Now that's more like it

Coming off one of their worst performances in recent memory, the Indianapolis Colts showed their true colors Sunday night, clobbering the visiting NEw York Giants, 38-14 at the home opener at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Everything the Colts did wrong in their Week One opener against Houston changed for the better when the Giants came to town. The first sign that this was going to be one of the best games I've ever seen the Colts play was the emergence of the run game on the opening drive. Both Jospeh Addai and Donald Brown were effective the whole night. The Colts never had so many running plays in the Peyton Manning era.
Brown scored the opening touchdown untouched from seven yards out. But the drive that really showed that the Giants had no chance was when Manning took over at the Colts one-yard line, marched to midfield using mostly runs, and using the play action to find an open Dallas Clark at the 30 and running in the end zone for the second score of the day.
By halftime, it was 24-0, and effectively over.
Much hype was made about the showdown between Peyton and his little brother Eli Manning, who quarterbacks the Giants. I was hoping both would play well because Eli is my fantasy QB. But he did not. But then again he didn't have much of a chance. The Colts defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage, sacking Manning multiple time and forcing two fumbles. They also intercepted him in the first half before the win was sealed.
Eli did throw two touchdowns and despite his bad game, was my fantasy scoring leader for the week with 14 points.
I mentioned last week that the first Sunday was great for my fantasy team and bad for the Colts. The second week was the complete opposite. My fantasy team bombed with uncharacteristically quiet outputs from Chris Johnson, Greg Jennings and Pierre Garcon. My big mistake was sitting the Colts defense in favor of Carolina, who totaled one point in their loss to Tampa Bay.
Hopefully the Colts take their good play on the road and have anoher inspired effort in Denver Sunday.
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I don't ever recall a week with so much parody. Miami won in Minnesota, the Bears downed the Cowboys in big D, the Bucs beat the Panters, the Jets without Darrelle Revis stopped New England and the Steelers dominated in Tennessee. It's odd that teams like Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and the Bears are 2-0, while preseason SUper Bowl contenders Minnesota, Dallas and San Francisco are looking at 0-2 starts.

Illini hang on against Huskies

CHAMPAIGN - While rain swept over most of the northern half of the state of Illinois, the Fighting Illini and Northern Illinois Huskies football teams were spared a drop for their Saturday tilt at Memorial Stadium.

The dry field was one factor that led to the Illini win. Without it, junior runningback Mikel Leshoure may not have had a chance to rush for 180 yards on 24 carries. Leshoure's big day on the ground was necessary, as freshman quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase was not too effective passing the ball. Scheelhaase did have a few nice runs for himself, including a defender diving touchdown in the first quarter that put the Illini up 7-0. Many of the quarterback's run were accentuated by hurdling defenders. He is an exciting quarterback to watch, but his style of play may lead to an injury at some point.

Northern Illinois held their own against the Big Ten foe, taking a 12-7 lead in the first quarter and outplaying the Fighting Illini for much of the first half.

NIU closed the Illini lead from 21-12 to 21-19 on a touchdown in the fourth. But a Leshoure 29-yard TD run put Illinois up by two scores again. NIU quickly answered with a field goal, and had an onside kick attempt in the final minute, but could not come up with the ball as Illinois held on to a 28-22 victory over their in-state MAC rivals.

It was a great day to be on the field. I always love the first football game in Champaign where I am given a photo vest and allowed to take pictures from the sidelines. I look forward to doing the same thing at 11 a.m. October 2, when the Illini face the heavily favored and second ranked nationally Ohio State Buckeyes.

Photo: Illinois' running back Mikel Leshoure (5) paced the Illini with 180 rushing yards.

Maroons win two in a row

WARRENSBURG – Two weeks ago, even the most optimistic and loyal Maroon fans would have had trouble believing the football team would enter the Okaw Valley Black schedule with a .500 record. In games against Maroa-Forsyth and Central A&M, Clinton was outscored by a combined total of 97-7.

The last two weeks have gone much better. After a 15-12 win over Argenta-Oreana a week ago, the Maroons put together their first win streak since the 2008 season with a 21-14 triumph over the Cardinals in Warrensburg.

“It was an ugly win, but we’ll take it,” Clinton head coach John Hayden said. “Defensively we played well, but struggled to get the ball in the end zone on offense at times.”

Much of the action for both teams occurred during the second quarter after a scoreless first. The Cardinals had a touchdown run to open the game’s scoring early in the period, but Clinton responded with a long drive that resulted in a 15-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Ennis to Cory Collins.

But just when it looked like the Maroons had taken the momentum back after tying the contest, Warrensburg quarterback Craig Munson ran for a 76-yard touchdown on the Cardinals’ first play from scrimmage following the Clinton TD.

