James Cochran’s Blog

Or should I say the Texans lost.  And really maybe I should say Rosenfels lost.  Had it not been for his two fumbles and an interception the Colts would not have been able to comeback.  Sure the Colts won but it was ugly the whole game.  The kind of ugly that makes me want to put a paper bag over my T.V.  I couldn’t find one big enough though.

I was hoping that after the bye week the Colts would come out firing.  I got my wish.  During the first quarter they came out firing.  After a quick 10 point making it 10-0 the Colts didn’t do anything the rest the game until the final few minutes.  They couldn’t run.  Timing was all off and passes were falling incomplete.  The defense couldn’t stop the run or the pass it seemed.  Brackett was on the field hurt at one point during a “hold your breath” moment.  Penalties that made it seem like it was some other team and not the Colts (unless you’ve watched the other games this year). It was definitely one of those scream at your T.V. games that turned into quiet disappointment.

In the last four minutes after the Colts allowed 27 unanswered points making it 10-27, Manning had a decent drive down the field that ended in a touchdown.  Then a Rosenfels fumble for a defensive touchdown.  Then another Rosenfels fumble which allowed the Colts another touchdown drive.  Finally it ended when Rosenfels threw a pass to seemingly right to the Colts so they could intercept it.  Which I should mention after several great passes down the field which looked as if they had every chance to get down the field to score in the 1:56 or so they had to do it in.  I think Rosenfels had money on the Colts and really wasn’t expecting to play. Why else would he have thrown the game like that?

A win is a win as I usually say.  Or as my dad put it, “If there was money on the pool table the Colts would be scooping it up.”  In actuality I think Rosenfels lost the game.  The Texans played superior football throughout and it was a fluke the Colts were able to pull off what they did.  I’m happy about the win but if we play that poorly against this “tough-as-nails” schedule coming up it’s going to be a long December followed by a boring January and February with no Colts to watch.

The Colts loss yesterday was disappointing.  There is no question about it.  I think I read somewhere that this is the first 1-2 start since 1998 when Manning was a rookie.  To me, however, the Colts looked the best they have all season.  The offense came out firing, the defense was doing well with a three and out off the bat.  As for stopping the run they were able to do… but when they didn’t they really didn’t.  So many times they had three or four guys on top of the runner at or behind the line.  The problem is when they missed the tackle or played the pass.  Jacksonville was able to really break off big chunks of yards when that happened which killed us.  So while the loss is disappointing it was nice to see the opening minutes of the game and feel like the Colts were back.  The rest of the game was so-so and about how I would expect us to play against Jacksonville.  Going in I said Jacksonville would want it more than us.  

Let’s take a look at the rest of the season courtesy of Colts.com.  After this weeks bye I think we have a good shot of winning the next couple of games.  Obviously the Packers worry me but I think we’ll have the confidence going in that we can do it.  Division champs may be a different story though.

Ahhhh Labor Day.  A welcome day off for many.  At least in the U.S.  But what is labor day exactly?  ”A day off!”  you say.  Exactly.  It started way back in 1882 when some union workers said, “Hey!  We want a day off!”  The Central Labor Union of NYC actually said that they want, “a day off for the working citizens”.  I say thank you NYC union workers since I’ve enjoyed Labor day off most my working life.

Now you must understand that it took 12 years before Congress made it an official holiday.  In 1894 they finally said, “Hey, it’s the 90′s.  Lets take a day off.”  This started a long tradition of congress taking a day off.  Mostly physically but much of the time mentally.

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September.  This year it is September 1st which is nice because we didn’t have to wait most of the week until we took the day off.  However, the problem lies in the fact that most people mark this as the end of summer.  Instead I’d rather think of it as the beginning of Football season.  The NFL as well as the NCAA start their season now.  NFL will have their first real game this Thursday when Washington faces the Giants.  Go Giants!

So thank you to those Americans that came before me allowing me to have the eight hour work day, picnics, and the start of the regular season(NFL).

I’m not sure if Quinn Gray or Jared Lorenzen knew they were only going to be playing for the Colts during the preseason or not.  If not I think they just got blindsided as the Colts, as usual, have cut down to their two QB roster.  Once again Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi have won those spots despite their injuries.  In a way that’s good news for this Colts fan since it most likely means Manning is ready to start but I still would have liked them to keep a third QB just in case.  As much as I hate to think about it Manning can’t play forever.  Like Favre though, I guess he can always try.

They also cut Kenton Keith who I thought did a good job as Addai’s backup last year.  Nothing like the Rhodes/Addai duo in the 2006 season but good none the less.  Of course Rhodes is back this year as Addai’s backup so I’m hoping to see another great running season which may be necessary since Manning has been out of practice for awhile and I’m sure his timing is going to be off for at least a couple of weeks.

They’ve kept Tamme the TE which I think is awesome.  Dallas Clark is one of my favorite players of all time and Tamme seems to play and make plays so much like him.  I think Manning is going to utilize these two guys in the secondary over and over again until something downfield opens up for the big play to Harrison or Wayne.  If Tamme can play anywhere near the level of Clark we are going to see an amazing year this year.

I’m looking forward to this season more than any other so far.  We have the new stadium.  We have some great players.  And we have the same chance to make the playoffs as every other team.  Hopefully they continue to focus one game at a time.  Go Colts!

Here is the breakdown of Colts players and those waived courtesy of IndyStar.com:

Roster breakdown

Here’s a position-by-position look at the Colts’ 53-player roster:

Quarterback (2):

Peyton Manning, Jim Sorgi

Running back (3):

Joseph Addai, Dominic Rhodes, Mike Hart*

Wide receiver (6):

Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Anthony Gonzalez, Roy Hall, Courtney Roby, Pierre Garcon*

Tight end (4):

Dallas Clark, Gijon Robinson, Jacob Tamme*, Tom Santi*

Offensive line (9):

Jeff Saturday, Ryan Diem, Tony Ugoh, Charlie Johnson, Dan Federkeil, Corey Hilliard, Mike Pollak*, Steve Justice*, Jamey Richard*

Defensive line (10):

Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Raheem Brock, Ed Johnson, Keyunta Dawson, Darrell Reid, Josh Thomas, Marcus Howard*, Eric Foster*, Curtis Johnson*

Linebacker (6):

Gary Brackett, Freddy Keiaho, Clint Session, Ramon Guzman, Philip Wheeler*, Jordan Senn*

Defensive back (10):

Bob Sanders, Antoine Bethea, Marlin Jackson, Kelvin Hayden, Tim Jennings, Dante Hughes, Keiwan Ratliff, Matt Giordano, Melvin Bullitt, Jamie Silva*

Specialists (3):

K Adam Vinatieri, P Hunter Smith, LS Justin Snow

Physically Unable to Perform LIST (2):

G Ryan Lilja, LB Tyjuan Hagler.

* — denotes rookie.

Waived

QBs Quinn Gray and Jared Lorenzen, RBs Kenton Keith and Chad Simpson, WRs Devin Aromashodu, Onrea Jones and Sam Giguere, DL Joe Bradley, Jeff Charleston, Dan Davis, Colin Ferrell and Ben Ishola, OL Tala Esera, Darren Marquez and Michael Toudouze, DBs Brannon Condren and Brandon Foster, TE Tyrice Thompson and LBs Victor Worsley and Kyle Shotwell. Roster breakdown