TE: Allen-Fleener-Cunningham-Saunders Allen is on the verge of stardom after a great rookie season........Fleener wasn't a big factor as a rookie , but has the abilty to make this group one of the leagues best and should be a major contributer this year......Cunningham brings oustanding blocking and can be a factor in the passing game, at times grade: B T: Costonzo-Cherlius-Ijalana-Linkenbach Costonzo has gotten better each year and may never be elite, but is a quality player............Cherlius
QB: Luck-Hasselbeck-Harnish Luck will just get better each year and as good as he was last year, should be alot better in year #2 as he fine tunes the very few flaws in his game............Hasslebeck provides proven big time insurance ............ Harnish shows promise but don't see him making the team grade: A+ FB: Havili A sure fire change of attitude with a true FB RB: Bradshaw-Ballard-Brown-Carter-Wiliams I thought we were in decent shape before Bradshaw was signed, He gives us another prove
#1. Bjoern Werner-DE/OLB-FSU-6'4-275-4.7 Born in Germany, has only played football for 5 years and his upside in unlimited. All -American, was 2nd in the nation with 13 sacks, was predicted to go as high as #2-overall, before a slow 40 time at the combines dropped his stock ( Trying to stop laughing-the good teams just sit back and wait for the "other" teams to screw up and take advantage-I love it!!) Has been compared to Chris Long . Oustanding player and production, who as great as he already
rating system: 5 (pro bowl player) 4 (pro bowl potential) 3 ( solid) 2 (adequate) 1 ( why are you on the team) QB-Luck-5 Hasselback (insurance) not a need area RB- Ballard-3.5 Brown-3 not a need area TE- Allen-4 Fleener-4 I think Fleener will really show alot more this year...not a need area WR-Wayne-5 Brazill-2 WR-Heyward-Bey-3.5 Hilton-3.5 if the Colts are sold on Heyward-Bey, this is not a major need area, more depth is needed OT- Costonzo-3.5 OT- Cherilus-3.5 Linkenbach-2.5 not a major
I was very anxious to observe year 2 in the Grigson era. I was a full blown believer in the Polian era, I felt his approach to winning and building a team was spot-on, as well as un-equaled in the history of the NFL, I am still more than a little baffled why a man with his Hall of Fame track record and one of the best, if not the best this league has ever seen, has to be defended...even to fans of the team that benefited from that expertice. (attempting) moving on..... In year 1 of the Grigson e
It's year 2 of the new era, hard to really know how the new leaders will go about the approach of (continuing) building the monster. The results in year #1, surpassed reasonable expectations, with the wholesale changes and extremly young talent, a playoff game wasn't the norm, what I saw this year, was a team that had some talent, some depth, that bought into to Pagano's blueprint on what it takes to win in the NFL, had some quality coaches who stepped up and kept that going and G.M who has a v
DB- At cornerback, there was strength in numbers, Powers is solid, but hasn't taken his game up a notch-consistently, Davis played well, he has the skill set to be an elite CB, but......Butler was very impressive, when given a chance, Vaughn, is decent and Gordy adds quality depth At safety Bethea, as always, is a very good and under-appreciated player, Zbikowski, had some good games, but I expected more from a guy who has played in this defense before, Lefeged, is a quality backup and one of th
DL: a position I viewed as a weakness or at the very least, unpredictable, before the season, played better than I expected, but far from dominant. There are no elite players, as of yet, although some of the young guys, could be........in time. Johnson, added weight and played in the middle, Moala and Redding were the primary ends, Mathews got lots of reps and the rest were mainly, guys off the street next year-there is hope, most of the talent didn't play much or at all, Nevis had a very good r
T- Castonza had a solid season, not sure if he will ever make elite...Justice was decent, Linkenbach is adequate-short term G- Reitz, missed more time than he played, is solid when healthy, McGlynn is adequate, Linkenbach is more capable, inside C- Satale missed quite a few games, Shipley filled in , more than adequatly next year: I think this is the only and most dire hole on the team and needs a major upgrade, there are no front line players and only 1 that can even be viewed as having that po
WR- Reggie, who has been consistently productive over his entire career, took his game to another level, Avery had a productive season, Hilton surprised (me) I was expecting more of a role player, Collie, just can't shake the injury bug, Brazill had some nice catches next year: At some point Reggie will slow down (33) he currently ranks #10 all-time in receptions and #14, in yards and should end up next year around 7th, in each category, Hilton was the most productive rookie WR in the league and
As anyone who has read my blogs has figured out, I tend to view things completly different than most..... I think one of the things that alianated many fans against Polian was his decision to rest players and not go for the perfect season, I don't know- for sure-what I would have done given the option, I am leaning towards, the same decision he made, his record speaks for itself, there is not another G.M. who can equal his success over his career and who I am to question that anyways, back to th
QB-What can be said about Andrew Luck, that hasn't been said.........he came into this league with maybe more hype than any other QB and exceded expectations..........the guy's game is flawless, he is already one of the leagues better QB's and how great he will be, will be fun to watch The only thing we know about the backups is, they looked very good in pre season and the only way we will really find out is if Luck gets hurt next year- Luck will have experience-look out!! Stanton is a free ag
