The development of parity in the National Football League has encouraged a concomitant stress upon the importance of late season momentum.  It is crucially important to have your team peak, both physically and emotionally, around the time the playoffs begin.  The attempt to level the distribution of talent in the league makes the emotional intensity of each team an enormously important factor. Just look at the last 3 years for example.  In 2005 the Indianapolis Colts reeled off 13 straight victories to start the season, only to be knocked off by the burgeoning Pittsburgh Steelers, the eventual Super Bowl Champs.  The Steelers produced a middling 11-5 regular season record in 2005 earning them the 6th seed in the playoffs.  Despite their inauspicious start, the Steelers won 3 straight road playoff games (an NFL first) and beat the Seahawks to claim the Lombardi trophy.
  In 2006, the Indianapolis Colts roared out to a 9-0 start only to lose 4 of their next 5 games as their defense floundered.  The Colts won their last game, however and secured a Wild Card spot.  This victory combined with the return of their defensive spark-plug, Bob Sanders, helped the team regain momentum as the Colts soundly beat Kansas City and Baltimore on the road before clinching a Super Bowl berth with an electrifying 38-34 victory over their arch-enemies, the New England Patriots.  Their rainy Super Bowl victory seemed like an afterthought as the team's emotional high helped them carry the day against the Bears.
   2007 was no different.  The Patriots absorbed all the sporting news ink throughout the season as they went undefeated in the regular season and won their two playoff games to run up to 18-0.   It is hard to deny the Patriot's momentum, but the they had been hammering the opposition in the regular season, but barely escaped with victories in their last few games, particularly against the Ravens and in the playoffs against the Chargers.  Meanwhile, the New York Giants took the wild card route, struggling to even make the playoffs with a 10-6 record before stealing 3 upset playoff wins before vanquishing the Patriots in the greatest Super Bowl upset of the 21st century.
  My point?  This season's Indianapolis Colts are looking a lot like the last few Super Bowl Champions, their 6-4 record notwithstanding.  Struggling to stop the run and recovering from a nasty rash of injuries to their offensive line, the Horseshoes look like they are ramping up for another late season drive.  In the last 4 weeks the Colts have beaten the Patriots, Steelers, Chargers and Texans.  Earlier this season they laid a beating on the Ravens unlike anything Ray Lewis and his pals have seen before, with the Colts prevailing, 31-3.
  All this despite the fact that Peyton Manning is just now finally rounding into shape.  After undergoing two surgeries in the off-season to clean out an infected bursa sac in his knee, Manning didn't play or even practice for the entire pre-season. He lost over 25 pounds and seasoned observers recognized that the impeccable timing Peyton shared with his receivers was not yet in synch.  Even Sunday in San Diego, Manning was unable to hit a streaking Marvin Harrison on a post pattern, leaving the ball short and ripe for a Charger interception.
   Make no mistake, however, in assuming that Peyton Manning will accept an under thrown pass or a split second of errant timing.  This guy is simply the Hardest Working Man in Throw Business. No other quarterback in the history of the game has approached the game with the combination of natural ability, work ethic and game situational analysis that Manning provides week in and week out.  Interviewed on the Academy of Achievement  website in September, Peyton was quoted:  "You better work harder in college than you did in high school to make it in college, and if you get to pro ball, you better work harder than you did in college...you better be burning some hours and putting in the time in order to accomplish your goals.  That's one thing that can never be sacrificed, your preparation and your work ethic, keeping yourself in shape, staying sharp mentally and working with your teammates to improve yourself as a player."
   What other quarterback from any era could master or even manage the complex and intensely focused Lightning Offense?  Peyton often conducts the entire game as though it were a two-minute drill.  Opposing teams are forced by the Colts hurry-up offense to forego defensive huddles, gaining a modicum of advantage.  In addition, Manning is continually aware of his opponent's attempts to make personnel changes, and calls for quick snaps that often penalize the defense for having too many men on the field when substitutions can't be made quick enough to escape the QB's attention.
  Watching Peyton Manning at the line of scrimmage is like watching a combination traffic cop and symphony conductor as he barks signals and last-minute changes to blocking assignments or simply audiblizes a new play.  He shifts players, spontaneously sends men in motion or points out defensive players likely to blitz who need to be blocked.   All this while minding the play clock which Manning plays like a Stradivarius: either using all of the seconds available to him and securing the snap on the final second available, or ramping up to warp speed to move the team rapidly down the field.
  Back in 2005, the USA Today recognized Manning as the No. 1 ranked NFL player in the league in their top 50 ratings, noting: "Manning has forged his success in the things we don't see, including tireless preparation for every imaginable detail before ever taking the field."  Quoting Jim Caldwell, heir-to-be-named-later for Tony Dungy as Colts head coach, the paper noted: (Manning) has an extraordinary ability to concentrate and focus on getting better....One thing about him, he's never satisfied.  And he wants to keep getting better."
  When all this is considered, what becomes abundantly clear is that Peyton Manning isn't likely to rest on his laurels and settle for that single Super Bowl championship.   He has held this team together when the rushing game has been non-existent, passing the Colts to victory even though his opponents continue to dare him to pass.  He has sharpened his already quick release to avoid taking sacks behind the Colts' makeshift and inexperienced line.  It's clear to this observer that Manning smells blood and senses that these Colts may well be another Super Bowl contender.  The relentless determination that carried the Colts back from 2-4 to 6-4 won't dissipate now that Indianapolis has finally reached the soft spot in their schedule.  Watch for the Hardest Working Man in Throw Business to turn it up a notch, if that's possible.

