The Colts finish off the year with 5 games at home along with only 3 games on the road. Seeing as how well the Colts play at home I find it difficult to see the Colts losing to any of the following:

Cincinatti

San Diego

Dallas

Jacksonville

Tennessee

If any of those teams scare you at home then I'm not sure what to tell you. Oh, and before you bring up San Diego's record at Indy I should tell you, it's a night game and we all know that Peyton never loses after the sun goes down.

As far as our road contests, they look like this:

New England

Tennessee

Oakland

We should most likely beat Oakland, but the difference between an 11-5 season and a 12-4 season is whether or not we can cash in at FoxBoro or Nashville.

I like our chances.

Out: Kavell Connor, Bob Sanders

Questionable: Joe Addai, Gary Brackett, Donald Brown, Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon, Anthony Gonzalez, Mike Hart, Charlie Johnson, Jacob Lacey

Probable: Antoine Bethea, Jerraud Powers

Notes:

Gary Brackett didn't practice all week

Charlie Johnson & Jerraud Powers sat out Friday after practicing all week

Addai & Hart practiced fully on Friday, but Brown sat out Friday after being limited on Thursday

Anthony Gonzalez sat out on Friday, but Pierre Garcon practiced fully

If your like me and too cheap to get Sunday NFL Ticket, but still want to watch the game this Sunday then you know that you'll have to hit up a bar to watch the Colts in action. Apparently the local CBS affiliate thinks we would rather watch the Titans instead. Anyway, does anyone know of a good place to watch the game, preferably with other Colt fans? Thanks and, as always, Go Colts!

First of all, a happy Friday the 13th to everyone!

The following is my attempt to surmise what occurred on the practice field for the morning practice. I'm not a scout and I don't pretend to be one (even on TV) so please pardon my lack of knowledge. Consider this a fan's perspective of what happened. The players were in their throw-back helmets again today, but no shells. I was a little disappointed as I wanted to see some hitting.

At about 9:25 AM players shuffled onto the field and stretched amongst themselves. The O-line stayed to themselves and even did some work before the official start of practice.

9:30 - Organized warmups/stretches began. Felt like high school again, clapping in rhythm to get it started.

9:35  - Whistle blows and offense/defense/O-line split up. The offense goes through a series of dry plays. The defense works on assignments, audibles and substitutions. The O-line works on assignment drills as well working with coaches to simulate d-linemen.

9:40 - Offense tip drill. Manning and Painter lob passes into the endzone and WR tip it up and back to each other. O-line and D-line still doing their thing

9:45 - Full team drills from the offense's 20. Sam Giguere taking 1st team snaps. That's when I noticed that Anthony Gonzalez was on the sidelines(where he would stay for the entire practice). Interesting note, Ramon Humber was on the sideline when the drill started until Gary Brackett yelled at him to get on the field. Johnson and Muir were on the D-line to start. Funny moment was when Reggie caught a pass underneath and Jamey Richard didn't follow through with his downfield blocking assignment. Reggie looked at him with a look on his face like, "WTF!!!".  This drill ended with some end-of-game pitches.

9:50 - Full team drill from the defensive 20. Tip drill and spike drill. Collie and Reggie with nice catches in traffic. Jamey Richard snaps low to Manning out of the shotgun.

10:00 - 1st team defense on the field. QB Tim Hiller fumbles snap from C Adrian Martinez. Garcon, Giguere and Taj Smith throw in a triangle off to the side. On two consecutive plays, Bob Sanders blitzes from the outside absolutely uncovered. If there was tackling someone might have died.

10:05 - Manning takes Reggie, Collie, Garcon and Clark off to the side for passing tree drills. That's when it happens. On a deep out to Reggie, Manning throws and the ball actually falls for an incompletion! The only time the ball hit the field all day when 18 was throwing it. During the same drill, Clark gets pissed for someone reason. Visibly angry at what it appears was Collie.

