Ladies And Gentlemen...Joseph Addai

I was all set to make my case for why the Colts are still the best team in the league, but the Bears saved me the trouble, though, by losing to a team the Colts beat - despite five, count ‘em, FIVE New England turnovers. Normally you can’t turn the ball over five times and still win the game - unless you’re one of the elite teams in the league and your opponent is a turnover machine that is now, for sure, the most overrated team in the league.

But enough of that - it is now time for The Blog-O-Rama to turn its attention to the ridiculous numbers put up by Colts rookie tailback Joseph Addai, who finally burst out for an evening of rushing the likes of which the Colts were hoping for when they drafted him - and which probably still came as a shocker. He rushed for 171 yards on 24 carries, for an astonishing 7.1 yards-per-carry average - and he caught two passes for 37 yards, which gave him a total of 208 yards from scrimmage. He also rushed for four touchdowns, which tied a Colts record. He is also only the second person in the history of the NFL to rush for three touchdowns of longer than ten yards in one half of play. The other person? Eric Dickerson, who did it in 1988 - when he was playing for the Colts. Something else about Addai, and this is important - if you were watching closely, you may have noticed the way he falls when he gets tackled. He protects the ball in two ways - by covering it with both of his hands, and by going down in such a way that he puts his body between the ball and the ground. Butterfingers Rhodes (who actually looked good tonight) would do well to take that lesson to heart.

Other than Addai, the rest of the numbers for the Colts are pretty ordinary. Manning threw for less than 200 yards for only the second time this year. Reggie Wayne had four catches for 77 yards and a score. Robert Mathis did have two forced fumbles near the end of the game, which was nice to see.

Actually, there is one other thing I have to mention, and that is Reggie Wayne’s catch on the sideline early in the game. That would be the ball he hauled in completely with one hand and arm, just before he tapped the tippiest part of his tiptoes on the turf to stay inbounds before hurtling out of play. Marvin Harrison had a similar catch a couple of years ago, when he flung his body out horizontally and hauled in a catch one-handed - except that he ended up with both hands cradling the ball as he came down, and he was in the open field and did not have to worry about getting his feet down to stay inbounds. That was an amazing catch, no doubt about it; and Harrison has had plenty of catches in his career where he danced with his toes to stay inbounds - but Reggie Wayne grabbed that ball out of the air with one hand and hauled it down that way, while hitting the inbounds part of the field with his toes, just barely. Absolutely incredible.

So that’s it, pretty much. The rush defense was awful, as usual, but the Eagles offense was equally awful, apart from Brian Westbrook, who had 124 yards on 20 carries (6.2) and a score, to go with 46 yards on 7 receptions, for 170 yards from scrimmage. Philadelphia amassed a total of 300 yards for the game - Westbrook had 170 of those yards.

Now for a few other things. I have finally conceded defeat on my pick of the New York Football Giants to go to the Super Bowl. Yes, injuries have decimated this team, particularly on defense; and yes, Manning the younger is still a little bit green, still suffering from some of the same problems with composure that plagued Manning the elder during his first few years in the league; but they also have a coach - Tom Coughlin, who might be the most overrated coach in the league - who bitched last week about Tiki Barber airing the team’s dirty laundry in public, and who then went right out and did the same thing during the post-game conference today! He called out Manning for the last pick, the one that probably cost NYG the game. This is the same nimrod who couldn’t get it done in Jacksonville, despite having Mark Brunell, Jimmy Smith, and Fred Taylor in the primes of their careers.

The Blog-O-Rama’s Power Rankings - I know, there’s still a Monday night game, but even if Seattle shut Green Bay out 100-0, they still wouldn’t make it onto this list, so here they are:

5. Dallas - The only reason they squeak in here is because they’ve won three in a row (one of which was against the Colts) and Denver has lost two in a row. Otherwise, this would be an all-AFC list, because the NFC is just an awful, awful conference.

4. New England - Brutal schedule and a depleted roster had everybody counting the Patriots out this year, but here they are at the top of the division and looking to make a deep run in the playoffs. I would have them third over Baltimore, but the Patriots are a meager 1-3 against good teams. Their best win is at NYJ in week 2.

3. Baltimore - The Ravens are 9-2 with Steve McNair under center. They were 6-10 a year ago with Kyle Boller at quarterback. And yet you still hear people talking about how much better they are now that Brian Billick is calling the plays. He’s not the one running those plays, though.

2. San Diego - The Bolts are scary good, and LaDanian Tomlinson is hands down the best player in the league - but they got the fear of Fouts knocked into ‘em by the hapless Oakland Raiders this afternoon. They can go as deep as Tomlinson can carry them, and that could mean the Super Bowl, if they can manage to force a few turnovers against the Colts - whom they will presumably play in the AFC title game.

1. Indianapolis - Joseph Addai has arrived, which means that opposing defenses now have to prepare to be assaulted on the ground as well as through the air (not to mention having to watch out for Terrence Wilkins in the return game). The only team that can beat the Colts is the Colts - turnovers can still rattle Manning to the point that the effectiveness of the offense is eliminated. The only way the Colts don’t hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Miami is if one of their playoff opponents can fluster Manning with a couple of picks early in the game.

The Blog-O-Rama’s MVP Picks

3. Steve McNair - The key to Baltimore’s resurgence has been resurrecting the offense, and that comes down to McNair being better than Kyle Boller. I thought of putting Tony Romo here, but the Ravens have a better record and McNair is a proven winner who has been to the Super Bowl.

2. Peyton Manning - I’m still not sure Tomlinson is more valuable to his team than Manning is. But I’m also not sure that Manning is more valuable to his team than Tomlinson. I give a slight edge to Tomlinson this week because of the way Manning came unglued against the Cowboys last week.

1. LaDanian Tomlinson - See above. And hell, maybe I’ll reconsider after the stats are all updated and I can pore over the numbers a bit more. In the meantime, LT has rushed for 14 touchdowns in the last five games and has only fumbled twice. And he got one of those fumbles back.