The 40-11 spanking administered to us by the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday was difficult for any Colts fan to watch but it does seem to be indicative of the downward spiral of the Horseshoe since Reggie Wayne suffered his season-ending injury. The Colts have had to endure the loss of five key offensive players since the season began: Tight end Dwayne Allen, running backs Vick Ballard and Ahmad Bradshaw, guard Donald Stone, and then of course, Reggie. We have also had the loss of offensive coordinator Bruce Arains to adjust to. Arains abilities are apparent in the fact that he was named NFL coach of the year while functioning as an interim head coach for Chuck Pagano while with the Colts last season, and after taking the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals, he has totally turned the team around and made them a playoff contender. There have also been some personnel decisions and acquisitions that have had a rather negative effect on the moral of the team. Signing former Oakland Raider wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey has proven to be a misstep. Donnie Avery started for the Colts opposite Reggie last season and had a respectable year. The team had signed Avery to a one year deal and he made the most of it. The Kansas City Chiefs signed Avery to a financially lucrative contract and he is enjoying success on a contending team this season. Heyward-Bey was a former number one pick of the Oakland Raiders in 2009. After his contract with the Raiders expired last season, Oakland elected not to resign the wideout to a new deal. This should have been a warning to the Colts. If the wide receiver-desperate Oakland Raiders felt that they were better off without him, then it should have been clear to the Colts that he wasn’t going to be the answer for the offense at the other wideout position. Heyward-Bey possesses size and speed but also has bad hands and an aversion to contact, and has just not been a dependable option for Andrew Luck to throw to in 2013. So this was the first negative for the offense at the start of the season but it pales in comparison to the one that came later in the season.
As you may remember, after the Miami loss, overzealous team owner Jim Irsay tweeted that the team was looking for a running back to replace the injured Ballard. What followed may go down in team history as the blackest moment in personnel acquisition history since the Blue gave up a 2008 first round pick to acquire a 2007 second round pick and draft offensive tackle Tony Ugoh, We all remember how well that turned out for the team, but I digress. Upon hearing this, the Cleveland Browns’ GM Mike Lombardi called Colts’ GM Ryan Grigson and dangled second year running back Trent Richardson in front of him. Richardson was the first pick of the Browns in the 2012 draft and the third player selected behind Andrew Luck and RGIII. He ran for 950 yards and eleven touchdowns despite playing with broken ribs for much of the season. Lombardi and Grigson are friends so maybe they were helping each other. The Colts gave up their 2014 number one draft pick to get Trent Richardson. Richardson’s on the field performance is well know to all Colts fans and it’s now obvious to everyone why the Browns were so hot to deal Richardson away. To say that the Colts got taken for a ride hardly begins to sum up the gravity of the debacle. Richardson has been a disaster and seems to have brought down the morale of the entire team to say the least. Unfortunately, the Colts continue to start number 34, in hopes of justifying the trade and giving him weekly opportunities to have a break out game, which just is not going to happen.
General manger Ryan Grigson had received some well deserved plaudits for his conduct of the Colts 2013 draft and acquisition of veteran personnel for what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. He performed very well in his first season as a chief executive. However, the Richardson deal may unfortunately go down as his defining transaction and leave a black mark on his reputation. Richardson has already become a pariah for Colts fans and it’s hard to see him getting past that anytime soon, if ever. The loss of that number one pick in next year’s draft could adversely affect the team for several years down the line. The Colts first chance to pick a player will probably come midway in the second round of the draft. The team needs serious help at both the offensive line and now at wide receiver. The premium talent at these positions will be long gone by the time the Colts get their first chance to pick and could delay the development of the offense. Andrew Luck is in dire need of more weapons and better protection. An eventual replacement for Reggie Wayne must be found. Jim Irsay likes to be the catalyst for attention-getting deals like the Richardson trade so he may prod Grigson and the rest of the draft staff into some kind of crippling deal again.
The Colts are still two games ahead in the AFC South with five games left to play and three of those games are at home with divisional opponents. The AFC South division is one of the weakest in the NFL and is still easily winnable for the Colts. In my humble opinion, the Colts will win the AFC South with a 10-6 record and be one and done in the playoffs. The NFC North is one of (if not the) strongest divisions in the NFL in 2013. The Colts defeated the two top teams in that division — the 49ers and the Seahawks — yet have been badly beaten by the two bottom teams in the division, the Rams and Cardinals. Go figure. The first two wins were early in the season while Reggie was with the offense and the two losses were after his season-ending injury. His on the field leadership is truly missed. I hope the Colts front office can recover from the 2013 missteps. Grigson was the 2012 NFL Executive of the Year. It’s probably best that he just take his lumps and move ahead. It’s best for the entire Colts team to do the same thing. OH….and someone needs to remember to confiscate Jimmy Irsay’s cell phone the day after a game.
snicewanger@yahoo.com