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23 minutes ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 9:13PM
#1
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i hope hayden returns soon
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2 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 7:30PM
#2
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Indianapolis Colts CB Kelvin Hayden practices, other roster moves made The news continued to be positive for Indianapolis Colts CB Kelvin Hayden on Wednesday.
Hayden, who said early Wednesday he expected to play Sunday, participated on a full-scale basis Wednesday afternoon, while DE Dwight Freeney missed practice with the abdomen injury that kept him out of this past Sunday’s victory over Houston.
Hayden has missed the last four games with a knee injury.
“I feel pretty good,” Hayden said as the Colts (11-0) prepared to play the Tennessee Titans (5-6) at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis Sunday at 1 p.m.
Hayden worked out extensively before Sunday’s game at Houston.
“I didn’t have any problems, any setbacks,” Hayden said.
Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell said he believes Freeney could return to practice this week, and said he expects both Freeney and Hayden could play if neither has a setback.
Freeney said the injury was a “lingering” thing that had bothered him for several weeks.
“It kind of bit me after the Baltimore week [November 22],” he said.
Also on Wednesday, the Colts signed RB Mike Hart and DE Ervin Baldwin from the practice squad. They also waived WR John Matthews from the practice squad and signed three players to the practice squad: OL Keith Gray and Andrew Radovich and QB Shane Boyd.
Colts backup QB Jim Sorgi has been inactive the last three games (right shoulder).
“We have to take a look down the road at how he recovers,” Caldwell said of Sorgi.
Also, Caldwell said K Adam Vinatieri (right knee) is closer to returning and said a decision will be made on keeping K Matt Stover if and when Vinatieri returns.
“When he’s healthy, we’ll assess where we are,” Caldwell said.
The Colts’ injury report for Wednesday:
* Did not participate: S Antoine Bethea (not injury related-rested), LB Gary Brackett (foot), RB Donald Brown (chest), DE Keyunta Dawson (knee), DB Aaron Francisco (ankle), DE Dwight Freeney (abdomen), WR Anthony Gonzalez (knee), OT Charlie Johnson (foot), QB Jim Sorgi (right shoulder).
* Limited: TE Tom Santi (hand).
* Full participation: RB Joseph Addai (knee), OG Kyle DeVan (shin), CB Kelvin Hayden (knee), LB Ramon Humber (calf), CB Tim Jennings (ankle), QB Peyton Manning (glute), DE Robert Mathis (neck), CB Jerraud Powers (knee), OG Jamey Richard (shoulder), C Jeff Saturday (calf), OT Tony Ugoh (knee), WR Reggie Wayne (foot).
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2 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 7:24PM
#3
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Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney: “You’re not going to win any trophies for 16-0″Count Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney among those around the Indianapolis Colts not necessarily focused on an unbeaten season.
Head Coach Jim Caldwell already has been counted.
With the Colts having clinched the AFC South this past weekend and holding a three-game lead in the AFC with three remaining, talk among observers and analysts has turned to the team’s 11-0 record and whether — unbeaten or not — the Colts will play front-line players extensively if/when they clinch their playoff seeding.
“You’re not going to win any trophies for 16-0,” Freeney said Wednesday as the Colts preapred to play the Tennessee Titans (5-6) at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis Sunday at 1 p.m.
Freeney cited the New England Patriots’ 16-0 regular season season in 2007, and subsequent loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, as evidence of the meaninglessness of an unbeaten season.
“The most important thing is being 3-0 in the playoffs,” he said.
Caldwell, who on Monday discussed at length that the team would not be focused on an unbeaten season, said Wednesday, the team’s philosophy likely would not change from past seasons, when starters at times played sparingly in games after playoff seeding had been clinched.
“We won’t deviate too far from what we’ve done previously,” Caldwell said. “It’s something we’re going to **** if we achieve it, and that’s a big if. I’ve been here for a few years. I’ve had an oppoortinity to take a look at what we’ve done previously, so it has been assessed. The most important thing is what best suits you to do as well as you can in the postseason.”
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2 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 7:15PM
#4
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heh is payton schmoozin em cause they are on the schedule or something?
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nope...whatever schmoozin means..b nice!
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2 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 7:13PM
#5
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The Colts, who have made the postseason an NFL-high eight consecutive seasons, lead the AFC by three games over San Diego (8-3) and Cincinnati (8-3).
“Coach Caldwell has not stressed that to us,” Manning said. “His points of emphasis this week have been the same as every week, especially when we're playing a division game. There's extra emphasis and it kind of counts double, as we always say.
“That has been his approach every single team we've played and that's certainly the approach now. That's served us sell so far. I don't see any reason to abandon that theory now.”
