of making any receiver look good, but there’s no question Indy’s offense took a huge hit with the losses of Clark and Collie.

Compounding the issue is that leading rusher Joseph Addai’s status for the Colts’ November 1 game with the Texans is uncertain after he suffered nerve damage to his left shoulder last week. He too could miss a couple of games, although it’s too early to draw any assumptions on how long he’ll be out.

The bye week has never looked so good.

As part of our ongoing coverage leading up to Super Bowl XLIV, here are five factors the Saints must overcome to beat the Colts.

1. First time jitters.
Since the berth of the Super Bowl in 1966, only seven teams have won in their first appearance: the Packers, Jets, Steelers, 49ers, Bears, Giants and Buccaneers. The remaining 18 teams appearing in their first Super Bowl all lost, meaning 30% of first-timers fall in the NFL title game. Trends like these mean nothing when it comes to the actual game, but it’s worth noting that this will be Drew Brees’ first Super Bowl, compared to Peyton Manning, who will be appearing in his second in four years. The fact that the Colts have already played once in Miami is an advantage for them as well.

2. Peyton Manning’s quick-release.
Perhaps no team has done a better job this postseason at battering the quarterback than the Saints. But Manning doesn’t make it easy for teams to get to him because he excels at reading the defense at the line of scrimmage, diagnosing the coverage and getting the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. He also makes adjustments better than any QB in the game, as evidence of how quickly the tide turned in the AFC Championship Game towards the end of the first half. Gregg Williams can boast all he wants about getting to Manning, but his players still have to execute. And that’s easier said than done when it comes to pressuring Peyton.

3. The Colts’ pass rush.
Let’s assume for the moment that Dwight Freeney’s ankle will be fine by Sunday and he’ll play. The Saints’ No. 1 job on offense then becomes protecting Drew Brees at all costs. In their loss to the Cowboys in Week 15, DeMarcus Ware abused the Saints’ offensive line and Sean Payton and Drew Brees never made the proper adjustments. It’s one thing to trust that your line will do its job, but now isn’t the time to take chances; New Orleans needs to keep extra blockers in to stop Freeney and Robert Mathis so that Brees has ample time to throw. The nice thing about the Saints is that they have a multitude of offensive weapons, but those weapons do Brees no good if he’s constantly on his backside.

4. Dallas Clark’s impact.
In of the NFC Championship Game, Vikings’ tight end Visanthe Shiancoe caught four passes for 83 yards and racked up a YPC average of 20.8. He did most of his damage on Minnesota’s first possession of the second half when he caught three passes for 67 yards to help set up a 1-yard Adrian Peterson touchdown run. If Shiancoe can have that much of an impact on one possession, imagine what Clark could accomplish given four quarters. The Jets did a great job shutting down Reggie Wayne and limiting Clark’s impact in the AFC title game, until late in the fourth quarter when the Indy tight end caught a touchdown and put a dagger in New York’s hopes of winning. While stopping Wayne is important, the Saints can’t allow Clark to own the middle of the field and work the seams. Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon wound up beating the Jets, but if New York had more offense that day they may have won anyway. New Orleans can’t allow Clark to set the table for Manning and the Colts, much like Shiancoe did for the Vikings in the NFC title game.

5. Don’t buy into the hype.
One thing that teams sometimes fall victim of is that they start believing their own hype. A lot of people are talking about destiny when it comes to the Saints and how this is “their year.” But the Colts didn’t stumble into the Super Bowl by accident: They earned their right to be here by playing better than any team in the NFL – including the Saints. I’m sure Sean Payton and his coaching staff is keeping their players grounded in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, but they really need to hammer home the fact that they haven’t won anything yet. Whether destiny exists or not, the Saints still have to play 60 minutes of football against the best team in the league on Sunday.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> https://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/03/super-bowl-xliv-preview-5-factors-the-saints-must-overcome/feed/ 2 https://www.scoresreport.com/2010/01/14/2010-nfl-playoffs-fan-battle-ravens-vs-colts-preview/ https://www.scoresreport.com/2010/01/14/2010-nfl-playoffs-fan-battle-ravens-vs-colts-preview/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:00:05 +0000 https://www.scoresreport.com/?p=32936

To get you ready for the Ravens-Colts’ Divisional Round battle in Indy this Saturday, here’s a preview of the game via a mock dialogue between two fans.

