Former Colts Lining Up As Roadblocks to the Super Bowl

Snicker if you will.   Tell me that I look at the world through Blue and White glasses.     Picture me typing these words blindly, with my head planted firmly in the sand.   Because, regardless of the Colts’ shuffling offensive line or sore necks or bend-and-bend-some-more defense, I still have visions of a home-field Super Bowl in February, and that dream won’t dissipate until some other team stomps the Colts into the turf, leaving them officially and terminally eliminated.  Until then, all Colts news is filtered through the lens of championship hopes, and I’ve noticed lately that my screen is collecting several chunks of trivia centered about a common theme:  cut Colts sticking with other contenders who could club their former team along the path to destiny.

First, after the Colts cut safety Bob Sanders last winter, the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year signed with the San Diego Chargers.   The Chargers?!?!?   If Sanders had signed with the Patriots, the potential for a classic Greek tragedy could not have been any greater.

Isn’t San Diego the team that seemingly stands in the way of every Colts postseason run these days?  Doesn’t a healthy Bob Sanders have the skills to stymie the Colts’ high-powered offense?  Wouldn’t it be deliciously ironic if Sanders stayed healthy all season and ended Peyton Manning’s?  Yes, yes and, sickeningly, yes.   Not that I wished him otherwise, but did you notice that Sanders stayed healthy all during the preseason?   Doom.

Next, cornerback Kelvin Hayden, whom the Colts cut shortly after the end of the NFL lockout, signed last week with the Atlanta Falcons.  Many Colts fans, me included, thought that Hayden might eventually end up with the Colts again after he spent decades on the free agent market with no takers.   Indy’s secondary remains a weak spot, a definite concern, and a well Hayden would have been a welcome re-addition.   That won’t happen, obviously, and now he has landed with one of the NFC’s trendy picks for Super Bowl fun.  Would it be scary to see Hayden in Indy trying to exact revenge against the Colts?    Yes.   Yes, it would.

Finally, just today, offensive guard Jeff DeVan signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, not even 24 hours after being released by the Colts.  DeVan started more than half of the Colts’ games during the last two seasons but found himself on the wrong side of the power struggle along the offensive line this preseason.   It’s somewhat mystifying that Indy kept Mike Pollak, among others, but parted ways with DeVan.   Even more so than the Falcons, the Eagles are thought to be among the elite in the NFC, and not many would be surprised to see Philadelphia make it all the way to the Super Bowl.   If so, DeVan could have the last laugh, especially if he plays a key role in protecting Michael Vick or supporting the Eagles’ running attack.

For now, I will try to push these thoughts from my mind and focus on more pressing matters, like the impending tilt with the Houston Texans.   With every win and each falling leaf this autumn, though, we’ll know more about which of these scenarios, if any of them, might ultimately play out.    In the meantime, I’m confident that the Colts will be playing in February, and I’m busy planning my Halloween costume.

Wonder where I can find a Polyanna dress in men’s sizes …