As you know, Jason Cole works for Yahoo! Sports. Throughout most of the season, Jason Cole has continuously written ignorant statement after ignorant statement about the game of football even though the bigwigs at Yahoo! Sports pay Cole a lot of money not to be ignorant about the game of football. Yet, if you read Cole's Monday article about the Colts, it just seems more and more obvious that the guy is stealing money from Yahoo!, and that he knows next to nothing about the subject he is employed to cover:
If Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has an Achilles’ heel, it’s the 3-4 defense. He doesn’t like all the disguises that go with the blitzes, even though Manning is historically really good against the blitz.
Cole said this exact same thing earlier in the season. Of course, we bashed him for it, because he is paid to know better. However, instead of getting the hint, Jason just continues to utter the same mindless trash. I guess he must feel that if he says it enough, or writes it enough, that it will become fact.
However, just like when he uttered this nonsense almost two months ago, we shall once again expose Jason Cole for the ignorant analyst the he is by updating the numbers.
Indy's record against 3-4 defenses the last two seasons is 11-1, with wins over the Patriots (twice), Ravens (twice), Steelers (in Pittsburgh), Broncos, and Chargers (in San Diego). Their one loss against a 3-4 team in two years was in overtime against the Chargers in the playoffs, which saw Peyton Manning throw for 310 yards, 1 TD, and no turnovers. I am not counting the recent loss to the Jets even though they run a 3-4. Peyton Manning was dissecting that team before he was pulled in the third quarter, which was when the Colts held a 15-10 lead.
In 12 games against teams that run a 3-4, Peyton Manning has thrown for 3,360 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 11 INTs.
If Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, or Drew Brees had those kinds of numbers against 3-4 defenses, I kind of doubt he'd be writing that such a scheme was their "Achilles heel."
Dear Yahoo! Sports Editors, do a better job fact-checking Jason Cole's idiot ramblings before you pass them off as analysis from a supposed "expert." Making this kind of mistake the first time around was silly. Doing it a second time is treating us readers as if we are idiots and don't fact check the stats. If he does it a third time, it tells me that not only does Jason Cole not watch football games, but his editors do not read what he writes nor do they care if the facts back up his statements.