Broncos nose tackle Jamal Williams has been in the league a long time, and while he was a member of the San Diego Chargers, he was a constant problem for the Colts to block. Williams' Chargers flat out owned the Colts in the playoffs, making it nearly impossible to run the ball.
Despite the success against the Colts, Williams has never let that success blow out things out of proportion. On Sunday, Williams re-affirmed that even though he has a pretty good record against the Colts, Peyton Manning is a player that no defense can 'stop.' They can only hope to contain him. When asked about Manning's stellar play in Denver on Sunday, Williams said this (via Mike Silver at Yahoo Sports):
"He’s a monster, man. That’s [expletive] Peyton Manning."
After the game, Manning stood at the podium and talked about how the Colts look for feedback from their receivers, even rookies like Blair White (who got his first NFL start on Sunday). Manning also discussed the stupidity of shortening the pre-season and extending the regular season 18 games.
"They’re trying to get rid of offseason workouts," Manning said. "They’re talking about extending the season to 18 games, so they’re going to cut down the offseason stuff in return. That’s not a fair trade. Offseason workouts – that’s how we’ve gotten our edge over the years. It’s how you really develop a player and improve your craft.
"Without the offseason, how do get anybody ready to play? I’ve thrown to Blair White since we picked him up in April, and there’s no way he’s ready to play [Sunday] if I don’t have those reps with him. In training camp, there just aren’t enough reps to get familiar with a guy [near the bottom of the depth chart]. You’ve got be able to throw to him in the spring – otherwise I wouldn’t feel good about rushing him out there."
Off-season workouts, pre-season, and a simple 16-game regular season are essential for football to move on as the game we know a love. Part of our love for this game is seeing scrappy, unheralded players like White (a walk-on at Michigan State) develop through the off-season and perform when their number is called. It's a very fun, gratifying feeling for fans.
And from a football side of things, all these supposedly 'boring' off-season things help great organizations like the Colts win football games.
Tip to Z.Pain (nice find, good sir)