Colts Lose, Again

I’m a Colts fan. I have been since they moved to Indy in the 80s. I always liked football but had no favorite team until the city I lived in ‘acquired’ one from Baltimore. My father worked for Mayflower at the time, although he had no part in moving the team, so it seemed especially personal to me, like my daddy had got me a football team to root for.

So, they sucked for years and I watched and cheered anyway. Then I moved to Cleveland where there was no football team anymore. The owner had tried to blackmail the city into building him a new stadium, they called his bluff and he took the team to Baltimore. When I moved to Cleveland, the rumors were that the Colts would be moving to Cleveland! A full circle-jerk with the cities and their fans caught in the middle.

Well, the Colts stayed in Indy and Cleveland got an expansion team, named the Browns as the former owner took only the players and equipment, the name and colors stayed here, unlike the Indy/Baltimore deal.

About the time I moved to Cleveland, the Colts drafted Peyton Manning. I heard about it in a distant way here in northeast Ohio, where the football news was mostly about the upcoming expansion team we were getting. Then Peyton caught fire and started winning. I had to figure out a way to watch my team!!

The year they made their first Superbowl run, I discovered that sports bars in the area had the NFL Ticket on their satellite dishes and I could watch any team I liked. It felt like being in a sports book in Las Vegas, only with no outright gambling. Finally, I could watch my team every week, no matter when they were on.

So, Sunday Night Football this week. I get to watch my team at home! Yay! Then they lose. Lose badly in a rematch of their second trip to the Superbowl in 2009 against the New Orleans Saints. The score: 7 to 62. That’s correct: 62. New Orleans scored 62 points against the Colts. The Colts scored one touchdown. One.


Now, I get that with Peyton on the sidelines with a neck injury and multiple surgeries that the offense might be having some problems. They tried bringing in an older, winning quarterback, Kerry Collins, but he didn’t know the offense and got hurt in the third week of the season anyway. So, they bring in Curtis Painter, Peyton’s understudy of several years. He knows the offense and his fellow players and has some success. Unfortunately, he can’t win a game, either.

What I cannot understand is WHERE IS THE DEFENSE?!? Peyton Manning ran the offense, not the defense. Where are those guys now? Why can they not stop New Orleans from scoring every time they have the ball? What’s wrong, now?

The Colts never were a great defensive team, I get that. It just didn’t matter that much when Payton could come in and score at will. But, now, when we really need them, they’re on vacation! Why?

I’d like to win at least one game this season as well as figure out our next move at quarterback. Payton, if he has any sense, will not put his neck at risk by playing again. I’d like to see him continue as Offensive Coordinator. Give him the title of the position he been filling all along. But we need to get him some good tools to work with! He needs someone who can throw accurately and well. The receiver core is still there, if aging a bit, but they could help a new quarterback learn the offence quickly and maybe get this thing turned around for next season. This season seems done for. Maybe they should have stayed out on strike; the pressure would have been off Payton and he would have had the opportunity to make the best decision for him, his family and the team. Now, the pressure is on him to play since the team is doing so badly without him.

If we had a real defense, it wouldn’t matter so much!