Peter King in his recent column on CNNSI called the Colts signing Adam Vinatieri the best free agent move this offseason. He's right, but that's a no brainer, despite what moonbat New England fans would like you to believe. King goes on in his article to pose this question:
Adam Vinatieri could win the Colts a couple of games, but how will the defense respond minus two playmakers?
Um, huh? Since when did David Thornton and Larry Tripplett, the only two somewhat high-profile defensive players to leave the Colts via free agency, suddenly become "playmakers?" Don't get me wrong. I like Trip and Thornton and I'll miss seeing them in Colts blue, but these two guys were never playmakers. Tripplet was a back-up DT who lost his starting job when the Colts signed Corey Simon last season. Trip was labeled an underacheiver until he lost 20 pounds and played like a man possessed for the first time, well, ever. Thornton was a leader in the locker room, but he was the SSLB in a Cover-2. SSLB in Cover-2 is not nearly as important as WSLB, DT, or Safety. In fact, it's the least important position in the defensive scheme as the SSLB funnels the play to the WSLB (which is why WSLB always leads the team in tackles in a Cover-2). Thornton did a fine job, but if any position on defense is replacable, it's SSLB.
Peter King will typically make screw ups like this because I don't think he genuinely knows anything about football. He takes what coaches and team personnel give him and prints it. That's it. He states in his column that Dungy said the Colts will miss Thornton. In King's mind, this must mean Thornton must have been a "playmaker."
If Peter bothered to watched any actual games, he'd know that simply isn't true. It's little details like this that are often missing from supposed "sports journalists" like King.
