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Moron journalists forget that the Colts won a championship in 2006

By Brad Wells

Yoo-who! Over here! Hey, remember us? Our team won the Super Bowl. Don't believe me? Well, I got pictures to prove it.

Looks nice, doesn't it. Apparently, most of the expert media forgot that the Colts won the Super Bowl, and in convincing fashion. Their defense stepped up and dominated the opposition. Peyton Manning turned in two of the most memorable playoff performances in NFL history. Joseph Addai established himself as a great young runner. The list goes on. Yet, despite these accomplishments, everyone seems to think the New England Patriots, the San Diego Chargers, and even the Baltimore Ravens are better. Just check out the headlines:

Patriots already beating up on Colts
Patriots are clear favorites for XLII
Patriots have dealt themselves into the Super Bowl favorites role with Moss

Good grief! I had no idea we already played the 2007 season. It seems that, in the eyes of the prix fix media, the Patriots are the best team in the NFL even though they did not play in the Super Bowl last year.

Well, I should say everyone in the media is as dense as the morons who wrote the articles I listed above. Yes, even Don Banks has fallen into the realm of the hopelessly stupid, the same Don Banks that picked the Colts to win it all last year. His rationale for picking Indy last year followed his usual criteria, the "Theory of Unfinished Business."

This philosophy is based off of a recent trend in sports in which the team whose postseason heartbreak is the most grievous the previous year uses that bitter disappointment as a springboard to the championship the next time around. The Red Sox started it with their memorable 2003-2004 sagas, and the Steelers followed suit in 2004-2005. Alas, the Colts joined this group, losing when most expected them to win in 2005, and winning when most expected them to lose in 2006.
An interesting criteria, and one not all that bad when it comes to picking Super Bowl champions nine months before the championship game. I guess it stands to reason that Don's pick this year is the San Diego Chargers. They had the best record in football last year, and then choked away a game they should have won over the Patriots. Dumb penalties, bad turnovers, and sloppy play ended their season. Seems pretty clear that they fall into the category of a team with "unfinished business."

Ah, but wait... Don did not pick the Chargers to win it all this season. He picked the Patriots. Why?

The Chargers are still loaded with talent and should be back in the mix next January, but there's really only one team you can bestow the designation of "Super Bowl favorite" on this season, and everybody who has been paying attention knows of whom I speak: the New England Patriots, whose three-month offseason has thus far featured them in the role of the proverbial kid, with the rest of the league being the candy store.
Ahhh, I see. Rather than follow his tried and true method for picking champions, Don ditches his "theory" and picks the Patriots because they made a lot of smokin' moves and got a lot of hot new players with loads of talent and tons of attitude.

Looks like Don has fallen under the spell known as Daniel Snyder and the Order of the Check Book. It sounds like Don doesn't have the balls to stick with his guns and shoot from the hip like a real man. Instead, he go with the hot pick.

Thankfully, other writers like Pete Prisco (who I've sometimes made fun of) have a pair:

Manning led the Indianapolis Colts to their first Super Bowl victory, getting the giant monkey off his back, and yet nobody is talking much about the Colts.

It's the New England Patriots and all their moves.

It's the San Diego Chargers and their coaching changeover.

It's the Baltimore Ravens and their new runner, Willis McGahee.

It's the Denver Broncos and their offseason moves.

Oh, by the way, the Colts are the defending champions.

Yet all you hear about the Colts is how much they've lost this offseason. The skeptics say they've suffered too many hits.

The reality is they are a better team than they were a year ago, which is why they are atop the latest CBS SportsLine.com Power Rankings.

Woah, woah, woah Pete! Slow down. Isn't that just crazy talk? I mean, every established journalist in known creation has New England winning it all now. Are you saying the Colts now are better than the team that had the biggest comeback in AFC Championship Game history? How can you possibly say that?
Is that lunacy?

Not really. The two corners, Jason David and Nick Harper, were just OK players who were covered up in their Cover-2 scheme. They will be easily replaced by Marlin Jackson and Tim Jennings or Kelvin Hayden, the player who had the fumble return for a touchdown in the Super Bowl.

No loss.

Weakside linebacker Cato June was a solid player, but if he was so good why didn't he get a multiyear deal from another team when he hit the market? Here's why? He's just OK.

That can be replaced.

As for the loss of backup running back Dominic Rhodes, that might be felt some but it should mean more carries for Joseph Addai, who is clearly a better runner. The Colts are considering bringing in a veteran backup, but as long as Addai is healthy they will be even better running the ball in 2007 than they were in 2006.
Then there's the addition of first-round pick Anthony Gonzalez. The Colts lacked a slot receiver last year when Brandon Stokley went down with an injury, which is why Gonzalez made sense. He will come in and immediately give Manning a speed threat inside.

In the playoff run they used Dallas Clark flexed wide in a lot of sets, but that won't be a necessity as much with Gonzalez.

So the offense should be better.

The defense might start off slow, but once the young corners get up to snuff that side will be fine, too.

Pete Prisco has a pair.
Wow. That's some pretty ballsy stuff you're saying there, Peter. Basically, you're saying the Colts offense is even more dangerous than the one that carved up the Patriots twice last season, and that the loses of Harper, David, and June will actually HELP the team, rather than hurt them.

You sound an awful lot like a blogger for the SB Nation blog community that covers the Indianapolis Colts.

You're also saying the off-season acquisitions of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Kelly Washington, and Donte Stallworth will do nothing to help the Patriots overcome the Colts, who have owned them the last two seasons. Why would you think that, Pete?

I considered moving the Patriots into the top spot, like everybody else has -- including Vegas linemakers -- but the thing that stopped me was I can't get the vision of 32 Colts second-half points in the title game out of my head.

Yes, the Patriots have added some nice offensive pieces and a couple of defensive additions that will help, but I still think there are flaws on that defense.

For that reason, the Colts come out of the draft as the team to beat.

After all, they are the Super Bowl champions.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. Unlike the fickle morons at CNNSI, Pete seems to actually know something about football. Last I checked, Moss, Stallworth, and Welker didn't play linebacker or CB for the Patriots, and the last time we saw the Patriots playing the Colts, the New England linebackers were huffing and puffing up and down the field while Manning carved his name into the record books. The Patriots secondary is also a big question mark, with Rodney Harrison done and Asante Samuel making it clear he will not play for New England again. The flaws on the new England defense were evident last year, and they are still there this year.

We applaud Pete Prisco for his knowledgeable commentary (and smacking the rest of the media head the head with his brass balls), and say shame to Don Banks for abandoning his principles and going with the Patriots because they are the hot pick of May, proving to many of us that (unlike Pete Prisco) he has no testicles.

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