Talking about injuries is dicey. No one wants to make excuses for why a team struggles. In the NFL, you are what you are. There are no bonus points for style or playing hurt. At the end of the day, a team’s record speaks for itself. The 2007 and 2008 Colts have seen a stunning wave of injuries, and they have left the team far from elite. Would they be better if everyone was healthy? Maybe, probably, whatever. Players aren’t healthy, so the team isn’t elite.
What injuries do provide is a reason for the struggles. The Colts aren’t struggling because of Dungy’s coaching. They shouldn’t radically change the way they play long term (although obviously adjustments have to be made due to changes in personnel). There is no problem with the Colts philosophies or systems. They’ve been crushed by injuries. That’s the reason they are 3-4. That’s why they are 12-8 in their last 20 games. In the modern NFL, depth is a dicey issue anyway. A team might have a good back up at a couple of positions. The Colts have Dom Rhodes and Melvin Bullitt filling in nicely. Ultimately, whenever a team loses a lot of games by key players, that team will struggle.
It’s fun to try and find the imaginary complex culprit, but it’s right there in front of us. If the injury wave doesn’t abate, the Colts will be washed under by it. There is simply nothing to be done about it. If they get players back and healthy (starting the same offensive line in consecutive weeks will be a great start!), they’ll probably play a lot better. If they don’t, then no other change will help.
By the way, for those who missed it, MJax may be done for the year. Yee Haw. 9 more weeks of Tim Jennings.
Here’s some video from Manning shooting a Master Card commercial
My buddy Tim sent me this. It shows just how huge soccer is here in Argentina. It’s also a little creepy. Seriously…read this even if you don’t give a crap about soccer. It’s hilarious.
Nice work by Shake again. Just in case someone out there was down on the Jaddai Master.
Mike Tanier looks back at the history of Colts-Pats
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