Painter takes the Controls for Indy Monday Night

October 3, 2011

Curtis Painter will get his first start at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night. There couldn’t be a bigger stage to begin your career on, and Painter will be playing with a nothing-to-lose mentality. NFL handicappers have listed the Manning-less Colts as 10 point road underdogs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and that may not be enough. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the first 3 weeks of the 2011 NFL season it’s that Peyton Manning is clearly the most valuable player in the league.

Indy looks like a shell of the team that went 10-6 last year as they are off to their worst start since Manning was a rookie in 1998. They have suffered some setbacks in terms of injuries and personnel changes, but that’s no excuse for how poorly they are playing. Defense has never been a strong suit for Indianapolis, but they will need to step it up dramatically this season if they have any hopes of staying alive in the difficult AFC South. Bob Sanders was the leader of the Colt “D” for 5 of his 6 years in Indy and his presence in the locker room and on the field will be missed. They have several talented players in the secondary, but they haven’t been able to come together as a unit, and will have a hard time doing so without a clear-cut leader. This year’s defense will be in for a long hard season as they get a workout due to the deficiencies of their offense. Their top 2 tacklers are each in their second year in the league which is why we should anticipate any sudden improvement as the season progresses.

Joseph Addai will be pushed to the limit this season as he is the only experience and trustworthy player on the offense. Fantasy football players that have Addai will get their money’s worth as he get more touches this year than he ever has in his career. Bringing in veteran QB Kerry Collins seemed like a good idea at the time, but he obviously knew that he had nothing left to give when he retired last season. Apparently the Colts didn’t believe him. Now that Collins is out for an undisclosed amount of time due to a concussion he received in week 2 it will be up to Painter to rescue this team from the what looks to be certain disaster.

Prior to learning about Manning’s neck surgery football experts had predicted that the Colts would once again finish at the top of their division and contend for a Super Bowl title. Quarterback is the most important position on the field, but there isn’t another team in the league that would be affected as much from their starter going out. Tom Brady went down in the very first game of the 2008 season, but the Patriots managed to win 11 games without him. Nothing is impossible, but it would take a miracle for the Colts to even break .500 without Peyton. It’s no wonder that he has won the MVP 4 times in his illustrious career.

Tune in Monday as the Colts look to secure their first win of the year over a steadily improving Tampa Bay Bucs squad that is hoping to keep pace with the Saints in the AFC North.

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under NFL

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