Stuff people are saying…

that isn’t true:

1. The Colts defense benefited from playing ahead yesterday. The D forced a turnover on the first possession, and played with a fury and intensity that hadn’t been seen all season. Don’t minimize the effort they played with by saying, “Well, they had a big lead”. Even when the game was close, they were overwhelming the Ravens.

2. The Colts offense was in sync yesterday. Again, not really. The truth is that they hit a couple of the deep balls which have been there all season, but always seemed to end badly for weird reasons. The defense handed them the ball five times, and honestly, the O should have converted even more of those. Honestly, 31 points felt like underachieving. I’m not trying to be negative, but when the Colts are really on, they put up 50 on days where the D forces 5 turnovers and a handful of first downs.
3. The Colts ran the ball effectively. No. They didn’t. Dom had one big run, which was amazing, but the overall production from the run game (admittedly hurt by injuries to Addai and Hart), simply wasn’t acceptable. I get that Baltimore has a great run defense, and that’s fine. But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that yesterday was a run offense that we can live with.
I don’t say those things to be negative, but merely to point out that it wasn’t all wine and roses yesterday. This team still can improve on offense, and must if it hopes to finish over .500 in the key stretch of 5 games. If this team can finish the first ten games at 6-4 or better, they’ll be set. The schedule eases up dramatically in the back half.
I also find it amazing that for all the whining about the Colts defense, they are 8th overall in scoring defense, while it’s the offense that is a middling 16th. When this offensive line is finally healthy and playing consistent, smart football, this team might well be unstoppable. If Manning has time, he’ll hit the deep passes, which will open up the run game. Then we’ll really see something special.
Links:
PK is a clown. Now he has the Colts at 4 on this Fine Fifteen. Way to be a front runner there, Pete.
The Colts ‘acknowledge’ a second procedure on Manning’s knee. So what? The original story that ‘broke’ the procedure implied Manning would miss significant time and that the injury was more severe than anyone let on. That’s been patently ridiculous. Manning may or may not have been out of sync in the first few weeks, but he was moving fine. The original story was alarmist and wrong. But we’ve covered that before.
Dom talks to ESPN. His comments about coming back in 20 years to celebrate with these guys were awesome.

Ross Tucker gives the Colts an A and says they look a lot better.


Peyton and Reggie show up big time in Quick Reads

Prisco gives the boys a well deserved A

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