I wrote this post a couple of days ago, somehow it didn't get posted. Here it is again. I watched the monday night game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Colts won the contest 26 - 7. It wasn't even as close as the score indicated. I'm an old Steelers fan from the Franco Harris, and Terry Bradshaw days. So I tried to to reserve my judgement until after the game. The verdict is in, Indianapolis Colts look unstoppable.
I just hope Tony Dungy gets his just due. I'm not worried that Peyton Manning will get his. The quarterbacks always do. Except of course "Doug Williams". In the case of Tony Dungy let's hope history doesn't repeat itself. Look what happened at Tampa Bay. He put together a Super Bowl championship team, only to have it taken away. The year before it came to fruition. Let's just hope that is restitution. I'm sure Peyton wouldn't mind a repeat of what happened at Tennessee. His number was retired and he didn't even win the SEC. He is doing a great job, but he has an allstar cast. Edgerrin James is having an excellent year too. He's had gains of over 100 yds. in 8 out of 11 games. At his present rate we could see a 2000 yard season.
At the rate they're going, we'll get a chance to see something I personally don't remember. An undefeated team in the NFL I know that's a bold statement, considering they still have some tough teams to play. If there is a team that can do it. I think the Colts can. I just have a feeling about this team.
The Indianapolis Colts have done it again. They defeated the Tennessee Titans today 35-3. That victory made them 12-0. They're only the fifth team to do that in NFL history. I saw something today, I really love to see. The big man Larry Triplett, scored a 60 yd.touchdown.
ReplyDeleteIndy became the fourth team in NFL history to start 13-0, locked up a third consecutive division title and secured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The team has little left to play for over the final three games.Other than a perfect season.
ReplyDeleteChargers End Colts' Hope of Unbeaten Season
ReplyDeleteSan Diego Answers Rally, Hands Indianapolis First Loss of Year
By DAVE GOLDBERG, AP
INDIANAPOLIS (Dec. 18) - Perfection is now a thing of the past for the Indianapolis Colts.
Looking ahead isn't so grim, though - especially with the Super Bowl still in their sights.
"It's tough to go 16-0. You have to play well every week," coach Tony Dungy said after his team was beaten 26-17 by San Diego to end its 13-game winning streak.
No, the Colts weren't happy - the locker room was quiet and emptied quickly.
But the last team to start 13-0, the 1998 Denver Broncos, went on to win the Super Bowl, and several players from that team say now that losing their 14th (and 15th) games made the final victory easier.
"I never think losing helps," Dungy said. "But if it brings us back for the last two weeks with more resolve, maybe some good will come of it."
The Colts had erased a 16-0 deficit with a field goal and two touchdowns in a six-minute span of the third quarter. But the Chargers went ahead for good on a 49-yard field goal by Nate Kaeding with 6:41 left.
Then Michael Turner clinched it with an 83-yard touchdown run after rookie Luis Castillo sacked Peyton Manning to knock the Colts out of field-goal range.
"I think they're the best team in the football. But all week, we felt we could beat them," said San Diego rookie Shawne Merriman, who had two sacks and forced an important intentional grounding by Manning. "It will always go down in the books, no matter what happened before or after."
The win kept San Diego (9-5) alive for an AFC wild-card spot and prevented Denver from clinching the AFC West. The Chargers will need help to make the playoffs.
It also allows the Colts to rest starters for the final two games, having already clinched home-field advantage for the AFC playoffs.
And it certainly led to champagne celebrations by members of the 1972 Dolphins, the only team to complete a season undefeated.
"It's just another example of how tough it is to run the table in the NFL. And while congratulations are in order to the Colts for the great run they had this year, it points out once again that the 1972 team was something special, even if we don't always get recognized as such," said Manny Fernandez, a defensive lineman on that team.
Said Dungy: "The only consolation now is that we won't be asked all those questions, have all the media around and we can have more focus on our ultimate goal, to win the Super Bowl."
The Colts played dreadfully for much of the game - almost as if they wanted to take off the pressure.
Andy Lyons, Getty ImagesGame Ball: Michael Turner's 83-yard TD run sealed the Charger win.
Manning was sacked on each of the first two series and also threw an interception, although he finished with 336 yards passing, many of them late in the game. Fortunately for Indy, Drayton Florence, who picked off the pass, fumbled it back as he was returning it.
Still, the Chargers were leading 16-0 midway through the third quarter on a 29-yard TD pass from Drew Brees to Keenan McCardell and three field goals by Nate Kaeding.
"They were treating it like a playoff game and we were, too," Manning said. "I feel very disappointed that we lost the game."
The Colts rallied behind their defense.
Trailing 16-3 after Mike Vanderjagt's field goal, Gary Brackett intercepted Brees' pass, setting up a 1-yard TD run by Edgerrin James. Then Dwight Freeney sacked Brees to force a fumble, and Manning threw a 1-yard TD pass to Dallas Clark.
Suddenly it was 17-16 with 40 seconds left in the third quarter, and the RCA Dome, quiet for almost three quarters, exploded in a raucous roar.
