I am ecstatic this morning. For whilst I did not catch the game due to moving lots and lots of modern/classic paintings and sketches, the freakin' Colts beat the freakin' Patriots! Yahoooooooo!
Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts have been my favorite team in the NFL ever since 1) Steve Young retired from the San Francisco 49'ers and 2) I began playing Madden 2001, kicking ass with the Colts. The Colts define what is wonderful about sports - class and character. So many times in today's modern age of sports, it's all too clear that players really couldn't care less about anything but themselves - Terrel Owens comes right to mind. A few others do as well: Barry Bonds, the hundreds of other guys taking steroids, the Vikings, only to name a few. In spite of all that - the Colts are it. When they lose, they don't whine. When they win, they don't gloat. And hardly anyone on the team celebrates in gratuitous fashion when they get a touchdown. Now that's unheard of in today's NFL. (Don't get me wrong, I loved Chad Johnson's river dance as much as anyone - probably more so - but it is so nice to see a guy score and just hand the ball to the ref.)
While the Colts have been my favorites for a while, they just did not have the wholistic image of a team they needed to get to the Superbowl. This lack of a hardened defense and finishing offense manifested itself over the past 5 years in Indy's inability to defeat the Patriots. No knock against the Patriots, a true dynasty who has won 3 Superbowls out of the past 4. (Though I still say Gruden's Raiders should have played the Rams, it was a forward pass!!) However, the Colts just didn't have it together. But, boy howdy, do they ever now!
Defense: Check. Finally Tony Dungy has brought to Inday what defined Tampa Bay during his tenure there and Gruden's as well. Kick ass defense that'll stop the run, punish receivers, and take on the quarterback without any pussy-footing around. Finally!
Offense: Check. The Colts always had the offense man. With Manning, James, and Harrison the Indy offense has always been electric. Heck Manning set the passing TD record last year. And yet, something is different this there, there's more of a ground instead of a limitless ceiling. Admittedly they are starting to get electric again, but it's heartening to see the defense starting to match the offensive prowess.
Hot damn man, I'm hoping with fingers crossed and a hopeful heart that some of the most decent and truly best players in the league will finally overcome the second hurdle to Manning's decade long search for a Superbowl ring.
So as I said, yay COLTS!
2 comments:
Peyton Manning finally won the key road victory up in Foxsburo setting the stage for Indy to play inside for the entire playoffs including superbowl. On a more personal note, Peyton finally stepped up and won a fantasy game for me. He is winning on the field but killing me in fantasy. This morning i awoke to find the old Peyton finally stood up. Go Colts!!!
i hardly understood a word of that, but gosh, it was sexy anyway.
Post a Comment