It’s hard to add much to the Colts game. I thought they would hang in a little better than they did, but it’s hard to be too surprised over it. As has been mentioned here and numerous other places, the Colts struggled to get most of their 11 wins this year against far and away the easiest schedule in the league. That is not the formula to success in the playoffs. Even so, the Colts and their fans should still count this season as a resounding success and take it as a wonderful sign of things to come with this group. I’m pleased enough with what I saw this year that this team could be ready to make some serious noise by the end of Reggie Wayne’s contract in 2015, which could well be his own “last ride.” And, well, there isn’t a whole lot to write about the other games this weekend, which played out more or less how I and many other expected. Where there does seem to be some fertile ground, though, was last night’s Redskins-Seahawks game. At the end of the game in particular. If you’ve somehow managed to miss it, RG3 has been playing on a bad knee the past few weeks, and it was reaggravated last night earlier in the game. This was a big fear of Dr. James Andrews, whose name you might recognize from damn near every high profile sports injury since Bo Jackson. Maybe even earlier. You might check out that Wikipedia link just for the client list. That guy has had some very pricey joints in his care. There is some discussion about whether or not the good doctor even cleared RG3 to play the past few weeks. Obviously, he did play, and when he tweaked that knee again, he clearly was not the same player. Still, Mike Shanahan stubbornly stuck with him rather than turn the game over to Kirk Cousins.* With RG3 clearly trying to gut it out while the cracks kept growing in the levee that was his knee, the dam finally burst in the fourth quarter. As he reached for a bad snap, his knee went one way, his body the other, before it all came crashing down onto the slick turf in Washington. As he laid almost motionless, the Seahawks fell on the ball and pretty well sealed the game right then. *If there was any coach in the NFL who would refuse to listen to somebody of Dr. Andrews stature, even after things were clearly going down the tubes, it would be Shanahan. Seems to me that Shanahan has never had any real success except when he has a top two or three type quarterback, and yet, somehow, he’s regarded as a genius. Not sure if I’m buying that one, especially now. Would Kirk Cousins have saved the day if he had been given the chance to play from the get? Maybe not, but contrary to what RG3 said,* as soon as the injury flared up again (if not before the game started), Cousins was the best option. Cousins was pretty darned good at Michigan St., you might remember. I don’t know why he spiraled down on draft day, but I have never seen any reason why he didn’t get drafted by a team who could start him. Not when you’ve got the sort of messes you see in Kansas City or Arizona. And when Cousins has gotten to play, he’s looked poised and ready to go. Even last night he didn’t look half bad. Now, the rest of the team looked demoralized and had all but quit, but I don’t think you can fault Cousins. *And I don’t fault RG3 for thinking he is always the team’s best option. Isn’t that what you want from your players? To believe in themselves at all times? This is why you have coaches and doctors to make a less biased decision on who gives the team the best shot. Clearly this failed on a great many levels. This year’s draft class looks pretty thin at QB, too. I don’t know if I would trade the number one pick for Cousins, but I were Andy Reid, I would be taking a pretty hard look at what pieces I would be willing to part with for this rebuild and offer those up to Washington. And if they aren’t interested, the Seahawks have their own high-priced backup they might be interested in parting with. If you’re Arizona, geez, I don’t know what you have to part with that anybody would be interested in. Not outside of Larry Fitzgerald, and, well, giving up him pretty well guarantees that whoever does start in the desert won’t have a damn thing to throw to. It starts to look pretty darned clear why Andy Reid picked Kansas City to start over in over some other places. There are some good guys in place for the Chiefs. They just need somebody who can deliver the ball. Sounds like it might be time to right what you whiffed on, KC. Comments are closed.
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