Yesterday the Colt’s quest for a perfect season ended. They were defeated by an upstart New York Jets team 29 to 15. The Colt’s coach, Jim Caldwell, pulled most of his starters towards the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Many of his players looked visibly upset on the sidelines as they watched their team take the L.
The Colts had been on a 23 game regular season winning streak. This team has not lost too much the past couple of years and you can tell that losing is not something that they enjoy. So did Caldwell make the right decision? We will not know this until we see who is hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the Super Bowl. I will tell you this much though.
I do not agree with his decision yesterday..
By resting his starters, Caldwell will most likely end up resting his starters for the majority if not the whole game next week. By doing this, the Colt’s could very well head into the playoffs on a two game losing streak. Not to mention that they will have a bye in the first round of the postseason. That means the Colts will be going a month without a victory. They will have the taste of losses for a month straight. Is that how you want to head into playoff football where all the teams are hungry and talented?
Lets not forget that the year the Colts did win the Super Bowl, they did not have to rest their starters at the end of the year. Their starters got to play out the season and this resulted in a Super Bowl title. Many would say that you want your stars to remain healthy for the playoffs. Injuries can happen on any play in the NFL. It is an injury riddled League. Play to win. Injuries are going to happen. If you are a Super Bowl team, you should be able to handle most injuries and still win.
All teams are playing guys by playoff time that were reserves when the year started. Yes, an injury to Peyton Manning would cost the Colts any prayer of winning a Super Bowl. But Peyton could get hurt on any play. Peyton is going to go 100% on every play of every game. Just let the guy play. He has done pretty well for himself throughout his career in staying injury free for the most part.
I feel like the Colts are no longer the favorite to win the Super Bowl or even come out of the AFC. I think the Chargers now have to be the favorite to represent the AFC as the Colts are going to come into the playoffs rusty and not having played a real game in nearly a month. The Chargers are hot and just keep getting better.
Hats off to Peyton Manning for showing class and not scrutinizing his coach to the media. Peyton is classy and obeys his coach. He realizes that though he is having an MVP type season and is a phenomenal player, he is not bigger than the team. Maybe a guy in Minnesota should take some notes..
Stay tuned for the next edition of Sportskraze.
-Kraze
TheSportsKraze 