Hello, you play to win the game. You have to wonder how much Peyton Manning was watching this weekends games thinking to himself all I want to do is not play a team with a dominant rushing attack. Well wonder no longer, I'm a mind reader and know what he was thinking throughout sunday. After looking up at the scoreboard throughout the afternoon he probably initially figured that they were going to play the Jets after the Jets put on the offense in the second half. He probably watched the Shayne Graham missed field goal and thought eh, shouldn't matter but man would I have liked to face that Bengals defense again. Then as his eyes moved to the score of Kansas City and Jacksonville the brain started to process the possibility, with Peyton most likely shrugging it off thinking, the Broncos aren't going to choke away their playoff opportunity at home against the lowly 49ers. He probably got home around 7 7:15 tuned into his Direct TV (where have those ads been?) and to his surprise the Broncos were in OT. In his head the frustration began to set in come on Denver what the hell are you doing to me, just win so I can dominate the Jets. Then came the Field Goal from San Fran followed by Peyton shaking his head and mumbling what the f.
The Peyton Manning Face
You know the one, with the hands thrown up in the air, a little shake of the head and a look of confused disgust. The one that fills up his face after a postseason interception, the one that fills up his face when Vanderweenie would miss a game winning field goal, when will that face light up the screen on saturday. Will it simply occur on the sidelines when LJ busts into the endzone for the third time, or will Peyton and the Colts be able to delay the Manning Face show for another week?
The Herman Edwards Plan
Herman Edwards has had the same simple gameplan throughout the whole season, have whoever is playing quarterback turnaround and hand the ball to Larry Johnson. LJ ran the ball 416 times this season, which created a new record for most carries in a single season in the history of the NFL. Now if he's had this strategy the whole season, you think anything is going to change against the worst Rush Defense in the league? Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the Colts are by far the worst rush defense in the league giving up 173 yards per game, almost 30 yards more per game than the #31 ranked rush defense the St. Louis Rams.
The Bob Sanders Factor
Mr. Bob Sanders is playing this week. This is huge for the Colts. With Sanders the Colts have a chance to at least slow down the rush attack of the Chiefs. Or do they? Sanders played in only 4 games this regular season and in those games the Colts went their .750 quota with 3 wins and a loss. The Colts gave up over 100 yards rushing in each of those games only with solid success against the Texans giving up 108 yards rushing. In their loss, the gave up 219 total rushing yards to the Tennessee Titans. I certainly think Sanders will help the Colts and he will make some tackles and plays that his fill in did not, but don't expect him to be a savior and stop LJ, it just isn't going to happen.
Stopping LJ
Here's the strategy if your the Colts, injure LJ. Sure it's heartless and scummy but Indy twist his ankle at every turn, in every pile up, tweak it continuously. There's a reason why LJ was never given a breather, Michael Bennett is not that good.
I'll parlay a story about my high schools football team, which I preface this by saying I was only in the stands and was not a member and only new this from hersay. In the Semifinals of the State Tournament my senior year, my high school, Quarterbacked by the Lions 3rd String QB Dan Orlovsky was undefeated and the #1 seed facing off at home against New Britain a more urban school with terrific athletes. Throughout the first half the New Britain running back, Justise Hairston who attended Rutgers before transferring to 1-AA Central Connecticut and putting up 1847 yards and 20 tds this season granting him an accepted invitiation to the Hula Bowl, was dominating our defense and put New Britain in the lead. Than somehow someway he found himself in a pile up with a twisted ankle. He was ineffective in the 2nd half and my high school team went on to win the game and the state championship.
Moral of the story is, sure the injury might have been forced, but its football, it got them a W, honorable or not. Colts take notes, as the best way for you to ensure a W is to somehow get LJ out of the game.
The Pick
Believe me I want to go with the Chiefs, I see their greatest strength matching up hand in hand with the Colts greatest weakness, unfortunately I think the Colts will get past the Chiefs in this game, I just foresee Peyton putting up big numbers and in the end nullifying the Chiefs offensive success. Unfortunately there won't be too many classic Peyton Manning faces this week.
The Peyton Manning Face
You know the one, with the hands thrown up in the air, a little shake of the head and a look of confused disgust. The one that fills up his face after a postseason interception, the one that fills up his face when Vanderweenie would miss a game winning field goal, when will that face light up the screen on saturday. Will it simply occur on the sidelines when LJ busts into the endzone for the third time, or will Peyton and the Colts be able to delay the Manning Face show for another week?The Herman Edwards Plan
Herman Edwards has had the same simple gameplan throughout the whole season, have whoever is playing quarterback turnaround and hand the ball to Larry Johnson. LJ ran the ball 416 times this season, which created a new record for most carries in a single season in the history of the NFL. Now if he's had this strategy the whole season, you think anything is going to change against the worst Rush Defense in the league? Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the Colts are by far the worst rush defense in the league giving up 173 yards per game, almost 30 yards more per game than the #31 ranked rush defense the St. Louis Rams.
The Bob Sanders Factor
Mr. Bob Sanders is playing this week. This is huge for the Colts. With Sanders the Colts have a chance to at least slow down the rush attack of the Chiefs. Or do they? Sanders played in only 4 games this regular season and in those games the Colts went their .750 quota with 3 wins and a loss. The Colts gave up over 100 yards rushing in each of those games only with solid success against the Texans giving up 108 yards rushing. In their loss, the gave up 219 total rushing yards to the Tennessee Titans. I certainly think Sanders will help the Colts and he will make some tackles and plays that his fill in did not, but don't expect him to be a savior and stop LJ, it just isn't going to happen.
Stopping LJ
Here's the strategy if your the Colts, injure LJ. Sure it's heartless and scummy but Indy twist his ankle at every turn, in every pile up, tweak it continuously. There's a reason why LJ was never given a breather, Michael Bennett is not that good.
I'll parlay a story about my high schools football team, which I preface this by saying I was only in the stands and was not a member and only new this from hersay. In the Semifinals of the State Tournament my senior year, my high school, Quarterbacked by the Lions 3rd String QB Dan Orlovsky was undefeated and the #1 seed facing off at home against New Britain a more urban school with terrific athletes. Throughout the first half the New Britain running back, Justise Hairston who attended Rutgers before transferring to 1-AA Central Connecticut and putting up 1847 yards and 20 tds this season granting him an accepted invitiation to the Hula Bowl, was dominating our defense and put New Britain in the lead. Than somehow someway he found himself in a pile up with a twisted ankle. He was ineffective in the 2nd half and my high school team went on to win the game and the state championship.
Moral of the story is, sure the injury might have been forced, but its football, it got them a W, honorable or not. Colts take notes, as the best way for you to ensure a W is to somehow get LJ out of the game.
The Pick
Believe me I want to go with the Chiefs, I see their greatest strength matching up hand in hand with the Colts greatest weakness, unfortunately I think the Colts will get past the Chiefs in this game, I just foresee Peyton putting up big numbers and in the end nullifying the Chiefs offensive success. Unfortunately there won't be too many classic Peyton Manning faces this week.
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