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The 2011 season couldn't finish soon enough for us Colts fans. It seemed to go on and on, and we had to suffer having the friggin' Patriots play in the Super Bowl in our building (thankfully taken care of by the Giants). Now, all we have to talk about is Peyton Manning (a big deal), and the draft.

While we'll obviously have tons of coverage of the Peyton Manning news, we here at Stampede Blue will be giving you top-notch draft coverage of the most important Colts draft in the past decade, and we'll have a front-row seat at the two biggest events.

The NFL Scouting Combine starts next Thursday at Lucas Oil Stadium, and just like last year we'll be there to interview prospects, coaches, GMs, and other NFL writers. Both Stew and myself will be in attendance, along with Dan Kadar from Mocking the Draft and Kevin Ewoldt of Hogs Haven. Over the next week, I'll be laying out which players we'll be targeting, position by position, so you get an idea who we feel the Colts will be looking at, and for you to fill us in if we are missing anyone.

Once the Combine finishes up, we plan to overload you with draft profiles, coming two a day during the week and one on both Saturday and Sunday. Right now we have 86 players to profile, ranging from the first pick all the way to a couple players who will most likely be undrafted. We'll have a page ready for you by the time the Combine rolls around. I promise you we'll be covering every corner.

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Once again it's that time of the year for all of you to participate in everyone's favorite pastime between the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft, a Mock Draft! We've done this the past several years, and I dropped the ball last year in getting only one round in, so we're going to get a full two rounds, plus the Colts pick at #65.

How do you join in the fun? Here's how it'll work:

• Each person is only allowed 1 team, as we have plenty of people here on the site to fill all the teams. Also, anyone who says "Give me any team" won't get a team. Be decisive, please. Also, in order to draft for the Colts, you have to have been a member at Stampede Blue for 2 years. I want to take care of our longer term members for the Colts pick. There are no restrictions on any other team.
• In addition to selecting one team, this year I'm also taking a back-up selector for each team in the off chance the original person doesn't get back to me. Again, only one team as a backup please.
• The draft will be done through email. This is the easiest way to do it, as getting 30 people together at one time is extremely hard.
  
• You will have 24 hours after I send you the email saying you are on the clock to make a pick. If no pick comes in, I'll go right to the backup, so don't be late.
  
• I will be posting two picks per day during the week, and one pick on each weekend day. IMPORTANT: The draft via email will (hopefully) be about 4 or 5 picks ahead of what is on the site, and I will include those picks in the "On the Clock" email. Please don't wait until you see all the picks before yours on the site, as it'll be way too late for you to make a pick.
  

The information I'd like for each pick is:

• Player, Position, School
• One or two paragraphs on why said player is the right choice for that team. Can include comments about best player available, scheme fit, you hate the team so that's why you picked that awful player, etc. I want a rationale.
  
• One to two sentences on how much of an impact you think he will have next season.

Be aware that we do not need anyone for the Raiders, as they've decided they didn't want to pick in the first four rounds this year, and the Falcons and Saints only have second round choices.

I'd highly recommend using Mocking the Draft and National Football Post for information on team needs, player profiles, etc. We'll also have quite a few here at Stampede Blue for you to look at.

After the jump you'll see the CONFIRMED LIST of drafters for each team. Please indicate which team you'd like in the comments, and also send me an email stating which team you would like, and your SB Nation username. You will not be confirmed until I receive an email from you. You also must post in this thread your team choice(s). I want to ensure everyone who participates is a member here at Stampede Blue. We'll be starting Monday morning, so whoever picks the Colts should be ready to go. Also, please look at the table, and the comments first before choosing your team.

