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Game
Aug 30

We -- and the Colts -- still don't have all the answers

DETROIT -- With one utterly meaningless preseason game remaining after Saturday's 18-17 loss to the juggernaut that is the Detroit Lions, here's what we know, what we think we know and what we don't know about your Indianapolis Colts.

What we know

We know that if the defense doesn't do a better job of getting off the field than it did here Saturday, Peyton Manning is going to get moldy and maybe a little ornery.

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Yeah, it's preseason. Yeah, the defense didn't have Ed Johnson, Gary Brackett or its starting secondary. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Still, that first half was startling, even by the Colts' humble preseason standards. The Lions out-gained them on the ground 103 yards to 2. Detroit made 6-of-8 third-down conversions. Detroit had 16 first downs to six. The Lions had the ball 21 minutes, 32 seconds to the Colts' 8:28, including drives of 11 plays, 12, 14 and eight.

Colts president Bill Polian has said that time of possession is an overrated statistic, but I'm not sure Manning and the offensive coaches would agree as they're filing their nails and reading Russian literature on the bench all half. Manning and this offense had fewer possessions than anybody else in the league last year, and you have to be a little bit concerned.

"Don't panic,'' said linebacker Clint Session, who currently sports the Kimbo Slice look. "There are some communication issues we've got to get straightened out, but we'll be OK.''

Pardon me for being concerned, but it's hard to learn a new defense when half the starters haven't had a chance to play together as a unit. This is going to be a work in progress.

What we think we know

We think we know -- actually, we're pretty darned sure -- that the fight for the left tackle spot is over, and Charlie Johnson has won the war over Tony Ugoh.

If not, how do you explain why Ugoh was in there as the second-string right tackle while Johnson was being replaced on the left side by Dan Federkeil?

After the game, coach Jim Caldwell said not to read too much into that, but we're politely ignoring that suggestion. If the Colts still thought Ugoh had a chance to win back his position, he wouldn't have practiced all week at right tackle and played right tackle Saturday.

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"I couldn't tell you if it's still open or not,'' Ugoh said. "I'm playing where they tell me to play. If it's the right side, I'll work hard and get used to that. It's a whole different thing, going from left to right. It's like learning a new language.''

We think we know the Indy running game is going to be OK, even after a rough day when the (ouch) Lions defense pushed the Colts around a little more than you'd like.

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As distressing as the numbers were, I continued liking what I saw from Joseph Addai, who has rediscovered the burst he misplaced a year-and-a-half ago. On a fourth-and-1 in the third quarter, Addai deftly sidestepped linebacker Larry Foote in the backfield and ripped off a 3-yard gain.

We think we know that Austin Collie has firmly established himself as the Colts' third wide receiver after Reggie Wayne and Anthony Gonzalez. He started Saturday, flipping back and forth from the slot to the outside and back again, and continued to play while Pierre Garcon joined him in the second half.

Garcon had his best game of the preseason, and there's little doubt he's going to get playing time this season, but Collie is the guy.

What we don't know

We don't know if Johnson can really hold up an entire season, especially in an AFC that features the likes of Houston's Mario Williams and Tennessee's Kyle Vandenbosch. I love the guy as an all-purpose backup, and he will always hold a special place in local fans' hearts for the way he stepped in for Ryan Diem during the Super Bowl. If only Ugoh, who has so much raw skill, was the battler Johnson is.

We don't know if Bob Sanders will be ready by the regular season, the sixth game or ever. (And no, it doesn't make a lick of cap sense, or any sense, to cut him.) By Saturday, the Colts have to decide whether to put Sanders on the Physically Unable to Perform list or keep him on the active roster.

Poor guy has got to be going nuts.

We don't know if anybody is going to unseat the semi-incumbent kick and punt returner, T.J. Rushing. Nobody has really stepped up this preseason, and poor Taj Smith saw two kick-return opportunities go by the board when one kick went out of the end zone and the other out of bounds.

We don't know how the Detroit Lions have the nerve to charge -- get this -- $30 a head for media people to use wireless Internet. I hope they go 0-16 again, for that alone.

 


 

Author:
DJ Indiana Jones
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