We actually won a preseason game on the road.  It is a rare feat that we Colts fans may never see again in our lifetimes.  2006 was the last time when we beat the Saints.  We went 5 non-home games winless until winning this one.  Of course, that wasn’t a true road game.  The Saints were playing in Alabama I believe because of Katrina.  The last time we beat a team in their stadium in the preseason was against the Chargers in 2004.  Now we’ve won a road preseason games.  Here are the 4 best players in the game:

4. Curtis Johnson: Let’s ignore his offsides penalties and chalk those up to rookie mistakes and nerves.  Johnson was phenomenal.  When the Colts signed him, I thought he was going to be a one dimensional pass rusher who at best would be a strong third down pass rush specialist.  However, he’s better than any Colts defensive end at stopping the run then I’ve seen this preseason.  He is definitely a raw prospect, but he could be another Polian gem.

3. Brannon Condren: Sure, his two picks were off of deflections, but he made great adjustments to come up with them.  He only was credited with one tackle, but he was hitting hard in the secondary.  He’ll make the roster for sure now.

2. Jamie Silva: This is a bit surprising, but for those of you who got to watch the game, you should understand.  Jamie Silva was all over the place.  On a third down play, he made a ridiculously athletic play to tip the ball away.  Silva was also hitting like Bob Sanders, and he was keeping receivers from getting any space.

1. Kelvin Hayden: Hayden had the only touchdown of the game.  He picked off Matt Ryan and returned it to the house to score the difference maker.  However, one of the most important stats was his 4 tackles, which led the team.  The QBs were playing well, but he was hitting the receivers hard and not giving up any extra yards.

The offense was terrible in this game.  Sure, they got 325 yards, but they were 0 and 5 in the redzone.  I have no idea why they were passing so much in the redzone.  With the inexperienced quarterbacks, it was a bad idea by Moore to not use someone like Mike Hart or Dominic Rhodes to pound it into the endzone.  We should have won this game in a blowout.  Instead, some bad decision making cost the offense some points.

There were way too many penalties in this game.  13 penalties for 94 yards.  That’s also not counting all of the declined offsides.  The defensive line was clearly trying to get a jump, but they looked too jumpy and would go offsides.  It is amazing that with all of the offsides, the Falcons could only score 9 points.

Updated Projected Roster

QB
Peyton Manning
Jim Sorgi

RB
Joseph Addai
Dominic Rhodes
Mike Hart

H-B
Gijon Robinson

WR
Reggie Wayne
Marvin Harrison
Anthony Gonzalez
Roy Hall
Pierre Garcon

TE
Dallas Clark
Jacob Tamme
Tom Santi

LT
Tony Ugoh
Michael Toudouze

LG
Ryan Lilja
Jamey Richard

C
Jeff Saturday
Steve Justice

RG
Mike Pollak
Charlie Johnson

RT
Ryan Diem
Dan Federkiel

LE
Raheem Brock
Robert Mathis
Curtis Johnson

RE
Dwight Freeney
Marcus Howard
Jeff Charleston

NT
Ed Johnson
Collin Ferrell

UT
Keyunta Dawson
Eric Foster
Darrell Reid

SAM
Clint Session
Tyjuan Hagler

MIKE
Gary Brackett
Philip Wheeler

WILL
Freddie Keiaho
Kyle Shotwell

CB
Marlin Jackson
Kelvin Hayden
Dante Hughes
Tim Jennings
TJ Rushing

FS
Antoine Bethea
Matt Giordano

SS
Bob Sanders
Brannon Condren

K
Adam Vinatieri

P
Hunter Smith

LS
Justin Snow