I needed a few hours to settle down before I blogged about the debacle at The Luke today.  There were bright spost but more dark spots and areas of real concern.  Lets start with the bright spots.

 

Saturday and Clark were back!!That first one handed bobbing catch by Dallas was SPECTACULAR!!!Marvin looked good, even when he was being mugged. And Addai with the running game was alot better than in previous weeks.  What can I say about Tim Jennings on special teams,  pretty special.

 

Now, the downside.  Our defense would not have been able to stop ME running the ball.  What is up with that.   I know My Man Bob is out but it can't be just him missing.  All we needed was stop  during that final drive and we would be 2-1 instead if 1-2.

 

The Jags had a real gameplan to keep Peyton and the offense off the field.  The Colts had the ball for just over four minutes in the second half.  Can't score many points when your offense is strolling the sidelines.  Then when they did get in, going 3 and out is unacceptable.

 

Now I don't want to be too negative after all I am a glass half full girl and I like to see the bright side of things.  The season is long.  We can fix these things.  I think if our offense could have gotten on the filed more they would have been able to get a rhythm going and move the ball. 

 

We can shore up the run defense.  It's simple, TACKLE.  The fundamentals of tackling was grossly missing today.  It wasn't that people were in the wromg places most of the time.  Most of the time it was just not having good sound tackling technique.  The yards gained after contact today  probably averaged around 8 yards.  We have to finish guys up, get them down on the first contact.

 

That said, I am not throwing in the towel on the season.   Yes we have dug ourselves a hole, but I still believe that with the personel on this team, and the leadership we have we will be able to get on the right track and have a succesful season.

 

 

I would like to give a game ball to Dallas Clark for coming right out of the gate with no rust and making that tremendous catch.  Then also for being the recipient of a really cheap helmet to helmet hit where I figure he wouldn't know his name till Tuesday, but instead he was back in the game after a few plays.  Great job Dalllas.

 

My Poo Poo award goes to the refs.  Now I haven't watched the recoridng of the game so I am going on what I saw in the stadium, but it seemed like there were an awful lot of no calls and bad calls.  I am in no way saying the officiating cost us the game, we didn't play our best, but well maybe I am saying that pass interference call on 4th down may have cost us the game.  Then again our defense should have sucked it up after the bad call and stopped them or taken the ball away.

 

Oh well it was a tough and costly loss, but we still have 13 more games to get on track.  Don't lose faith, stay fired up and Believe In Blue.   GO COLTS!!!!!!

Well a few hours have past and my heart rate has returned to normal.  What a game.  This is why I love the Colts.  They never give up, they play the full 60 minutes of football.  They are a reflection of their Coach, Coach Dungy.

 

Tony is so even keeled, never to high, never to low.  It would have been so easy for the Colts to get down on themselves and mail it in today.  After last week and then getting down 15-0 who would have blamed them.  Riddled with injuries a lesser team would have just said, "ok our season is over, lets give up".    But not our Colts.  They have much too much fortitude.  Peyton is such a competitor I knew he would keep at it till the end.  And Adam after missing that first kick, could have hung his head, but he did't.  He was ready when called upon to win the game, and he did.

 

Ok we still have major problems.  but lets look at some of the bright spots.  As I said in my pre game blog, that Adrian Peterson was going to get more than 100 yards, and he did, but that as long as the bulk were between the 20s we would be fine.  Check, the Vikes ran all over us in the first half but had to settle for field goals and so we were still in the game.

 

Peyton to Gonzales, what was a mess last week, looked fantastic today.  Anthony really redeemed himself with some great catches today.  And his heads up play with the lateral to Reggie...well what can I say, that may have been the play of the game, the play that swung momentum in our favor.  Even though they took the TD away form Reggie, (which was the correct call)  we still scored and we had the momentum.

 

 

I think our offense will continue to get more and more on track over the next few weeks.  The defense still concerns me though.  We really need to shore up that run defense.  I don't want to see a repeat of December 06 with the Jags next week with 400 yards on the ground.  The Jags are coming in 0-2 and will be out for blood.  I hope Sanders who left the game with an ankle injury is ok and can go next week.

 

 

My final thoughts on this week's game is that we are making progress on offense, and although the defense was run on, the were stout when they needed to be.  I am still looking for some big defensive plays like an interception or forced fumble however.  Freeney got a nice sack today so that was a bright spot.

 

The O-line is so patched together it is scary at times to see what is happening to Peyton.  Hopefully Saturday and Clark will be back next week to offer more protection.

 

With both San Diego and Jacksonville 0-2 that helps the Colts.  Now I was hoping the Jets would step up and help us in regards to the Patriots.  Unfortunately the Patriots are 2-0.  I still don't see them continuing to go undefeated.  Denver is also 2-0 and may be a contender in the AFC.   It will be interesting to see how things play out.  Right now our biggest threat seems to be the Titans.  They lead the AFC South 2-0.  They always play us hard so we need to be ready for MNF when we go down there next month, it could be for 1st place in the division.  But lets not get ahead of ourselves.  Lets enjoy today's win and look forward to stomping the Jags next week.  GO COLTS!!!!

Ok I know there have been alot of blogs about the Colts vs Bears game.  It has taken me this long to get the foul taste out of my mouth about what transpired Sunday night.

 

This is how I see it, the offense could not get on track.  The running game was absent, I am not sure if it was that the O-line wasn't blocking or what.  I know we had some new guys in there, but they need to step up.  I think we really missed Dallas not only as a receiver but as a blocker on the line.

 

Peyton was a little rusty, had a few passes that were high or low, but all in all with no pre-season snaps, I thought he did a fantastic job.  I am disappointed in the number of drops by Gonzales.  More than once he had two hands on the ball and dropped it.  That is inexcusable.

 

Now for the defense,  we couldn't stop the run to save our lives.  Forte chopped us up like he was LT.  We must do a much better job next week or Adrian Peterson will have a career day.  It hurt me to say this, but My Man Bob seemed absent.  Where was his usual intensity that wreaks havoc?

 

Special teams didn't let Hester get to them,that was good, but they did have some dumb penalties that really hurt us.

 

All in all, it was an ugly game and a bad loss.  The silver lining though is , it was an NFC loss, and it was only 1 loss.  I truly believe this team has the makings of a championship team.  Lets keep cheering our guys and watch them continue to grow as a team and peak at the right time of the season and march on to Tampa and the Super Bowl.

 

What do you think?

 

GO COLTS!!!!

Well yesterday officially put an end to the 2007 football season.  How sad, It started out so well with the Colts destroying the Saints.  It ended with Peyton looking just as sharp in the Pro Bowl.

 

The Pro Bowl may not be as exciting as most NFL games, but I like it becasue you can see so many of the top players playing tgether.  For instance, Peyton hurling a TD pas to Houzmanzadeh, or Jeff Garcia to TO!!Who would have thought we would ever see that combo again?

 

I think the Colts all did an excellent job in the Pro Bowl.  Bethea led with the most tackles, Reggie with passes, Jeff Saturday recovered a fumble and gained 2 yards!!Peyton was Peyton and Addai was Addai.

 

Many say they don't watch the Pro Bowl because it's not real football with the rule restrictions.  I wouldn't miss the Pro Bowl.  Seeing how relaxed the players are and how much fun they are having is fantastic.  Besides it is my last football fix for 6 months.

 

What are your thoughts on the Pro Bowl?  How do you feel about the proposal to  move the Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl and playing it in the Super Bowl city?