| Anthony Holds. 18th September, 2008 - 11:09 am
 With apologies to the late Jerry Garcia and the rest of the Grateful Dead, the Indianapolis Colts season thus far feels like it’s been a long, strange trip… and it’s been two weeks. Fortunately, the second chapter in the burgeoning saga gave fans hope that good things could still lie in wait.
Any of the Colt faithful who turned off this past Sunday’s oh-so-ugly-for-2.75-quarters contest would certainly be given a free pass. The pure, unadulterated pain of watching a line greener than a cheap plastic bowler hat on St. Patrick’s Day acting as human turnstiles while the defensive line of the Vikings, and Jared Allen in particular, descended on Peyton Manning and anyone bold enough to try to run the ball, can not be overstated. It was in some ways as if all of one’s worst fears for the offense this season (Is Peyton off? Are these line injuries going to affect us? Should I be worried about the drop off in the running game?) were being borne out in fearsome totality. The Vikings line looked impenetrable. The Colts offense looked completely hapless. The defense, despite a commendable effort, were slowly losing the battle -- being gouged repeatedly by Adrian Peterson, valiantly stemming the tide… and then giving up field goals. It was 15-0 and things looked bleak. And with the way Manning was absorbing punishment on seemingly every play, one could only wonder if this was the day he might not pop back up.
And then, just like that, the Colts lined up in their three wide receiver set (the only formation that worked remotely for them all day), second year wideout Anthony Gonzalez got behind the defense, and Manning found him with a 58-yard lightning bolt. Gonzalez, seemingly knowing he wasn’t going to make it to the end zone and simultaneously realizing that these just might qualify as desperate times, resorted to desperate measures and pitched a lateral to Reggie Wayne who was trailing the play down the field. Wayne took the ball another handful of yards before falling just short of the end zone. And in that moment, the slightest glimmer of hope reappeared. Three excruciating plays later, Joseph Addai eked the tip of the football across the plane of the end zone and the Colts were on the board.
The defense, now fully awake and inspired, played great ball the rest of the way. Special teams even made a play, as Tim Jennings downed a punt perfectly on the one yard line. And Peyton Manning added what almost seemed a magical page to his story by turning what had been a complete monstrosity of a day into an inspiring victory. A victory, fans would hope, that is the type that bonds and defines a team. A victory that sets the stage for more to come. After all was said and done, it was a memorable and satisfying day to be a Colts fan.
And then we were into this week, and the injury reports re-
commenced. The invaluable Bob Sanders, knocked out of Sunday’s game with a high ankle sprain, will miss four to six weeks. Left tackle Tony Ugoh will miss at least this coming Sunday’s game against Jacksonville at Lucas Oil Stadium. These blows compound what has been a mind-numbing parade of injuries and setbacks, particularly on the offensive line. Right tackle Ryan Diem is the only preseason projected starter that will have (knock on wood) started the Colts’ first three regular season games. The Colts may have right guard Mike Pollak back by Week 5, left guard Ryan Lilja by Week 7, and center Jeff Saturday as early as this Sunday… but it’s almost hard to believe how badly the line has been decimated. Only Jacksonville, ironically, can claim more profound woes along their offensive front, and it has showed in their play, as well, as they’ve started 0-2 and run the ball nearly as badly as the Colts. Now the two hobbled teams will clash in a vitally important early season divisional matchup.
What is there to make of all this? It’s almost as if questions like “Can the Colts running game get going?” give way to more general questions, like “Can we get enough regulars on the line that improvement is even a reasonable expectation?”.
The whole mess is confusing and concerning for followers of the team, to say the least. The 2008 season doesn’t look like it’s going to have the clean lines of seasons past, when the Colts broke out to dazzling starts and produced highlight reel footage at a breakneck clip. But then, only one of those seasons ended in a Super Bowl, and that one got ugly late in the regular season before a surprise playoff turnaround. Fans for now must just enjoy what was a historic Peyton Manning performance in Minnesota, and hope that, as it was in 2006, adversity is a good omen for the Indianapolis Colts. |
