The Zippy and The Chippy – Colts Winners and Losers

The Colts got killed by the Redskins in their pre-season match-up Friday night, which is to be expected.   Indy is the team, after all, that uses these exhibitions to fine-tune their offense, tinker with their defense, and score be-damned.    That’s been fine for lo, these many years of Peyton Manning’s reign, but we could always see progress being made, and the team was always ready for the regular season.   Friday’s debacle showed us nothing in the way of an upgrade over last week, and most functions of the team actually took a step back.   To top it off, after the game owner Jim Irsay dropped Tweet bombs on the Blue and White faithful to the effect that Manning might not be ready to go in Houston in Week 1 and that the franchise is considering alternatives.

With that grim picture embedded firmly in your mind, here are this week’s winners and losers on the roster front.

The Zippy

It’s hard to slot anyone here at all.

• Maybe Delone Carter, who ran four times for 25 yards and caught a couple of passes?  Darren Evans, who didn’t do a whole lot but at least got four touches four 14 yards, both second to Carter?   I guess those guys didn’t stink.
• Adam Vinatieri hit a 55-yard field goal for the Colts’ only points, and Pat McAfee showed that his leg is still attached after his FG stunts in camp this week.   McAfee punted four times for 229 yards.
• The Colts also recorded four sacks, one of those a solo job by DE John Chick.
•  LB Adrian Moten picked off a pass and returned it for 15 yards.

The Chippy

Pretty much everyone else.

• The QB play was terrible, with Dan Orlovsky and Curtis Painter combing to go 12-for-27 with 95 yards.
• The defense gave up 215 yards on the ground and 228 in the air.  It’s amazing that they only gave up 16 points.   Bend, don’t break?
• Chad Spann had one carry for four yards.    It looks like coaches may be losing confidence in him after last week’s muffs, and his hold on a roster spot seems tenuous.
• The Colts gave up three sacks.    That’s not a HUGE number, but any at all will hit like a ton for some particular damaged neck.

One more decent note from this game was that Dallas Clark made a few grabs.   It appears that he, at least, is healthy and maybe close to being ready for a real game.   Now, if there were just someone around to throw the ball to him!