Oehser’s coffee tastes bitter today. Not really, but I thought the line was funny.
Teams shouldn’t have to delay what they’re doing because of an official. This needs to get fixed and fast. A similar penalty was called later. “That’s what the preseason is for, to evaluate that particular rule,” Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell said. “It’s new. It’s different. The mechanics, they had talked about them and talked about changing them somewhat. The intent of the rule was in place to make sure the umpire was moved to a position where safety was not an issue. It has done that where they moved him, but it should not slow the game down. I don’t think they intend to slow the game down, so that’s an area that we wanted to see if their tempo was going to match ours. We’ve been functioning in that realm for quite some time. The last couple of weeks, we’ve run the same exact way, the same type of up-tempo game and didn’t have any difficulty.” Manning, visibly unhappy with the situation during the game, was succinct afterward. “It certainly didn’t seem like they took some of the things that we do and other teams do into account when they made the rule,” Manning said. “I’m not a big fan of it right now.”
Pass defense really struggled. Rodgers went 21 for 29, 195 yards, 3 TDs and rarely felt pressure, even against the blitz. Backup Matt Flynn went 8/13 for 80 with 2 TDs and 3rd stringer Harrell went 4/5 for 62. The Packers threw all over the Colts D tonight.
Players like Pierre Garcon, Clint Session, Adam Vinatieri, Fili Moala, Dwight Freeney, and Bob Sanders looked very good last night. All of these guys are either returning from injury, or they are trying to prove that they are better and more-focused this year. Ole Bob played 45 plays last night.
I was also encouraged by Ray Fisher. His 58-yard return was a good spark. Ray needed to make a play in this game, and he did. He also had two tackles.
I don’t agree about Garcon. He looked awesome and horrible, as usual. He ran a great route for a first down catch, but dropped a bomb pass (again).
He’s also dead wrong about Painter
So, with the lights on, Curtis has been dreadful. Hell, with the ‘lights off,’ on the practice field, he’s been equally bad. He’s done nothing to justify a roster spot. He most certainly has not made any kind of ‘second year jump,’ as Bob Lamey suggested he had during training camp. Painter isn’t good enough to play Arena League. If the Colts keep him, Bill Polian is a hypocrite. I’m sure the Colts will say the same, dumb ‘You people don’t see the film. you don’t know how to evaluate. Blah. Blah. Blah.’ In most cases, that can be true. But not this one. I’ve DVRed and watched Painter’s progressions, his throws, his decision-making. They’re all awful. But even that aside, the basic tenet of the Colts is ‘How do you perform with the lights on?’ Well, with Painter we know. Thus, if the team keeps him despite his poor play, they’re hypocrites.
He also had a bunch of pretty deep balls, several of which were dropped by Taj Smith. I think he looked like he’s been improving each week. If you want to say the Colts should bring someone else in, fine. However, I don’t think he knows what the word hypocrite means. Painter is the second best QB on the roster. That’s not really debateable at this point. They are only hypcrites if they keep Painter over a more talented player because of draft position. That’s not the case. Move along. He’s the back up. He’s better than he was last year when BBS was advocating for him.
Kuharsky gives us Peyton’s previous comments on the Ump, then tells us the league won’t change.
“The movement of the umpire to the offensive backfield will happen in the regular-season. We continue to analyze and review the impact of the change in the preseason, and we may announce some tweaks to the mechanics of the position prior to the regular season, but the move is a definite.”
I’m fine with that. They have to work out how to make it work better. That doesn’t mean it should be dumped.
- Kelvin Hayden didn’t have terrible intent when he pushed the ball away while officials were looking spot it. But he still should know better. And drawing a delay penalty for doing so is not very Colt-like or heady.
- The pass defense gave up far too many plays (and Green Bay was without receiver Greg Jennings). But when Rodgers is throwing red-zone darts against man coverage in the end zone, I don’t know how corners are going to fare better than Lacey and Townsend did on scoring passes from close range.
I thought the Hayden penalty was horrible call. The ball bounced into his hands. It looked like he was just trying to get rid of it.
Kravitz and I disagree about blitzing.
9:06 — This is the flip side to the more aggressive Larry Coyer defense: The Colts are giving up some very big plays; happened against Buffalo, happened against Green Bay. I’d still rather see them take chances, as opposed to playing the former coordinator Ron Meeks’ vanilla defense.
I’d have read more but that horrible Grand Prix ad won’t go away.
Phil B tries to offer some perspective
I don’t want to hear any Colts complain about commissioner Roger Goodell and owners pushing for an 18-game regular season with just two preseason games. The Colts didn’t do much this preseason. At 0-3, they are assured of their sixth consecutive losing preseason. They are 4-21 in preseason since 2005.
I haven’t decided with whom I side — owners or players — in the ongoing discussions about a new collective bargaining agreement. But after tonight, I’m all for just two preseason games if it eliminates nights like tonight.
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