It got louder when McCardell fielded Hunter Smith's punt on the goal line a few minutes into the fourth quarter and could get only to his 8. But McCardell atoned, catching a 54-yard pass from Brees, who finished 22-of-33 for 255 yards, to set up Kaeding's field goal that put the Chargers up 19-17.
Nick Harper's end-zone interception after Dominic Rhodes fumbled the ensuing kickoff stopped one threat for the Colts. Manning drove the Colts down the field, but the grounding call when he was pressured by Merriman cost him 12 yards and Castillo's sack forced a punt.
Two plays later, Turner turned right end and raced untouched down the sideline for the clincher.
"We call multiple plays in the huddle or on the line. That's called an alert," Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said of the run by Turner, who was subbing for LaDainian Tomlinson, who bruised his ribs. "We see what they show. Then we either run the play or run the alert. That was the alert."
That was the alert that made the 1972 Dolphins happy. It might be the alert that takes the pressure off the Colts en route to an NFL title.
Son of Colts coach Tony Dungy found dead of apparent suicide
ReplyDeleteLUTZ, Fla. (AP) - The Indianapolis Colts' near-perfect season was plunged into sadness when the news came that coach Tony Dungy's eldest son was found dead of an apparent suicide.
``Everybody said a team prayer for Coach Dungy and his family,'' quarterback Peyton Manning said. ``It's laying on the hearts of all the players here today.''
James Dungy, the 18-year-old who became a fixture around the teams his father coached and was often mistaken for a player because of his towering size, was found dead in a Tampa-area apartment early Thursday.
His girlfriend returned to the Campus Lodge Apartments at about 1:30 a.m. and found him unresponsive, Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. Carter said evidence at the scene indicated he had killed himself.
A sheriff's deputy performed CPR before an ambulance took him to University Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Tony Dungy took the team plane from Indianapolis to Tampa, Fla., where he had coached the Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001. He left his team with instructions befitting their ever-steady leader: Keep playing.
``He's an amazing individual with great strength and integrity, even in the toughest times,'' assistant head coach Jim Caldwell, who will take over in Dungy's absence, said after Thursday's practice. ``He told us to carry on as usual.''
The Colts (13-1) travel to Seattle for a game Saturday, and team president Bill Polian said Caldwell will lead the team ``for however long Tony will be away, and however long he will be away is entirely up to him.''
The Seahawks took a knee on the practice field in Kirkland, Wash., on Thursday and bowed their heads for a moment of silence. Seattle coach Mike Holmgren acknowledged that it will be somewhat awkward to coach against the Colts with all they are suddenly enduring.
``Yeah, it is, but we must separate that,'' he said. ``We still have a lot at stake. We must be able to do that. So that is what we are going to do.''
Dungy is immensely popular around the league and known for his soft-spoken style and commitment to balancing family life with football - a rare trait in NFL coaches. He shared the blame when Indianapolis lost its first game Sunday against the visiting San Diego Chargers, ending what had been a perfect season.
``It certainly keeps things in perspective,'' Manning said. ``Players with families, it certainly hits home. Coach Dungy's close to a lot of these players. ... Players feel close to him as well as his family.''
The Dungys have four other children: daughters Tiara and Jade and sons Eric and Jordan. James Dungy spent his senior year at North Central High School in Indianapolis and graduated this year.
C.E. Quandt, the school's principal, said Dungy was a personable student who never flaunted his father's position, and had recently visited North Central. He said the death surprised and saddened everyone at the school.
``It kind of diminishes our school family,'' he said.
A woman who answered the door at James Dungy's girlfriend's home declined comment Thursday. Jessica James, 18, who described herself as a close friend, said she and a group of friends went to the movies with Dungy on Monday night.
``He was cracking jokes, just being himself,'' she said. ``This morning, it was so surreal.''
She said Dungy ``was just a really good kid, very laid-back. Unless you asked him, you'd never know he was Tony Dungy's son.''
The mood was somber Thursday at the Buccaneers' practice facility, located near the airport where the Colts' plane that brought Tony Dungy to Florida was parked. Players and coaches could see the plane from the practice field.
``It shakes you, there's no doubt about it. Tony and I first came together in 1992 and I got to see the boy grow up. ... Tony's got tremendous faith, and that's what will carry Tony through,'' said Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who worked for Dungy at Tampa Bay.
James Dungy was a frequent visitor to the Bucs' practices and games when his father coached the team.
``He was here all the time, hanging out in the locker room and with the players on the field,'' fullback Mike Alstott said. ``If James wasn't here, it was like: `Where's James?' He was part of this football team.''
New York Jets coach Herman Edwards, one of Dungy's closest friends, called James a ``very, very good kid.
``The whole family is good people. You know Tony, how he raised a family,'' Edwards said from Jets training camp in Hempstead, N.Y. ``A tragedy.''
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ReplyDeleteIt became a downward spiral after the suicide of the coaches son. One good thing in this whole ordeal is,my all time favorite team won. I had written them off early. They ended up beating Indianapolis 21-18, for the chance to play for the AFC championship. I won't jump on the bandwagon, but I'll be pulling for them from this point. Sundays game was one of the most exciting games, I've ever seen.
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