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Players evaluated:

	Name	Position	Height	Weight	School	Quick Hit
	Frank Alexander	OLB	6'4"	255	Oklahoma
	Antonio Allen	SS	6'2"	202	South Carolina
	Jeff Allen	G	6'5"	315	Illinois
	Mark Asper	G	6'7"	325	Oregon
	Mark Barron	SS	6'2"	218	Alabama
	Dwight Bentley	CB	5'11"	179	Louisiana-Lafayette
	Jake Bequette	DE	6'5"	271	Arkansas
	R J Blanton	CB	6'1"	200	Notre Dame
	Omar Bolden	CB	5'11"	195	Arizona St
	Brandon Boykin	CB	5'10"	183	Georgia
	Jarrett Boykin	WR	6'2"	218	Virginia Tech
	Andre Branch	OLB	6'5"	260	Clemson
	Michael Brewster	C	6'5"	305	Ohio St
	Vontaze Burfict	ILB	6'3"	250	Arizona St
	Miles Burris	OLB	6'3"	235	San Diego St
	Sean Cattouse	SS	6'3"	218	California
	Josh Chapman	NT	6'1"	310	Alabama
	Audie Cole	ILB	6'5"	239	North Carolina St
	Jared Crick	DE	6'6"	285	Nebraska
	B J Cunningham	WR	6'2"	215	Michigan St
	Vinny Curry	OLB	6'4"	263	Marshall
	DeMario Davis	OLB	6'3"	230	Arkansas St
	Alfonzo Dennard	CB	5'10"	205	Nebraska
	Loni Fangupo	NT	6'1"	330	Brigham Young
	Darius Fleming	OLB	6'2"	255	Notre Dame
	Jamell Fleming	CB	5'11"	191	Oklahoma
	Michael Floyd	WR	6'3"	224	Notre Dame
	Jeff Fuller	WR	6'4"	220	Texas A&M
	Chris Galippo	ILB	6'2"	250	Southern California
	Stephon Gilmore	CB	6'1"	193	South Carolina
	Cordy Glenn	G	6'5"	348	Georgia
	Robert Griffin	QB	6'2"	220	Baylor
	Winston Guy	SS	6'1"	216	Kentucky
	Mike Harris	CB	5'11"	195	Florida St
	Duke Ihenacho	SS	6'1"	205	San Jose St
	George Iloka	SS	6'3"	216	Boise St
	Bruce Irvin	OLB	6'3"	245	West Virginia
	Ace Jackson	CB	5'10"	188	Cal Poly St
	Alshon Jeffery	WR	6'4"	229	South Carolina
	A J Jenkins	WR	6'0"	190	Illinois
	James-Michael Johnson	ILB	6'2"	240	Nevada
	Leonard Johnson	CB	5'10"	202	Iowa St
	Trumaine Johnson	CB	6'2"	204	Montana
	Ben Jones	C	6'3"	316	Georgia
	J J Jones	CB	5'10"	194	Wayne St-Mi
	Senio Kelemete	G	6'4"	301	Washington
	Mychal Kendricks	ILB	6'0"	240	California
	Ronnell Lewis	OLB	6'2"	244	Oklahoma
	Brandon Lindsey	OLB	6'2"	250	Pittsburgh
	Joe Looney	G	6'3"	320	Wake Forest
	Andrew Luck	QB	6'4"	235	Stanford
	Keshawn Martin	WR	5'11"	189	Michigan St
	Marquis Maze	WR	5'10"	182	Alabama
	Shea McClellin	OLB	6'3"	258	Boise St
	Kelcie McCray	SS	6'2"	195	Arkansas St
	Marvin McNutt	WR	6'4"	215	Iowa
	De'Quan Menzie	CB	6'0"	198	Alabama
	Chase Minnifield	CB	6'0"	185	Virginia
	Charles Mitchell	SS	5'11"	205	Mississippi St
	Luke Nix	G	6'6"	310	Pittsburgh
	Chris Owusu	WR	6'2"	200	Stanford
	Micah Pellerin	CB	6'1"	195	Hampton
	Nick Perry	OLB	6'3"	250	Southern California
	Dontari Poe	NT	6'5"	350	Memphis
	Chaz Powell	CB	6'1"	206	Penn St
	Brian Quick	WR	6'3"	215	Appalachian St
	Kheeston Randall	NT	6'5"	295	Texas
	Kendall Reyes	DE	6'4"	295	Connecticut
	Sean Richardson	SS	6'2"	220	Vanderbilt
	Travian Robertson	DE	6'4"	303	South Carolina
	Josh Robinson	CB	5'10"	192	Central Florida
	Brett Roy	OLB	6'4"	280	Nevada
	Mohamed Sanu	WR	6'2"	215	Rutgers
	Coty Sensabaugh	CB	6'0"	185	Clemson
	Amini Silatolu	G	6'3"	324	Midwestern St
	Harrison Smith	SS	6'2"	214	Notre Dame
	Devon Still	DE	6'5"	310	Penn St
	J R Sweezy	DE	6'5"	293	North Carolina St
	Alameda Ta'Amu	NT	6'3"	337	Washington
	Brandon Thompson	NT	6'2"	310	Clemson
	Nick Toon	WR	6'3"	220	Wisconsin
	Bobby Wagner	ILB	6'1"	232	Utah St
	Billy Winn	DE	6'4"	295	Boise St
	Derek Wolfe	DE	6'5"	300	Cincinnati
	Kendall Wright	WR	5'10"	190	Baylor
	Kevin Zeitler	G	6'4"	315	Wisconsin