Colts Fan: If you think the Colts are going to be as disinterested in playing the Ravens as the Patriots were last week, then you’re delusional.

Ravens Fan: Oh, I see – the Patriots lost, but the Ravens didn’t win. Do I have that right? Face it, the better team won last weekend in Foxboro. We came prepared to play and they couldn’t match our intensity. And if I were you, I’d be highly concerned that the Colts haven’t played in three weeks.

Colt Fan: No, the starters haven’t played in three weeks – there’s a difference. But Peyton Manning, ahem, the MVP this year, will be ready to go as always. And if anyone should be concerned, it should be Baltimore’s pass defense.

Raven Fan: Have you even been watching lately? The Ravens are tied for eighth in passing yards allowed per game with 207.3. Our total defense ranks third in the NFL and we’re allowing just 16.3 points per game. Plus, we almost beat you in the regular season.

Colt Fan: There’s no prize for “almost,” my friend. Plus, that game was in Baltimore; now you have to travel to Indy this time. Had Jim Caldwell not pulled the starters in the second half against the Jets, we would have easily gone undefeated at home this season.

Raven Fan: Now who’s talking about whoulda, coulda, shouldas? Speaking of Caldwell pulling the starters, that same philosophy has hurt the Colts in the past. Bill Polian insists that momentum means nothing for teams heading into the playoffs but he must be trying to block out all the times that his team has choked after resting starters before.

Colt Fan: You’re not facing a depleted Patriots team without Wes Welker. You’re facing a well-rested Colts team with the likes of Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon. Fabian Washington is out for you guys and I don’t care what the numbers say – you’re going to have a hard time slowing Indy’s offense down this weekend.

Raven Fan: Not once Ray Rice gets going. The Colts’ run defense finished 24th this season and Rice proved last week that he can take over a game on the ground. Once we establish the run, we can milk the clock and keep Manning on the sidelines.

Colt Fan: We held you to 98 yards and 3.2 yards per carry in our first meeting, so I’m not concerned. And besides, once we load up to stop the run, Joe Flacco can’t beat us with his arm.

Raven Fan: What?! He threw for 21 touchdowns and 3,613 yards this season with Derrick Mason as his No. 1 wideout. He can beat teams with his arm.

Colt Fan: Four for 10, 34 yards, one interception, 10.0 QB rating: That was Flacco’s stat line last week.

Raven Fan: Well, why put the ball in the air when you’re running the ball at will? Doesn’t make much sense.

Colt Fan: You don’t make much sense.

Raven Fan: Whatever – Ray Lewis is going to have Peyton Manning looking out his ear hole on Saturday.

Colt Fan: It’ll be hard to do that when he won’t even come close enough to sniff what kind of cologne Manning has on.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

With Drew Brees and Peyton Manning leading their teams to victory again, barely, there is no good reason to drop them in the rankings here. Meanwhile, Brett Favre and Jared Allen did not play, so we held spots for them, but moved Cedric Benson up based on a second 100-yard rushing performance against the Ravens.

1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Halfway through the season, Brees and his Saints are 8-0 and have a three game lead in their division. Suffice to say, this team appears to be headed toward a first round bye, and their QB is one of the biggest reasons.

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—After a subpar start to 2008 after knee surgery, Manning wanted to get off to a fast start this season, and he has done just that. But what might be more impressive is that after Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, he’s throwing to guys named Garcon and Collie.

3. Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals—He rushed for 120 yards against the Ravens in Week 5, and 117 yards against them in Week 9. Read that back. That’s two 100 yard games against the Baltimore Ravens, and that’s just sick.

4. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—The old man still has it, much to the dismay of everyone in Northern Wisconsin. You think Ted Thompson is sleeping well lately?

5. Jared Allen, Minnesota Vikings—He’s had two weeks to rest those wheels that never seem to stop moving. Next on Allen’s hit list is that poor Stafford kid in Detroit.

Honorable Mention–Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Andre Johnson, Texans, Tom Brady, Patriots; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Chris Johnson, Titans; Reggie Wayne, Colts; Michael Turner, Falcons; Reggie Wayne, Colts; Steve Smith, Giants