10:15 - Manning takes Brown and Addai off to the side for draw drills with both of them in the backfield at the same time. Might see that some this year. Over where the 2nd teamers are practicing, Guice has makes some nice catches. One that is thrown behind him and he makes a nice adjustment in the air to grab it.

10:30 - Redzone drills for 1st team defense, but I promise you everyone on the east side of the stadium wasn't watching that. They were watching Dallas Clark have fun in a passing circle.

It starts with Gonzalez, Giguere, Collie and Garcon just throwing by themselves quite casually. Then wanders over Taj Smith, so they widen the circle. Then Clark decides that he wants in, but nobody else wants to throw him the ball so he starts getting quite animated, asking for the ball. Finally, he gets included but he changes the rules. Only left handed! It gets quite funny watching professional athletes trying to throw with their opposite hand. Dallas got the loudest boo when his left-handed duck was short to Giguere. Garcon has the nicest left-handed toss. Then Dallas decides that it should be rugby tosses, so they all start doing that. Then it was tipping the ball, until that got boring and then Clark instructed everyone that they only could use one hand. It was far and away the most entertaining part of the practice.

10:40 - Whistle blows and team huddles up. End of practice.

I tried to get an autograph or two, but unless someone walks right up to you where you are on the fence, it isn't happening. Also, the tent line looked like it would take 2 hours to get through. It was hot and humid but I had a great time. Everyone was nice and real easy-going so if you have time to get out before camp breaks next week I would recommend the drive.

I'm sure that TMill is going to come out with a few of these type posts, but I wasn't patient enough to wait.

(drum roll please)

Here is your 2010-2011 Purdue Boilermakers.... (loud cheering/applause)

Starting at PG, a 5-9 junior from Decatur, IL.......Lewis Jackson

Starting at SG, a 6-4 senior from East Chicago, IN......E'Twaun Moore

Starting at SG/F, a 6-5 sophomore from Indianapolis, IN..... Kelsey Barlow

Starting at F, a 6-8 senior from Valparaiso, IN.....Robbie Hummel

Starting at F/C, a 6-10 senior from Indianapolis, IN....JaJuan Johnson

Sixth Man: 6-5 Guard from Crawfordsville, IN....DJ Byrd

Bench Rotation Guard:

1. DJ Byrd

2. Terone Johnson

3. Ryne Smith

4. Anthony Johnson

5. John Hart

Bench Rotation Forward/Center:

1. Sandi Marcius

2. Patrick Bade

3. Travis Carroll

4. Donnie Hale

So that is a deep team, too deep really as by my count that is 14 players with only 13 scholarships available. That means somebody is walking away and unless Marcius doesn't cut it for some reason, it looks like John Hart has played his last game for Purdue, unless he wants to stay on as a walk-on. Which is possible if there aren't any takers out there for him or if he doesn't want to sit out a year. Either way, it looks good for 2010-2011 as it appears there is a solid 8 to 9 (maybe even 10!!!!) man rotation that Matt Painter could use to keep fresh bodies on the floor.

Boiler Up!

Has there been a match up that, on paper, looks more dismal to Purdue's chances in the last 3 years than this one?

Duke has height, their front courtrotation averages 6'10 with their centerpiece (pun intended) standing 7'1.

Duke has depth, they can shuffle as many as 5 players onto the floor that stand at least 6'8.

Duke has talent, their starting 5 averaged 4.4 stars coming out of high school according to Rivals.com and 4 of them were McDonald All-Americans.

Duke has experience, they start 2 Seniors and 3 Juniors and have 37 NCAA tournament games between them.

Duke has winners, they have averaged 30 wins in their last 3 seasons and are 5-2 in NCAA tournament games in that same span.

After the jump, I'll try and talk you off the ledge.

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When I learned that Purdue would be playing Texas A&M, I was initially disappointed that the Aggies (anyone else think that it was odd that both Texas A&M and Utah State have the same nickname?) of Utah didn't pull it out*. However, after doing some research I discovered that Texas A&M may not be all that bad of a match-up.

