In life and in football, perseverence is key. I can't believe how many people jumped on the Colts bandwagon. Then about three weeks ago, I raised the possibility that their schedule made them look better than they were.
Dave on December 19, 2008:
My feeling is, the Colts have been getting well on bad teams, including the Jaguars and Lions, and I am still not convinced.
Then last night, in the big AFC Wild Card game of the Week, Darren Sproles piled up 328 all purpose yards on the Colts "hot-streak" defense. How about that? Maybe the Colts aren't so hot when they play a team above .500. The Steelers game was a good performance for the Colts, but everybody else... meh... Let's break down the 9 games they won going into last night's game.
New England (11-5)
at Pittsburgh (12-4)
These two games were legitimately strong wins. The Patriots, although out of the playoffs, were one of the better teams in the NFL. The Steelers, of course, had the best defense in the NFL *and* a psychological edge that went back to the 60's.
then they beat
Houston
San Diego (although SD had them by the throat and let them out of it)
Cleveland
Cincy
Detroit
Jacksonville
Tennessee with none of their starters
Not exactly a "battle tested" schedule, is it? Imagine now the Dolphins going into today's game against the Ravens. I see almost the same pattern... build up a lofty record with wins against lots of lousy teams, only to be exposed in the playoffs. The only thing stopping Baltimore is their lack of knack for getting into the end zone... and perhaps a rookie QB.
In any event sometimes one has to call a spade a spade... you had two mediocre teams playing each other in San Diego last night, and it was a great game! But going forward, it's clear that San Diego was the better team this time around.
Now what? The Colts look old, overmatched, and outwitted. They stayed pat to make one more big run at the prize to go with their Super Bowl from 2006, but it might be time to break up the band now...
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