So, the Colts lost to the Cowboys and it wasn't even close. Surprise, surprise. Were any Colts fans really shocked? No doubt the national media is already formulating a series of "The Colts are dead and buried" stories to lead up to the season opener against the Saints. They'll all conveniently leave out the fact the Colts are 1-10 in their last 11 preseason games. Their regular season and playoff record over that same span? 42-12.
The sky isn't falling. In fact, there were several signs of encouragment from last night's game:
1.) The offense looks great.
- We didn't get to see the first team utilize Anthony Gonzalez and Joseph Addai only carried the ball twice, but they were clicking as usual. The only downside was that disturbing playoff trend of driving down the field and settling for field goals continued.
2.) Tony Ugoh looked like a rookie - an extremely talented rookie.
- He was overmatched on a few plays against DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer, but for the most part he held his own without the aid of a tight end. And, most importantly, Manning was not sacked. Mission accomplished.
3.) Antoine Bethea looks outstanding.
- He was a little late in getting to some seam routes dumped over the linebackers heads, but he was mostly solid in coverage and was a run-stopping force. It wouldn't shock me to see the Colts move he and Bob Sanders back and forth in the box this year to cut down on Sanders' workload.
4.) Freddy Keiaho is better than Cato June.
- If you saw the game, no elaboration is necessary. He hits hard - and low! - and is quick enough to gain depth and get into space on play action. It's safe to say we've seen the last of our weakside linebacker bouncing off Maurice Jones-Drew like a pinball.
5.) Jim Sorgi is awful.
- If Manning ever goes down for any extended period of time, we're screwed. He's jumpy, erratic, and has no feel for pressure in the pocket. He looked like a rookie.
6.)The corners played well, for the most part.
- Backup CB Tim Jennings was juked BADLY by Marion Barber on an outside toss, Kelvin Hayden seemed a bit tentative and Marlin Jackson seemed a little overagressive in the running game, but overall their performance confirmed what we fans have thought all along: there will be little to no dropoff in performance from the corner position. Also, how bad did Jason David look in the Saints' secondary Sunday night?
7.) The competition for Addai's understudy is still open.
- DeDe Dorsey is lighting quick, but tiny as hell. Clifton Dawson has nice feet and vision, but doesn't seem to have much burst. If we could somehow take the two and merge them, we'd have a hell of a backup. We need to see more.
8.) The kickoff coverage was much better.
- How this will translate over into the regular season is anyone's guess, but no Dallas return really went anywhere. That's all we can ask for. If we can keep opponents starting behind their own 35 this year, we'll be sitting pretty.
9.) Ed Johnson could be a sleeper.
- He's a rookie DT that we didn't know anything about prior to last night's game. But after watching him tie up Cowboy blockers and sack Tony Romo, we have a good feeling about the Johnson not named Tank or Charlie. We can't take too much away from the first preseason game, but we're hopeful.
10.) Our defense still struggles with the draw.
- They didn't allow any 20+ yard runs like seemingly every week last year, but it still looks like the coaches have some work to do defending the draw. As long as it works, we can expect it on every third down.
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