Here are the notes that I jotted down while listening to the Bill Polian show last night.  Feel free to comment about Bill's thoughts:

- Nothing lost yet
- Worst night since Patriots playoff loss in '03 - mentions that it was same ref
- First drive should have been Peyton in third preseason game
- Made alot of plays down the stretch
- Special Teams best performance so far
- We finished the game when I watch the tape
- Only 50 offensive plays
- Lots of bright spots
- We have time to shore up issues(just a couple of things)
- Lost four key players on defense
- No QP, EJ, TH, BS - no fault of team
- Ad Hoc replacement
- Liked Melvin's performance
- Liked LaJuan Ramsey
- Dan Muir, 315 lbs, ready to step in
- NO PEOPLE FIT OUR SCHEME that are available(or are old or injury-prone)
- "This is a marathon, not a sprint"
Caller asks how we fix the defense until our players come back
- Getting run on is not fun, but it's points that matter
- TOP mattered for this game because D got wore down
- No need to speak about the refs
Caller asks about the end of game time management
- Sometimes you have to go against strategy and manage the clock more than you would normally like to get points
- We finished the game, but it broke for them at the end
Caller rambles on breathes really loud says something about defense and Marvin
- Bill won't talk about interception cause its a family show
- Not worried about Marvin
- Media is for the fans, not the professionals
Caller asks about ref calls and no challenge in last two minutes
- League didn't want "eye in the sky" to interfere with the flow of the game
- But Al Davis(calls him great football man) says that if coach is out of challenges, needs a way to challenge in the last two minutes
- DPI not challengeable call
Caller liked the 4 and 2 conversion to Marvin, but says that he that R. Mathis made a great play at first, but then looked back at it and saw the foul.
Asks Bill to talk about the lack of pass rush against JAX.  He thinks Melvin had trouble tackling.  Comments on our rush defense philosophy.
- Missed Tackles: We had 7 missed tackles.  Majority in late 3rd and 4th Q when we were tired.
- Pass Rush:  We had no pass rush.  Couldn't rest starters, so they got beat up.  Freeney did good on last drive, and there were at least a couple missed holding calls.
Caller asks about Dallas "head shot", and about officiating
- Dallas is fine, the hit was not finable
- College game is not in the same neighborhood as the NFL, so the NFL should have its own officiating system.
- Bill doesn't trust "eye in the sky" officials
- This is an important week
- No pads this week, weekend off
- Get new guys into the system
END

I don't know if anyone else pays attention to it, but while perusing the updated roster page, I happened across the Injury Report.  This is my first time seeing this page, which is odd since I go to Colts.com pretty much every day.

Reading it today was a little eye opening.  Let me see if I can port the format of it over here.

There you go.  A few interesting things to me are:  Roy Hall not practicing because of a knee injury, Saturday doing full practice both days, Kelvin Hayden, Daniel Muir, and Jacob Tamme being held out of practices for injuries.

I would have never this had I not happened upon this info source.  Is there anyway we can get a injury report widget on the main page so we can all have access to this every time we come here?  Just a thought for the SBNation web geniuses.

UPDATE 9/12/08 6:37PM EDT:

Here is the final injury report for this weekends game:

Clark (knee, questionable), wide receiver Roy Hall (knee, out), cornerback Kelvin Hayden (hamstring, questionable), defensive tackle Daniel Muir (knee, out), guard Mike Pollak (knee, out), Saturday (knee, questionable) and tight end Jacob Tamme (ankle, out).

via Colts.com

There is definitely some surprises here.  No Roy Hall, No Muir, and No Tamme.  Clark and Saturday might play, Hayden might not.  There is something going on at West 56th St., just wish I understood it

I thought I would just drop this nugget on you guys, and highlight a few things that stuck out to me.  You can read the full article here.

Going out of order, I would like to point out this section:

Colts will be better than you think if ...

Marvin Harrison can mount any kind of comeback to his old form. Harrison missed 11 games last year with a knee injury and caught only 20 passes in the five games he did play. He hasn't done much in camp to change the feeling that, at 36, his days as an impact player are numbered.(emphasis added)

 

Now I don't know what this guy saw, but everyone else I know who actually went to camp said that Marv looks like the old Marv, and that he has a chip on his shoulder to boot.  I guess look for the Colts to be better than you think.

The second nugget is about my man Anthony Gonzalez:

On the hot seat

Wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez had a solid rookie season with 37 catches, 376 yards and 3 touchdowns but he dropped a lot of balls. That has to stop if he's to take over as the No. 2 target in Indianapolis' passing game.

I'm glad that Speedy is now in the "hot seat" in his second NFL season, after putting up a good rookie season for a WR despite missing games due to injury.  Gonzalez, as a third receiver, was rated 1st in DVOA amongst all receivers and 14th in DYAR.  He also caught 37 cautches for 576 yards and 3TDs.  His catch rate was 73%, higher than all other receivers in the top ten in DVOA and all but one in the top ten in DYAR.  So saying that he is on a hot seat is a little ridiculous.

The last bit, which I think is positive, is the following:

And the defense that finished third in total yardage allowed and second in pass defense despite producing only 23 sacks.

...

Despite it all, the Colts' pass defense allowed only 8.9 yards per reception (second in the NFL) and had 22 interceptions to only 16 touchdowns allowed. Imagine what they'll do if they actually start to get to the quarterback again?

