Category — Indianapolis Colts

The past several seasons it’s been a question whether or not Tony Dungy will continue coaching. Dungy, someone who has never considered himself a football “lifer” and expected himself to be retired at age 50 (he’s currently 53), seriously pondered retirement after coaching the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl win last year. But after meeting with owner Jim Irsay and talking the entire situation through with his wife, Dungy decided to instead coach another season before re-evaluating the situation.

Rumors of his retirement heated up this week when it was learned that Dungy’s children have transferred schools from Indianapolis to the Tampa area.

The Colts, however, are doing whatever is necessary to sway Dungy’s decision towards continuing the legacy he has built in Indianapolis. Recent reports from ESPN indicate that the team has offered him “tremendous options” and “flexibility.”

Bad news for Colts fans: the team that has already been riddled with critical injuries and losses this season (and before it began) may now be missing Dwight Freeney for the rest of the season.

According to ESPN’s John Clayton, Freeney has suffered Lisfranc; one of football’s most dreaded injuries. The Lisfranc fracture is a fracture and dislocation of the joints in the midfoot, where a cluster of small bones forms an arch on top of the foot between the ankle and the toes. Already Freeney was expected to miss several weeks with the injury, but there was hope he’d be ready to return in time for the postseason. Lisfranc injuries typically take months of rehabilitation, regardless of whether surgery is required to repair the damage.

Do you want to know how good Indianapolis is? They played their worst game of the season offensively, and they still only lost by 2 points. In fact, it came down to a missed field goal by the game’s most clutch kicker.

Anyone out there unsure of this defense?

It held the San Diego Chargers from ever establishing itself, as Tomlinson finished with a 3.6 yard per carry average and Philip Rivers finished with just over 100 yards through the air.

And despite Peyton Manning throwing a very uncharacteristic 6 interceptions in this game, the Colts still dominated the clock from start to finish (time of possession: 36:12). San Diego managed only 11 first downs to the Colts’ 25 and Indianapolis ran 34 more plays.

Marvin Harrison won’t be playing tonight, and, if reports by ESPN are correct, he could be feeling the injury for the remainder of his career. The Colts are still referring to it as a bruised knee, but Ed Werder’s source isn’t so sure that explains the extent of the injury.

…the receiver has been told his knee pain is likely to persist through the remainder of the season and perhaps for the rest of his career.

According to the source, specialists who have examined Harrison do not view surgery as a viable option because there is no guarantee of success and would require six months of rehabilitation.

(Source) 

Believe it or not, there was more to take from Sunday’s game than you may know. At least, we learned a lot more than “New England is the NFL’s best team” — though I should note that tidbit did almost make the list.

8. Penalties can kill a team — The Patriots nearly lost Sunday’s game because of penalties. Several got the attention of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady — Brady really lost his cool after a non-pass-interference call — and New England suffered. It was out of character for the Belichick-coached team to act so undisciplined.

7. Randy Moss can catch anything — His athleticism is simply amazing. Watching him snatch passes out of the air with one hand was alone worth the price of admission to Sunday’s game.

Now that we’re through this past weekend’s slate of games, every pundit with an opinion is concentrating his or her efforts on next Sunday’s clash of the titans: Indianapolis vs. New England.

Also, in case you haven’t checked lately, the poll on the sidebar has changed, asking who you think we’ll win. It’s still early (the poll was just put up a day ago and the results are hardly important at this point), but New England has a slight edge at this point.

But getting back to the game, I think it’s interesting that everyone expects a high-scoring affair. Not that it won’t be; these are the NFL’s two best offenses squaring off, so it’s understandable most are predicting that kind of result.

You may have heard of them. They won the Super Bowl last season. They have some guy named Peyton Manning calling the signals on offense. And by the way, they’re undefeated this season.

So what gives? Why is no one talking about the Colts?

Oh, that’s right; the Patriots are undefeated, too. But they’re a bit more garish. They score 40 points a game (and allow 17). Their quarterback is pacing himself for a 62 touchdown season, and not one pundit will pick against the Patriots this season.

Well, maybe one.

See, the Patriots circa 2007 are a bit reminiscent of the Colts circa 2003-2005. And the Colts remind me a lot of the Patriots during that string of Super Bowls. So much, in fact, it’s eerie.

Every fantasy football draft is going to see at least one owner pondering over whether or not he or she should draft Peyton Manning in the first round. It’s generally the owner with a mid-round pick, 6-8 is usually the position where he is at a higher value than a running back.

So, do you pull the trigger? What’s the earliest position where drafting Manning is a smart move?

Let’s assume you have a 12-team league, the average and, in my opinion, optimum number of players. Your rules are also the average: 6 points for any touchdown except passing, 4 points for each passing touchdown, 1 point per 10 yards receiving/rushing, 1 point per 25 yards passing, -1 point for interceptions.

Dwight Freeney is a disruptive force on defense, one of the most dynamic pass rushers in the NFL. And now his pay is reflecting that.

Freeney signed a six-year, $72 million contract (about $12 million per year) with the team Friday that includes a $30 million signing bonus, effectively making him the highest paid defensive player in NFL history.

“To have me paid among the top players in the league — not just as a defensive players — means a lot of me,” said Freeney. “[Colts general manager] Bill Polian is the one who drafted me. I was hand-picked by him. He was going to do the right thing for the organization.”

It was a great move by the Colts to secure Freeney. Though 2006 may not have been his best campaign, Freeney has sacked quarterbacks a total of 56.5 times since entering the league in 2002, including a four season stretch from 2002-05 in which he averaged nearly 13 sacks per season.

Does he deserve to be the highest paid defensive player in NFL history?

At one time it was “the greatest show in turf” in St. Louis. Since then the Colts have taken the crown, with such star talent as Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, and Reggie Wayne.

But who is 2007’s best fantasy offense? Which offense drops jaws with its talent while tallying the scoreboard and boxscore with big numbers?