I apologize for not getting the results out after the Conference Championship games, as we were busy with Peyton Manning news and the Super Bowl, and we're now finally starting to wind down before ramping up the draft coverage. Either way, I've got the final standings for the Playoff Fantasy Football Challenge.

First off I'll recognize the winner of the Championship round, which was BurbsST, who had 166 points in the two games, and impressive day. For the Super Bowl, the winner was oo9ers, who had 96 points, thanks to three different guys scoring over 20 points for him/her. And our overall winner is BurbsST, who finished with 773 points, a number way, way higher than a year ago, when the winner had just 525 points. It was a much higher scoring playoff season this year, which makes it a little more fun. The total actually beat the best possible team last year, which was only 756.

The best two players ended up on only 55 combined teams, as Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning had the most points with 101 points, and Hakeem Nicks, who was only on 12 teams, had 94. Tom Brady came in a respectable third.

After the jump you'll see the best possible team and full standings. You can see your individual team here (in alphabetical order). Again, if you see a mistake, please let me know. Thanks again to everyone for playing!

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More: Five in a row

Notre Dame Sophomore Jerian Grant was having a nightmare night shooting the basketball Wednesday night in Morgantown, just 3 for 16, until it really counted. After he intercepted a pass with two minutes to go and the game tied, Grant calmly walked the ball up the floor, got a high screen, and drilled an NBA three pointer to give the Irish a 48-45 lead with 1:52 left, a lead they hung to for the rest of the game, winning 55-51 on the road at West Virginia, their fifth straight victory.

Grant finished with just 12 points on the night, and his three at the end was the middle of an Irish 9-0 run, all on three, to go from three down to six up within 1:36 time. Eric Atkins tied the game at 45, and Scott Martin, with the shot clock winding down, drilled the dagger to put them up 51-45. It was the lone three pointer made by Atkins all night, missing his first six attempts, while Martin has found his shooting touch again, sinking five of seven baskets, including another three just before halftime, and finishing with 12 points.

The late barrage of threes camouflaged the fantastic game Jack Cooley had on Wednesday, where he had 21 points and 12 rebounds, seven of those offensive, and sank four of six free throws down the stretch to ice the game away. He struggled at times on the defensive end guarding Deniz Kilicli, who finished with 16 points, but any time the Mountaineers had a run during the game, Cooley was the guy to make the play for the Irish.

The Mountaineers only had four players score points, with Jabarie Hinds leading the way with 17 on 8-12 shooting from the floor. Kevin Jones added 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Gary Browne had the other four WVU points. Chuck Bryant, who is averaging over 17.5 points per game, and had 32 points just three days ago against Providence, was shut out on six shots, the first time he's failed to score since Nov. 10, 2010. Bryant did have eight assists, which was as many as the entire Notre Dame team. They were just 2-16 shooting from beyond the arc, and only attempted three free throws on the night however.

The Irish defense held WVU to just 24% shooting in the first half and 16 points, tying the school record for fewest points allowed in a half in the shot clock era. The Mountaineers seemed to figure out the Irish defense, getting a three point lead twice late in the second half, but ND Head Coach Mike Brey switched back into a 2-3 zone, and it worked to perfection.

