The Bill Polian show yielded some interesting tidbits last night. I’ve become deeply worried about the status of Tony Ugoh. He was healthy on Sunday, but the coaches decided to go with Charlie Johnson. Now, I admit that I have yet to see the tape, and have no idea how CJ played on Sunday. I also admit that he has shown the ability to run block from the left tackle position. There were rumors last year that the coaches weren’t happy with Ugoh’s inability to stay on the field, though he seemed to play well when he was out there. The fact that they went with CJ, who has been a massive liability in pass protection over Ugoh, is disturbing. I hope the reason is because Ugoh didn’t get the practice time last week that CJ did (which is what Polian said). If the Colts plan on going with CJ at left tackle for the rest of the year, I don’t think the line will ever improve. He’s not an NFL caliber left tackle. He’s proven that over the past 12 months. If Ugoh is wimping out, and the coaches are tired of it, that could be a major blow to this team.
Polian also suggested that part of the problem with the offensive rhythm is that Manning is having to slow everything up to make sure the protection is correct. There are so many new players and rookies playing, that the team can’t go with a pure no huddle hurry up. This will hopefully improve with time.
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Easterbrook makes the same mistake others made when comparing Manning to Brady. Only this time it’s Manning to Manning. Comparing Peyton’s first five years to Eli or Brady’s or ANY OTHER QB WHO DIDN’T START WEEK ONE is simply not fair. Sure, if you take Peyton’s 13 losses and 27 picks on an awful team and average those in with his first five years, his numbers are comparable to some guys who didn’t start right away. If someday you want to compare Peyton to Joe Flacco, Matty Ice, or even very appropriately Ben Rothlesberger in the first five seasons, then fine. Otherwise, use years 2-6. It’s a better comparison set. Look, I love Eli because Peyton loves Eli, but if you are going to do comparisons then make them apples to apples.
PK tries his hand at analysis. He could have just said, “yeah, the O-line is a mess”. That would have done it.
The Colts/Texans game will be replayed on NFL network tonight at 8.
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