Free agency starts this Friday. Dark days are ahead for the Colts.
Edgerrin James will be a free agent. The Colts don't have the money to sign him to a long-term contract and they won't slap the franchise tag on him for a second season in a row. This was looming over the entire season. The consensus was that the 2005-06 season was the best chance for a Colts' Super Bowl championship. They finally had a decent defense and James would be gone after 2006. It's 2006. James is leaving.
Sure, there is a remote to non-existent chance that James could return. The Collective Bargaining Agreement mess will probably make for a slow free agent period this season, but there are enough teams out there with sufficient potential cap room and great big holes in their running game that James will be headed elsewhere.
What does this mean for the Colts?
First, the vaunted trio of Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James becomes the unremarkable trio of Manning, Harrison and Dominic Rhodes. It has the feel of the late eighties Broncos. You know, those teams that won so many championships.
Second, it puts Peyton Manning on the hot seat. Well, he's already on the hot seat. It puts him directly in the ninth circle of hell. All the weight will be on his shoulders. Unfortunately, this is not when Peyton is at his best. Manning will press all season trying to make up for the loss of James. His touchdown numbers will go up, but so will his interceptions. We'll see a lot more of pouty Peyton on the sidelines in 2006-07.
Third, it puts pressure on Bill Polian. He has to find a replacement for James if the Colts are to win a Super Bowl in the Manning era. He dealt Marshall Faulk when Faulk was untouchable and managed to replace him with James. He chose James over Ricky Williams in the draft. It paid off. He doesn't have much time. The Colts have locked up Manning and they need to keep Dwight Freeny. They've got some young talent on the offensive line but the leaders, Jeff Saturday and Tarik Glenn aren't getting any younger. Move quickly, Mr. Polian. None of us are getting any younger.
Doom, doom, doom. Death, death, death. Woe is Colts. There won't be much optimism from the Colts fans going into this season. Many feel like the best shot the Colts had and will ever have was last season. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't.
I do know that the 2006-07 Colts team will not be as good as last season's Colts team because Edgerrin James won't be in the backfield. I don't know that the Colts will never have another shot at the Super Bowl. I think this season will lay the foundation for that possibility.
Author's Note: I'm working on making updates to the template to make it more Colts friendly. At the very least I'm going to make it blue.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Super Bowl Sickness
I thought I'd start this blog with a post about my feelings at the end of this season:
Super Bowl Sunday is always a sad day for me. It’s the day the NFL goes into hibernation for the spring and summer. It’s the day a team hoists the Lombardi Trophy and gets to call themselves champions. In my thirty years, that team has never been my team. In fact, my team has never even been to the Super Bowl in my lifetime. Every year I walk away from the game sad that the season is over and indifferent to the outcome. It would seem that this year would be no different, but it was.
This was it. This was finally the year that my team was going to get to the big game. I watched the Colts go 13-0 (thanks to my girlfriend I got to witness win #12 live) and believed that this was finally the year that all the pieces had fallen into place. Instead, I watched them choke again in the playoffs. I was heartbroken. For days afterwards, I could not talk about it or even think about it rationally. I wondered if Manning and Dungy would ever win a championship. Will their legacy be that they can’t win the big one?
Weeks passed and my anger and sadness subsided. Suddenly, Super Bowl Sunday was upon me. I had made my plans to go to a Super Bowl party. Usually, I would look forward to hanging with friends and having a few laughs during the game. This time as the game crept closer I wanted to be a part of it less and less. Every little thing annoyed me. I saw a friend with a Steelers shirt. I wanted to punch her. I watched an interview with Mike Holmgren’s wife who was on a volunteer mission in Africa. I wanted to punch her. I saw a shot of Ford Field with the Steelers and Seahawks logos hanging outside. I wanted to punch them. People said to me, “You seem grumpy. Is everything okay?” I would make up some excuse about being tired or not feeling well. I knew that I couldn’t tell them that I was still heartbroken about the Colts. They wouldn’t understand. They would think I was a sore loser.
I’m not a sore loser. I’ve accepted the defeat. The Colts were beaten by the better team that day. They choked. They had their shot and they blew it. Accepting the defeat does not make the pain go away. The feeling I got when I heard the words “Super Bowl” was the same feeling you get when you have to say, “We broke up” to a friend after you just got dumped. The acceptance of it makes it worse. Seeing another AFC team in the Super Bowl was like seeing your ex-girlfriend dating another – better – guy two weeks after she dumped you. You say you’re happy for her, but you’re not. You’re angry because it should be you, not him, going to see Brokeback Mountain with her. Instead, you’re stuck in the row behind them watching them make out the whole time. That’s what it felt like watching the Super Bowl.
