Laura Calaway
Laura Calaway is a behavior change management consultant who has dabbled in amateur sports writing since 2009. She fell in love with the game of football as a young girl, when players like Vince Ferragamo, Eric Dickerson, and Nolan Cromwell graced her father's TV screen (Laura grew up in L.A.). She was originally a fan of the Raiders, and still has a soft spot for Howie Long and Marcus Allen. In 1991 she decided to root for a less "thuggy" team, and - not wanting to appear to be a bandwagon jumper - chose the 1-15 Colts. The fact that Sean Dawkins, one of her contemporaries and favorite players at Cal, soon joined the team only sealed the deal. Known as "LovinBlue" in the Colts blogging community, Laura has a particular interest in player injuries and team dynamics. She has an undergraduate business degree from Cal and MBA from Wharton.
Posts by Laura Calaway
The Colts May Soon Need Dungy to Play a Role
Apr 6th
Today is a big day for the owners, players and fans of the NFL – the lawsuit levied by the NFL players to remove the lockout order will begin to be heard by U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson. No matter the immediate outcome, most everyone is hopeful that today’s ruling (should it actually come out today) and any subsequent rulings will eventually lead to the owners and players returning to the bargaining table and hammering out some sort of agreement. (I won’t call it a CBA because as of now, there is no “collective” with which to bargain!) People are still hopeful that the season is not in jeopardy, neither in full nor even partially.
For now though, the owners and players remain cool at best, and angry/hurt at worst. It was inevitable that this fight got personal – football is the lifeblood for the owners and players, and for many, has been an integral part of their lives since their Pop Warner days. And it got personal torward the end of negotiations – players’ wives had labor induced early so as to ensure medical coverage, Carolina Panthers’ owner Jerry Richardson openly and derisively questioned QB Peyton Manning’s ability to understand a simple profit and loss statement, and there was the to formal negotiations that precipitated the union decertification and owner lockout. More >
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Colts’ Strategies During CBA Uncertainty, Part 4
Mar 4th
In January, Bill Polian indicated that the Colts had developed strategies to address each of four possible outcomes pending the CBA negotiations. The previous three posts explored what the Colts’ team-building strategy might look like should a CBA agreement be reached before, shortly (2-4 months), or long (5+ months) after the deadline. This post looks at the final possibility – that the NFL and NFLPA agree to operate under some undefined “set of rules.” Given that the deadline to reach a new agreement has been extended until tonight at midnight, this scenario could still play out like any of the other three, depending on what rules were agreed and when.
The “set of rules” could be the same as applied in 2010, or — depending on when these rules are agreed — they could dictate that there will be a shortened free agency period post-draft, or no free agency. If the rules are truly undefined, the strategy is likely to be to make only the roster moves about which the Colts feel absolutely certain (which it appears they have already done – franchise-tagged QB Peyton Manning, released now-Chargers S Bob Sanders, and tendered RB Joseph Addai and SS Melvin Bullitt). Then they wait – if it becomes clear that rules won’t be set prior to the draft, then they would implement their draft-then-free-agency strategy. Would-be free agents can’t go anywhere, and the team has likely done their analysis to be ready once the rules are defined.
I suppose what’s most interesting is the fact that Polian claims there is a strategy for what he himself identifies as “undefined.” It makes me wonder whether he inadvertently revealed something about the owners’ strategy in terms of proposing certain rules to proceed with the 2011 season if a CBA cannot be negotiated.
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Colts’ Strategies During CBA Uncertainty, Part 3
Mar 3rd
In January, Bill Polian indicated that the Colts had developed strategies to address each of four possible outcomes pending the CBA negotiations. The previous two posts explored what the Colts’ team-building strategy might look like should a CBA agreement be reached before or shortly (2-4 months) after the deadline. This post looks at the next possibility – that the NFL and NFLPA take several (5+) months to reach agreement. In this scenario, the draft will still take place April 28-30 as planned, but would-be free agents would not be allowed to test the market and sign with other teams.
Were foresight 20/20, this would be about as easy or difficult a scenario for the Colts as if the CBA were signed on time. The “easy” part is that the team wouldn’t have to predict the market value of their own free agents – it would be set at some percent increase over their 2010 salaries (I believe I remember seeing 20%, but not sure). Still, the team would need to evaluate whether they would be willing to pay that amount, adjust their draft board accordingly, then release those in whom they aren’t interested once business started up again. The “hard” part is the uncertainty of when this scenario would be declared in play. More >
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Colts’ Strategies During CBA Uncertainty, Part 2
Mar 3rd
In January, Bill Polian indicated that the Colts had developed strategies to address each of four possible outcomes pending the CBA negotiations. Yesterday’s post explored what the Colts’ team-building strategy might look like should a CBA agreement be reached before tonight’s deadline. This post looks at the next possibility – that the NFL and NFLPA reach an agreement in relatively short order after the current CBA expires, say 2-4 months. In this scenario, the only thing that is certain is that the draft will take place April 28-30 as planned. Current players will be prevented from entering team facilities or attending meetings beginning Friday, March 4. If there is no CBA for only 2-4 months, then it is likely that a shortened free agency period will still happen, but it would take place after the draft. In my opinion, this is the worst case scenario for the Colts.
