My local football franchise did not perform as well as I would have hoped. Oh, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew sucks. There was a series where the Colts stopped the Titans on 3rd down which was negated by an illegal use of hands penalty. This was a critical, momentum shifting moment. From the replays there was no penalty anywhere in evidence. And yet, the sportscasters barely commented at all on the significant development of the penalty and did not do a thing to explain why the penalty wasn’t a complete phantom.
The penalty wasn’t really the problem though, Doug. The Colts made the same mistake in this game as the Bears (I think) game. 3rd quarter, still early in a tight game, 4th down, mid field. Punt the d@#$ ball! Smith can pin them back up at the goal line from there. Instead they get a short field and score quick. That shifted momentum in both games and the Colts never recovered in either.
The defense was doing a pretty good job last night. They were stopping the run, getting off the field on most third and longs. To go for it on 4th down at that point in the game basically says we think the D is going to lose this for us.
Oh, yeah, and Payton is still making those throws that look to me, as a mildly knowledgeable fan, like they are way off the mark, but the announcers always claim he “put that ball where only his guy could catch it”.
Unfortunately, that means our guys quite often find themselves in the position of trying to make sportscenter highlight catches most of the time the ball comes their way. The difference between this year and most, is they aren’t making those catches.
I agree that flag was only one of a number of problems. Mainly I was annoyed with the ESPN crew that couldn’t see fit to discuss or explain a fairly significant development.
Since Peyton is arguably (if not necessarily definitively) the best quarterback to have played the game, I’m sure I expect too much. But, I just get the feeling he abandons the run too quickly and starts forcing passes. Of course, those decisions would look better if the passes were caught instead of tapped up into the air to facilitate interceptions.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was thinking, “WTF?” on that Marlin Jackson 3rd quarter interference call. I think that was the game right there. Instead of the Titans giving the ball back to us, down 14-6, they go on to score the touchdown & 2-point conversion.
Though I also agree with Paula, Peyton still is not looking like himself at all. Collins also seemed to rope his passes in, but Peyton’s were all over the place.
We’re a bad enough team that one flag can throw us off. But we had made the stop, and the refs fantasized that they saw a penalty. The Titans eventually scored a touchdown. From there, we were playing behind the whole time, and lost by ten. I think if they don’t blow that call, things might have been different.
Combine that with the blown call that cost us the Jags game. And the screwup on the fumble call last night in the first half. The refs are just going to suck this year, it appears. And with us being barely good enough to win on an even playing field, giving up a couple of possessions per game to stupid/wrong calls isn’t going to help things.
I guess I’ll just be doing something else at playoff time this year, rather than watching Colts football. We will be very good again at some point before Peyton is done, possibly as soon as next year.
I also enjoyed the slow-mo shot showing how Collins had so much time in the pocket. That would be the one where Freeney was kind of doing this swimming/flailing motion because the left tackle had his arm around Freeney’s neck and was riding on his back.
Best quote of the night from the guys calling the game:
“this crowd knows that they need to be loud when the colts are on offense”.
Really? I thought we were the only state that knew that!
If THAT passes as noteworthy, well…….
So on that play that they called Marlin for interference… I knew the refs wanted to keep the Titans in the game cause even in the replay he was no where near the guy before he caught it and the flag came way after the play. There were so many bad calls and NOT ONCE did we get a good replay or did the announcers even MENTION the penalty. This game was just a repeat of the green bay game, the refs call bs penalties until the team that is suppose to win has a good lead, then they back off. If penalties are going to decide games, they need to be challengable, cant you see that these games are being manipulated and if anyone in the NFL complains they get fined! We have replays, we have challenges, why cant coaches challenge these pathetic penalites.. I know why, cause it’s just like wrestling, the winner has been predetermined.