Now that the Colts have a division title in hand, the playoff scenarios are pouring in. And just like every year, like clockwork, the same silliness starts:

Gotta play the starters, even if there's nothing to win. Gotta keep em out there, keep em sharp. Gotta keep momentum.

Kravitz may be riding that train, but Polian isn't, and I'm DEFINITELY not, and it should really be obvious why.

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In retrospect, this move was a bigger surprise than it should have been. At the time we figured Ed had been caught with a blunt the size of an arm in his locker or something of that nature. Then there was speculation about a possible trade move that required him to be cleared off the roster. And now we're in the middle of questioning Ed Johnson's performance.

But the simplest (and by Occam's razor, the best) answer is something a little more mundane: Big Ed was the victim of a bad call by management and wound up as the odd man out.

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This hasn't gotten much mention that I've seen since Sunday's game, but I really wanted to bring it up.

When Edge touched the ball, the crowd stood up and cheered. When they played the tribute video, he got a standing ovation. Of course, as Colts fans, we expected this, but I was most interested in how it affected the announcers.

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I missed the game last night, was away from home for my GRE test (1530 for those of you wondering), but in the highlights I saw something I'm not sure I believe.

Was that Phillip Wheeler playing a down lineman on Jackson's interception? He brought great pressure off the edge and forced an early throw. For a standup guy, he looked pretty comfortable with his hand on the ground and beat two guys around the edge. Maybe this is why they let Howard go?

Everyone's gonna have their thoughts, so I just wanted to chime in. It's 7 am here in Germany so I'll be brief.

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Let's get one thing straight:

I'm a Homer with a capital H. In my mind, there has never been a better quarterback than Peyton Manning, and every year the Colts are the best team in football, and the only thing keeping them from the Lombardi Trophy is a conspiracy of bad trainers and corrupt officials, and possibly a jealous Zeus. So this ain't gonna be an unbiased FanPost. But I think you'll forgive me the indulgence when I say this year's Colts team is the best team in a LONG time, and only a hurricane or other supernatural intervention will deny them the Super Bowl. After the jump, I'll give you the rundown.

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The official player ratings for Madden 10 have been revealed over on ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/videogames/features/madden/madden10?teamId=10

We'll go through a couple of the more notable ones; who gets props and who gets snubbed?

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http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/nfl_tracker/posts/67181-agent-rex-grossman-will-visit-houston-texans?eref=fromSI

File this one under "Please God let this happen". If you thought the Rosencopter was great, imagine Indy playing the Texans twice a year with Grossman under center.

Those of you who were alive three years ago may remember Rex Grossman as the Indiana native son who did his home state the greatest service in history by lofting two awful interceptions, earning many Colts fans' vote for MVP of the game. Chicago is sick of him, but here in Indiana we can't get enough of the guy. So this new deal sounds almost too good to be true.

You might as well put Hayden down for two TDs a year if this thing goes through. Fingers crossed...

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/0-10-38/Colts-notes-from-minicamp-practice.html

Kuharsky has some nice observations from Saturday's minicamp. Some important points:

1. Receiver order seems very much in flux, but everyone seems to be high on Garcon. The chief storyline of training camp, no doubt.

2. Charlie Johnson, Lilja and Mike Pollak were not working in the main line rotation. For the three guys who ought to represent the top of our guard depth, that's not a particularly great sign.

3. Jerraud Powers apparently made a nice break on a ball, showing good reaction and instincts. Corner depth is a big concern, so to see this guy work his way into the lineup would be great.

As Kuharsky says, you can't read too much into what goes on at minicamp. But since it's June, and between the Ko-Be-A Finals and baseball (snore), we're all dying for September. Anybody at Franklin College today with some other observations?

Like many, I was caught a little off guard by the Donald Brown pick. Don't get me wrong, I liked what I saw from him at the combine, and he's got some great moves. But I wasn't aware of him a really elite player. Of course, Polian is a pro and I'm certainly not arrogant enough to say that I'm a better talent evaluator than him. But I didn't see RB as a huge need.

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