Posts tagged Jacob Lacey
Did Injuries Affect the 2010 Colts?
Jan 19th
Colts fans are stuck in limbo. The Super Bowl is still two weeks away, so talking about the off-season seems premature. Before fans get to that point, it is worthwhile to take a look back at 2010 to gauge where the Colts franchise will be when the draft and summer activities roll around.
One of the biggest impacts on Indianapolis in 2010 was the unprecedented number of injuries the team had to play through. The Colts placed 18 players on Injured Reserve, and two others on the injured/waived list — including Taj Smith, who rejoined the Colts. This number does not include injured players who missed multiple games throughout the year, but still managed to hold onto a roster spot.
Below are three ways to examine Indy’s injuries in 2010.
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Jets v. Colts: After Review (Wild Card Weekend)
Jan 10th
Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri celebrates after he hits a would-be game winning 50-yard field goal. (Andy Lyons | Getty Images)
After a painful sixteen game regular season — rife with injuries, frustrating slumps, and a lack of identity — the Colts 2010 effort officially ended Saturday night after a last minute drive that was capped by a Jets field goal. What makes the loss difficult to take — even though most fans realized the team’s playoff berth was an admirable accomplishment in its own right — is that the Colts should have won.
The initial fan reaction to the game has been all over the board, with fingers pointing in different directions. Some argue that the defense is responsible for the loss because they allowed the Jets to keep the ball for a vast majority of the second half, and yielded over 150 yards on the ground.
Others blame the Indianapolis special teams units for making costly mistakes and allowing long returns, specifically Antonio Cromartie’s long return on the final drive of the game that allowed the Jets to have a short field for a field goal try.
Still others insist that Coach Caldwell is primarily responsible for calling an ill-advised timeout with less than 30 seconds to go, which allowed the Jets offense to get their heads together for a back-breaking first down play that made shaky place kicker Nick Folk’s job much easier.
The reality is, all of these fans are right to a degree, but none of them — even taken together — completely explain how the Colts managed to let this game slip away. More >
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Quick Reaction: Jets 17, Colts 16
Jan 8th
Justin Tryon with an interception... what a great pickup this year by Polian!
Highlights:
- I never expected the game to be the defensive battle that it turned out to be, but I did expect the outcome that resulted.
- While I think Caldwell did a nice job keeping the team focused throughout the season, he made some terrible coaching decisions in this one.
- Pierre Garcon had one great game, atoning for many bad games in my opinion.
- The 2010 season has been an incredible season, made even more incredible by the fact that they made it to the playoffs at all. If they had even survived the game, I don’t think they could have challenged the Steelers.
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Navigating the Colts 2011 Off-Season
Jan 7th
Quarterback Peyton Manning watches as running back Joseph Addai carries the football in Denver. (Doug Pensinger | Getty Images)
Although the Colts are heading into the playoffs and will not have to worry about new contracts, free agency, and draft planning until after their playoff run ends, once it does things will start happening fast. With all of the players who have contracts ending this season, it will be important to make good choices in order to keep a very talented football team intact.
One thing about any off-season is the chance that difficult decisions will have to be made about players for whom fans have a great deal of loyalty. That is the unfortunate nature of the business of football and those kinds of decisions and observations will be included in what this writer believes is the best direction for the Colts leading up to the 2011 season.
The most important thing to do to start this process is to identify which players require new contracts in order to play football in 2011, and which players currently have contracts that are not reflective of their value to the team.
The players who will need new contracts in order to return to the Colts in 2011 are listed below, by position. More >
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A Fan Salute to the 2010 Indianapolis Colts
Jan 5th
A true Colts fan salute. (Andy Lyons | Getty Images)
With a win against the Titans, the Colts managed to overcome unprecedented team injuries and their worst five game series since 2002 for a NFL record (tie) ninth consecutive playoff berth, and their seventh AFC South Championship in the last eight years. Peyton Manning was able to get through his toughest stretch of games since his rookie year and somehow Indy has managed to enter January with the three seed in the AFC.
