My apologies in advance if this has been posted before. But I'd never seen it, so I thought I'd share. This may not truly be the greatest thing that ever was, but it's not too far off. What is far off is my word count for a FanPost. Which is unfortunate. I just don't want this brilliance to be buried "below the fold." Ah, there we go. Go Colts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld-m7IT3dus

I'm sure all of the Jets fan trolls we've seen recently will take this post as "dissing" the Jets ("The Jets get no respect! Karma's a bitch!") Nothing could be further from the truth. What this is is my attempt to go behind the numbers just a little bit to get more insight into what the Colts are up against. I'm no stat-master like mgrex or shake, but I've done a little rudimentary analysis of the Jets running game using just the basic stats.

I kept hearing about how the Jets had the #1 rushing offense in the league and didn't think much about it; numbers are numbers. But then over the past week, popular opinion seems to have morphed into saying the Jets have the best rushing game in the league. A subtle difference, but I wondered if it's really true. Here's what I found:

First, the Jets being the #1 rushing offense in the league is based on raw numbers: the Jets have more rushing yardage than any other team, therefore they are the #1 rushing offense. But as we all know, numbers without context are virtually meaningless. For example, did you know that the Bills had the 2nd best pass defense in the league? Now, the Bills have some good young talent in the secondary, but are they really the 2nd best in the entire league? Or is it a function of the fact that teams realized they could run all day on the Bills and so simply didn't throw as much? 

So, context for the Jets numbers: one of the main reasons the Jets rushed for more yards than any other team is that they rushed the ball significantly more often than any other team. The Jets ran the ball 607 times, an average of 37.9 times per game. The next "rushingest" team was Carolina with 525 rushes for an average of 32.8 per game. Think about that. The Jets ran the ball 82 times more than anybody -- not just more than the NFL average, but more the #2 most rushing team! They had 5.1 more rushes per game than their nearest competitor. And of course, the discrepancy is even larger as you go down the list. I'm not statistician, but that seems pretty significant to me.

In my view, a better indicator of a team's running success is yards per carry. It may not be a perfect indicator, but it is certainly better than total yards. The Jets averaged 4.5 ypc. That's very good, but not the best. The Jets are tied for 5th best ypc with Jacksonville and New Orleans. Leading the way is Tennessee with 5.2 ypc, Dallas and Carolina with 4.8 ypc, and -- wait for it -- Baltimore with 4.7 ypc. So the Jets are one of the top 7 teams in ypc. Very good to be sure, but not quite as daunting as it may have once seemed, particularly since the Colts shut down a higher ypc team last week.

Further, there are two teams that had a 4.4 ypc average, or just a tenth of a yard less than the Jets. Those two teams? Kansas City and our friends the Bills. That's right, the Bills. With no passing game to speak of and a decimated offensive line, the Bills managed to come within one tenth of a yard of the Jets and their 3 Pro Bowl linemen.

So what does all this mean? Well, the Jets are clearly a very good running team. Within the top ten in the league without question, and that's nothing to sneeze at. But suddenly I don't feel quite so afraid of the "best" running game in football. If we can shut down Ray Rice and Baltimore's 4.7 ypc, why can't we shut down the Jets? Of course it will all be settled on the field, any given Sunday, yadda yadda yadda. I'm not saying the Jets can't possibly run on the Colts, but I sure feel more comfortable than I did when all I was hearing was raw numbers being tossed around. 

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.

According to the Star:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071110/SPORTS03/711100513/1100

T.J. Rushing is waived and Craphonso will return kicks. Perhaps they finally decided it was time to Crap or get off the pot.

Seriously though, I was intrigued by Rushing early, but he hasn't been particularly spectacular. I thought Craphonso looked good a few weeks ago when Rushing was hurt. Heaven knows we could use any upgrade we can get on special teams (kickers excluded).

Go to Profootballtalk.com, click on the "Bang it here for the Daily Rumor Mill" link, and then scroll down to to the 8:16 pm, September 26 entry about Vince Wilfork's hit on JP Losman. Watch the YouTube video. That's a no-doubt, intentional elbow-to-the-knee shot.

Seriously, can this team do anything but be a collection of giant jackasses? I'm sure that not every single person in the organization is a total dick, but they seem to have more than the usual share of despicable pieces of crap in New England.

Sorry for not linking, my limited skills can't get the link to work, and you need to see the video anyway....

Update [2007-9-14 18:15:20 by BigBlueShoe]: cynyc is much better at articulating why it is important to talk about Belicheat than I am. Read below, and thanks ctnyc.

Let me apologize in advance if this post seems a little strident; I've been on a 3-day debate with 6th Round and Tommasse over at Pats Pulpit. You can probably imagine how many excuses and baseless accusations I've endured.

Anyway, I want to respond to something that I'm a little bothered by. I've seen several times now (from reputable posters and not-so-reputable posters -- I'm talking to you Archie) that we focus too much on news about other teams or the NFL in general. I disagree, but I want to know others' opinions.

