Fever Championship Hopes Still Alive
As of this writing, the Indiana Fever’s championship hopes are still alive. Sunday night, the Indiana ladies took the series to game 5 with a victory over the Minnesota Lynx 75-69 at Banker’s Life. The Fever capitalized on a strong scoring third quarter and 15 of 18 foul shots in the up and down fourth quarter. The Fever hit 29 free throws total to the Lynx’s 9 and Indiana only hit on 1 of 7 shots from the field in the fourth quarter. By the time you read this, the WNBA Champions will have been decided with game 5 being played on Wednesday, Oct, 13 at Target Center Arena in Minneapolis. So the whole season and the WNBA Championship comes down to game 5. Don’t count the Fever out. When things get tough, the Fever get going. No matter what the outcome of the final game is, a big round of applause is due to first year Head Coach Stephanie White and the hard-playing ladies of our Indiana Fever WNBA Basketball team. It is a fitting farewell to Tamika Catchings, who has become an Indiana sports legend.
Colts Offensive Line Shake Up Seems to Have Worked
After the Jacksonville game, Head Coach Chuck Pagano, offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, and offensive line coach Hal Hunter decided that a major shake-up was needed on the offensive line, so Jack Mewhort was moved from right tackle to left guard where he made a strong impression in his rookie season. Hugh Thornton was moved from left guard to right guard. Free agent pickup Todd Herremans was moved from right guard to the bench. Herremans had played and started for nine seasons with the Eagles and it has been noted that his play had dropped off considerably his last seasons with Philadelphia. He has been ineffective in his play with the Colts. The biggest move was inserting Joe Reitz in as the starter at right tackle. Reitz is a blue collar type of player — not fancy or eye catching but smart, strong, and effective. The Colts love Reitz’s versatility. He can play any of the offensive guard or tackle positions and he is Anthony Castonzo’s principle backup at left tackle but he was needed at the right tackle spot. The right side of the offensive line had been leaking like a sieve the first three games. Against the Houston Texans, the line had its best game of the season, opening holes for running back Frank Gore and giving quarterback Matt Hasselbeck plenty of time in the pocket to complete his passes. Reitz held highly regarded All Pro defensive end J.J. Watts to just two tackles and no quarterback sacks or pressures. That’s a real accomplishment. It’s hoped that this offensive line combination can stay together and become stronger and more effective as the season goes on. Oh, by the way, wide out Andre Johnson, who joined the Colts after being released by the Texans, caught 6 passes for 77 yards and 2 touchdowns against them, showing his old team that he still has some fuel left in the tank.
The Colts have resigned running Zurlon Tipton after releasing him in preseason. Rookie Josh Robinson has some fumbling issues and the Colts felt some experienced depth was needed in the offensive backfield. The Colts had tried to resign Daniel “Boom” Herron but the Buffalo Bills beat them to it. The victory over the Texans have put the Horseshoe at 3 and 2 for the season. They have beaten all three of their AFC South rivals and are now sitting atop the division….as usual.
The Matt Hasselbeck story during the Texans game may be one of those things that become a legend. Hasselbeck was deathly ill a week ago Tuesday. The team didn’t know if he was going to be able to walk, let alone play Thursday night, but the 40-year-old quarterback showed the team true grit. Despite being sick with stomach issues, No. #8 was under center and calling the signals. He played superbly and led the Big Blue to their third win of the season. There was concern in the off season that at age 40, Hasselbeck was too old to be Andrew Luck’s backup, but he still playing at a higher level than a lot of NFL quarterbacks that are half his age. He may back up Andrew for another decade!
Coach Pagano has announced that Andrew Luck had significant practice time with the first team and is the probable starter for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots. New England fans are most likely glad to hear this. They want the same starting lineup they were up against in the playoff game last year — the team that complained about deflated balls and caused all the off season headaches for the Pats. It probably won’t make much difference one way or the other. Tom Brady is having a career year, and for Brady that is saying a great deal. New England fans are hoping something like a 100 to 0 game in the “Revenge Bowl.” We’ll just have to see what happens.
Frank Gore is 12th in the league in rushing with 325 yards on 76 attempts. That’s a 4.3 yards per carry average. He has three rushing touchdowns. Gore, at age 32, is the oldest starting runningback in the league. As a matter of fact the Colts are the oldest team in the league. Kicker Adam Vinatieri, at age 42, is the league’s oldest player. Matt Hasselbeck is age 40. Wideout Andre Johnson is 34. Offensive lineman Todd Herremans is 33. Linebackers Robert Mathis is 34, Trent Cole is 33, and D’Qwell Jackson is 32. Pro Bowl safety Mike Adams is 34. Offensive lineman Joe Reitz, linebacker Eric Walden, cornerback Greg Tolar, and long snapper Matt Overton are all 30.
snicewanger@yahoo.com