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The deservedly esteemed and decidedly controversial columnist for the Kansas City Star, Jason Whitlock provides another provocative and thoughtful piece today on the demise of Kansas State head football coach, Ron Prince.  While Whitlock prefers to be on the front-line in calling out thugs and knuckleheads in the black athletic community, he prefers to play the incendiary race card in Prince's case.  He calls Prince's dismissal "the tale of a black coach cut down before receiving a fair opportunity in a backwoods environment."  

Generally, University towns are considered to be enlightened communities (not that I concur), and this particular university town is just 8 miles from Ft. Riley,  a United States Army post.   The city has been rated by CNN and Money Magazine as one of the top 10 environments in the nation for early retirees.  I would like to hear a definition of what Mr. Whitlock deems "backwoods" about Manhattan, Kansas.

Mr. Prince's demise was clearly facilitated by the fact that he was offered an opportunity for which he was not prepared.   His resume is as thin as Obamas, with no prior head coaching experience and a single long stint as offensive line coach and offensive co-ordinator at the Unversity of Virginia with a smattering of assistant coaching jobs of no real significance.  The fact of the matter is that Prince was thrust into a position for which he was unprepared, Affirmative Action style.

 Whitlock compares Prince's situation to that of Turner Gill at Buffalo in the Mid Athletic Conference.   Gill, like Brady Hoke of Ball State (who happens to be white) is doing it the old-fashioned way, working his way up: learning the ropes and developing the requisite network and experience to work on the grander scale of the BCS. Whitlock rightly concludes that this is the proper path to success, so why the gratuitous slap at Manhattan and the off-handed slam at the Kansas State Athletic Department?

It was widely known that Prince carried himself as a braggart, filled with bravado and prone to promising results he was unable to deliver.  During his near 3 year tenure, Prince was 0 for Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas.  He burned through 14 assistant coaches and certainly created a chaotic atmosphere there.   Whitlock acknowledges Prince's immaturity.

The column is dressed up as a paen for blacks to challenge "still-existing racial inequality.. by combatting it rather than (by) pointless whining."  Yet Whitlock blames the Athletic Department for improperly "nurturing" the cocky blowhard Prince.   Do you think the A.D at USC spends his evenings holding Pete Carroll's hand and stroking his forehead when he muffs a big game?   How much nurturing do you suppose Bobby Knight got while he was coming up?  I would suggest that Prince was rather given ample rope to run the show at Kansas State his way-"carry(ing) himself as the smartest man on campus....talk(ing) over everyone's head."  Yet he treated his coaches in a "humiliating and abusive manner" and "treated his players worse."  Sounds awfully smart to me.  I would suggest he hung himself.

It's really sad to see a generally stand-up guy like Whitlock play the apologist.  He indulges here  in the avoidance of responsibility and is simply practicing victimology.  Prince is victim only of his own arrogance and his own inaccurate opinion of his superiority.   Thrusting unqualified men and women to the front of the line to meet racial quotas is invariably harmful to both those promoted prematurely and those denied the positions they have earned by working their way up.  Ron Prince failed at Kansas State.  Tyrone Whittingham is failing spectacularly at Washington after failing just as big at Notre Dame-whose fault is this?  I'm sure Mr. Whitlock would like to see the instigation of hiring practices for the NCAA akin to the absurd racial guidelines used in the NFL.  There is perhaps no arena of life where the results of one's efforts in a competitive enivronment are so abundantly clear:  in the sporting world, you win or you lose and any fool can look it up.  Prince lost too much, it was his fault and suggesting anything else is just loser talk.