Then I started thinking. What if that was it? What if that was the best shot the Colts will ever get? Maybe Manning goes down with an injury. The linemen retire or get hurt. Receivers retire. We can’t replace James. This disappointing season may be as good as it gets. People tell you that there is always next year. It’s like hearing that there are more fish in the sea. But what if there isn’t? What if that was the one chance? For the rest of your life, you only go out with girls your mom sets you up with. Sure, you’ll be okay but you may never find that true love. That’s something that only happens when everything is just right, and you blew it.
That’s why I couldn’t explain to anyone why I was in a bad mood.
Super Bowl Sunday is always a sad day for me. It’s the day the NFL goes into hibernation for the spring and summer. It’s the day a team hoists the Lombardi Trophy and gets to call themselves champions. In my thirty years, that team has never been my team. In fact, my team has never even been to the Super Bowl in my lifetime. Every year I walk away from the game sad that the season is over and indifferent to the outcome. It would seem that this year would be no different, but it was.
This was it. This was finally the year that my team was going to get to the big game. I watched the Colts go 13-0 (thanks to my girlfriend I got to witness win #12 live) and believed that this was finally the year that all the pieces had fallen into place. Instead, I watched them choke again in the playoffs. I was heartbroken. For days afterwards, I could not talk about it or even think about it rationally. I wondered if Manning and Dungy would ever win a championship. Will their legacy be that they can’t win the big one?
Weeks passed and my anger and sadness subsided. Suddenly, Super Bowl Sunday was upon me. I had made my plans to go to a Super Bowl party. Usually, I would look forward to hanging with friends and having a few laughs during the game. This time as the game crept closer I wanted to be a part of it less and less. Every little thing annoyed me. I saw a friend with a Steelers shirt. I wanted to punch her. I watched an interview with Mike Holmgren’s wife who was on a volunteer mission in Africa. I wanted to punch her. I saw a shot of Ford Field with the Steelers and Seahawks logos hanging outside. I wanted to punch them. People said to me, “You seem grumpy. Is everything okay?” I would make up some excuse about being tired or not feeling well. I knew that I couldn’t tell them that I was still heartbroken about the Colts. They wouldn’t understand. They would think I was a sore loser.
I’m not a sore loser. I’ve accepted the defeat. The Colts were beaten by the better team that day. They choked. They had their shot and they blew it. Accepting the defeat does not make the pain go away. The feeling I got when I heard the words “Super Bowl” was the same feeling you get when you have to say, “We broke up” to a friend after you just got dumped. The acceptance of it makes it worse. Seeing another AFC team in the Super Bowl was like seeing your ex-girlfriend dating another – better – guy two weeks after she dumped you. You say you’re happy for her, but you’re not. You’re angry because it should be you, not him, going to see Brokeback Mountain with her. Instead, you’re stuck in the row behind them watching them make out the whole time. That’s what it felt like watching the Super Bowl.
Then I started thinking. What if that was it? What if that was the best shot the Colts will ever get? Maybe Manning goes down with an injury. The linemen retire or get hurt. Receivers retire. We can’t replace James. This disappointing season may be as good as it gets. People tell you that there is always next year. It’s like hearing that there are more fish in the sea. But what if there isn’t? What if that was the one chance? For the rest of your life, you only go out with girls your mom sets you up with. Sure, you’ll be okay but you may never find that true love. That’s something that only happens when everything is just right, and you blew it.
That’s why I couldn’t explain to anyone why I was in a bad mood.
Kickoff
As the title suggests, I'm a Colts fan and I live in Chicago. This is my blog.
Last season, I found myself writing a lot about the Colts and their fortunes. Mostly, this took place on a bulletin board in the context of discussions with my football-loving friends here in Chicago. I was the lone Colts fan. Those discussions inspired me to start blogging about the Colts in my own space.
I figured that the best time to start blogging is during the off-season so that I can follow all of the developments leading up to the 2006-07 season. A season of expectations.
Stay tuned.
Last season, I found myself writing a lot about the Colts and their fortunes. Mostly, this took place on a bulletin board in the context of discussions with my football-loving friends here in Chicago. I was the lone Colts fan. Those discussions inspired me to start blogging about the Colts in my own space.
I figured that the best time to start blogging is during the off-season so that I can follow all of the developments leading up to the 2006-07 season. A season of expectations.
Stay tuned.
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