I know Palmer’s stats don’t look great, but most of his passed did. He looked light years better than last week and was making some just spetacular passes throughout the game. I’d be a bit more patient than to say he a bust at this point coughLorinicough. Heck, the Raiders would have EASILY won that game if their defense had an answer for the run. They did not and they lost.
Also, I don’t want to get crazy here…but Tebow is 2-1 as a starter and actually had a pretty damn good second half helped by the Broncos defense.
Why is Tom still trying to force the ball to Ochocinco? That dude just doesn’t have it anymore.
The Broncos have no shot against a good team but they can definitely compete with the lower half of the league. Considering how they were arguably one of the 3 or 4 worst teams in the league prior to Tebow taking over, that’s an improvement.
In much more interesting news, the Colts are now in sole possession of last place in the NFL. In their final 7 games they have 4 division games (2 against Jacksonville, one each against Tennessee and Houston), play the Panthers at home, and get to play New England and Baltimore on the road. Their schedule combined with their atrocious play makes going 0-16 a very real possibility. It should be quite a spectacle to see what happens in Indy in the offseason.
Unless they beat Jacksonville at home, they will go 0-16 and even they DO beat them and finish 1-15, I think they will still have the worst record in the league. I mean other bad teams in the league can score points and build a lead even if they blow it. The Colts can’t do jack shit.
Sarkus
4087
I don’t think the Colts will go 0-16, but I agree they will end up with the #1 pick. They are the only one of this years horrible teams that has yet to show much competitiveness. And I see no reason to think that will change. Caldwell is not a good fit for a team with this many issues.
I think the bigger question in Indy is rapidly becoming just how did they get this bad so fast. The lack of Peyton only goes so far. Right now the Colts are a long way from being competitive even with a healthy Peyton or superstar in the making Luck. And that has to fall right on the people running the organization, which means Bill Polian and his son (who is the GM). From what I’ve read heat is rising in Indy over Polian’s kid, something Polian isn’t taking to kindly to. At the very least Irsay is going to have some tough thinking to do as this season winds down, because as much as Bill Polian was responsible for the Peyton era success, the Colts could end up in a long dark place if the Polians are the wrong choice going forward.
Shadarr
4088
A superstar QB can cover up a lot of problems on a team. But remember when they won the Super Bowl, they couldn’t stop the run going into the palyoffs, then they got Bob Sanders back and were able to stop the run enough to win. Bob Sanders isn’t coming back, and they’re still weak against the run. They have two great pass rushers, but they are used to playing with the lead when they know the opponent is passing and they can just pin their ears back and go after the QB. Their DL is not built for playing from behind. On the other side of the ball, they are not built to be a run-first team. Most teams will lean on the run more when their starter goes down, but the Colts don’t have the RB or the OL to do that. Dallas Clark is not a blocking TE even when he’s healthy, and WRs are only as good as the guy throwing the ball.
I think the Colts suffered a similar decline in talent and age as the Patriots, and were on their way down last season. Remember, they were only 10-6 last year and went out in the first round. They built their entire team around Peyton, and without the lynchpin they just don’t work. Imagine the Patriots this year without Brady. That’s a QB who is currently making up for the other problems on the team.
I look forward to Matt Millen breaking out the champagne when his record is safe for another year.
You mean noted ESPN expert Matt Millen? He never was in Detroit. If he was, I’m sure he would have mentioned it by now.
sluggo
4091
I agree the Colts are a bad team, but I feel they don’t get as much credit as they should. So far this year:
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Week 2: Trailed Cleveland 14-12 in the 4th quarter, 17-12 late, until a Cle TD with 4 minutes left seals the game.
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Week 3: Matched Pittsburgh score for score the whole game, tied at 10, 13, and then 20-20 with 2 minutes left. Pittsburgh kicks a FG at the gun to win 23-20.
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Week 4: Led Tampa 17-10 in the 3rd, were tied 17-17 for most of the 4th, lost on a TD with 3 minutes left.
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Week 5: Had a 24-7 lead on KC in the 2nd quarter. Led 24-21 until KC took a 28-24 lead with 5 minutes left in the game.
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Week 6: Trailed Cincy 20-17 with 9 minutes left, had a tying FG blocked with 7 minutes left. Game was only sealed on a fumble return with 2 minutes left.
That’s five (consecutive) games where they were competitive for 55+ minutes. They’re going to win one or two eventually.
Sarkus
4092
Sure, but as bad as the Pats defense has been, does anyone really believe that team would be 0-8 right now if Brady had been injured and missed the season? That’s the thing, the Colts haven’t just dropped off, they’ve collapsed. Nobody is doing anything on that team. And that is a failure of coaching and talent. And what have the Polians done with their recent draft picks? Not a hell of a lot. Their first round picks since the Superbowl win have been WR Anthony Gonzalez, C Mike Pollack, RB Donald Brown, DE Jerry Hughes, and OL Anthony Castonzo. Gonzalez is so low on the depth chart he doesn’t have a catch this year, Pollack is a backup, Brown is the #3 back, Hughes is the #3 DE, and Castonzo is starting as a rookie. Good talent evaluators find good players even when picking late in the rounds.
You are what your record says you are. You don’t get credit for close losses. They’ll probably win a game just because it’s damn hard to lose them all - it’s only been done once since the advent of the 16 game season. But they’re an awful team.
Shadarr
4094
True enough, I guess the parallel would be “Imagine the Patriots this year without Brady and Belichick.” Peyton was his own coach, so we never really got a read on what kind of coach Caldwell was until now. And to the surprise of not many, the answer is he’s not very good. I’m not saying he’s as bad as Barry Switzer, but he’s in a similar situation. He’s a caretaker for a team someone else built. He doesn’t seem equipped to make massive changes. It goes back to what we were discussing a few weeks ago: the Colts’ strategy appears to have been “Peyton or bust”. We’ve seen several years of Peyton, now we’re seeing the bust.
Who do the Pats have besides Brady? They don’t have anyone good on defense, and they don’t have a star running back. Receivers are only as good as the QB throwing to them (usually).
As much as I hate to say it, this defense fell apart after they dealt Richard Seymour. Maybe it was Bruschi & Harrison retiring.
Losing Asante Samuel was just as big a hit, too.
Lorini
4097
Well when your team is getting penalized 15 times for 130 yards, it’s very easy not to play any kind of defense, since the chance will feel pretty high that your great effort will just get called back. I realize there’s no way to prove it, but I really do think the penalties are at the heart of the Raiders defensive woes. When they get fewer penalties their level of play is much higher than these stupid 10+ penalty games.
What I think of Palmer really doesn’t matter in the end anyway of course. I guess we’ll see what happens on Thursday night in San Diego.
Sarkus
4098
So you are getting upset over Raider penalties now? How long have you been watching that team, anyway? ;-)
I don’t know what a lightly-penalized Raiders team even looks like.
Lorini
4100
I’ve been upset about the penalties. I don’t know why you think this is new.