I know its blasephmous to criticize the nearly sainted Colt's head coach, Tony Dungy.  Criticizing this fine and deeply spiritual man is kind of like using Obama's middle name-while the facts of the matter are all out there in the open for the world to see, we Indianapolis locals are just supposed to wait patiently, like Dungy does, for the tide to turn.  Well, it aint' working.  Once again, coaching errors and a decided lack of intensity have gotten the Colts mired in a slough of despond that is nearly impossible to climb out of.  Great coaches find ways to win, and Dungy is apparently no longer capable of providing any additional spark or insight to his team.  I think he left his heart in Tampa with his wife and family when she made the decision to have their family bail on the team in the midst of a playoff drive last season. Dungy's distraction was a major factor in the Colts failure last season and remains one this season as well.

  Why is that the Indianapolis Colts, one of the NFL's finest franchises since Peyton Manning came to town, are incapable of devoting the requisite attention to the acquistion of a decent return man?  Special teams have been the achilles heel of this squad for years.   Admittedly, the special teams play has improved this year, particularly with the appearance of additional leg strength from Adam Vinateri as he regularly booms kick-offs deep into the end zone.  But why is it that an otherwise top-notch organization continues to field taxi-squad wannabes and rejects from NFL bottom feeders in the important position of kickoff and punt return man?  Pierre Garcon's ghastly avoidance of a fair catch against the Titans cost the Colts 30 yards in field position, a chance to score and is completely inexcuseable.  Of course,  Garcon was just the latest hope-and-a-prayer thrown up by Dungy, who seems to think this position is unimportant.   Well, it is important, for the struggling offense and defense are being further hampered by their 24th ranked special teams play.  This is wholly unacceptable and falls fully on the shoulders of the head coach.

  As do the 2nd half adjustments.  Admittedly, Jeff Fisher is a stellar coach at the top of his game.  But Dungy has been considered a coaching icon since his halcyon days in Tampa Bay.  Peyton Manning has continued to make Dungy look good, but Peyton is doing all he can to recover from an inactive preseason, considerable weight loss, and two surgeries.  His mechanics appear to be suffering from the inability to plant properly this early in his rehabilitation.  His passes while generally accurate, have a wobble to them:  they aren't the laser spirals we are accustomed to marvelling over.   I don't think its age that is showing here, Peyton just needs to get back to full strength.  But regarding the 2nd half adjustments, Fisher clearly won this chess match and combined with an excellent job by Kerry Collins finding the short middle pass against the Colts.  Defensive genius that Dungy is cracked up to be, you would think the Colts would have found a way to get some pressure on Collins.  None was ever visible in that woeful 2nd half performance.   If you thought Fisher got the best of Dungy, wait until the evil Belichik shows up Sunday night.  The 5-2 record put up by the Patriots without Tom Brady at the helm is the purest testimony to the coaching greatest of the biggest slimeball to ever coach the game.  But he sure can coach.  He has gotten the better of Dungy almost every time they have met, with Peyton's aerial plentitude rescuing the Colts in the greatest playoff game in history that led them to their only Super Bowl victory.  Are we to settle for that single trophy out of Manning's spectacular career or can we begin to start playing entire football games?

 Of course this week it was the 2nd half when the Colts failed to show up.  Against the Vikings, Texans and Bears, it was the 1st half.  Good coaches on top of their game are able to get a full 60 mintues out of their squads.  Look at the job being done in Buffalo and Miami and Atlanta where young and inexperienced teams play with vigor and intensity for a full 60 minutes.  Other than a stellar perfromance against the Ravens, there is none of that in Indianapolis this year.  Solid, experienced veteran squads can get by with a laconic, laid-back coach.  This very young, but lightning fast and potentially talented Indianapolis Colts team needs some leadership and it should come from the top.

  Unfortunately,  I don't see if coming from Tony Dungy.  And if Dungy no longer has it, it sure as hell won't be coming from Jim Caldwell, Mr. Dungy-lite.  As much as I respect Bill Polian, I think he has been blinded by his loyalty to Dungy.  Just another guy from Dungy's coaching tree isn't the answer.  His other students are failing spectacularly around the league:  Herman Edwards, Lovie Smith, and Marvin Lewis are not faring any better than Dungy and Caldwell won't either.

