Bobby K, Bobby K. You are starting to scare me.
Kravitz chimes in this morning with his first Colts column in a while. It sounds eerily familiar.
Today Bob says:
This is the year America thinks the Indianapolis Colts take the big step backward
The laundry list of changes (both real and imagined) has led many to close the window on the Colts
Today Bob says:
The Colts won’t be as good as they were last year, when they rebounded from 3-4 to win their last nine games ahead of the San Diego disaster in the playoffs. They will be better.
Yesterday I said:
Anyone can see the Colts are deeper and better at almost every position than last year… This roster feels like a championship roster.
Bob:
It was admittedly strange standing on the manicured turf of Rose-Hulman on Monday morning, looking out onto the field and not seeing Tony Dungy or Marvin Harrison. It’s like looking into New York Harbor, and suddenly the Statue of Liberty has been replaced by Michelangelo’s David.
And yet, it’s good. Change is good.
Me:
No Dungy, no Marv. No problem. The Horse is going to work. Things are going to be different in 2009. I couldn’t be happier.
Bob:
After spending last year’s training camp in his dorm room, Peyton Manning is here and healthy and ready to roll.
Me:
Beyond a better roster, this camp lacks the high drama uncertainty of last year’s. A year ago, the Colts opened with Manning and Freeney nursing injuries. This year is different. The core players on both offense and defense are in camp, healthy and ready to roll.
Bob makes other points as well:
- Ultimately, it’s all about health, as it always is.
- Sorry if this is sacrilegious, but the Colts are better now without the once-great Harrison. This is no secret; Harrison was a shadow of his former self the last two, three years, and it often felt like Manning was force-feeding his old mate to keep him happy.
- The addition of rookie Donald Brown will help the running game, but mostly, this is up to the offensive line to re-establish the identity that brought the Colts their Super Bowl.
- At this point, we don’t know a heck of a lot about special teams coordinator Ray Rychleski, but put it this way: How can his units be any worse than what we’ve seen around here over the years?
All of those points have been regularly expressed here at 18to88.com.
So what’s my point? This and nothing more: the 2009 Colts are going to be a beast. Anyone paying attention is going to come to the same conclusions we have. Coming to these conclusions is not the result of some great anylitical prowess, it’s just a matter of not buying the national media’s party line and looking at the actual team on the field.
Even Bob Kravitz can see it. It’s a good thing we have such a pro to tell us all about it.
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