Tennessee at the beginning of the season lost six consecutive games, with one of the losses coming 31-9 to the Colts. Shortly after a 59-0 loss to New England, Tennessee moved quarterback Vince Young into the starting lineup. Young has led the Titans to five consecutive victories, a stretch that has moved Tennessee within one game of the AFC's second wild-card position.
“It is impressive,” Manning said. “It's hard to sit and sit and sit, then all of a sudden come in and play. It's certainly a lot different when you're out there facing the bullets, but he has been very impressive. Our defense, having played against him in the past, knows all the different challenges that he provides – his ability to use his legs, his athletic ability, as well as his arm – so it's a different kind of challenge for them. It's playing almost a different offense for our defense than the first time around.
"What Vince Young has been able to do speaks volumes. He really has played well, and other players have kind of raised their level of play since he has been there."
While the Colts beat Tennessee by 22 points in Nashville, the Colts led just 7-6 before pulling away with two touchdowns late in the second quarter. The Titans in that game were without cornerback Cortland Finnegan and safety Vincent Fuller in that game, and lost cornerback Nick Harper to an arm injury during the game.
"They're a good team,” Manning said. “They're playing very well right now. They're maybe one of the hottest teams in the league right now. They're a team we're familiar with, and they're familiar with us. It's really hard to trick them. It really comes down to the execution."
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2 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 7:11PM
#6
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heh is payton schmoozin em cause they are on the schedule or something?
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2 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 7:09PM
#7
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Amazing" that Tennessee lost first six games of season, Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning says.
December 2, 4:27 PM Indianapolis Colts Examiner John Oehser.
As Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning sees it, the surprising aspect of the Tennessee Titans' 2009 NFL season isn't what they have done the past five weeks.
It's how in the world they began the season with six consecutive losses.
Manning, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, said the Titans team that has won its last five games since a 59-0 loss at New England looks far more familiar.
“The thing I always found amazing was how and why they were 0-6," Manning said Wednesday as the Colts (11-0) prepared to play the Titans (5-6) at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis Sunday at 1 p.m. "To me, they're playing now like what you're used to seeing and really how I always kind of thought. They're sound. They have good players. They're well-coached and they're tough to move the ball against.
“What you're really seeing now is what you're used to seeing.”
The Colts, who last Sunday clinched the sixth AFC South title, enter the Titans game having won 21 consecutive regular-season games, the second longest such streak in NFL history. The 2006-2008 New England Patriots won 21 consecutive regular-season games.
“For us, every game is still just as important," Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell said. "We’ve still got a lot to fight for "and this game for us will be no different than any one we’ve played up until this time. We still are going at it the same way in terms of our preparation and we know that if we don’t get better this week, we’ve got a problem on our hands. So, we’ve got to continue to get better.”
2 b cont next post..
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3 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 6:52PM
#8
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Time to fully appreciate the Colts' winning streak (part three . . .)
December 2, 2:10 AM Indianapolis Colts Examiner John Oehser..
But if indeed the Colts' winning streak does end sometime before the end of the regular season, make no mistake about this, either:
What they have accomplished in the last 13 months is something special, even by the Colts' successful regular-season standards. And it's those standards that may be causing this current winning streak to get overlooked somewhat. The vibe you get from national stories on the Colts, understandably so, is this is just another Colts team, no different than 2005, 2006 and 2007 -- seasons in which the Colts ran off long season-opening winning streaks. That goes along with the vibe you get from national stories that this long streak is no different than other Colts streaks, and that it somehow lacks legitimacy if it's not accompanied by a Super Bowl.
What's not mentioned is how absolutely unforecastable the current 20-game winning streak was. Remember? Last October? The Colts left Tennessee beaten and battered, having lost 31-21 to the then-unbeaten Titans a week after a double-digit loss at Green Bay. There was little to indication the Colts would embark on histroy. There was a decided feel among national media that the Colts' stunning run of consistent success was over, and I wouldn't have argued too vehemently.
SInce that night, the Colts have:
* Won 20 consecutive games.
* Rallied 10 times in the fourth quarter.
* Beaten seven teams that made the 2008 playoffs.
* Beaten New England, which went 11-5 last season and didn't make the playoffs, twice.
* Beaten last year's Super Bowl champion, the Pittsburgh Steelers, on the road after trailing by 10 points.
* Beaten last year's Super Bowl runners-up, the Arizona Cardinals, on the road by 21 points.
Perhaps most notably what the Colts have done during that time is re-establish themselves as a league a league power, and rebuild themselves in a blink from what was perceived as an aging team to one that's winning with young players at wide receiver (Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie) and cornerback (Jerraud Powers, Jacob Lacey). A window of opportunity that many believed closed midway through last season and even afterward has somehow been wedged open another two, three, four years.