It is extremely important for Colts fans to step back and think about the gravity of this accomplishment. Frankly, this team had no business overcoming all of the adversity it has faced in a sixteen game season. More >
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Why the Colts have Struggled in 2010
Dec 12th
Peyton Manning looks ahead during the Colts Thursday night game in Tennesee. (AJ Mast | AP Photo)
Colts fans have watched in horror as a team that entered the season as one of the most talented groups Indianapolis has put together in quarterback Peyton Manning’s career has fallen into mediocrity and failed to continue an NFL record streak of consecutive 12-win seasons. Many expected the stretch of games against the Eagles, Patriots, Chargers, and Cowboys would be difficult, but dropping all four games is not something Colts teams have done in the past.
This uncharacteristic run of losses has understandably caused Colts fans to panic. The blame game is in full force, and fans are scrambling to find answers to resolve the issues in Indianapolis before the 2011 season begins. More >
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Game Stats: Cowboys v. Colts
Dec 9th
After the debacle against the Chargers, and the heart breaker against the Patriots, the Colts dropped another game. They gave the Cowboys 17 points to start the contest, and had the chance to pull out a last minute victory on three occasions. Unlike previous weeks, no single unit can carry all of the blame.
The Colts had multiple series where one good play after another would get completely erased by a horrible play or decision. Manning threw interceptions on the heels of key defensive stands, Eric Foster jumped on top of an opponent to negate an amazing goal line stand, and Wayne tallied his only drop to erase a chance for the offense to win after taking the kickoff in overtime. In the end the Colts fell to 6-6, one game behind Jacksonville, and head into a short week — at least three players left the game with injuries.
It makes more difficult to know that some guys had great games. Antoine Bethea was absolutely everywhere and tallied 15 tackles, Pierre Garcon caught EVERY SINGLE throw his way, Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis both had a sack, Jeff Saturday returned to form, and even Manning was not terrible statistically.
On to the stats.
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Game Stats: Chargers v. Colts
Dec 4th
4 comments
Blair White catches his breathafter scoring against the Chargers(Don Larson | Colts.com)
The Colts offensive struggles have doomed the team the past two weeks — as poor decisions and poor timing stifled a last minute come from behind victory against New England, and handed the Chargers 20 points. While the team won’t make excuses, fans should realize that Manning’s limited options at wide receiver, running back, and tight end have ruined Indy’s offensive cohesion. Add poor performances from both offensive tackles, and the situation gets even worse.
While there were numerous things for fans to complain about, there were also enough positive signs to make one hopeful. The biggest was the fact that despite common perception, Jeff Linkenbach has actually been an improvement over Mike Pollak at right guard (albeit a modest one). Receivers Blair White and Jacob Tamme are becoming very stable for Manning, showing both good timing and hands. The Colts also found a use for Donald Brown. He may not function as a pass blocker, or have the vision to effectively run through a gap, but he showed an edge on quick slant routes that gives him a tangible positive.
Let’s move on to the stats. More >
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Questioning the Toughness of Players like the Colts Sanders or Gonzalez is “Ignorant”
Nov 19th
5 comments
Dallas Clark on the sidelines prior to the Colts and Texans Week 9 match-up. (Darron Cummings | AP Photo)
Ross Tucker of ESPN wrote a story yesterday regarding an oft-discussed issue with injured NFL players, particularly ones who miss time more often than fans think they should. His response is clear, questioning the toughness of NFL players because they suffer from injuries that hold them out of long stretches of football games, even multiple times, is ignorant.
Too often fans and a lot of writers in the media, particularly fan writers on blogs, will throw around labels like “injury prone” or say things like a player is not “tough enough” to play professional football. These comments are almost always uninformed, lack depth, and are only written because those writing the comments are ignorant to the kinds of injuries players often suffer, the gravity of those injuries, and the difficulty of overcoming not only the pain but the rigorous rehabilitation processes that go along with them. More >
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After Review: Bengals v. Colts
Nov 15th
2 comments
Dhani Jones: Oh look, something I can grab onto. (Brent Smith | Reuters)
It was a frustrating game for Colts fans, who saw their defense force five turnovers and never had the luxury of feeling like the game was completely in hand. When the Colts led early by 17, conventional wisdom would have said that Indianapolis would win the game for sure, based upon the theory that down two scores to the Colts at any point in the game is a losing proposition for any team.
There is a problem with that theory right now, and that problem is that the Colts today are not the Colts when they were healthy and with all of their starters on the field. Add into this that the Colts played very conservative with key players throughout much of the game, including limiting Freeney and Mathis’ snaps throughout much of the second and third quarters, and the Bengals were given an opportunity to keep the game close. More >
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