Monday, December 04, 2006

The Worst Thing About Liking Sports Is Feeling This Way When Your Team Loses

The Titans had four players with long rushes of ten yeards or better. Of those four players, the lowest per carry average was 4.7, which is a good average. Two - yes, TWO! - Titans had per carry averages higher than 8 yards, and one of those guys was their quarterback, Vince Young. By contrast, the highest per carry average for the Colts, among three guys who ran, was 5.0, and that was Manning, who ran one time for those five yards. Rhodes and Addai - the same Joseph Addai we were all ready to send up white smoke over a week ago - had 16 carries for 56 yards, a 3.5 yards per carry average. Turns out that what’s written on his chest is the number 29, not a big red S.

It’s a shame that this was the game in which Marvin Harrison did this and this and this, which gives the Manning/Harrison tandem such and such a distinction; and the reason that it is a shame, at least as far as The Blog-O-Rama is concerned, is that the Colts get no praise today. None. For die-hard fans, this kind of game hurts more than big wins feel good. For someone who has defended the Colts all year, for the last however many years, this is the kind of game that erases the previous eleven. The Colts are back to square one, with a lot of work to do before the playoffs come.

I can’t even point to one thing in particular that wrecked them today. You could say that the Drew Bennett touchdown after the second pick of Manning gave the Titans the margin they won by. You could say that they underestimated the opposing head coach, who put his field goal unit back on the field at the end of the game, after the Colts called their last timeout. You could say that Marlin Jackson’s somersault that resulted in a 15-yard taunting penalty destroyed the momentum after Jackson picked Vince Young, the kind of momentum the Colts have turned into touchdowns all year - so there is the Tennessee margin of victory again. You could say that the rush defense gave up an astonishing 219 yards on the ground. They gave up 200+ yards to Tennesee the last time, too.

In a year where the rush defense is clearly not learning from its mistakes, this was an especially hard lesson - and you can stack a whole lot of blame up here, too. You can blame the personnel, who are not making tackles; you can blame the head coach, who can’t fix it; you can blame the suits, who let key linebackers walk away each year because all of the money is going to the offense.

You could blame penalties, of which the Colts committed eight, for 59 yards; but penalties come down to a lack of discipline, and even though you could call out the personnel for not getting it done on the field, the person you really have to call out is the coach, who is clearly not meting out consequences for consistently poor play. You could even maybe blame injuries, because the Colts have played so many games this season without so many key players.

This is a team that is built to play with the lead. Built to play with the lead. Built to play with the lead. This means that they have to come out strong and actually GET a lead with which to play. That should mean that they come out confident and aggressive and ready to play, ready to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents. Except that you would never get afraid just by looking at Tony Dungy, even at his most fired up. You know which coaches are scary when they get fired up? Bill Cowher. Jon Gruden. Jeff Fisher. Mike Shanahan. Bill Parcells. Do you see the pattern? What do all of those coaches have in common?

They’ve all been to the Super Bowl. All but one of them has WON the Super Bowl. Parcells and Shanahan have done it twice.

The Colts don’t come out onto the fiield with fire in their eyes and a stance that says that they are about to crush you into submission. That would be, you know, mean and stuff. The Colts play very polite football. They don’t quite come out onto the field and politely ask their opponents to roll over and play dead so that they can look good on TV this week - but that’s the way they act. They play presumptuous football, but they don’t have the balls to back it up. The reason that it works so much of the time is that so many of the teams they play in the regular season are bad. They play polite football and take baby steps in terms of progress, but Manning and Harrison aren’t getting any younger.

The cream of the crop is starting to rise to the top, especially in the AFC. In the NFC, the current playoff picture has the sixth playoff spot going to the 6-6 New York Giants. By contrast, in the AFC, there are FIVE 7-5 teams that would have to wade through a sea of tiebreakers to determine which two get into the playoffs if the season ended today. That would leave three 7-5 AFC teams on the outside looking in, while the 6-6 Giants go to the playoffs.

I’m being too hard on the Colts and I know it; this is not the end of the world, and it isn’t even the end of this season. This team can bounce back from adversity. But it concerns me deeply when a team content with taking baby steps forward suddenly takes such a disastrous leap backward.

Power Rankings

Like last week, the Monday night game (Carolina at Philadelphia) has no bearing on these rankings.

Honorable Mention - Seattle and New Orleans, both at 8-4, must now be thought of as real threats, Seattle because they’re healthy again, and New Orleans because it’s not just a fluke. These guys can play. And Reggie Bush jumps back ahead of Joseph Addai in the Offensive Rookie of the Year category this year. New England would be an honorable mention, too, but they struggled at home to beat the Lions. Age is taking its toll on the Patriots.

5. Baltimore - Sure, Cincinnati had to have the win to keep its playoff hopes alive, but that was a game the Ravens should have won. It doesn’t take long for doubt to resurface when you’re talking about a team with such an enormous aggregate age as the Ravens.

4. Indianapolis - When they commit turnovers, the Colts are very vulnerable, because they have a hard time regrouping. On the other side of the coin, if you let the Colts come out and score two touchdowns on you in the first half of the first quarter, you don’t have a prayer. Just depends on which Colts team you get.

3. Dallas - Key division win over NYG solidifies their lead in the division. Huge matchup next week against the Saints - who have the conference 2-seed right now. Oddly, though: the Cowboys, even if they beat New Orleans, would likely not be the 2-seed after next week. Why? The Seahawks, also 8-4 (like the Cowboys and Saints), play Arizona. If Seattle and Dallas both win, Seattle is the 2-seed based on a 7-3 conference record against Dallas’ 6-3 conference record. Maybe the NFC isn’t as bad as everyone was starting to think.

2. Chicago - What can I say? First team to clinch a playoff berth and first team to clinch their division. Key stat? Grossman - 0 touchdowns, 3 picks. But the Bears won. Manning the elder had 1 touchdown and 2 picks. The Colts lost. The Bears gained only 107 total yards of offense, committed five turnovers, and still won. That’s impressive.

1. San Diego - Speaking of impressive. Yes, they were playing the Bills, but with the Colts loss, the Chargers are now knotted with Indianapolis and Chicago for best record in the league. The Bolts also have the best player in the league, the best young quarterback in the league, and the best offense in the league. This is what the Colts would look like if they had fire in their eyes when they took the field. The Colts are built to play with a lead. The Bolts are built to destroy you, lead or no lead.

MVP

3. Tony Romo - Dallas is playing great football at the right time, thanks mostly to Romo’s super-efficient passing. The Cowboys have the easiest remaining schedule of the three 8-4 teams, and could conceivably be the #2 seed in the NFC.

2. Peyton Manning - The rush defense is actually getting worse, and Manning has apparently reached a critical mass in terms of how much of the rush defense problem he can mitigate on his own. Without him, though, this team doesn’t make the playoffs.

1. LaDanian Tomlinson - Has been neck and neck with Manning most of the season, but had better numbers today, and his team won. The #1 seed in the AFC may not be determined until the last game is played. Tomlinson has his team moving in the right direction - Manning doesn’t.

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