*That's what she said

At first you might be slightly dismayed to learn that Texas A&M starts 3 forwards, Bryan Davis (6'9), David Loubeau (6'8) and Khris Middleton (6'7) as Purdue has struggled with lengthy teams since Hummel went down. However, with no true big man amongst them for the second game in a row JaJuan Johnson will be the tallest player on the court when he is in the game. 

Furthermore, their best player on the offensive end is a 6'3 205 lb guard by the name of Donald Sloan. Sloan averages 18 points a game and while not a huge liability outside the arc (36.3%) he does have sport an unfortunate 1-1 turnover to assist ratio.

Mr. Sloan meet Mr. Kramer. 

Kramer will exploit that turnover ratio, not to mention Sloan has likely never met someone his own size that defends the way Kramer does. I like Chris' chances in that match-up.

So, this is how I see the match-ups shaping up.

Kramer guards Sloan

JaJuan Johnson will take Bryan Davis, when he is on the floor.

Dash "The Dash" Harris, a 6'1 guard who sets the table for the Aggie offense will likely draw a combination of Lewis Jackson and Keaton Grant, but most of the time it will be LewJack because of the following question:

Who guards Loubeau and Middleton, not to mention their backups who are equally as big?

Obviously, E'Twaun Moore will cover one because we need him on the floor. I'm assuming Grant will take the other one because he has been starting over Barlow since Hummel's injury. However, they are both going to give up at least 3 inches and 30 lbs depending on how the match-ups come together. 

If only Patrick Bade was any good.

Our only saving grace, like I mentioned at the top, is that these two are not the offensive weapons that Sloan is, averaging just about 16 points a game between the two of them. My guess is that their presence will be felt much more on the defensive end where they will force our "smaller" guards to settle for jumpers while clogging up the driving lanes.

The key to this game will be to spread the floor and let JaJuan and E'Twuan do their thing. Hopefully, Grant can keep up his hot shooting, Jackson can continue to be a disruptive force and we can get some productive minutes out of Barlow. 

My prediction: 68-67 Purdue. I am concerned that if our cold shooting reappears that this game could turn into a Minnesota part deux, but I don't think we're done with our Kramer moments yet.

BoilerUp!

Matt Painter, in one way, is going to have an easy time game planning for Siena as the Saints basically play all five starters the full 40 minutes. However, in another way the Big 10 Coach of the Year will have an all together harder problem deciding which of his players will be assigned to guard those 5 Siena Saints. 

The Match-ups:

We'll start with the easiest one first. JaJuan Johnson is going to pull the obvious match-up of Ryan Rossiter who, at 6'9 230 lbs is their biggest player. He is rebounding machine who averaged 14 rebounds a game in their run to the MAAC Championship. JuJaun is a superior player but could get pushed around in the block if Johnson doesn't mind his technique.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Edwin Ubiles, is definetly their best all around player, but while listed as a forward he is basically a tall guard. Robbie Hummel would of guarded him the whole game, had his ACL not popped like a cherry after prom. Since Hummel will be a cheerleader for this tournament, Ubiles will most likely be guarded by E'Twaun Moore who gives up 2 inches and 20 pounds or Kelsey Barlow (who may start for this very reason) who is only 1 inch shorter than Ubiles.

Whomever is not keeping Ublies away from the basket will have the duty of guarding Alex Franklin. Franklin is listed as a forward, but like Ublies is esintially a  tall guard. My guess is that Barlow will be pulling Franklin when he is on the floor, but do not be surprised if Kramer slides over and plays him in the post. Kramer gives up 3 inches, but as we all know is more of a fighter than Barlow so we'll give up some size but get more steals & rebounds.

When Kramer is not guarding the post, he'll be matched up with Clarence Jackson whom Kramer could easily push around all game long, rendering him useless.

