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Chris Wood

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Wood

  1. Chris Wood

    Back to Earth

    By Chris Wood,

    Ever the optimist, I let my hopes get a little high this year. After watching the preseason and looking at the schedule, I felt that 8-9 wins was entirely possible. The loss to Jacksonville took away one of those wins, and couple that with the way the team has played the first few weeks and it looks like 6 wins could even be a little optimistic at this point. But I’m not ready to give up hope yet.
    But I do have to look at the team for what our strengths and weaknesses are. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of strengths right now. We have Reggie Wayne and Robert Mathis – who have shown up consistently game in and game out. We have Donnie Avery, who many may not have seen as a strength heading into the season, but I believe has shown that he has the speed and the hands to be a #1 or solid #2 wide receiver. We have Donald Brown who is not a premier back, but looks to have the speed right now to make something happen if he can just get a little running room. And we have Powers who could make something happen on defense if the rest of the defense would step up.
    There are almost too many weaknesses to list: inconsistent offensive line, less than impressive defensive line, inconsistent pass rush, no depth in defensive backfield, rookies all over the field on offense including Andrew Luck. There, I said it. Andrew Luck is a weakness – at least right now. I don’t think he has quite adjusted to the speed of the NFL yet and it is showing up in underthrowing his receivers and inconsistent play. It probably doesn’t help any that it is a brand new offense for everyone and that he only has 2-3 veterans on offense that can even help him out.
    Fixing these weaknesses could take some time. Offensively, Luck and the rest of the team should improve as the season goes on, barring any significant injuries. But it probably won’t make a significant difference until next year. Defensively, about the only position I feel good about right now are the middle linebackers, and even they are young and mistake prone. I like our outside linebackers too, but not enough depth behind Freeney and Mathis. We still need bigger, stronger guys up front for the 3-4 – and that won’t happen this year. We still need bigger, faster defensive backs – and that won’t happen this year. In fact, with all of the needs in the defense, it could still take a couple of years to really grow into a solid 3-4 defense.
    Nevertheless I will still be cheering for my Colts, expecting solid play from my young team, and hoping for a victory each and every week. So even with the Packers coming to town in a week and a half I will not be sitting on my hands. Let’s go 12th man, let’s show them what we’ve got.
  2. Chris Wood

    Carpe (SUN)Diem

    By Chris Wood,

    If you have not heard it before, carpe diem is the latin phrase meaning to live for the day. In other words, take each day as it comes and live it to the fullest. So I am simply borrowing it and applying it to the Colts football season – to live for the day Sunday. Hence, Carpe (SUN)Diem.
    I fully buy into the concept that the most important game of the season is the next one. And this will especially hold true for the Colts this season. And it starts this Sunday with the game at Chicago. A win will announce that teams will have to take us seriously this year as a playoff contender. A close loss means lookout, we are coming, though we may not be there at the end of the season. A bad loss will bring me back down to earth.
    These are not your Manning’s Colts, where we are almost guaranteed a spot in the playoffs before the first snap of the season. I doubt any Colts fan has already started making plans for the post-season at this point. In fact, the old practice of play the games and add up the wins at the end of the season doesn’t really ring true anymore either. So what is going to matter more to me this year is to get on my Colts gear and get ready for some football.
    I am hoping at the least that the Colts will still be in the hunt, realistically or not, for the playoffs in December. But, to get to that point, I am willing to cheer for my team, through their ups and downs, each week of the season, looking for that final score with us ahead of the other team when the gun sounds. And with the most important game of the season coming up (see above), I sure hope that is the way things go down on Sunday. And for everyone who is with me say “ Carpe SUNDiem”.
  3. Chris Wood
    It was billed as RG3 vs Andrew Luck - the top 2 draft picks, but it was really more a tale of 2 defenses. I must say, I was quite envious of the Redskins defense - in our backfield frequently, stuffing every run at the line - they made us earn just about every yard, with the biggest play the TD pass to TY.
    Meanwhile, our defense struggled to get their running backs to the ground, repeatedly left receivers open, and did not get nearly enough pressure on their QB. Whatever hope I had in the first two games faded a little with that performance.
    I still think we should have a good team. We have good skill players throughout the offense with a lot of good young talent to complement Reggie Wayne. The offensive line will need to have a better showing, but I still think 23-24 points per game is easily within reach for this team.
    The coaching has been very good. There have not been a lot of mistakes - very few penalties, and, for the most part, taking good care of the football. I hope that the defense will do much better when the season starts. I do like that the GM is continuing to find ways to upgrade the DB's. It looks like we may need to go after another DT as well now that McKinney is done for the year.
    The first game of the season should give us a very good look at where we stand as a team. Chicago should be able to challenge us in all three phases of the game. If we manage to play well and win that one, I may even start dreaming about making the playoffs this year. Either way, I think we will have an interesting team to watch this year.
    Keep building the monster, (because it doesn't look like we are there yet).
  4. Chris Wood
    Taking Care of Business.
    The Colts were “taking care of business” early and often on Sunday. Taking Care of Business is the new scoring celebration song at Lucas Oil and it was fun hearing it played so much. (Which makes me wonder, who decides on the music that is played in the stadium?) And the Colts did take care of business.
    It was a very enjoyable game, even though statistically it was meaningless. And after last year, it was nice watching an offense that could put points on the board. The defense also had a good day. Other than enjoying the scoring and watching a relatively clean game I’m not sure how much optimism to take away from the game. Remember you are never as good as you think you are after a win. But here are some random thoughts, observations about the team thus far.
    Jim Irsay must feel blessed to be able to go from Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck. While it is far too early to know what kind of career and success Luck will have in Indy, I certainly like everything I have seen and heard thus far.
    If the offensive line can come together and hold up this season we could have a very good offense. I like our receivers – thrilled to have Reggie and Austin Collie back, Donnie Avery (who didn’t play) has a chance to be very good, and the rookie receivers and Quan Cosby also showed some skill. We have some depth at running back, as we saw with Donald Brown showing the burst and Carter showing the will to get the tough yards. Moore should be a great addition as well. The tight ends should be pretty good as well, though still will need a few games to see how good they could be.
    The defense should be okay as well. They didn’t dominate, but were able to come up with some big stops when they needed to. And the coverage wasn’t bad. Jerry Hughes showed some speed coming off the edge, and as long as the scheme allows him to come free he may be able to get some good pressure on the QB.
    The special teams also performed well.
    It was a special treat to see the back-up QB’s and offensive players put points on the board, (I can’t remember the last time they scored 17 points or more in half of a preseason game – maybe never.)
    Overall I think the Colts will be good this year. Of course most of the teams in the NFL have the potential to be good. The real question is how long it will take them to go from being good to being great. In any case, I am looking forward to the season and hope they can continue to take care of business at home. (What can I say – I like to dance!)
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