Notre Dame now sits alone in third place in the Big East, 8-3 in the conference and 16-8 overall after their fifth straight win. Amazingly enough, their schedule lightens up some going forward, as their next three opponents are a combined 10-25 in conference play, and two of them are at home. West Virginia falls to 16-9, 6-6 in league play, right in the middle of the pack.

The Irish next play DePaul in South Bend Saturday afternoon at Noon.

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The countdown begins now...

Sometime between now and March 8th, we'll learn the fate of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, quarterback to every play in the NFL. That's the date that Peyton Manning is set to receive a $28 Million roster bonus from the Colts, and the overwhelming sentiment is that Manning will be let go by Jim Irsay and the Colts. It's clearly the biggest decision Irsay has ever had to make, and quite possibly one of the most difficult decisions in NFL history.

There aren't many other players the caliber of Manning in the history of the NFL that hit the free market, especially after being let go. Reggie White did not go back to the Eagles while in his prime, but he was a free agent, and the franchise tag didn't exist at the time, so White was free to sign with anyone, and he signed with the Packers.

Speaking of the Packers, remember what happened with Brett Favre? The Packers had just gone to Overtime in the NFC Championship game before losing to the Giants with Favre at QB, and they decided to part ways with Favre in favor of Aaron Rodgers. Favre still had a couple years left in him, as he again got a team to Overtime of the NFC Championship before losing once again.

This situation is eerily similar to the one the Colts are facing. A beloved figure that the team would probably keep around if not for a legitimate QB-in-waiting, but turning the page is the correct decision for the franchise, as tough as it may be at the time. A big difference here is that we don't know if Manning has a couple years left in him like Favre did. If he gets his throwing strength back, there's no doubt that he does.

That's a gigantic "if" though.

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One of the most important, and most underrated, players of the past decade-plus for the Colts could be in a slightly different role next season in Indianapolis. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Colts would like to bring Center Jeff Saturday into the Front Office, if he were to retire. The Colts are not alone either:

The Colts have told Saturday, a player who was instrumental in helping to end the lockout, that they are willing to give him a front-office job, according to league sources.

A second NFL team also has floated the idea of Saturday joining its front office.

Saturday was interviewed by WTHR here in Indianapolis Saturday night before the NFL Honors show, and I'm going to do my best to paraphrase as I can't find the video right now. He was asked about retirement, and said it was a decision he'd make with his wife and family, and the outcome of the Peyton Manning saga will have no effect on what he decides. I couldn't tell either way which way he was leaning, but Schefter said in his article the he'd have a good shot at playing at least one more year:

One NFL scout said this week that Saturday's career is not over if he doesn't want it to be, and Saturday could continue playing another season with the type of technique and playing style he uses.

Regardless of when Saturday ends his career, he should have an open job offer to join the Colts front office. The amount of time and effort put into ending the lockout last offseason showed just how good this guy is, and when you add in everything he's done for the Colts over the past 14 seasons, it's really a no-brainer. I'd much rather have him here than anywhere else, and I'd have to think he feels the same way.

My opinion is he isn't quite ready to hang them up just yet, and has one more season in him, trying to get the taste of 2-14 out of his mouth. He'd be a great help to a rookie QB, helping to identify different coverages/schemes that are foreign to a newbie. I guess we'll see if the Colts agree, and Saturday wants that task.

He's never steered away from a challenge in the past. I hope he's up for one more next season. If not, his cushy front office job is there waiting for him, exactly how it should be.

While the Colts continue to fight the media battle with Peyton Manning, another quarterback that very well could end up here in Indianapolis invaded the Super Bowl Media Center promoting the Gatorade Sports Science Institute. Stanford QB Andrew Luck was only here for less than 24 hours, but every local TV station got a sit-down interview with him. It's time for some Luck video.

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In the latest episode of "As The Colts Turn", we get information from Colts Owner Jim Irsay at 1:25 AM last night, just as he was finishing watching Jimmy Fallon from here in Indianapolis:

Peyton has not passed our physical nor has he been cleared to play for The Indianapolis Colts. Team statement coming on Friday.

— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) February 3, 2012

This is at least Round 3 of the back and forth between Team Manning and Team Irsay, as Manning's camp released the statement yesterday saying he's been cleared to play by his doctors, and quite frankly it's starting to look very petty on both sides. No matter how many nice things are said about the other party in the media, if both sides really didn't want this to play out in the media, it wouldn't be playing out in the media. But both sides are trying to win the PR battle.

This week should be about the magnificent job the city of Indianapolis is doing hosting this Super Bowl, and both sides are pushing it to the background, as any story involving Peyton Manning will get top-billing, even when the biggest game of the year is just two days away.

More to come when the Colts release their statement. If you were on the fence about whether you thought a divorce was coming, I'm not sure how you can conclude it's not coming now. It's really sad how this is going down, and both sides are to blame.

Certainly didn't expect this news to come down this week. ESPN's Chris Mortensen dropped this bombshell on all of us a few minutes ago:

Peyton Manning medically cleared to resume NFL career, per sources. More coming on ESPN now. #NFL32

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) February 2, 2012

Now, I didn't think this would come down any time soon, but what does this mean? It doesn't mean that he's actually able to play again, but I guess it means he can go out there and try to not get plowed by defensive linemen. A couple reactions:

"@mortreport: Peyton Manning medically cleared to resume NFL career, per sources"~ Sources say.. Things just got interesting didn't they

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 2, 2012

So, Manning is cleared to be sacked by 320-pound lineman? Sorry if I'm a little hesitant to fully buy that report.

— Derek Schultz (@Schultz1260) February 2, 2012

Peyton being cleared is not news. We knew this when Watkins cleared him in November. Just more media fodder.

— Will Carroll (@injuryexpert) February 2, 2012

Clearly Manning wants to play, and he's going to make it certain that he's ready to go for any team, whether it be the Colts or somebody else. This news doesn't change whether he's going to stay in Indianapolis or not, as I don't think anyone knows whether that is happening, and that includes Owner Jim Irsay. I have my suspicions, and feel pretty strongly about them, but I can't say 100% anything.

Let the craziness continue...

UPDATE: ESPN has an article up now, and here's a relevant paragraph, emphasis mine:

The sources said Watkins examined Manning recently in Los Angeles and concluded the stability in his neck would have allowed the quarterback to play this Sunday if the nerves in his arm had regenerated to a satisfactory performance level.

So basically his neck is fine (I thought we knew that already), and he could play if his nerves regenerate, which we also already knew. Certainly seems like we're not learning anything new here.

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Now that the Colts now have their new General Manager, and their new Head Coach, it's time to transition fully into draft mode. What better way to do that then with the annual Senior Bowl, which is Saturday afternoon at 4:00 ET on the NFL Network. It's the premiere draft-prep game for seniors to make an impression on actual NFL coaches and scouts, playing against one another. A good number of top prospects will be there, and if you're into the draft even a little bit, you should make a point of watching Saturday afternoon.

The Colts obviously have a boat-load of holes to fill going into 2012, so there are a lot of positions to watch Saturday. In fact, when I sat down to start going through players to watch, I had 61 guys. That's a few too many, but when there are seven positions that I think the Colts will target (not including QB), it's a lot of guys. I narrowed that list down to 25 players that I think we as Colts fans should keep our eye on, and a set of 7 that I feel will definitely be looked at by the Colts.

The positions I initially pulled, in no particular order, are C, OG, WR, DT/NT, DE, OLB, CB, SS. There may be more once we learn about Coordinators, what kinds of schemes they'll run, etc. There's also the uncertainty of several big-name free agents that we don't know about right now, but we will know about before the draft. I made the list broad, with the assumption it'll probably shrink as we get close to the draft.

After the jump I have a table of all guys to take a look at, as well as a quick blurb on the top guys for the Colts, at least in my opinion...

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If you tuned in to see the Big East match-up between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Seton Hall Pirates hoping to see offense, you probably turned the game off within the first 10 minutes, as the two teams couldn't make any shot early on, whether they were guarded or not. The Irish, however, found their shooting touch early in the second half, pulled away from the Pirates, and held them off for a 55-42 win on the road Wednesday night. It was just the second win away from Purcell Pavilion in nine games for the Irish.