“We had some kids over pursuing on that play,” Hayden said. “They played it a little too much, but they didn’t panic. I was happy with the way we responded.”

Clinton responded less than a minute later when Kadarius Sneed found the end zone on a 45-yard run. Sneed rushed for a team-high 67 yards. But the extra point was blocked and Warrensburg held a 14-13 lead at halftime.

The Maroons looked to take the lead with two minutes remaining in the third quarter, but they were stopped on a fourth and goal situation from the Cardinal four-yard line.

Although the Maroons missed out on that opportunity, they cashed in at the 9:51 mark of the fourth quarter when Aaron Ennis rushed for a one-yard touchdown. An Ennis pass to Keiron Sneed for the two-point conversion put the Maroons up 21-14.

On the touchdown drive, receivers Jocelyn Hopkinson and Byron Conner came up with big plays, although one was brought back due to a questionable holding call.

Warrensburg had the ball on the Clinton 15 with 2 minutes, 43 seconds remaining and a fourth and five situation. The Maroons stopped the Cardinals and never let them have the ball back.

An 18-yard Ennis pass to Jocelyn Hopkinson on a third and long with 2:16 all but clinched the victory for the Maroons.

“Jocelyn had some key clutch catches for us,” Hayden said. “He had some big plays and kept the ball in bounds on that third down catch, which was huge.”

Clinton’s road win evened their record at 2-2, matched the team’s win total from last season and more importantly gave them momentum heading into the conference season.

The Maroons will visit Monticello Friday evening for the first game of the Okaw Valley Black schedule. With the Sages, St. Teresa and Tolono Unity among the Maroons’ next few games, the slate only gets tougher for Clinton.

“We want to keep the momentum going,” Hayden said. “I feel like we’ve been improving each game and moved the ball better offensively Friday night than we had all year.

“Monticello is a good program, so we need to bring more intensity when we play them. We are sticking with the same philosophy, just trying to clean up a few things offensively.”

The Maroons return home a week from Friday when they host Shelbyville in the team’s annual Homecoming Game.

Photo: Byron Conner returned to the Clinton lineup after missing the previous week due to a concussion.

NFL Power Rankings: Week 1, 2010

1. Baltimore Ravens; 2. Green Bay Packers; 3. Houston Texans; 4. New England Patriots; 5. Tennessee Titans; 6. New York Giants; 7. New Orleans Saints; 8. Minnesota Vikings; 9. Kansas City Chiefs; 10. Indianapolis Colts; 11. San Diego Chargers; 12. Seattle Seahawks; 13. New York Jets; 14. Washington Redskins; 15. Pittsburgh Steelers; 16. Dallas Cowboys; 17. Miami Dolphins; 18. Atlanta Falcons; 19. Philadelphia Eagles; 20. Carolina Panthers; 21. Jacksonville Jaguars; 22. Arizona Cardinals; 23. Tampa Bay Buccaneers; 24. Cincinnati Bengals; 25. San Francisco 49ers; 26. Chicago Bears; 27. Denver Broncos; 28. Cleveland Browns; 29. Oakland Raiders; 30. Detroit Lions; 31. Buffalo Bills; 32. St. Louis Rams

Great fantasy day, bad reality day

One of the best days of the year is the opening Sunday of professional football. Although my main focus is on the Indianapolis Colts, I also enjoy seeing how my fantasy players are doing. Sunday's games proved to be frustrating in terms of reality, but my fantasy team, Holy Roller, had a record-setting week and looks primed to be a contender throughout the season.
I wish I could say the same about the Colts. The Houston Texans showed that they were improved and wanted the game more than Indy did. Houston was more focused and ran Arian Foster for 231 yards and three touchdowns. At no point did the Colts have the lead.
Although there were many times during the game where I just figured that the Colts were going to pull it out because they always do, something about this one seemed like it was finally the Texans' turn. It was opening week and they had been specifically preparing for this game because they were 1-15 against the Colts all-time, including two big blown leads in the last two games played in Houston.
Although Peyton Manning played great, the offensive line struggled and wide receiver Pierre Garcon dropped a few passes and failed to make big plays like he did all year in 2009. An Austin Collie fumble early in the fourth quarter really took the team out of their rhythm. They would have had the ball at the Houston 10, going in for a score that would have made it a three-point game.
But the biggest concern of the game was the run defense, that looked every bit as bad as they did in 2006 when Maurice Jones-Drew ran all over the bumbling defense in a December game in Jacksonville. The defense also suffered the loss of Bob Sanders, who is out indefinitely with torn biceps. Arian Foster had a break out day, and that was way too much for the Colts.
Foster's big day wan;t too much for my fantasy team, that scored an incredible 166 points in a 166-34 victory over my opponent. That's right, I won by 132 points. No other team in the league even scored 132. Foster had 50 points for me, which would have been enough to beat my opponent on his own. But just for show I had Chris Johnson, who had 30 points, the third most in the whole league behind Foster and the Bears' Matt Forte. I beat my opponent at every position, with the help of Visanthe Shiancoe, Pierre Thomas and Eli Manning. Greg Jennings also had a touchdown for me.
I am confident that the Colts will get back on track as they host the New York Giants in the second ever "Manning Bowl." It's a home game on a Sunday night, but New York is really good and the Colts could be 0-2 if they do not improve from what they did on Sunday in Houston.
I still think they bounce back.
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I thought the Calvin Johnson no-TD at the end of the Lions-Bears game in Chicago was a bad call that cost the Lions the game. It was clearly a catch for many reasons. He had the ball in control across the goal line. That's all you need. He also had his feet in bounds and came down with the ball. The refs were wrong for interpreting it the way they did.
Bob Sanders is one of many key players around the league that will miss serious time to an injury. Kris Jenkins of the Jets and Ryan Grant of the Packers are both out for the season.