  The Indianapolis Colts need a coach with some fire in his belly to force them out of their comfort zones and be more mentally acute.  While Bill Cowher seems to be drooling over the prospect of coaching near his home at Carolina, he is the perfect solution to a coaching problem engendered by a guy whose wife wants him to stay home in Tampa.  Attention Mr. Polian and Mr Irsay: This team needs shaken, not stirred.  Shuffle Dungy off the scene and buy out Caldwell's contract and demonstrate that you remain willing to put a winner on the field and let the chips fall where they may.

These are desperate times for desperate men in Dallas.  Rumor has it Jerry Jones has been working the phones with the penal authorities in Virginia in an attempt to spring Michael Vick early to come fill in for the pinky-dinged Tony Romo.  Jerry must be channelling Al Davis with the nifty roster moves he's made in the last 2 years.  Hey, somebody tell Jerry:  You can't buy a Super Bowl and you can't  reform cementheads!   Even with 4 bodyguards Pacman Jones wants to enter the Ultimate Moron contest every time he has a pop or two.  At least he showed up in time to get hung out by Larry Fitzgerald a couple of times.  I know they are still 4-2, but have you ever seen a major league quarterback choke like Romo?  Between dropping snaps and his latest disappearing act, one begins to wonder about his poise under pressure. It might just be all the positive thinking reinforcement he gets from the Cowboy posse Jones has put together.  Thugs and Felons and Freaks, Oh my!

I am still trying to figure what kind of kool-aid they are drinking at Fox NFL Sunday.  Howie and Terry and Jimmy continue to praise what I see as the Least from the NFC East.  Jimmy flip-flopped from laughing at the selection of Jim Zorn to requesting his instant enshrinement at Canton.   The Redskins have a middling good team, but how do you lose to St. Louis at home?  The Redskins and the Cowboys and Eagles are all .500 teams-the sooner their fans accept it the easier this season will be to digest.  I will concede that the Giants are absolutely for real, but please guys, lay off the NFC East hyperbole.

The real class of the NFL is beginning to tell as the hobbled Jaguars smacked down the Rat and his Broncos, 24-17.  As I predicted last week, the AFC champion is coming out of the AFC South and the Jags still have a shot.  Maurice Jones-Drew runs like a shorter, stronger Barry Sanders. Whatever else they do, the Jaguars really know how to make the other team look bad and the Broncos stunk up the joint at home.  The Texans finally got untracked at home against Miami, not an easy task after Sage Rosenfels single-handledly gifted the Colts  a game they never should have been in position to win.  To reverse that negative momentum speaks volumes about Kubiak's coaching and the heart this Texans team possesses. 

The Colts certainly used the momentum gained last week to rocket past the puzzled Baltimore Ravens.  Ray Lewis and company arrived at the Colts' new stadium ranked first in the NFL as a defense and promptly got burned on two early blitzes.  Led by Robert Mathis and Melvin Bullitt, the Colts defense hammered the Ravens when they weren' blowing by them.  Peyton and Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne were in synch-it looks like Peyton is finally shaking off the rust.  Hey Coach Dungy-how about bringing in Jim Sorgi to take those knees late in the game?  Peyton's already had two surgeries this year, probably from all that late game genuflecting.  Dungy's boys are rounding into shape despite a nearly all-rookie offensive line and the absence of Bob Sanders.  If the Colts defense keeps movin' and stickin' like they did yesterday, the Colts can win it all.  Bring on the Titans!

 A few quick hits:    The Bradyless Bunch has scored 1 point more than the Bengals over 5 games averaging 17.8 per game.  If you think the Raiders are pitiful now, just wait until Lane Kiffin wins his slander suit against the Lemony Snickett of Oakland.  What a difference a Tuna makes!  The Dolphins are in contention every week.  As much as I hate to admit it, Matt Ryan looks like the real deal in Atlanta.  I guess I am still hating on Boston College since Doug Flutie busted my bank account way back when.  We all know the Lions are a joke, so what is the deal with the Vikings offense?   Childress has the 2nd coming of Eric Dickerson in his prime and he can't find a guy to hand him the ball?   I love the Steelers and the way Mike Tomlin has them prepared and game-planned every week.  But this Bengals game is a trap-game if ever there was one.  Take the points and watch for my picks later this week.