How ugly was the offense early? The game was still scoreless at the first media timeout, with the teams combining to shoot 0-9 and turning the ball over eight times. It didn't get much better, as they only had six points combined at the next timeout with 11:22 remaining in the half. The Irish went on a 10-2 run to take a 17-13 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the half, and led just 19-18 at intermission. The teams were a combined 13-50 shooting in the first half, and just 2-14 from three point range. It was very ugly.

Notre Dame came out in the second half outscoring Seton Hall 19-7, building a 38-25 lead over the first eight minutes, and never looked back. The Pirates never got closer than 9 the rest of the way. Overall the Irish shot 35% from the floor, but were 24-32 from the foul line, including 21 of their last 25 in the win. They also held SHU to just 26% shooting from the floor, 2-14 from beyond the arc. They were also just 10-19 from the free throw line.

The Irish were led by Jerian Grant with 15 points and four assists, while Eric Atkins had 14 and Jack Cooley added 13 points and 11 rebounds, his sixth double-double on the season. Alex Dragicevich also added 9 off the bench, including two big three pointers at the start of the second half to lengthen the Irish lead. Seton Hall was paced by Jordan Theodore with 11 points, but had five turnovers. Aaron Cosby had 8 points, while Fuquan Edwin had 7 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Herb Pope, the Pirates leading scorer at nearly 17 points per game, had just 5 on the night on 2-16 from the floor.

Notre Dame moves to 13-8 on the season, and 5-3 in the Big East, while Seton Hall drops to 15-5, 4-4 in the Big East. The Irish will try to make it three wins in a row Sunday when they travel to Storrs to take on the Connecticut Huskies, a team they lost to just 11 days ago by 14 at home.

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Word leaked out around 4:15 ET this afternoon via Pro Football Talk, and the Colts confirmed these earlier reports just a few minutes later, making the news official: the Colts have hired Ravens Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano as their new head coach. In keeping with their new regime, the news became official via their team-sponsored blog.

More: Do you like the hire?

The Colts also announced they’ll hold a 3:00 ET press conference Thursday afternoon to officially welcome Pagano to the team.

A full bio of Pagano can be found on the Ravens website: http://www.baltimoreravens.com/People/Coaches/Chuck_Pagano.aspx

Several others that were interviewed for the position were Titans Defensive Coordinator Jerry Gray, Saints Offensive Coordinator Pete Carmichael, 49ers Special Teams Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach Brad Seely, and CFL Head Coach Marc Trestman. There were also reports that former Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel had interviewed for the position, as he was a Replay Consultant for the team last season.

If you sent a tweet to Colts Owner Jim Irsay yesterday with Ravens Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano, it looks like you have a chance to win Super Bowl tickets. Citing a league source, Pro Football Talk announced via Twitter that Pagano will be the next Head Coach of the Colts:

League source tells PFT that Chuck Pagano will be the next Colts coach.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 25, 2012

Pagano held the Defensive Coordinator position for the Ravens for just one year, and was the team's secondary coach for three season before that. He also coached the secondary between 2001-06 with the Browns and Raiders. He also seemed late to the interview game, but obviously he was busy with the Ravens up until last Sunday. It makes you wonder whether the Colts would have gone in a different direction had the Ravens won last weekend and were all set to play in the Super Bowl.

Now, this is not official news, but I doubt PFT would stick their necks out like this if they weren't very sure about it. We'll obviously update when we get more news.

If you sent a tweet to Colts Owner Jim Irsay yesterday with Ravens Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano, it looks like you have a chance to win Super Bowl tickets. Citing a league source, Pro Football Talk announced via Twitter that Pagano will be the next Head Coach of the Colts:

League source tells PFT that Chuck Pagano will be the next Colts coach.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 25, 2012

Pagano held the Defensive Coordinator position for the Ravens for just one year, and was the team's secondary coach for three season before that. He also coached the secondary between 2001-06 with the Browns and Raiders. He also seemed late to the interview game, but obviously he was busy with the Ravens up until last Sunday. It makes you wonder whether the Colts would have gone in a different direction had the Ravens won last weekend and were all set to play in the Super Bowl.

Now, this is not official news, but I doubt PFT would stick their necks out like this if they weren't very sure about it. We'll obviously update when we get more news.

