It comes with just a touch of irony that quite possibly the worst team preview I've ever read resides on NFL.com. Nothing against the writer (Aron Angel, who I'm sure is a good person), but this preview is fraught with factual errors and just plain ole bad writing. To put it mildly, it reads as if Aron has no idea what he's writing about.
Here are the highlights:
Another playoff exit: With 13 wins in 2007, the Colts enjoyed their sixth straight season with 12 or more victories and a playoff berth. But playing against a Chargers team without the likes of LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers in the fourth quarter, the Colts came up short of the Super Bowl for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
Uh, gee. Thanks Aron. You make it sound like it was a waste to get there at all. And for the rest of you keeping score, the Pittsburgh Steelers and NY Giants are also teams that have only won one Super Bowl in the last five years. 28 other football teams have won ZERO Super Bowls the last five years. The only team to win multiple Super Bowls the last five years? The Patriots. But, they cheated to win them, so their 2 Super Bowls in 5 years don't really count.
NEXT!
LB Tyjuan Hagler -- One of Dungy's success stories as a first-time starter last season -- is expected to miss camp with a torn bicep, opening the door for the likes of Clint Session and Rocky Boiman to take on a larger role.
Psst. Aron. Uh, sorry to inform you, but Rocky Boiman was not re-signed by the Colts this off-season. He signed with Philly way back in March. For a full list of Indy's depth chart, might I recommend visiting their official website. Also, NFL.com (you know, the site you work for) has a transactions area. Might want to check it out once and awhile, especially if you are doing, you know, team previews and such. Just a suggestion.
Oh, and Hagler tore his pectoral muscle, not his bicep. The details of his injury were first reports by (you guessed it) NFL.com.
NEXT!
Rookie spotlightOLB Marcus Howard: Howard was an undersized DE at Georgia, but the Colts are hoping to convert him to play OLB. With the loss of LB Rob Morris and the injury to Hagler, Howard could see a lot of action early on. He will be a critical piece to a front seven that makes up for its lack of size with speed and versatility.
When I first read this I was like Wow! Aron must know something the rest of us don't. Sadly, Aron doesn't. This is yet another factual error. The Colts haven no plans to move Howard to LBer, especially at strongside LBer. He was drafted to become a speed rushing DE in the mold of Robert Mathis. That's what everyone wrote about when he was drafted, and it's how the Colts used him during minicamps. Once again Aron, a quick glance over to the Colts official website would show you the Colts list Marcus Howard as a DE. He's even wearing #92, a number typically used by DEs. From Colts.com:
NEXT!
Marvin Harrison has historically been Peyton Manning's most reliable target, but he's heading into his 13th season and coming off a knee injury that kept him out of all but five games last season. Add to that Harrison's yet to be resolved legal issues stemming from an incident outside a bar he owns in Philadelphia, and the situation is ripe for Gonzalez, a second-year receiver to fill a potential void.
Sigh! Yet another writer still doesn't get it. Marvin Harrison isn't even a suspect in the bar shooting in Philly reported several months ago. When one is not a suspect, let alone charged with anything, it kinda goes without saying that the issue is pretty much dead and gone. Until something actually happens, it's stupid for writers to keep bringing this up. If you want to see real WR incidents with the law, visit Matt Jones in Jacksonville.
Obviously, not everything Aron Angel writes in this preview is bad, but the fact that this is an NFL.com article makes the amateurish errors in this piece stand out even more. It looks really bad when the NFL's own site has crappy team previews. 75% of the contributors here could have written a better Colts preview.
Look, we all make mistakes. I'm probably the worst speller on the Internet, but I bust my butt to proof my articles as best I can. I have no copy editor. But with NFL.com, I expect a better standard than this team preview. Next time NFL.com, it might help to actually have writers who know the team (and its players) before asking them to script a season preview about them.