That just leaves their PG Ronald Moore. A true point guard who will see just about every guard that Purdue has on its roster. Moore is 6 feet tall so he will have his hands full with Keaton Grant (6'4), E. Moore (6'4) or Kramer (6'3). When Lewis Jackson is on the floor, he will guard R. Moore. I expect to see less of Lewis Jackson in this contest then we have in the last few games.

My Thoughts:

It's not that the Saints create match up problems for the Boilermakers, but Painter could have 4 players guard Edwin Ubiles alone, so expect a lot of switching on screens when Ubiles sets them.

Purdue Starting Lineup:

Keaton Grant (G) - guarding Ronald Moore (G)

Chris Kramer (G) - guarding Clarence Jackson (G)

E'Twaun Moore (G) - guarding Edwin Ubiles (G/F)

Kelsey Barlow (G/F) - guarding Alex Franklin (F)

JuJuan Johnson (F/C) - guarding Ryan Rossiter (F)

Game Prediction:

Siena has played only four descent teams this whole season and lost all four including losing by 17 to Butler(5) and Northern Iowa(9) and 13 against Georgia Tech(10). They gave Temple(5) a run for their money, but that was very early in the season when Temple wasn't playing as well as they are now.

Either way you look at it, the demise of the Purdue Boilermakers has been greatly exaggerated. Too many "experts" are looking at one unimpassioned half to define our entire Hummel-less season, proclaiming that we are ripe for the picking. Make no mistake about this, Purdue is the underdog in this game. Ignore the little numbers next to their names at the bottom of the screen this Friday at 2:30 PM ET, they don't mean anything because nobody outside West Lafayette expects the Boilermakers to make it to Sunday.

Hopefully, Purdue uses that embarrassment against Minnesota and the national tongue lashing they have been taking these past 2 days and come out with something to prove. I expect that will be the case as Purdue, when they have that chip on their shoulder play very inspired basketball.

My prediction, Purdue 64  - Siena 58.

As is my norm, it takes until the following Tuesday after a Sunday loss for me to read, listen or discuss a Colts loss.

This one hurts.

It hurts a lot.

I am bitter and angry and I hate that I have to wait 6 months to watch football again. I will say however, that I am hopeful for the Colts future.

This off season will be like getting 4 free agents in Jackson, Sanders, Gonzalez and Hagler that will start for this team in 2010. What a blessing our depth is.

We still have Bill Polian who will navigate this cap mess that the NFL is entering into better than anyone, so we have a competitive advantage right there.

I'll let DZ over at 18to88.com explain what we need as I agree with his assessment, but our last 2 playoff losses have a direct result of special teams/field position. An answer needs to be found, and quickly.


So, while I look forward to the combine, the draft, free agency and the eventual start of training camps I just can't close my eyes without seeing those few crucial plays replay in my mind. I wonder how our team will respond to this loss. All previous indications would say that they will rebound better than ever, but a Super Bowl loss has never occurred to this team and history is not kind to the Super Bowl loser.

I'll turn my attention to Purdue basketball (another failure waiting to happen) and fantasy baseball (I have been doing it for 9 years now) all while keeping a watchful eye toward the impending NFL labor crisis (I actually think profootballtalk.com is a useful site for this considering Mike Florio's legal expertise).

I will be in and around, until next time.....

I was just going to make a fanshot for this, but since we're talking about Raheem Brock I felt that greater respect was owed.

Has any one player done more in one year to help his future Colt legacy then Raheem Brock? I say no.

And interestingly enough, it has little do with his football prowess, although that should not be overlooked. Raheem Brock has slowly and confidently obtained the title of "quote of the year".

That man is a quote machine.

Whether it be in twitter form or stated during an interview #79 brings it hard when comes to the typed/spoken word.

His latest gem, when asked if Dwight Freeney had given him any encouragement this week, he replied, “We don't need encouragement,” Brock said. “We're grown men.”

