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Oehser’s Magnificent Seven never fails

1) Secondary issue. Throughout the offseason, the thought here was the Colts had a chance to be one of the NFL’s best secondaries. One reason was it appeared to be one of the deepest. As it turns out, the group is even deeper than originally thought. S Antoine Bethea is playing at or near a Pro Bowl level, but S Bob Sanders, CB Kelvin Hayden and CB Marlin Jackson — the three players originally thought to be the starters with Bethea — have started a total of two games. Those were by Hayden in Weeks 1 and 2. Melvin Bullitt has started five games in place of Sanders, and rookie Jerraud Powers has started four games at corner in what may be a permanent situation. Jackson, the starter in 2006 and 2007, played nickel in the first four games of the season while recovering from a knee injury that cost him the second half of last season. Jackson missed last week’s game with a knee injury and with he and Hayden both out, Powers and rookie CB Jacob Lacey started with veteran TIm Jennings at nickel and the Colts still stifled Tennessee. Hayden is expected to return after the bye week, but if the first five games have shown anything it’s that this group can withstand a lot and still play at an elite level.