the    sides

So, here’s the goods from Mike Riley as I lost my bet:

The Game

I won’t evaluate him until he’s done with his career, but I guarantee you one thing:
He amazes me. He amazes me, just his leadership qualities and his sense of urgency, the way he reads defenses. -Mike Shanahan (source)

Yeah, me too, Mike.

Denver has the top rated defense in the NFL, giving up a stingy 7.3 points per game. They have not allowed a touchdown at home in 14 quarters. I have to admit, I was a little concerned about this game. But the weird thing is, I have not been nervous watching any of the games so far this year. I’ve got two reasons, one is Peyton Manning, two is the third quarter is coming. The Colts have out scored their opponents by 41 points in the 3rd quarter. Whatever Dungy says in the locker room at the half seems to work.

Peyton says that his goal each year is to play better than the year before. He says he’s doing that this year and I have to agree. He has suddenly found the ability to scramble when he needs to, he has 2 rushing touchdowns so far this year. And he has had to play from behind more this year than he has in 3 seasons, and he does it with confidence. When he gets his hand on the ball in the 3rd and 4th quarters, you KNOW he’s going to score. He completed three touchdown passes to Reggie Wayne against the Denver D… the D that doesn’t give up TDs… at home… a mile high…

Reggie Wayne had a big game, 138 yards 3 TDs. He can thank Marvin Harrison for that, taking one for the team keeping Champ Bailey preoccupied. Defenses have to pick their poison, stop Marvin or Reggie. Whoever they stop, the other will make up the difference.
Oh, and you know that little 5 yard slant Manning and Harrison run? Its been scientifically proven to be unstoppable.

But I’ll hand it to the Denver D, they gave it their best shot.

The Colts defense… They gave up 227 yards on the ground, for you non-football folks, that’s a lot. It wasn’t pretty. The Bell’s were running wild. But I’m not worried… The Colts are running a skeleton crew at the moment. Mike Doss is out for the season, Monte Reggor is out for at least one more week, recovering from a car wreck and Bob Sanders is still out but should be back next week. This is the same defense that was 2nd in the NFL for points allowed last year. They get healthy and get a couple of games under their belt, I don’t see why they can’t start shutting teams down again. In the meantime, Peyton can work his magic.

And now the 800 lbs gorilla in the room. Sure the Colts are always good in the regular season but come post-season they are choke masters (as long as they are not playing Denver, that is). That’s always in the back of my head but they have made steady progress in the post-season and as long as they get the chance to play, I say its only a matter of time before they get a ring. These close games can only help to prep them for tight games in the playoffs. When they win games in the second quarter and coast for entire halfs, it breeds complacency. When they have to fight, they stay strong. Watching Peyton’s confidence this year, and knowing they were a lucky Rothlessburger tackle away last year… well lets just say I’ve got a good feeling about this season.

Indianapolis – The City

Ok, so I listened to Grant’s podcast on Saturday and Wow! I had my own segment. Yes, I am a Colts fan on purpose. I’ve been a fan since about 1986, so I have paid my dues. Forgive me if I get a little excited about these guys. After Grant and his buddy finished dogging on Indy, he said he was going to hear about that one. Well, here it goes.

Indy is a great city, you should give it a visit sometime. Its no Denver for sure, but it is a very nice city with plenty to offer. You got the 500, the F-1 race, the Brickyard 400. Plus there is the NCAA headquarters and the Hall of Fame, Conseco Field House (if this were 2000 I’d mention the Pacers too but this bunch of thugs they have now are nowhere close to Reggie Miller’s Pacers), and a soon to be completed state of the art football stadium. NCAA Basketball tourney games and (every few years) the Final Four. It also has a clean, family friendly downtown with several museums, a zoo, a canal walk, an upscale mall and all kinds of dining. Its a fun place to hang out, seriously.

Daylight Savings Time

On a side note… daylight savings time ended yesterday. I think its silly. Everybody playing pretend. “Hey everyone, lets pretend its really an hour later so it seems like its staying light longer.” Daylight is daylight and night time is night time, the length of which is determined by the tilt and rotation of the Earth. No matter what time we pretend it to be, that is not going to change. Now they are saying that DST will start in March and end in November next year? Why even bother changing back to standard? Lets just stay on DST all year long. Then you won’t have to worry about which way to set your clocks or being early to church in the Fall and late to church in the Spring. If I ever run for office, I’m running on a “Daylight Savings Time is stupid” platform.

Something Cool From The Internet – Run any old arcade game on your PC. http://www.mame.net/

So anyway, that’s all I got to say.
I hope you all enjoyed my guest post. I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I’d like to thank my parents, my lovely wife and adoring kids. And thank you Grant for honoring our bet and giving me the space here.
We’ll have to do this again come playoff time.

GE: you’re on.