What can I say? I have been wrong before, and I'll be wrong again. I was certainly wrong in this case. The Colts let me down.....again. When all the stars were aligned, they got every break imaginable, the Patriots lost, to eliminate that roadblock....and they still played like crap. Never mind that Mike Vanderjagt has a history of missing big, game-winning kicks, and just added to that. Never mind that Peyton led us back in the last few minutes, given a couple of HUGE breaks. What I want to talk about is the absolute butt-kicking we were given in the first three quarters of what was one of the 5 biggest games in the history of the Indianapolis Colts. Not rusty? Puh-lease. They looked like a '74 Pinto kept out in the rain. Not intense? Gimme a break. I couldn't see fire in the eyes of one of those punks. And it leads me to say something that I hoped I would never have to say: I just don't think Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy can win the big games. Tony continually gets outcoached in the playoffs, and Peyton consistently plays below his regular season levels in any playoff game that means anything (or where there is an above-average defense). I guess we could have seen this coming. Look at where they were previously, what was the stigma? Peyton could never beat Florida, or win the big game at Tennessee. Dungy got kicked out of Tampa for not being able to win in the playoffs. And they have brought that to Indy. I mean, they win their first 13 games, and then can only muster 3 points in the first three quarters? THREE POINTS??? They were absolutely terrible! And against a defensive unit that got torn up in the first half last week playing a John Kitna-led Bengal offense! Now, some will say that I'm jumping the gun, that what I'm saying has no bearing in fact. But consider the source. We've been in 1 AFC championship game, 2 Divisional playoff games, and 3 Wild-card games (according to last count) and in the 3 that matter, Peyton is 0-3. Perhaps it's not Peyton's fault. Maybe the offensive line didn't give him the opportunities he needed. But this is a guy who prides himself on his ability to recognize defenses and blitzes, and throw out of them anyway. And he refused to throw the ball, and instead took 4 CRITICAL sacks. Or maybe it's Vanderjagt's fault. Poppycock I say. Without a ridiculously bad call on an interception by Polamalu, and a crazily uncharacteristic fumble by Jerome Bettis, Mike doesn't even get the chance to tie the game! Now don't get me wrong, I'm livid that Vanderjagt misses big kick after big kick. The only ones he can hit are when there is no pressure, and they're already up 3 touchdowns. But...this is already too long. Screw the Colts, screw Peyton Manning, and there's no way they will ever win the Super Bowl if they couldn't do it this year. And I don't want this rant to sound like I'm abandoning my team, far from it. I will still be a fan, but I refuse to ever again have confidence in this bunch of bungling idiots. They just let me and the entire city of Indianapolis down, time and time again.
Posted by jmmelton at January 15, 2006 03:34 PM | TrackBackMy Eagles are kind of under the same curse, unable to win that last big game. You say Dungy gets out-coached come playoff time, but Andy Reid does the same time and again. Only he's been lucky enough to have a team in a weak conference and still get at least one win every trip into the playoffs. I think the Colts are cursed more than the Eagles when it comes to winning a playoff game, and I think this Eagles team would be more likely to make it to another Super Bowl before today's Colts do... but that being said I think that a healthy Colts team would beat a healthy Eagles team on any day during the regular season.
Indy was definitely given life in this game with some BIG breaks. I think their big mistake (probably Peyton's fault, not Dungy's) was throwing the ball downfield on second down and on third down on their final drive, rather than putting Vanderjagt in a better position to make a game-tying kick.
Posted by: Josh at January 15, 2006 03:52 PMWe were watching the game yesterday at my mom's and thought of you in the last few minutes of it. Jon and I could just hear the things you must have been shouting (though my mom did a pretty good job of keeping up her end of the yelling at the screen).
Posted by: hollie at January 16, 2006 09:51 AMI can only take so much of football and thats a lot for me to say because I never watched football before I met Josh, but since then it has grown on me. I last usually about the first half, or the last half of the game. This game though we were unable to watch most of it because of church and dinner, but that last quarter was intence. I was so nervous and my hands were shaking because of all the last minute mistakes made and how many second chances they were give to win and they still managed to loose. Very disapointing and I'm not much of a fan to begin with.
Posted by: Lacey at January 17, 2006 07:38 AMI'm sorry man. I was rooting for them too. I gues it was just a bad year to get the bye.
Posted by: Aaron Booth at January 17, 2006 09:51 PMAnother conspiracy theory: http://blogs.foxsports.com/Forgotten_Fan/2006/1/16/_Vanderjagt_The_Conspiracy_Theory_The_money_shot_from_the_grassy_knoll2
Posted by: Josh at January 19, 2006 02:36 PM