ESPN Fantasy Convention 2010

HAMMOND, Ind. - My friend John won tickets to the ESPN 1000 Fantasy Football Convention that took place August 28 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. I'm glad he invited me because I never participated in a live football draft so that was a good experience.

ESPN experts John Clayton (shown), Stefania Bell (shown) and Matthew Berry were on hand along with a number of ESPN local personalities like Waddle and Silvy and the afternoon saloon.

ESPN also had a lot of giveaways so I applaud them for putting together the convention.

They put together a bunch of leagues and even though they made a number of numerical mistakes that put me in a seperate league than what I was originally slated for, they pulled it off pretty smoothly considering the uncertainty about the number of people that show up.

I like the team I drafted. I thought I got out to a slow start in the first three rounds since I only had the eighth pick, but I really think I picked up some sleepers in the late rounds.

August 28 was a fantasy filled day, as my Yahoo! draft was laster that night. There I had the first pick and picked Chris Johnson. I'm also confident I put together a pretty solid team around him.

In the past I had been ant-Fantasy, but now I am on board with the belief that it only makes foootball season more exciting.

2010 NFL Predictions

Even though one game is in the books, my picks have not changed for the upcoming 2010 season.

NFC East: Even though they had a bad preseason, I see Dallas as the clear best team in the division. They will be motivated because of the Super Bowl being held in Arlington this year, but the true test for this team is not until the playoffs. I think the Giants are underrated and could contend for a wild card spot.

NFC North: The Packers look to have a slight edge over the Vikings, and the Bears have a chance to prove the Martz-Cutler doubters wrong. Detroit is an up and coming squad that has a strong young core in Matthew Stafford, Jahvid Best and Calvin Johnson.

NFC South: I like the Falcons to unseed the Saints this year considering that this has historically been the wildest division. No team has even won the South two years in a row. Carolina takes a step back without Julius Peppers and the Bucs are in full rebuilding mode.

NFC West: Probably the weakest division in football, but the 49ers could be pretty good. They are the obvious choice to win the West considering Arizona has lost Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin, Seattle has an unconventional coach that has not seen success in the NFL and the Rams are far from contending.

AFC East: I'm sticking with the Patriots to win this division. That's the team I trust. I know the Jets may be better on paper after adding Antonio Cromartie and resigning Darrelle Revis, but I don;t like their show boating attitude. And they were a 7-7 team last year before defeating the Colts and Bengals who were playing backups and going on a mini playoff run that included a win over a choking Chargers team.

AFC North: The Ravens look pretty good. What is scary is that their offense is probably better than their defense this year. I think Pittsburgh will be their top competitor because Mike Tomlin is a good coach and that organization always finds a way to compete when you least expect them to. Cincinnati won't be good two years in a row and Cleveland will improve but they are still far behind the top three in this division.

AFC South: The Colts have dominated this division and should continue to do so if their key players can stay healthy. I think Tennessee finishes second because Vince Young always finds ways to win games and Chris Johnson is the best running back in the league. Houston could also contend for a playoff spot with their strong passing game and improving defense.

AFC West: The Chargers should win this easily, but Oakland and Kansas City will be better. The Broncos are a toss up. They could be really good and contend with San Diego for awhile, or they could have a disaster year and fall below the Raiders and Chiefs.

AFC Playoffs: (3) Patriots over (6) Titans

(4) Chargers over (5) Jets

(2) Colts over (3) Patriots

(1) Ravens over (4) Chargers

(2) Colts over (1) Ravens

NFC Playoffs: (6) Vikings over (3) Falcons

(5) Giants over (4) 49ers

(2) Cowboys over (5) Giants

(6) Vikings over (1) Packers

(2) Cowboys over (6) Vikings

Super Bowl XLV: Cowboys 28, Colts 17