Peyton Manning wouldn't have gotten manhandled by Duane Brown all game. That was the Colts second-best player, and he was there and healthy, he just got beat by a better player.
"Curb-stomping". That's awesome. That just about sums up the Texans first half of play yesterday. I don't know too many teams in the NFL, if any, who could have contained that offense, the way things were clicking. The second half, on the other hand, is another story. The whole "Manning doesn't play defense" argument is somewhat innacurate, in that the amount of time the offense spends on the field affects the defense. It gives them time to rest and regroup. If Manning was on the field, and the offense was moving the ball more, the defense would theoretically improve. Having said that, Manning was in for the entire game last season, and the Texans hung 34 on them that game, too. So, as TSchmal said, I think there are two things at play here: an improving Texans team and a declining Colts team, regardless of the missing QB and RB from each team.
Would the Colts have won with Peyton Manning? I don't know. Would it been an entirely different game? Definitely. Peyton Manning has won for years with a defense that stinks. Hard to believe it would be different now. Peyton affects the game not only with his talent as a QB, but he bring confidence to his team, and some fear in opponents. Some teams will rally around their missing star, while others will wilt. The Texans are a talented football team. Sometimes they play like it, and then other times they lay an egg. The Colts without Peyton Manning are an unknown, but it sure didn't look good for them after game 1.
What's more important to ponder is how long would Manning be out if he would have played the game and Mario Williams could have gotten the chance to lay him out.
If Kevin Bass had gotten that last hit off Jesse Orasco. If the refs had seen Bebbe's foot step out of bounce. If the refs had seen the bearhug on Clyde. Lots of ifs...include if Peyton Manning hadn't overdone his workout at that high school gym in Feburary. Game would have been closer but the Colts OLine is a mess, running game a joke and interior DLine a joke...plenty of reasons to think the Texans do the same thing they did last year week 1.
Does Peyton fumble the ball on that Antonio Smith sack? Does he drop that snap and allow us to recover it? Impossible to say. That's two easy touchdowns we might not have had. Suddenly it's a 20-7 game. Does our new D hold Peyton to 0 in the first half, and 7 all game? Also impossible to say. We had too many turnovers and it's possible we could have lost the game. What isn't impossible to say is that we beat the team that Indy fielded, and we beat them handily. 1-0 Texans! Let's go get Miami now.
If it makes espn and all the Debby Downers happier, I would let the NFL put an asterik by yesterday's win against the colts. I don't care. It's a W. Next
If the game was closer you don't think the Texans would have kept stepping on the gas in the second half?
Of course I do. They would have had to because Peyton would have had his foot firmly on the gas as well. He's Mr. Two-Minute Drill. I'm just saying that Peyton might not have made those turnovers, he probably would have made us pay for ours, and we might have lost the game. I also said that we won, which is all that matters. For the record, I think we would have beat them even with Peyton, but not if we turn the ball over.
Who cares, every game counts, no one gives a dang at the end of the season when they tally it up. Go Texans...step on every wounded duck you can, all the way to the championship. DD
on NFL radio, Mario Williams said that it was a lot easier to rush the qb when Collins was under center because Peyton would always change plays and snap counts at the line.
Good point from Mario. You have to remember that without Peyton there, they are without their QB AND offensive coordinator, essentially. He wasn't even in the building, right? They should probably bring him along on the road to coach the offense.
I don't get it. Why does this game get an asterisk when we beat them at home last year WITH Payton? In Week 1. Wearing all white. With our crappy defense.
Antonio Smith took it a step further (heard on 790) and said that Kerry Collins tried to do the hard count that Peyton does but because the Colts weren't rushing up to the line the way Peyton does the defense knew he only had time to counts. On the second count they went and it gave them a jump.
I made that argument about OUR OFFENSE and the 3 and outs they had last year making the defense look even worse Rocket River
Why would Texans be discussing advantages against a team they will play again this year? Doesn't seem smart on their part.
A win is a win. I don't get why it matters to anyone. This was game 1 of the season, and Peyton is out for possibly the season. I don't think anyone is going to point to this game and say Peyton in this game would make or break the Colts/Texan's seasons.
I heard that, too, justtxyank, and the reason, juicystream, is because there's not a ton Collins can do about it. Peyton runs such an accelerated pace on offense, it affords him the time to huthutHUT, hutHUT for, literally, 20 seconds. But as Smith pointed out with Collins, if he didn't snap it on the first HUT, they knew it was the second HUT because he didn't have time for a third HUT. With Collins, they're in the huddle, etc. So its highly unlikely Collins is going to get to a point where he can build-in enough time to change things. BTW, did anyone else see that the Browns - BROWNS! - are 1-2.5 point favorites IN Indianapolis? Wow.