[UPDATE]: Tweet from NFL Network's Jason LaConfora:

Chuck Pagano has informed the Ravens he is leaving to become Colts head coach #insideslant

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 25, 2012

What are your thoughts on the hire? Let us know.

[UPDATE 2]: It's now official. Pagano is the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. They team will hold a 3 p.m. ET press conference tomorrow to announce the hiring.

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The Big Lead's Jason McIntyre writes today about Celtics GM Danny Ainge retelling a story from his playing days when he was sitting around with Celtics legendary coach Red Auerbach. In particular, it was about how Red had many opportunities to trade away his big name players late in their careers, including Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird:

"He had a chance to trade Larry [to Indiana] for Chuck Person and Herb Williams and [Steve] Stipanovich, and he had a chance to trade Kevin [to Dallas] for Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins. I was, like, ‘Are you kidding?’

"I mean, I feel that way now. If I were presented with those kinds of deals for our aging veterans, it’s a done deal, to continue the success."

Ainge is referring to his aging "Big 3" of Ray Allen, 37, Kevin Garnett, 36, and Paul Pierce, 34. While Allen and Garnett wouldn't be able to help the Pacers too much, McIntyre thinks Pierce could be a valuable piece for the Blue and Gold:

The Pacers could be a factor in the East in May/June, but they’re shooting just 41% from the field, by far lowest of any team with nine or more wins. Pierce might be the most difficult to deal, though – he’s slated to make $16 million next year, and $15 million the following year.

While the price tag for Pierce would be high, what amounts to a two-year deal for Pierce fits into what the Pacers did in the off-season, where they signed David West for just two years, and still have some room under the cap. While the season is still in its infancy, with the Pacers sitting just a half game out in the Eastern Conference, this certainly is something to watch for in the coming months.

I finally got a chance to get the Playoff Fantasy Football stats updated after a couple of crazy days around here. I apologize to anyone that's been waiting for these. This week we had a couple of huge scorers, most notably that QB in New England and his tight end. Four of the eight QBs this weekend had 35 or more points, which are huge fantasy days, so if you didn't have at least two of those guys, you're way behind.

The winners for the Divisional Round were ndirishfan1083 and BurbsST, who each had 374 points this weekend, a huge week that was 90% of what the best team scored, so an excellent week for both of them. ndirishfan1083 also took the overall lead, but BurbsST has the maximum players left, so he/she is in really good position.

After the jump you'll see the best possible team so far, as well as the complete standings. You can see your individual team here (in alphabetical order). Again, if you see a mistake, please let me know.

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In the continuing season of change with the Indianapolis Colts, one of the cornerstones of the franchise for the past decade-plus may decide to hang them up. Jeff Saturday talked with Indy Star's Phil Richards yesterday in a column about players' reactions to the firing of Jim Caldwell, and here's his comment when asked about the future of the Colts:

"I have my own decision to make long before I worry (about) what the Colts are going to do," said Saturday, 36. "I'm considering not playing."

We all know that Saturday is one of the unsung heroes of this great run we've seen from the Colts, and it seems as though he would still lace them up here in Indy if there wasn't a brand new regime. But without his coach and friend Jim Caldwell, and presumably with a new QB starting in 2012, nobody would blame Saturday if he went to play somewhere else, or decided to just retire, playing every game in a Colts uniform, and taking his rightful place in the Ring of Honor.

In the continuing season of change with the Indianapolis Colts, one of the cornerstones of the franchise for the past decade-plus may decide to hang them up. Jeff Saturday talked with Indy Star's Phil Richards yesterday in a column about players' reactions to the firing of Jim Caldwell, and here's his comment when asked about the future of the Colts:

"I have my own decision to make long before I worry (about) what the Colts are going to do," said Saturday, 36. "I'm considering not playing."

We all know that Saturday is one of the unsung heroes of this great run we've seen from the Colts, and it seems as though he would still lace them up here in Indy if there wasn't a brand new regime. But without his coach and friend Jim Caldwell, and presumably with a new QB starting in 2012, nobody would blame Saturday if he went to play somewhere else, or decided to just retire, playing every game in a Colts uniform, and taking his rightful place in the Ring of Honor.