One of the many things about which my wife gives me lip is watching sports on TV early in the season. She will taunt me, asking, with a tone, if it’s a “critical game.” Sometimes, like when IU basketball schedules a non-conference cupcake in November, she’s right. Other times, like this week’s Colts game in Minnesota, she is wrong, which makes her grumpy. She will be grumpy this Sunday. This is a big game for a Colts team with many question marks.
• Can they stop the run? Or was last Sunday just an off night?
We’ll find out Sunday against Adrian Peterson. The top running back in the NFC by far, he will test the Colts front seven early. If he gets it going, it makes quarterback Tarvaris Jackson better, because he can then use everything in his repertoire—play action, bootlegs, reverses, slants, all of it. If Peterson goes over 125, it will be a long day.
• Can they run the ball themselves?
Joe Addai is having trouble running behind this offensive line. So is Dominic Rhodes. If this continues through the first half of the Vikings game, the Colts should start Mike Hart in the second half. He seems to be able to run behind these guys.
• The special teams are, um, not special.
This has been an issue for years. We, and by “we” I mean “I,” believe it may be a coaching issue. It has been going on too long to be a players issue. Plus, it seems that a fair number of starters play on special teams. Hello?
• Starting Marvin Harrison is becoming an issue.
This team needs one of the young wide receivers to step up and make some plays. Marvin Harrison needs to go deep a few times, to see if he still can. His mistakes, as much as anything, have cost the Colts their last two games, including a chance to go to the AFC Championship game last year. He is a first ballot HOF guy, a Ring of Fame guy, and will be eternally beloved by the fans of this city. He needs to show us he still has it. This week would be greeaattt.
At 0-1, the Colts are in a precarious position in a division and now conference that is in sudden disarray. A loss in Minnesota would put them at 0-2 going into the Week 3 game at home against Jacksonville. Jacksonville has its own problems, dropping its opener to Tennessee, and hosting a Buffalo team that is suddenly favored to win the AFC East. Whether the Jags win or lose this weekend, they will be highly motivated when they visit the Luke the following week.
Meanwhile, Tennessee, which impressed in Week 1, has a quarterback problem. Vince Young, he of the imperfect throwing motion, appears to be in the midst of a mental Mardi Gras, and has a boo boo on his knee, too. As Heidi says (I shudder), “You are out!” Without Young, their road game in Cincinnati this week is no longer a gimme.
The American Conference will play the 2008 season without two of it ascendant stars—Tom Brady, whom we’ve known about for a few days, and now Shawne Merriman of the Chargers, out for the year with his own knee problems. Brady’s loss has thrown the AFC East wide open, leading us to suspect that God has a Jets jersey with a 4 on it. The AFC South is all messed up. The Chargers are 0-1 and without Merriman, giving hope to fans in Denver, who suddenly envision Jay Cutler as the next Philip Rivers. The Browns are not there yet, but the Steelers probably are.
The AFC teams actually ON The Road to Tampa will begin to take shape this week. Memo to coaches of the Colts, Jags, Chargers, Browns and Bengals et al: You don’t want to be 0-2 next Monday. And any of you who are oh-for-three the week following won’t have many more “critical games” this season. Schedule a meeting with your agent.