Sweet jesus. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings once again, but I just saw Schefter on ESPN say that Bob has a torn biceps tendon that will require season-ending surgery. Don't know what else to say. What a horrible week. Go Bullitt. Thank god we can outscore people. This is getting f***ing ridiculous. Will Bob play for us again? Who knows. So much for the tremendous depth in our secondary. We still have excellent players, but the depth is pretty much gone....

As zkmavz pointed out in a comments section, Marlin Jackson is out for the season with torn knee ligaments.

http://twitter.com/Adam_Schefter/status/5461973147

Crappity crap crap crap. Next man up and all that. I'm about ready for our depth to stop being tested. I know Marlin hadn't done a lot this year, but this hurts. It seems like the entire defense is banged up or out for the season. Can we have another bye, please?

So the Colts have signed free agent LB Tyrell Sales from Penn State:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090502/SPORTS03/905020441/1058/SPORTS03

Sales had two off-the-field altercations while at PSU, and has had a recent DUI. Regardless of any potential impact on the roster, I thought it was interesting that the Colts signed a repeat offender (and we all remember how the last Penn State repeat offender worked out).

This would seem to signal a little more leniency about character issues from Caldwell than we have seen over the past few years from Dungy. And if so, is this a good or bad thing? Mind you, I'm not advocating signing the likes of POS Michael Vick or anything. But when Ed Johnson was cut I remember thinking, "Damn that was stupid of him. But at the same time, polls show that anywhere from 60% to 70% of the country has smoked weed. And he didn't hurt anybody, or intend to. Why should he lose his job when Ray Lewis still has one?"

I know, I know, he was on a short leash. And he should have known better. But now we see that the same Dungy who cut Big Ed is trying to help rehabilitate Michael Vick. Does this bother anybody else? 

Bottom line: is this a random occurrence or could it show a more lenient approach to players. And ultimately, is this a good thing or not?   

OK, we've all had our fill of fanposts that irrationally criticize the Colts. I sincerely hope nobody dismisses this post as hating. It is not intended as such. I love 6 wins in a row, I love the way the team is playing, I love controlling our own playoff destiny. Basically I love me some Colts and think that if things break right, there's no reason we can't win it all.

But here's the thing: should we be concerned about the running game? I know it hasn't been up to usual standards all year, but today was eye-opening. I listened to the 1st half of today's game (thank you, wowo.com) before I had to go to work. I heard the final score while I was at work, but didn't see the stats until I got home. I was frankly shocked to see the rushing stats. Addai and Rhodes combined for 57 yards on 20 carries. That's a 2.85 average. Against the Bengals. The Bengals were the 23rd ranked rushing D coming into the game, allowing 125.8 yards per game and 4.0 ypc. For further perspective, Cedric Benson rushed for exactly the same yardage as Addai and Rhodes combined, and did so on 4 fewer carries. For even further perspective: HE'S CEDRIC FUCKING BENSON. Our RBs are better than Benson, and our OLine is better than theirs, even factoring in injuries. So what the hell? 

Now, I'm not going to make the argument that we're doomed or that this proves the Colts are mediocre (we've seen enough of that and it's simply not true). BUT, it does concern me. If we are going to have to win on the road in the playoffs, in potentially cold weather games, we're going to need to do a better job running the ball than we did today. If I was coaching the Colts, my focus for the next few weeks would be trying to jump start the running game.

What do you all think? Am I paranoid, or is this a legitimate concern?  

Here's a roundup from the Indianapolis Star website today that I enjoyed reading:

http://blogs.indystar.com/philb/2008/10/oline_mudd_desperate.html

A couple of random thoughts:

1) Nice to get pretty much the whole damn O Line back. I hope Peyton's knee is up to the stretch play now. I expect to see a lot of progress coming off the bye week. 

2) Howard Mudd has a golf cart. F***ing run!

OK, so one of the cool things about working in a steak house in Manhattan is that you see a number of celebrities, especially sports guys. Friday night I waited on a private party for the CBS football crew. It was Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe, Bill Cowher, James Brown, and a bunch of producer types. A few observations:

-- I have never seen Bill Cowher smile and laugh so much. I didn't know he had teeth.

-- Marino is a nice guy and seems to be a surfer-dude type. He was wearing a beach t-shirt and called me "man."

-- Shannon Sharpe is a funny dude. And he's definitely the comedian of the group. People were constantly asking him what he thought about various things and then laughing hysterically at and repeating his answers. He's also knowledgeable about a surprisingly broad range of topics.

-- James Brown may be the nicest man I've ever waited on. Not just the nicest celebrity, maybe the nicest guy in general. Gracious, humble, thankful... a joy to be around.

Anyway, I never watch the Sunday pregame shows, so I have no idea if these guys know what they're talking about at all, but they are good people in real life. And I think I'll watch this week just to see how some of the stuff they were talking about works out. 

The Patriots have cut Marcus Pollard.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp08/news/story?id=3543097

I hope he catches on somewhere, but this could very well be the end of the road for our old friend. I'll always have a soft spot for Pollard; he was a good player for us as we were just beginning to be consistently good, and he was part of the first really good TE tandem in the Indianapolis years (with Ken Dilger). We take two good TEs for granted now, but it wasn't always so.

And who can forget that 2001 season? Only 47 catches, but 8 TDs and a 15.7 ypc! From a TE! Raise a glass to Marcus; I wish he could have won a ring with us.  

It's true. Just a few months after winning the Super Bowl, the Giants have turned to Crap:

http://www.giants.com/news/headlines/story.asp?story_id=27172

It's hard to see where he'll fit in with their glut of receivers, but it's certainly good to see the dream alive. And for the record, yes I think we should continue to update the career progress of our mercurial friend. We may never hear of another Craphonso; we need to take advantage of the one we have.

The Lions have released Kevin Jones.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/03/13/lions-announce-release-of-edwards-jones/

He's had two big injuries in the last two years (Lisfranc and ACL) and may not be ready for the start of the season. But when healthy he is a force, and he should come cheap at this point (if he doesn't, then obviously he's not an option). Keith/draft pick aside, anybody think he might be worth looking at? He's got good hands, and if he can have success behind the Lions line, then he should excel behind the Colts line.

I really don't know a lot about him, and I'm certainly not sold on him. But if he has a reasonable chance of regaining his health, he could be a valuable backup for a couple of years. And of course the flip side to the negative of the injuries is that he has a little less mileage on him.      

The next class of Hall of famers includes Fred Dean, Darrell Green, Art Monk, Emmitt Thomas, Andre Tippett, and Gary Zimmerman.

Some very worthy candidates, but to me this year's class will be remembered as the year that Art Monk got in. I mean seriously, he's not a first ballot guy? They should induct him about three different times to make up for that bit of idiocy.