I know what’s coming; Eighteen’s coming.
–Ed Reed, Baltimore Ravens
So, I was grumpy about the Colts pulling their starters against the Jet a few weeks back. I got over it after 2 or 3 days. It was good to have a meaningful game to wash away that sour taste. The media was full of predictions that the Ravens would run over the Colts and their stingy D would overpower a rusty, bye-jinxed Colts offense. Turns out, not so much.
The Colts defense was stingy, allowing only 3 points. The Ravens were shut out for the last 47 minutes of the game. A good bit of that was their own doing – having penalties wipe out good plays. But, for a lot of those, the penalized conduct was instrumental to the good play: no block in the back = no long run back, etc. The Colts offense was effective. You can’t say enough about Manning and the receiving corps. Reggie Wayne, in particular, made some excellent catches under tight pressure. The running game was mostly non-existent. With respect to the running game, it is baffling to me how the O line can keep a good pocket in place for Manning when it’s a pass play, but it’s like a sieve when Manning goes to hand it off. Probably there is an easy explanation the more football savvy would know.
Next week, the Colts will host the AFC Championship game against the winner of the Jets/Chargers game today. I think either one will be tough. I think the Colts are capable of beating either one. Even losing the past two seasons to the Chargers, I still don’t feel the same grudge or sense of uneasiness I always did against the Patriots. In any case, this football stuff is a whole lot of fun.
There is a certain amount of irony that you were a Browns fan, got screwed by Modell by the move, and now root for a team that did the same thing. Beating the aforementioned team in the playoffs…
Ironic indeed. I was a life-long Clevelander at that point when Modell left the city. Did he screw anybody? Not in my opinion. It was his property, not the city’s, and he could rightly move it any time he pleased- just as Bob Irsay did. The case Modell made was that he was being screwed. The Indians got Jacobs Field, the Cavs got Gund Arena, and Modell wasn’t getting the new stadium he wanted. The real screwing came when the City mortgaged its’ future to build Cleveland Browns Stadium and lure an expansion team. I cheered heartily when the Ravens won their Super Bowl. I even cheered when former Browns coach Bill Belichek won his first Super Bowl (although that became nauseating after the second). In any case, the taxpayers of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County got screwed.
To the point, I watched the game kind of distractedly. Tanking those two games took some of the zip out of this one for me. Maybe the next round will be more exciting.
It’s the circle of life. But, I was kind of young during the first Reagan administration when the Colts left, so their departure isn’t something I dwell on. And, it bears mentioning that the people of Baltimore weren’t actually going to the games.
All it really boils down to, though, is that Modell’s departure left me without a team at about the time I was setting up permanent shop in Indiana. And, the Colts are the home team. (Back then, “COLTS” stood for “Count on Losing This Sunday.”) Honestly, I haven’t bothered with a lot of deliberation about the moral implications of my rooting interests.
Perhaps the Bengals and Colts lines should compare notes. No one in Cincinnati can explain how a team can run block and create holes for Cedric Benson but be completely useless when Palmer goes back to pass.