My argument is basically this: yes, this is a Colts website, but the Colts do not exist in a vacuum. Are we really so compartmentalized that we can only talk specifically about the Colts? What happens on other teams and in the league in general affects the Colts. Therefore it is appropriate to discuss. For example, the Patriots are our biggest rivals. An enormous national story about their cheating is absolutely fair game on this site. Or take the case of Tennessee: they're probably our biggest division rival (a Titans-fan friend of mine recently told me that the Colts are certainly perceived in Tennessee as the Titans' biggest rival). Therefore, posts about the crazy antics of Vince Young -- the face of their franchise -- are certainly valid discussion material.

As with anything else, all of this can go too far for some. But those people certainly have the option of stopping reading when they've had enough. There always has been, and I'm sure always will be, plenty of Colts-only material on this site.

So my question is: what are all of your thoughts on this? Why are we here? Should this site be for Colts and only Colts information? Or should we pay attention to the context in which the Colts exist? I obviously have strong opinions about the subject, but am interested to hear what others want/expect from the site.

And if you don't care either way, that's fine too. Thanks for indulging me.  

According to the Tennesseean, Vince Young was benched for last night's game due to violating the team's curfew (apparently he stayed at home rather than with the team in the hotel).

 http://www.rctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/SPORTS01/708120402/1002/MTCN0302

I almost didn't post this -- it's just a preseason game and it's not like staying at home is criminal behavior -- but I decided to given our recent debates about VY's leadership qualities. For all those who believed that VY showed great leadership by getting into a scrape with a teammate, what do you say to this?

A big part of being a leader is leading by example. The example VY set in this case is that he doesn't think the rules apply to him, or at the very least that it's not a huge deal to ignore the rules. I realize that the infraction is not terrible (it's not like he was out all night at a strip club or something), but it's the principle that's important. A leader helps guide others to the proper behavior at all times, not just when it's convenient. You don't want your starting QB benched for disciplinary reasons, even in a preseason game. It just doesn't look good, and it doesn't project leadership.

VY obviously has a long ways to go before he can be taken seriously as a leader.

I found this link on the Cowboys site and thought it would be appropriate to post it here. The post is long, but well-documented and doesn't ramble in the slightest. It's a stinging indictment not only of ESPN, but of the mainstream media's disdain for the blogosphere. Knowing BBS's hatred for the Worldwide Leader, I thought you all might like to see this...

http://www.dawgsports.com/story/2007/7/22/01917/8233

Having defended Marvin as a better WR than T.O. several times in the past couple of weeks, I feel compelled to quote the Dallas Morning News (via SI.com):

"Multiple times during the season, Cowboys players told Terrell Owens the plays in the huddle. Owens says he knew the plays but too many times he ran the wrong route, missed a block or was chastised by the coaches for a miscue. During minicamps, Owens got the bulk of the passes. New offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and receivers coach Ray Sherman said Owens knows the playbook going into training camp. It seems Owens got a lot of reps in minicamps and organized team activities to familiarize him with the offense."

Ah, good to see the great T.O. has decided to become familiar with the offense. What a dedicated team player! I guess that proves how much he cares. Why he's well on his way to using his considerable physical gifts to become as good a receiver as Marvin! Dream on, Cowboy fans (I'm talking to you, Terry).

Look folks, it's simple, greatness is not just about physical ability. If it were, Jeff George would be in the Hall of Fame. T.O. has great talent, and very impressive numbers. But to claim that he is a better football player than Marvin is ignorant.    

As has been speculated on this site, the Colts have signed 29-yr-old guard Rick DeMulling to an undisclosed contract. He's taken a nosedive the last couple of years in Detroit, but getting away from that mess may remotivate him. And he is still young enough to help as a backup to Lilja and Scott. Perhaps Howard Mudd can restore DeMulling to his former glory (he was definitely an above average lineman when he left).

All in all, I'm optimistic that his second tour with us will be good for all involved. Any thoughts?  

This is a technical site question for BigBlueShoe: is there any way to register for all SB Nation sites at once? I sometimes check some of the other blogs, but can't comment unless I register with that particular site. It would be nice to be able to throw in my two cents without having to go through the whole process every time (and some of them I might only check once in a blue moon anyway). Considering the number of blogs under the SB Nation umbrella, this would be a great, fan-friendly thing to help build participation.

And apologies if there's something obvious that I've missed...  

I guess I'll continue my updates about the Patriots biggest weakness from last season: they've signed WR Kelley Washington to a 5-year contract (in reality probably a one-year deal). At 6'3" he becomes their new big receiver to go with their new possession receiver (Welker) and their new deep threat (Stallworth). We should all step back and once again appreciate how lucky we are to have Marvin and Reggie.

Donte Stallworth has agreed to a 6-yr. $30 million contract with the Patriots ($12 million guaranteed). This gives Brady a deep threat again. Combined with the Welker deal, it's pretty obvious where the Patriots thought their deficiencies were last year. They've definitely upgraded at WR, but will it be enough and can Stallworth stay healthy?

Chicagobears.com is apparently reporting that Thomas Jones and the 63rd pick in the draft have been traded to the Jets for the 37th pick in the draft. So basically the Jets got Thomas Jones for the price of trading down in the 2nd round.

Two questions: 1) Couldn't the Bears have gotten more? and 2) Does this make the Jets better, i.e. should Colts fans worry?