Archives for November 2006

‘Indy wins 31-13.’

‘”Whenever I have an opportunity, I take advantage of it,” said Thomas, who filled in when McGahee went down in Sunday’s win over Green Bay. “You never know what’s going to happen, so you have to be prepared.”‘

‘"There is tremendous similarity between their style of offense and ours," said Bills GM Marv Levy harkening back to his days of overseeing the K-Gun offense as head coach in Buffalo. "They’ve incorporated the tight end Dallas Clark the way we did. And you tend to forget about him when you’ve got a Marvin Harrison or Reggie Wayne, just as we had Andre Reed and James Lofton and Don Beebe. But Pete Metzelaars and Keith McKellar played well for us. There are tremendous similiarities."’

‘Bills reserve offensive lineman Duke Preston was added to the team’s injury report on Thursday with a twisted left ankle and is questionable for Buffalo’s game on Sunday at Indianapolis.’

Manning, 30, is at the height of his powers. He already has two NFL Most Valuable Player awards, and he’s the front-runner for the honor this year. He owns the NFL record for touchdowns in a season – 49. He’s on pace to become the first quarterback ever to post seven 4,000-yard seasons. He’s on pace for a ninth straight season of 25 or more touchdown passes, a record he already owns.’

‘Moorman credits his coverage team with strong play. “Those guys cover great,” he said. “Last week you saw Andre’ Davis getting triple-teamed going down the field. There’s five guys trying to go after our two gunners. And we have a lot of speed in the middle too.”‘

‘As a result, watching film of Denver, New England and Buffalo in order is similar to watching ”Casablanca,” followed by ”The Godfather,” followed by ”Gigli.” The first two demand attention. At some point during the last one, a viewer begins to think an episode of ”Dr. Phil” sounds pretty good. The Bills’ most-promising game plan might be to bore the Colts into complacency.’

‘”A lot of things happened in Chicago in those few years,” recalled Villarrial, who left Chicago after 2003 and signed with Buffalo. “We all had a hand in it, the team got split up, we kind of abandoned the run game and things fell apart.”‘

‘”I wouldn’t guess past this week,” Jauron said when asked about what sort of timetable McGahee is on. “I don’t know how long it will keep him out. We’ll see how it progresses. My understanding is that some of it has to do with the healing process and some of it will have to do with pain tolerance and we know this guy has tremendous pain tolerance. That’s not an issue. But the extent of the injury, we’ll just have to keep monitoring it.”‘

Triggering the Colts’ offense (Indianapolis Star)

Colleagues say Manning is No. 1 (Indianapolis Star)

Colts keep showing prime-time appeal (Indianapolis Star)

MainGate to handle merchandise for Colts (Indianapolis Star)

Something new afoot in Manning’s mobility (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)

Weeks of thrills, now onto the Bills (Fort Wayne News Sentinel)

Colts now NFL’s lone unbeaten team (Terre Haute Tribune Star)

Colts to honor 3 area football players (Anderson Herald Bulletin)

Colts’ Wayne taking his game to another level (AP)

Inside slant (The Sports Xchange)

Strategy and personnel (The Sports Xchange)

Notes, quotes (The Sports Xchange)

Sanders’ return ignites Colts’ defense (RealFootball365.com)

Picking up the pace (Colts.com)

A celebration thing (Colts.com)

The big story (Colts.com)

The Polian Corner (Colts.com)

‘McGahee’s broken ribs are a break for Thomas, the 2001 NFL Rookie of the Year with the Chicago Bears while playing for Jauron. Thomas’ career bottomed out last season when he appeared in just nine games for Dallas and New Orleans. He signed with Buffalo as a free agent and won the starting backup job in camp. One reason was because of his similar size and running style to McGahee’s.’

‘”I was really pleased with Terrance to be perfectly honest,” coach Dick Jauron said. “I didn’t anticipate that he would perform as well as he did. That was a tough position to put him in, a tough situation. (Green Bay’s) defensive ends are good and they are good up front, but he did a nice job. He has to get better, but definitely I liked what I saw.”‘

‘How good are Colts WRs Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne? They have 15 more combined receiving yards (1,430) than Bills QB J.P. Losman has total yards passing (1,415).’

‘Assuming the Jaguars decide to move into the future with Garrard, Leftwich will be a hot trading commodity during the offseason. Remember, he was a top 10 pick back in 2003.’

‘With McGahee out, coach Dick Jauron will turn to Anthony Thomas, who ran for a 14-yard touchdown last week and finished with 95 yards on 20 carries against the Packers. Thomas, the 2001 Rookie of the Year with the Bears, has rushed for 134 yards on 31 carries in his first season in Buffalo. "I’ve watched him perform over a good deal of time, and he usually likes to play," said Jauron, who coached Thomas during their time in Chicago. "He’s got a lot of heart and when he’s called on he usually responds. … I’m just happy he’s here."’