And yet, understandably so, the streak does indeed feel a bit overlooked. One reason is New Orleans is unbeaten and winning by bigger margins in recent weeks. They are new, and a new story is fun and exciting whereas the media has seen the Colts here before, which leads to the common theme that the only story that matters in Indianapolis anymore is the postseason.
Not a surprising reaction, but one that has covered up a pretty good story of its own -- a team that was staggering midway through last season that is now a game away from setting an NFL record for consecutive regular-season victories.
A story that will be embraced warmly by national media? Perhaps not, but given it may not last much longer, it's time to take time to appreciate it now.
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3 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 6:46PM
#9
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Time to fully appreciate the Colts' winning streak (part two . . .)
December 2, 2:13 AM Indianapolis Colts Examiner John Oehser..
The main reason it's hard to picture the Colts going 16-0 is because it's fairly clear they really don't care about going 16-0.
"It’s really not that important," Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell said this week. "You’ve seen a lot of great records during regular season. What really counts in this league is one ultimate goal. That is to win it all. Once you get to the playoffs, you have to do something with that opportunity. Going undefeated during the regular season has never been a high priority.”
And make no mistake:
That's a lot more than What You'd Expect Caldwell to say or What Coaches Are Supposed to say. That's reality around the Colts. Clinching division titles and homefield advantage is important to them, but undefeated seasons, not so much. There wasn't much emphasis on it in 2005 when they began 13-0, and while there was disappointment after a Game 14 loss to San Diego that season, it wasn't sky-is-falling stuff. Seeing New England attain the unbeaten regular season two years later then lose in the Super Bowl only reinforced the idea -- and likely made it an easier sell to any players who wanted to focus on it. Before New England '07, it was easy to say only winning the Super Bowl mattered and that 16-0 meant nothing, but in January of 2008, the Colts and the rest of the league saw how true it really was. This week, Colts President Bill Polian said this week he believes not a bit in the notion that somehow resting players in meaningless games in 2005, 2007 and 2008 somehow led to first-game postseason losses in those seasons.
"The idea that you somehow lose momentum or that you get rusty has no basis in fact, none whatsoever," Polian said. "It's just a theory and it is great to be spoken about and written about, but the facts say otherwise."
The guess here is if -- and it's still obviously an if -- the Colts reach a point this season where they have clinched homefield and are still unbeaten, you'll see the play it as they did in 2005 against San Diego, a game in which all healthy players played, but borderline healthy players did not.
That's one issue that will make an undefeated season difficult. Another is motivation -- not surface motivation, but deep-down, desperate motivation -- the kind it often takes to win close games in the NFL against contending teams. Although the Colts gave a big-time effort in that game -- a 26-17 loss -- they still seemed to lack at least an infinitesimal amount the urgency that'd gotten them to 13-0. That was a team that year that won 13 consecutive games by seven or more points -- no team in NFL history had accomplished that feat -- and it seemed more than coincidence that they clinched in Jacksonville the week before, then suddenly lost the following week. Once the urgency was gone, the adrenaline/edge needed to beat a team still in contention in a a game without playoff implications seemed to be gone, too.
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3 hours ago ::
Dec 02, 2009 - 6:42PM
#10
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Time to fully appreciate the Indianapolis Colts' winning streak before it comes to an end
December 2, 2:15 AM Indianapolis Colts Examiner John Oehser..
Let's take a moment before the week gets started, before we start hearing about all that's wrong with the Indianapolis Colts, before we hear more in the coming weeks about what they should or shouldn't do in terms of resting or not resting -- and certainly before the topic by anyone writing about them becomes what they have or haven't done in previous postseasons . . .
Let's forget those topics a moment, and appreciate something not always appreciated:
Let's appreciate just what this team has done, and what it is still doing.
This is the time to appreciate, because as anyone who has played in, worked in or followed the NFL for any amount of time can tell you, winning streaks can end any time.
And yes, there's a fairly good chance that of the Colts will end soon.
Not against Tennessee on Sunday, necessarily, although with the Titans -- like Houston and Baltimore before them -- playing for their playoff lives, it's far from out of the question that a team that suddenly and surprisingly is one of the NFL's hottest could win in Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday.
But whether the loss comes Sunday, it's hard to picture it not happening before the end of the season. Not because the Colts can't win the rest of their games. They can, just as they have won their last 11 and the last nine last regular season. The teams remaining on the Colts' schedule -- Tennessee, Denver, Jacksonville, the New York Jets and Buffalo -- are each absolutely beatable. A strong argument can be made that if the Colts maneuver past Tennessee Sunday they are at least unofficially through the most difficult part of the 2009 schedule.
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