Mine and your new favorite Colt, Raheeeeem Brock, everyone!

Tip to John Oehser

**FLORIDA ADVISORY**

The National Football League and Indianapolis Colts have isssued a tropical storm warning effective immediately.

Tropical storm "MANNING" is currently projected to move through the Miami area on February 7th at approximately 6:30 PM EST.

Please be advised that heavy hail marys and other projectiles may be abundant. But strangely very little BREES.

Please refrain from resisting it's brilliance because you know you can't stop it.

GO COLTS!!!!!

**END TRANSMISSION**

Because of all the information (and misinformation) that has circulated about I felt compelled to compile all the information to get a better understanding of the second most important ankle on the Indianapolis Colts roster.

This all began when Freeney stepped on the foot of Mark Sanchez injuring his right ankle. The ankle turned inward which suggests an Lateral Ligament Spain, the most common type of ankle sprain.

The real question is what grade level is the sprain.

ESPN's John Clayton reported that Freeney has been in a walking boot all week and has been receiving hyperbaric chamber and ARP treatment.

I have heard of no reports that Freeney has needed the assistance of crutches, and since he has been walking on the ankle (hence, walking boot) then we could effectively rule out a Grade III sprain.

Craig Kelley, a Colts spoke person released this statement,

He is under the care of our athletic training staff. Nothing we have seen changes our diagnosis that he is questionable. He has a third-degree, low basketball sprain.

But that is what doesn't make sense. If it was a third degree sprain then he wouldn't be able to put weight on the foot at all and we know that he has. For those who are thinking that this is misinformation released by the Colts to confuse the Saintsinto preparing for Freeney than why say it a third degree sprain which means a full rupture of the ligament rather then a much less serious level I or II sprain. That doesn't add up.

So I'm confident that Dwight Freeney suffered a  Level II sprain of the lateral ligament.

So what treatment is Freeney using?

Other than RICE (rest,ice, compression and elevation) a hyperbaric chamber is being utilized which theoretically allows for quicker healing times for soft tissue injuries by increasing the blood flow to the swollen region, but its effectiveness has been called into question.

Freeney has also been using ARP treatment, which according to the manufacturer decreases swelling and inflammation by increasing local blood circulation.

Athletes sustaining grade II lateral ankle sprains (partial ligament tear with moderate swelling and ecchymosis and limited weight bearing ability) treated with 6 to 10 ARP sessions, and no other conservative treatment except supportive bracing, had an average recovery rate and return to play at 3 to 5 days post injury.

If that is true, and since it is their homepage that is certainly questionable, we should definitely see an effective Dwight Freeney on Sunday with three times as much time needed for recovery as ARP suggests.

So in conclusion, Dwight Freeney suffered a Grade II strain of his lateral ligament as has been using RICE treatment in conjunction with hyperbaric and ARP treatment all designed to decrease the neccessary healing time.

This along with tape and a cortisone shot prior to the game should render him effective come Sunday night.

I'm trying to find any good new about the big 3 injuries on the defensive end. So here is one tweet from JPeezy25 (you know him as Jerraud Powers).

At approximately 7:30 AM ET, Powers tweeted, "Up at work getting better already.."

So, for those like me who are hanging on every word as it relates to our injuries, this one looks positive!

If there are any other updates for the other walking wounded, post 'em here.

Sean Payton Offensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coaching/Head Coaching Career:

• 2000 - 2002:        New York Giants Offensive Coordinator
• 2003 - 2005:        Dallas Cowboys Assistant Head Coach
• 2006 - Present:   New Orleans Saints Head Coach

Games against the Indianapolis Colts defense:

• 2002 Season, Week 15: 44 Points, 469 Yards, 12.62 YPA, 2.86 AVG, 3 TO
• 2007 Season, Week 1: 3 Points, 293 Yards, 4.68 YPA, 4.08 AVG, 3 TO

Cumulative Statistic: 23.5 PPG, 7.97 YPA, 3.37 AVG, 6 TO

Win/Loss Record: 1-1

See below for some thoughts.

