Colts vs. Bengals
So the readers of this blog (all 2 of them) are already aware of how I hate the Indianapolis Colts and love the New England Patriots. Though the Pats are my team, I still have some affection for the Cincinnati Bengals, since I actually grew up in Cincinnati and vaguely remember cheering for the almost-champion 1989 Bengals.
So no question who I'll be rooting for on Monday night football. But why the enmity for the Colts, you say? I guess it pretty much started back in 2003 when the Colts were killing the Broncos in the wild card round of the playoffs, and the Colts' special teams (who were pretty average-to-lousy unit that year) had invented a little dance that they used to taunt the other team before they kicked off. These idiots were basically showboating once they got a 21 point lead--and it's not like these special teams scrubs were making a humongous contribution to the game at that point.
This cocky attitude is indicative of what I don't like about the Colts. They talk about how good they are, and then they crumble under the weight of their own crappiness when it matters the most. Whether it was their self-proclaimed "money kicker" missing game-winning field goals or their so-called talented defense getting physically punished in the playoffs, the Colts have consistently underperformed.
They haven't dealt with their crappiness particularly well either. I've never seen a team that came up with so many excuses for why they lose. After the Patriots whupped them in the 2003 playoffs, Colts GM Bill Polian (a man who once loudly rooted for an opposing QB to break his leg during a game) spearheaded an effort to reinforce the illegal contact rule for the next season. The implication was that the Patriots cheated and would not have won the game if they had not crossed the line. In 2004, after getting beaten again, they reasoned that they could have beaten the Patriots if they hadn't played outdoors in the cold and snowy weather. So in 2005, they secured home field advantage in their warm indoor stadium and promptly lost their first playoff game, after Vanderjagt missed a game-tying field goal at the end of the game. In the offseason, they jettisoned Vanderjagt and signed Adam Vinatieri, acknowledged to be the most clutch kicker in NFL history. While this actually was a pretty good decision (because Vinatieri is better than Vanderjagt on many levels), the motivation behind it was questionable.
I also hate the Colts' style of football and their general team-building strategy. The Colts are based on speed, athleticism, and finesse. But they lack physicality, toughness, and imagination. On offense, they don't have the ability to pound the ball and wear you out, and while they rely on their talent and execution to produce points, they show an inability to be consistently creative. On defense, they rely on quickness and speed to generate big plays, which gives them the illusion of being good. Yet they have never been able to line up and physically stand their ground in order to defend basic running plays, preferring instead to "play the run on the way to the QB" which really doesn't make much sense when you get down to it.
And though it's pretty clear to the rest of the league that a solid defense gives you the best chance to win a championship, the Colts continue to invest money and draft picks on their offensive skill players, while neglecting the defensive side of the ball.
Unfortunately, the Cincinnati Bengals, a team I actually like, appears to be following this same losing formula: loaded offense, pass defense that makes big plays, terrible run defense. Hopefully, they'll get that turned around.
Until then, I'm going to call Monday nights' game: Bengals 31, Colts 21.