Indeed, imagine us with our more experienced safeties and corners, with The Fright back 100%, Mathis back 100%, Brock back 100%, Ed Johnson with a year under his belt, an interesting prospect at DT in Eric Foster, and Marcus Howard and Curtis Johnson in the DE rotation?  Sounds like QBs and WRs should be scared...

A few months back, the Colts organization started their "Design a Horse" competition, with $1000 cash and two lower level season tickets up for grabs.  The Colts say that they received several hundred submissions, some from professional graphic artists.  But last month, the Colts posted the top five, and it was obvious they were looking for a more amateur bent.  It looks like they got it.  The winner, Brian Carpenter, spent one day sketching it and putting it in a graphic design program, and another tweaking it.  He was told about the contest two weeks before the deadline.  So now that I have blabbed my way to 75 words, here is your new Horse!

via www.colts.com

There you go.  Look to see this on official apparel soon.

Jason Whitlock is a writer who perplexes me.  He usually banters on and on about race ssues, and usually gives a good bum-licking to the Patriots whenever he gets chance.  But since he is a Naptown native, I try to find something to like about him.  Well, he finally seems to have given me something to work with.

In his first "NFL Truths" article for FoxSports.com, he writes a few things that will surprise anyone who has read the man's work.  First off, about the Pats:

I think the Patriots are going to take a big step back this year. There's going to be a hangover from that Super Bowl loss and their 18-0 run.

...

The last month of the 2007 season, the Patriots were mentally drained, and they weren't a great team. The team we saw at the end of last season is the team we will see this season. The Pats are still tired.

They'll win 10 games and lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Amazing, isn't it?  Someone finally recognizing that the Pats might actually have a  post-Super Bowl-loss hangover?  Like pretty much every other team in that position?  No way!  It's amazing to think that teams can change over the course of a season(Kind of like the 06 Colts), with one OK team becoming a champion and a prematurely-crowned Champion falling short.

Then, Whitlock decides to give some love to everyone's favorite new Wolverine to wear the Speed Blue and White,  Mike Hart:

I loved running back Mike Hart when he was at Michigan. A sixth-round pick for the Colts, Hart will be the steal of the draft.

Hart fell to the sixth because he ran a 4.6 40-yard dash. He runs faster on the field because he runs decisively and with purpose. A fast guy who doesn't know where to go runs slower than Hart.

Hart won't beat out Joseph Addai. But Hart will be a starter in this league before the end of his career. He reminds me of Michael Turner, LaDainian Tomlinson's old backup.

Once again, he proves that he does in fact have a brain by actually watching the DAMN GAME and seeing that Hart is special - despite his measurables.  Good job Jason, keep it going.  And keep it going he does, by listing as his #1 truth this fact, which will make us all very happy:

Right now, I like the Colts to win the Super Bowl.

I know it's not a sexy prediction. It's just what I really think. Tony Dungy is going to christen Lucas Oil Stadium with a Super Bowl champion and then immediately retire.

Of course I hope the latter prediction does not hold true, but I can not believe a media head is allowed to even say Colts and Super Bowl in the same sentence.

Overall, this is an excellent article almost throughout, even including the love he throws the way of my could-have-been Alma Mater, Ball State.  He says they are stacked and figure to be this year's Boise State.  Awesome, and I wish the Cards all the luck in the world as they beat some Big 12 "powerhouse" in a BCS bowl.

Check the article out at FoxSports.  It's worth the read.

There was a post on here earlier that I posted a lengthy reply to, and did a few others, and now it is gone.  I was just wondering if anyone can tell me what happened or why it might have been removed?  I was wanting to reference part of my comment and now I have no way to do that.  It's not a huge deal, just hoping that maybe BBS could clue me in.  I don't remember anyone(including myself) saying anything that could be construed as offensive.

We all know that every QB played with a different level of talent, but we should at least agree that our talent on offense generally descended as the Skins' talent decreased on defense.  So therefore, these should be roughly comparable.  Here is the final stat line and QB rating for all three players:

Jared Lorenzen   21ATT, 12 CMP, 93YDS, 0TD, 1INT - 1 RUSH ATT, 9YDS - 2 SACK, 16YDS  - PASSER RATING: 48.3

Quinn Gray   19ATT, 10 CMP, 160YDS, 1TD, 0INT - 2 RUSH ATT, 11 YDS - 0 SACK - PASSER RATING: 98.6

Jim Sorgi   10 ATT, 7 CMP, 66 YDS, 0TD, 0INT - 0 RUSH ATT - 1 SACK, 6YDS - PASSER RATING: 87.9

These stats show what I saw.  Quinn Gray might have been slightly more inconsistent, but he finished his drives, leading the team to 13 points in 5 drives.  The first drive was cut short by passing on fourth and one and Devin Aromashodu dropping the pass.  The second drive was ended when Jamey Richard tossed the ball to the fans seated behind the end zone. All three other drives led to scores.  His 3rd down efficiency was not the best, but consider that he played for 5 drives and only had 5 third down situations, and you can say that he was being efficient on first and second down by getting the ball down field.  Once he learns the check downs better, he should have more success at third down.

Let me know what you think, but I like this Gray guy.  Not that backup QB is the biggest issue, but it would be nice to feel like we have a chance to win the last game of year when Peyton is resting.