I have watched all 16 games this year and have watched a team that is the only team in the playoffs with a negative ( significant) point differential, we all know that turnovers are game wreckers and we are at the bottom of the list, all year I have tried to figure it out.......and the bottom line is winning, so............what does it matter I have not been shy about sharing my thoughts on the changes, never will agree that they needed to be made, that is neither here, not there, they have happ
Having watched 15 games this season, this team has got "IT" the problem is I am not sure, what "it" is......... Game story: Team A- 288 total yards 90 yds rushing (3.5 avg) 4-48 (penalties) 1 turnover 27 minutes (time with ball) Team B- 507 yds 352 yds rushing ( 8.0-are you kidding me-name the last time -ever, a team won a game giving up 350 yds rushing 9-75 (penalties) 1 turnover 32 minutes (with ball) I have watched 15 games and seen, almost very week, this team get outplayed, often dominate
Pretty solid all around effort vs one of the best teams in the AFC, what started out looking like a blowout, ended up being a reasonably close contest. 2 things that cannot happen if you expect to win an away game vs a top tier team, is fumble on the 1 yd line (Moore) and have a punt blocked for a TD, throw in 1-8 on third downs and............. Luck played ok, maybe there was some degree of accuracy in the article about the beating he has taken this year, taking a toll, he has literally taken a
We often hear you can't just turn it on and turn it off , like a light switch, I have been hearing all year how this team just keeps playing because they don't know any better, apparantly they don't know about the light switch, because after that first half, they turned it on. The first half was pretty ugly, Luck was not sharp, no running game, the defense wasn't doing much, then............the switch Luck really wasn't sharp all game, I mentioned last week, that he is a winner, when the chips
I am a little lost here, I just watched a game and saw a team that was pretty much dominated, even though the rushing stats were adequate (5.0- average was very good, but only 18 attempts ) and didn't really appear like it was a threat all game long, the o-line has regressed the past 2 games, Luck-who looked very sharp in the first half and the last 2 drives, looked lost for most of the second half and a defense that rarely gets turnovers, has had very little pass rush, most of the year, got l
No record setting passing stats, no incredible runs, no game changing plays on defense (almost was) just 60 minutes of solid team football. Got to start off with that unit (special teams) since I had planned on not mentioning them again, the rest of the year, they made the game changing play.............Hilton's 75 yd punt return TD, the first for the Colts since 2007 (T.J.Rushing).... a very good game for the coverage units vs one of the leagues best returners and a big game for McAfee, who was
When the score is 59-24, you have to look really hard to find some positives, but they are always there and you have to say, after every 2-3 plays, you are never as bad as you look when you lose........... Luck had a pretty good game, but he did look like a rookie, as he has ( a few times) that's expected, the running game was good (119 yds-5.0 avg) not as good as it has been, that's what happens when you are the team trying to catch up and keep pace. Ballard had a good game (16-72) Hilton led t
Nothing really stood out statisticly,no passing records, mainly because of a fast start and a very balanced game plan. All 3 phases played very good solid football and that leads to success and victories. The running game had a big game for the 3rd time in the last 4 games, helped by Hilton's 30 yds. Seems like most of the early games,there wasn't much success running the ball, but they were a few big runs, each game and that made the run total look better, lately , there hasn't been as many b
DL-Redding has been a huge plus with his experience in the league and the 3-4, most of this unit has missed games and much like the O-line hasn't played many games together, hopefully Chapman will be activated and should be a major player in the rotation..grade-D OLB-with Freeney and Mathis both missing time, the void has been noticable, Hughes has done a good job when called on...grade-C ILB- probably the deepest position on the team, Freemen has played at a pro bowl level, Angerer is just now
QB- anytime a QB comes into the league with as much hype and expectations as Luck did and surpass them.............. can't even say there is anything I could say he needs to work on, other than just game experience...........grade-A+ RB- Brown has shown big play ability, Ballard improves weekly and his upside is huge, Carter has played well and is a quality backup......B ( with better O-line production this group could post very good numbers TE- Both rookies have had their moments and should
5-3 at the halfway mark- I knew it..........not. Tied for the 3rd best record in the AFC, the remaining 8 games-3 are probably losses ( patriots and texans (2) the other 5 are 50/50, which would leave a 7-9,8-8 record............. As it does every week and will every week, for the next 10+ years, it starts and ends with Andrew Luck, it's hard to narrow down his attributes to one thing, but his knack for avoiding the rush and keeping a play alive is amazing, with the O-line trying to find it's
Classic example of............... whatever it takes, with the overtime win vs the Titans, the Colts stand at 4-3, 4th best record in the AFC. I have totally given up trying to make sense of anything I see each Sunday or where, any team is, at any point during the season. Maybe some of it can be explained by playing a divisional rival and those games are not the norm. Most of the year, there has been very little success running the ball, although it has looked better , of late. Today, the Colts
