Pacers Season Start
The NBA’s regular season has started and our Indiana Pacers find themselves at 4-4 and the bottom dwellers in the Central Division 2 1/2 games back. Not to worry, however, it’s a long, long way to go before even the half way point in the season. LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers lead the Central with a 6-1 record. Paul George is coming back strong after missing just about all of last season with a horrendous leg injury. George leads the team in scoring with 23.5 points per game, rebounds with 8.6 per game, and assists with 4.9 per game. Rookie center Myles Turner, who was the club’s number 1 draft pick out of Indiana in 2015 is averaging 7 points a game and 3.3 rebounds. Right now Turner is playing less than 15 minutes per game. His playing time will increase as the season goes on. After some roster changes from last season, the squad is still trying to find their chemistry. Actually, the Pacers are playing fairly good basketball so far. They will get there.
Colts Get Lucky Against Peyton and the Broncos
Peyton Manning’s return to Lucas Oil Stadium (The House That He Built) wearing a Denver Broncos uniform did not go well for the future Hall of Famer. He has yet to win here with Denver. Sunday afternoon was no exception. The previously unbeaten Broncos fell to the 3-5 Colts 27 to 24. To top it off, Peyton fell just 3 yards short of passing Brent Favre to become the NFL’s all time passing yards leader. There were many in the house who were pulling for #18 to achieve the record here at his true home. There was a guy from Canton, Ohio on the sidelines waiting to retrieve the football to take to the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he did. So he will have to wait until next week when Peyton breaks the record in Denver against his old nemesis, the New England Patriots.
As to the Colts, they played their best football of the season, both offensively and defensively. After Offensive Coordinator Pep Hamilton was fired, Andrew Luck described the firing “like a punch in the gut.” Replacement Rob Chudzinski gave Luck a simpler game plan with more short passes and quick hits and it seemed to work. At least for this game.
It might be said by the cynical that the win was a gift to the Horseshoe from Denver cornerback Aquib Talib. The Broncos have one of the NFL’s most effective and dominant defenses this season and Talib has been a big part of that. However, he is also known as a hothead and it showed Sunday afternoon. Very late in the game the Colts had stalled on a drive to run out the clock which meant they would have to punt the ball to Denver. The Colts were leading by a field goal and Colts tight end Dwayne Allen was exchanging shouts with Denver linebacker DeMarcus Ware when Talib came by Allen and poked him in the eye with two fingers. Talib was called for unsportsmanlike conduct which is a 15 yard penalty and an automatic first down. That pretty much ended any chance for Peyton and the Denver offense to get the ball back and possibly tie or win the game. So Talib gave the Colts the win. He also blamed Allen for the incident. Talib says Allen milked the incident for all it was worth “because that’s the kind of guy Allen is.” Talib has been suspended for one game.
Andrew Luck suffered a kidney laceration in the Denver game. He will be out 4 to 6 weeks. It’s a real blow for the Colts’ Matt Haselbeck.
The Colts are going into their bye week this weekend. They have a chance to work on their execution problems and make the necessary corrections. They also have a chance to heal up a little and get healthier. Let’s hope they come out a better team after the break. They take on the Falcons in Atlanta in two weeks.
snicewanger@yahoo.com