Colts Had Plenty Of Chances, But Reverted To Old Selves
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
The 2016 Indianapolis Colts had their chance, time and again, to get into the playoffs, and at this point it’ll take a fairly significant miracle for them to get into the postseason. Sunday was one of the few Colts games I’ve paid a lot of attention to. Frankly, until it snowed, I had better things to do. I despise snow, and since I was in a bad mood anyway, I decided to watch the Colts. If I had watched it as a comedy of errors, I might have enjoyed it more. The Houston Texans, losers of three straight coming in, played like a team contending for a division title (the only way in for an AFC South team at this point). Indy performed like a team playing out the string. I’ll concede the injury to offensive guard Jack Mewhort was a factor. But instead of saying “next man up,” the Colts seemed to collectively say “next flight out.” It’s easy to criticize a play that doesn’t work, but the call that finished off Indy’s chances was begging for a merciful end. At the time of the snap, the Colts had no timeouts, and less than a minute to go. A screen pass might have gained the first down had it been executed well, but it’s rare the receiver of such a pass gets out of bounds in those situations, and the time wasted in getting the offense set for a spike would have been costly. The football world has begun to wonder if Andrew Luck is worth the “highest-paid player” title he now holds. As much as it pains me to say this, I think the Oakland Raiders might have the right idea; they employ the highest paid offensive line in the game. Yes, the Raiders laid a bit of an egg on national television Thursday night, and were missing a starting left tackle. But as a Kansas City Chiefs fan, I woke up from my nap Friday morning (it was a very short night) thankful for Raider quarterback David Carr’s injured pinkie on his throwing hand. Without that, the Raiders might have kicked the Chiefs on down the road. But, I digress. The Colts continue to be in a state of disarray. Jim Irsay has to buck up and make changes in the front office, beginning with the firing of general manager Ryan Grigson. I still think Chuck Pagano has the potential to be a great NFL coach, but not in Indy. People often forget Bill Belichick had his first full-time head coaching gig in Cleveland. The Los Angeles Rams fired Jeff Fisher yesterday, and I’d hope Pagano would steer clear of the Rams. Unless he’s fired in Indy, he already has in Indy what the Rams have to offer in L.A. But without either Grigson or Pagano gone, things just won’t change for the Colts. Maybe we should start a Go Fund Me page to get the Colts a better offensive line, or to pay for the coach and GM to go to one of those team-building camps where they ride zip lines and walk on fire and other assorted stuff. Either way, come Sunday afternoon I’m going to go to the movies, or shopping, or something better than watching the Colts.
