Colts Saints Recap (Jason David a turncoat?)

Happy NFL Kickoff folks. It’s glad to have a real sport back in our midst. Too bad NBC tried to ruin it when...

They decided to have nothing but god-awful music blare for their 30 minute “pregame” show. From Kelly Clarkson (who looks like she ate the anorexic Katharine McPhee) to Faith Hill...dynamic and intriguing.

Moving on. Nice to see the banner raised for the Indianapolis faithful...that is until the owner dubbed them the “World Championship Colts”...so there’s that.

And on to football.

The game really started with more of a focus on running than most people would expect. With Joseph Addai leading the way, even though he appeared to be injured on the first possession. You could hear the collective air whisked out of the RCA Dome when Addai went down clutching his mid-section. Though he missed only the rest of that possession you get the feeling that if Joseph goes down, the Colts might be in serious trouble. Their backups include two guys who have never carried the rock in an NFL game (until Kenton Keith got three). Oh, and their third string back? A white guy who looks like he’s balding so badly he needs a comb-over, and how. At any rate, he ended up totaling 118 yards on 23 carries and one touchdown (which he celebrated by throwing up the Westside gang sign?) against the extremely porous Saints defense. They need to get it together back there, but when you’re starting castoffs from the rest of the NFL on your defense, it’s sometimes tough to compete.

Note: I’ve already begun rethinking my NFC champion pick (Saints over Cowboys) at this point, but I’ll give Sean Payton at least halfway through the season to get it figured out before I pull the plug on them.

I’m sure we’ll all read in Gregg Easterbrook’s TMQ about the Saints interesting decision to attempt a 52 yard field goal on 4th and nine inside the Colts territory. I personally would’ve done the same thing, but he missed, and it really swung the momentum early, although Reggie Wayne fumbled it back for a touchdown. Sean Payton was much more conservative than people are used to, even punting on fourth and one on down seventeen with a little under thirteen minutes remaining. His only game plan seemed to be to get Reggie the ball on third and short in the flat...problem is, it rarely worked. Seems they got distracted trying to get him the ball instead of letting Drew Brees sling it around the field.

Another weird note about the play-calling tonight is the inordinate amount of end-arounds and double reverses (even Dallas Clark had one), although, Reggie Bush subscribes to the same theory of throwing the defense off its game by completely running in the wrong direction every time he get the ball in his hands. Of course, that is...if he can hold onto it. On a very strange third and short, Bush caught the ball, ran past the first down marker, only to cut backwards and lose the first down. Has he not learned anything in training camp? Or all of last year? Until this guy runs downfield, he’s going to be nothing more than high-risk high reward. It’s like he hasn’t figured out that NFL defensive units understand the game and play at a pace that isn’t seen at the college level.

The interesting story for Mr. John Madden tonight is the offensive line! Gasp! Tony Ugoh, the new left tackle, who was decidedly decent, only had one holding penalty. His run blocking seemed far superior to his pass protection, yet, he managed to not give up a sack for the entirety of the game. Being put up against a guy like Will Smith in your first game starting one of the three most important positions on the field isn’t easy, and he handled himself more than well.

Chris Collinsworth and Tiki Barber think that Jason David is the story of the right. Absolutely correct, he sucks. He couldn’t even guard Chris Henry with his prison anklets on. Not sure why everybody thought that the Colts defense would suffer from losing two mediocre cornerbacks. Just because they were on a Super Bowl caliber team, doesn’t mean they’re of that same stock. Ask Jerry Jones how he feels about Larry Brown (Super Bowl MVP). David ended up being the victim of all three of Peyton Manning’s touchdown passes and probably feels like he did way back when on the practice field opposite Harrison and Wayne. And the thing is, the receivers are holding up on the routes. It’s so mind-blowing that he’s getting paid to do that, I could’ve let them run past me. Trust me, I’m plenty slow.

A completely dominating performance with the first half only being close due to a freak fumble and return for a touchdown. So the Colts get off to another championship caliber start to the season. While the Saints now have more questions than they do answers after only putting up 10 points on 244 yards while giving up 41on 457 yards and turning the ball over three times (a fumble and two picks by Drew Brees, one for a TD).

Is it too late to change my NFC pick?