Colts News

            In a Week 17 matchup between the 10-5 Colts and 12-3 Texans, can you believe that only the team has something to play for besides pride is the Texans? The Indianapolis Colts have locked up the #5 seed and nothing they do can change that. As for the Texans, if they win they clinch the #1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. But the Texans are gonna have to dig deep if they expect to beat Indy because we have a new weapon on the sidelines and his name is Chuck Pagano! Pagano has regained his health after battling Leukemia and will return as head coach for the first time since September. There is going to be a lot of emotion on the field tomorrow and nobody on the Colts is going to want to walk into the locker room without a victory.

            Besides Pagano being back, there are a few other reasons why the Colts shouldn’t be such an underdog. First off, the Texans have NEVER won in Indianapolis before. They are 0-10 in the RCA Dome and Lucas Oil Stadium. Second, the Colts handed the game to the Texans in Week 15. Even though the final score was 29-17, the Colts could have easily won. We fumbled the ball on the goal line and had a Pat McAfee punt blocked and returned for a touchdown. If we score on that touchdown and don’t allow the Texans to block the punt the score would have been 24-22, Colts win.

Colts and Texans play at 1:00 p.m. on CBS.

Postseason Awards

             
There are three candidates for Rookie of the Year. They are Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Russell Wilson. All are quarterbacks for their teams and all have greatly surpassed their expectations.

The Colts were 2-14 last year and with Luck as quarterback they soared to 10-5 with one game left. Luck has been superb in the 4^th quarter but has had his rookie moments. He has thrown 21 touchdowns but also 18 interceptions and has fumbled 9 times. If you’re going to criticize him on the turnovers you should note that he has one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL and one that has struggled with injury the entire year.

Robert Griffin has been electric in his first year. His 9-6 Redskins are one win away from winning the NFC East title. He has thrown for 20 touchdowns and rushed for 6 more while throwing just five interceptions. However, he has the same number of fumbles as Luck, with nine. Griffin has also had the luxury of joining a team that was a little better than the Colts as the Redskins went 5-11 last season.

Russell Wilson has been the biggest shocker of anybody. Nobody, including me, expected him to perform anywhere near the level he has. He has thrown for 25 touchdowns and rushed for 3 while completing 63% of his passes. The biggest fault I have with Wilson winning ROTY is that he joined a team that was already pretty good. The Seahawks were 7-9 last year and have a tremendous defense.

If I was voting, I would vote Griffin and then Luck.

There are two awards that should be no-brainers. Coach of the Year HAS to be Bruce Arians. Arians took over after his best friend, Chuck Pagano, was diagnosed with Leukemia. Arians has no coaching experience but he guided the young Colts to where they are now. But you cannot forget who they guy was that brough Arians and Pagano to the Colts franchise, and that’s Ryan Grigson. He has worked miracles for this team. Besides drafting Andrew Luck, he also acquired Dwayne Allen, T.Y. Hilton and Vick Ballard in the draft. He also signed linebacker Jerrell Freeman, wide receivers Donnie Avery and Lavon Brazil and traded for cornerback Vontae Davis. The only other name I have heard come up against Grigson for Executive of the Year is the Denver Broncos’ executive because he signed Peyton Manning. The genius behind that idea was a man I once respected, John Clayton. Even though Grigson brought in 36 new players, a fact that Clayton even acknowledges, he still believes that Denver should win the award.