[Sceme Change With Collins?]

This is the kind of stuff that I dont understand about many Colts fans. You make it sound like Peyton is the only quarterback in the world thats capable of completing a pass. There are 31 other teams that dont have Peyton Manning, and they do just fine. Just because you have a history of having pis-poor backup quarterbacks, that doesnt mean that someone like Collins wont be able to step in with the talent you have on your roster and succeed. Many of you talk like you have one of the strongest receiving corps...heck...if I didnt know anything about football and my only exposure to it was reading this board, youd have me believing that Anthony Gonzales, Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie, and Reggie Wayne were all future Hall of Famers. All of a sudden if they dont have the almighty Peyton Manning these guys will just become scrubs? I dont buy it...if Peyton doesnt play, sure theyll adapt their gameplan and play to the quarterback's strenghts. Every team does that when they're dealing with injuries, and many have found success. But the playmakers will still make plays, and if the team is as good as many of you believe, they may even win, too.

Good post, I think there will be a definite drop in capability at QB, but not nearly as much with Collins as there would have been with Painter. I'm sorry but Painter has never played well in the few times he has gotten into a game. Collins on the other hand has done pretty good in this league. I also think we do have a strong receiving corps in Wayne, Collie, and Clark... but from there it falls off. I think Gonzales could be good but he has to stay healthy but Garcon just is not consistent enough. The advantage of the other receivers is they will still make a good QB like Collins look good they are great route runners and catch everything thrown there way. So IMHO getting Collins was a great move to keep things stable until Manning returns. If Manning doesn't return, we will probably be a playoff contender, if Manning returns healthy with his receivers I would say we will go deep into the playoffs, if Painter starts it will be a long season.

[Mike And Mike Predictions]

I promise you if Clark and Collie are healthy all year, in December we will be alive and fighting for a playoff spot.

I agree with this statement, I know Peyton is the critical piece of the offense, but the difference between his superbowl years and not has been having these kind of reliable receivers. If Clark and Collie stay healthy he's going to have so much more confidence through out the year. They are pivotal, White, Garcon, and Tamme are just not in the same league as these two incredibly reliable receivers in my opinion there are three key pieces of the offense that need to be healthy together.

If they are, the Superbowl will be a home game this year

[Collie And Clark Test New Helmets]

Some good points made here. First the weight of the helmet wont change things much because the helmet and head are attached to the body, what you want to avoid is the head absorbing the force of the two colliding football players. Second, the idea about crumble zones or padding or even airbags would be great if they were feasible. The new helmet is being made with kevlar. Kevlar's value is in its unique ability to disperse energy over a wider area, thus limiting the force to any specific area of the head and thus brain. This is the way kevlar stops a bullet, the bullet still strikes with the same force, the kevlar rapidly disperses the energy to the fibers connected to it, spreading that energy out. This could help with concussions, but as another poster said, concussions have alot to do with the brain moving inside the skull, so dispersing the energy outside the helmet may not reduce the brain movement inside the skull, but I'm not concussion expert.

[Over/under: Austin Collie Gets 1000 Yards / 9 Tds]

And how many of those TDs were with Dallas Clark out of the game?

Clark is his #1 red zone receiver; always has been, and certainly will be this year.

Maybe in the past, I'm not sure about now. In Clark's 6 games last year he had 3 TDs, Collie played in 9 games (several for less than a half due to injuries) and had 8. The year before Collie as a rookie had 7 TDs and Clark in his pro bowl year had 10. This year both will get their opportunities but if they both stay healthy I think you'll see Collie with more TDs, he has a significantly better catch rate per target as I stated in my earlier post. The real question is how will teams defend Collie this year. Admittedly he probably was not being guarded by other teams' shutdown corners like Wayne, but since he is a legitimate threat it will be interesting to see how teams adapt their defense to cover 3 great receivers/TE (Wayne, Collie, Clark) and another decent receiver (Garcon).

[Over/under: Austin Collie Gets 1000 Yards / 9 Tds]

Just another word (I promise!) for those that think Collie will have less than 8 TDs, review the end of his rookie season and all of last season when he was healthy. He was Peyton's #1 redzone target by far! He averaged a TD a game last year and was nearly as good in the latter part of his rookie season as he and Peyton got sync'ed up. IF HE IS HEALTHY, he will easily exceed 8 TDs. When you have the best QB throwing the ball and a receiver that catches 80%+ of throws, of course you're going to throw to him in the endzone! Go Colts!

[Over/under: Austin Collie Gets 1000 Yards / 9 Tds]

I think he is over on both. He was Manning's go to target when he was healthy. He was catching a higher percentage of targets than any other receiver (80.5%, or 58 catches of 72 passes). In comparison Wayne was at 63% and Clark was at 69.8% last year. I think Collie and Manning have incredible chemistry. If they both are healthy this season then Collie will do better in both categories. If all the receivers and Manning are healthy we have a good chance of going to the Superbowl again just like Collie's rookie season. Reviewing the top 50 receivers in the NFL, only 13 were equal to or better than Wayne's 63% of targets caught and not one was within 10% of Collie, the closest being at 69%. Collie was unstoppable healthy, if he is healthy this year the Colts will be near unstoppable. Today's ESPN highlight world likes to see 50 yard touchdowns, but if you have a receiver that catches 4 out of every 5 passes tossed his way, you will march down the field on anyone. I hope he protects his head this year and I hope Peyton gets healthy... if so we are going to have some FUN!

[Future AFC South Biggest stars by Paul Kuharsky COLLIE IS 1]

Collie has played outside when Garcon was hurt, he was quite successful. And before his thumb injury he was leading the league in most if not all three big stats: yards, touchdowns, catches. Besides this what made him such a dominate force was his receptions per target was absolutely incredible, catching nearly 81% of every pass thrown towards him. Even with injuries and missed games he was ranked the 14th receiver in the entire league in TDs and 34th in receptions and for those who care the 3rd overall in fantasy points per game. He and Peyton had very special chemistry and I think that will continue. He knew exactly where to be and Peyton trusted him implicitly. With him really understanding the offensive system and Dallas Clark returning, the receiving corps will be impressive.

From my watching of Collie's concussions, I hope he learns to keep his head up on those hard strikes, as he goes to protect the ball it seems he drops his head down while he braces himself, putting his head low enough to get hit. I hope he can work on this as well as Peyton taking care of him better. If so, he is going to be a Pro bowler this year!