Under this scenario, the Colts must predict as best as possible what the market value will be for their own pending free agents, determine what they (the Colts) are willing to offer them, then adjust their draft board accordingly. It means they will probably need to rely more on rookies to replenish at positions where they stand to lose players to free agency or age/retirement, with the offensive line, safety and running back positions being particularly vulnerable. It also means they must be near spot on with their free agent value assessments, lest they offer too much to retain a free agent, or worse, lose someone they thought they could retain and not have enough talent waiting in the wings. It also means they have to guess which free agents from other teams will be available, and plan to have the space (roster spot and salary cap-wise, assuming the cap returns) to sign someone, should they target him. More >
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Colts’ Strategies During CBA Uncertainty
Mar 2nd
In January, Bill Polian indicated that the Colts had developed strategies to address each of four possible outcomes pending the CBA negotiations: (1) a CBA is agreed before Friday; (2) a CBA is agreed after Friday, with a short work stoppage; (3) a CBA is agreed after Friday, but with a long work stoppage; and (4) a decision is made to operate under an undefined “set of rules.” By tomorrow night at midnight, we will know whether #1 is no longer a possible outcome. This series examines how the Colts strategies might have been laid out in each of the scenarios.
#1 – mostly business as usual. For the Colts, business as usual means a heavy emphasis on building from within, including drafting capable players and developing them to play in their scheme. It means re-signing their own free agents, looking for gems among the UDFA ranks, and maybe looking at those who were unceremoniously released from other teams. It usually means staying out of high-profile free agency – you won’t likely see the Colts chasing someone like Nnamdi Asomugha or DeAngelo Williams. More >
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In the Training Room: Colts’ TE Dallas Clark on the Mend
Feb 5th
Despite the Colts not being participants in this year’s Super Bowl, the players are out and about being interviewed by the media. Dallas Clark responded to questions yesterday morning, including those about his rehabilitation from a displaced tendon injury in his right wrist.
Clark injured the wrist when he landed awkwardly toward the end of the October 17 game against the Redskins, and recently revealed that he had been in a cast for 3 months following surgery. More >
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In the Training Room: Impact of a Lockout on Rehab
Jan 26th
Melvin Bullitt
With a potential NFL lockout coming, two health-related impacts loom large for players. The first is the possible loss of health care benefits (Patriots’ OL Matt Light raises an excellent non-game-related example of how this affects players personally). The other is that players who are rehabbing from injury will not have access to team facilities beginning March 4. This article looks at who on the Colts’ team this is likely to affect most.
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In the Training Room: How the Colts’ Injuries Compare to the Packers’
Jan 22nd
It seems the Redskins were kryptonite for the Packers as well, as TE Jermichael Finley is carted off the field after injuring his knee in Week 5.
Tomorrow, the Green Bay Packers will be in Chicago to take on the Bears in the NFC Championship Game. The media have highlighted the Packers’ long injury list (15 players on IR), and earlier this week Football Outsiders published a games-lost-by-starters statistic showing that the Pack lost a total of 83 starter-games in 2010. The statistic also estimates that the Colts lost 89 starter-games – a significant number to be sure, but not significantly more than the Packers. It’s fair to wonder why the Packers have been able to recover enough from injuries to make it to the NFCCG, while the Colts are watching the rest of the playoffs on TV. This post offers a perspective.
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Indianapolis Colts 2011 First String Currently Features Painter, Swenson
Jan 11th
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Curtis Painter talks with a coach during the second quarter of an NFL preseason football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Indianapolis, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Tom Strickland)
UPDATE: I misread the Rotoworld entry on Robert Mathis, and inadvertently marked him as a free agent beginning this year. Thankfully, he is under contract for one more year. Post updated to reflect this. Apologies for any confusion!
For all intents and purposes, the 2011 season has begun for the Indianapolis Colts. And if the team were preparing for their first game of the 2011 season, Curtis Painter would be lining up under center and Brett Swenson would be practicing tee shots.
OK, OK, it’s sensationalist and nobody expects that to actually happen. Owner Jim Irsay has gone on record as saying that the Colts will make Peyton Manning the highest-paid player in the NFL. And after Adam Vinatieri’s season, in which he went 29 of 31 (including the playoffs), and was perfect on 52 XPs, it is hard to imagine the Colts wouldn’t do what is necessary to re-sign him. Vinatieri has also expressed an interest in completing his career in Indy. But what does the roster currently look like to start 2011?
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