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Gregg Williams Defensive Coordinator/Head Coaching Career:

• 1997 - 1998:      Tennessee Oilers Defensive Coordinator
• 1999 - 2000:      Tennessee Titans Defensive Coordinator
• 2001 - 2003:      Buffalo Bills Head Coach
• 2004 - 2007:      Washington Redskins Defensive Coordinator
• 2008                 Jacksonville Jaguars Defensive Coordinator
• 2009 - Present:  New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator

Games against Peyton Manning:

• 1999 AFC Divisional Playoff: 19/42, 227 Yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 62.3 QB Rating
• 2001 Season, Week 2: 23/29, 421 Yards, 4 TD, 2 INT, 129.60 QB Rating
• 2001 Season, Week 8: 17/27, 199 Yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 97.61 QB Rating
• 2003 Season, Week 12: 26/42, 229 Yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 76.39 QB Rating
• 2006 Season, Week 7: 25/35, 342 Yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 140.42, QB Rating
• 2008 Season, Week 3: 15/29, 216 Yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 58.98 QB Rating
• 2008 Season, Week 16: 29/34, 364 Yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 140.69 QB Rating

Cumulative Statistics: 154/238, 1998, 13 TD, 4 INT, 102.19 QB Rating, 8.39 YPA

Won/Loss Record: 5 -2, advantage Manning

See below for some thoughts.

Continue reading this post »

I was cleaning out my DVR last night and happened upon the Cols vs Ravens game of this past Saturday, and I couldn't pass up re-watching it.

I had heard all week that our running game was worthless, harking memories of last year when we struggled to execute even the simplest of run play.

So, I focused specifically on the running plays to see how effective they were within the flow of the game. I've heard that FO looks at a similar stat, but I couldn't tell you how they calculate theirs. What I did was to count the number of run plays that picked up at least 3 yards on first down, gained a first down or at least 2 yard gains on 2nd down that put us in a manageable 3rd down. Basically, if I didn't say to myself, "G-d Damn't Donald!" then I considered it a successful run play.

In the first half and the first 2 drives of the 3rd quarter, where all of our points were scored a Colts running back ran the ball 16 times. 10 of those plays I considered successful, which is a 63.5%.

So numbers be damned! Based on the above I am feeling better about the state of the Colts running game.

What say you? 

The play of the year

“Oftentimes, you’ll find on a change of possession that guys might not run the ball down quite like that,” Caldwell said. “He’ll be dejected, kind of watch what happens and jog along.

“But our guys have an attitude that when things happen, a sudden change, they can flip the switch quickly. The effort that he put forth, I think, was indicative of the style of play we’ve had from our guys throughout the year.”

Clark, who was one of the many Colts chasing Reed on the play, said his fellow receiver came up with a “huge play.”

“Watching Pierre, he was just flying to catch Ed,” Clark said. “To not just think of the tackle, but to try to get the ball back was outstanding. It was a tremendous effort on his part. But that’s what we have been doing all year long, trying to out-hustle people and trying to create plays like that.”

Why work when you can chat with fellow Colt fans

Come one, come all. Just trying to get to 75 words here. Not as easy as one would think.

My prediction by the way, 30-12 Colts win. That would be 4 FGs.

Wayne will kill Revis.

Superbowl III does not affect this game.  Rex Ryan is fat.

Getting close to 75 words now, stay away from MSM and just post on here all week. BBS will love you for it.

A few quick thoughts about the upcoming playoff game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Professional Football Team from Baltimore.

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I have been reading this site for about three months now and I have no idea what took me so long to find it. However, to this point I've been silent as genearly someone else has been able to articulate how I've felt after every game, so it made little sense to produce more noise when I didn't have anything valuable to add. However, I have been spurred along, as many of our brethren were, to get out my frustrations on what happened last Sunday afternoon.

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