I seem to recall a controversy in the New York Football Giants camp over the draconian discipline imposed by that ogre of a coach, Tom Coughlin.   Reportedly a stern taskmaster, "Colonel Coughlin" had a near mutiny on his hands in 2006 when the team was still saddled with the salt and pepper narcissists, Jeremy Shockey and Tiki Barber.  Well, lo and behold, the Giants subracted two pukes and ended up with a Superbowl Trophy.   So why does purported tough-guy Coughlin put up with the childish antics of Plaxico Burress?  I'm sure there is clause in his contract about "conduct unbecoming" and you can't get more unbecoming than the arrogant, lazy, selfish Burress.   I don't mean to sugar-coat it, but the team seems to be doing just fine without Mr. Family Man.   The guy has the work ethic of Allen Iverson, the grating personality of Rosie O'Donnell and the IQ of a field marker.  Trade him to Dallas, the new graveyard of the malcontents since Al Davis has turned Oakland into Bizarro World.  Man up, Coughlin!  This drama-queen is going to upset your applecart and there is no upside left in Plaxicoland.

Big Sunday night game in San Diego, with the Bradyless Bunch pitted against San Diego's marvelous Norvelettes.  How do you root for anybody in this one?  Belichik's passive-agressive arrogance is exceeded only by LT's lack of heart and Phillip Rivers' punk whining.  The noise should be excrutiating as two bandwagons full of frontrunning wannabes clash in the devolution of all of their hopes and dreams.  We can certainly all rejoice in the fact that somebody's gotta lose.  Just hope they beat each other up in the process.

Sage Rosenfels has filed the necessary paperwork to have his name changed to "Parsley."  Or was it "Rosemary?"  Was there a bigger bonehead play last week than Rosenfels failure to slide for the first down with less than 5 minutes to play and a 17 point lead on Indy's Colts?  Instead, Sage went airborne, got helicoptered and stripped with Gary Brackett steamrolling 68 yards for a Colts TD.  Of course, the Colts got two more turnovers and scores in less than 2 minutes and are at least back in the hunt.  If by some miracle the Colts make it to the Superbowl, they should vote Rosenfels a share of their loot.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing Howie Long and the Fox boys slobber all over the NFC "Beast from the East."   This division is certainly over-hyped and completely over-rated.  Philly has lost their way as Donovan McNabb teams generally do.  The Giants look terrific but they have that Plaxicorian cancer to remove.  And Dallas?  Despite the hysterical enthusiasm of Romo's Homos, this is a team destined for the trash bin once the wheels come the rest of the way off.  Jerry Jones is still trying to get Pacman Jones fitted for a leash as his penchant for strip clubs hasn't waned and his body keeps rejecting  the ginko biloba brainfeed patch the team trainer prescribed.  T.O. is just getting wound up on his "All About Me" tear, insisting that he is being under-utilized.   That leaves us with Washington, who Jimmy Johnson insisted was a joke early this season, impugning the selection of Jim Zorn as head coach.  They might as well have a bye this week, hosting the hapless Rams, but like the rest of the NFC East, there will only be heartbreak come season's end, for everyone but the G'ints.

When its all said and done this season, the AFC South will produce the AFC Champion.  The Titans continue to look rock solid, especially considering the fact that they now apparently have a referee on their team.   When you are playing solid defense and can get the ref to hand your team a bogus roughing the passer penalty when you really need it, things begin to seem pretty bright.  Even with a retrograde QB replacing a wishbone QB.  It appears the Titans will probably lose to the Jags in their rematch, and to the Colts at least once and possibly twice.  The Steelers and the Bears seem like possible losses as well.  12-5 looks doable and that should get the number 1 seed in the AFC.   Houston's gift-victory to Indianapolis should give them the momentum they need to settle down and roll.  To succeed Indy needs to start fast and force the other team to throw the ball.  With Manning rusty from zero pre-season practice and a dinged-up rookie OL, the Colts have limped their way to 2-2.  They should at least split with the Titans, and will probably split their much tougher schedule with the Chargers/Patriots/Steelers and Ravens.  11-6 looks likely for the Colts, despite their wobbly start, and  I would look for the Titans and Colts in the AFC championship if the splits fall right.

That all Manning Superbowl remains a distinct possibility, but not without Bob Sanders healing up and Plaxico shuffled off to the drama/diva boneyard.