Thank Goodness

The Indianapolis Colts lost to the Cincinatti Bengals on Thursday night in the team’s fourth and final preseason game of the season. Although there was speculation during the week that the starters would play more than one series, the Colts ultimately elected to rest the majority of their starters for the entire game. With injuries already nagging the Colts this preseason, Jim Caldwell did not want to put his team in any danger of receiving a season-changing injury. For all of the concern that Colts fans expressed throughout the week following the loss to the Green Bay Packers, Caldwell and company obviously didn’t think there was too much to be concerned about as Peyton Manning and others watched from the sideline.

Granted, the Colts have not looked anywhere near perfect this preseason, but do they ever? The Colts have become notorious for their poor preseason’s, and at this point it is starting to seem like they lose on purpose. The offensive line didn’t look great, the defense looked a bit older and less fundamentally sound, and key injuries to Dallas Clark and Jeff Saturday were the usual topics around the watercooler, but as every preseason goes “much to do about nothing.” The Colts have proven that the only way to get a good idea of how this team will perform is by watching them from week one through sixteen. Yes, the placement of the officials has thrown off Manning and his offense, but the NFL is already making adjustments. Yes, the offensive line did perform far below what we have come to expect as fans, but Charlie Johnson and Saturday are two crucial parts of the line who should be ready to go by week one. Yes, the defense looked a bit flat, but its the preseason everyone is keeping it simple and vanilla is the flavor of choice. All of these serious concerns come with perfectly sound explanations, besides last I checked the Colts still have number 18.

Following a preseason that has, once again, left Colts fans with much to be desired, this team will take the field on week one as a favorite to reach the Super Bowl. Although some of the red flags for this team are serious areas of concer, such as the offensive line, don’t be quick to jump to conclusions based on the preseason. When healthy this is still a solid offensive line capable of getting the job done. However, maybe the best thing to happen to the Colts this preseason was the poor play of the entire team against the Packers and the concern over the placement of the refs. These two negatives were finally able to snatch away the storylines of, “Is Curtis Painter a Good Enough Backup Quarterback?”