Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Colts are now tied for first place in their division. In one of my earlier posts, I discussed the importance of winning the division. Well the Colts are now tied for first place. They have been riddled with injuries to their key starters all year long and it is starting to take a toll in their games. When they played against easier competition, Peyton Manning was still able to win close games and keep his offense in a somewhat efficient rhythm, but now that the Colts are facing tougher competition, injuries have begun to become a very decisive factor on their losses. Since the Colts can not run the ball, Peyton Manning has begun to throw more interceptions and has had more pressure. The Colts’ defense can not stop the run and continuously allows other teams’ halfbacks to run for over 100 yards. The Indianapolis Colts need to win out the rest of their games to secure the division. This will hopefully become easier as they begin to regain some of their injured players. Peyton Manning can only do so much and now even he can not win games. This team needs to get healthy quickly. 

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010112811/2010/REG12/chargers@colts/recap/quick-take?module=HP_headlines

Colts vs Patriots

It’s that time of year again. The Indianapolis Colts play against the New England Patriots this week. This is my favorite game of the year by far. My brother is a Patriots fan so I greatly enjoy watching these two teams battle it out. This year’s matchup holds a lot of importance once again. This game could possibly decide which team gets homefield advantage in the playoffs. The Patriots and Colts are both at the top of their conference and a win here will very likely be the difference between seeds. The Colts will be missing some players still but they look to have wide receiver Austin Collie back for this game. The Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady and Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning are the best at their position. This game will be another great matchup between the NFL’s best. Both teams have a lot of respect for each other and have a great history of games. The Colt’s are looking for another win to help win their division and hopefully get homefield advantage while the Patriots look to keep their lead and homefield advantage. It will be up to Peyton Manning to score enough points to keep this game competitive. New England’s defense will have to stop Manning.

http://www.1070thefan.com/eddie/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10164888

NFL playoffs

The current NFL playoff system puts great importance on winning the division. There are six playoff spots open per conference in the playoffs at the end of the season. Four spots go to the winner of each division and two spots go to the two teams who did not win their division but had the best record. These teams are called the wild card teams. The two division winners with the highest record get to have a bye week during the playoffs. The four remaining teams play during the first week of the playoffs. The team with the highest record will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Every other team who does not win the division has to compete for the two best records against the whole conference. This makes winning the division very important. Winning the division guarantees the team a spot in the playoffs. This year there are about six teams in the hunt for those two wildcard spots. Winning the division is more crucial this year than in most. For a team like the Colts, the division win will probably go down to the last game of the season. The NFL playoff system makes for some competitive regular seasons. 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/516136-nfl-playoffs-which-team-will-finish-the-season-with-the-best-record

Experience among rookie quarterbacks

Experience is everything in the National Football League. The Cleveland Browns are planning to start their rookie quarterback this week against the NFL leading Patriots due to imjuries. Quarterbacks need time to get used to the NFL and playing games allows them to do that. Like everything else, doing something gets one better at it. A quarterback can sit on the sidelines and learn from the side but that will not be as effective as actually going out there and playing. Peyton Manning played his first year and through 28 interceptions but the learning experience was very beneficial to him. Mark Sanchez, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, to name a few, all started their rookie seasons and are now playing at a high level. A quarterback needs to get used to the time he has in the pocket since usually it is less time than in college. Most importantly, a quarterback needs to get used to the speed of the NFL. The NFL is comprised of some of the best athletes in the country. A quarterback usually plays against mediocre talent in college so he needs time to adjust to the NFL. Experience is crucial to rookie quarterbacks. 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81be1533/article/mangini-has-no-qualms-starting-rookie-mccoy-vs-patriots?module=HP_headlines

MVP for the NFL

Tom Brady is among those being talked about for Most Valuable Player of the year. Tom Brady is being lauded for having a record of 4-1 with losses at the line because of injury and the loss of Randy Moss. His numbers are not very impressive with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions. Brady is still leading his team to victories. One person people tend to forget about is Peyton Manning. He has lead his team to a 4-2 record but has 13 touchdowns and only two interceptions for a league-leading passer rating of 103.4. Peyton Manning has had many injuries to his team at many offensive positions and still continues to have the best start to his career. Peyton Manning deserves the MVP award because he has more injuries to deal with along with better numbers. Peyton Manning has to play near perfect football every week to have a chance at winning and many times he does. The Colts would not win many games without Peyton Manning and that is what makes him the most valuable player to his team. While many teams have great players, not many have one as crucial to their success as Peyton Manning.

 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/10/21/nfl.awards/index.html

Cover 3

I want to discuss the topic I had said I would discuss in this blog post. I had previously explained how the cover 2 works in its basic forms. I now want to discuss how the cover 3 generally works. Cover three means there are three defensive backs covering the deep part of the field. They can either divide the field up into three or they can divide it by ¼ ¼ and 1/2. Cover 3 means the middle of the field will be closed. By just looking at the middle of the field, a quarterback can identify whether it’s cover 2 or cover 3 or 1. Cover 1 also has the middle of the field closed. When playing cover 3, there will almost always be at least one safety covering a deep part of the field. There still need to be people covering the flats so that responsibility is left to a linebacker and a cornerback. Which corner back it is depends on cloud or sky coverage. If the call is sky the strong safety has the flat and the corner is deep. If the call is cloud the strong side corner has the flat and the strong safety is deep. I hope this helps people wishing to understand football a little better.

Injuries

I would like to say that I will continue with the cover 3 topic on my next blog. I recently learned that Indianapolis Colts tight-end Dallas Clark had surgery on his hand and has been placed on the injury-reserved list. For those who do not know what the injury reserve list is, the injury-reserved list is a list where players are placed when the team feels that a player can not return for the rest of the season. Once they are put on the list, they are not allowed to return until the next season. Why is this one injury so important? Well, Dallas Clark is pretty much Peyton Manning’s second option. Dallas Clark demands double-teams or he will carve up a defense. Clark is too fast to be covered by most linebackers and too strong to go one-on-one with a cornerback. Dallas Clark is an important part of this offence. With Indianapolis Colt’s wide receiver Austin Collie recently also having had hand surgery and wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez nursing a sprained ankle, another injury is the last thing the colts needed. Add to the list running back Joseph Addai who hurt his shoulder last week and backup running back Donald Brown. This is just one side of the ball. On Defense the Colts have lost many players to injury as well. Peyton Manning and the Colts have to play perfect football to have a chance with these many injuries.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81b86a50/article/wrist-surgery-ends-season-for-colts-te-clark?module=HP_headlines