Patriots vs. Colts - Colts injuries starting to mount.
Its amazing the amount of
hype and commentary generated by this game, so I figured I'd bring my 2cents to the table. I think the biggest issue and one of the areas that hasn't been mentioned by the pundits, is the
injuries on this Colts team. The injury to WR Marvin Harrison is
huge and his status for the game has been
downgraded to “Doubtful”. With him out, it puts a ton of pressure on rookie WR Anthony Gonzalez. WR Reggie Wayne goes from #2 receiver to #1, which isn't a big drop off at all for the Colts. But by him going to #1, it puts Gonzalez at the #2 and that is a
HUGE drop off. Manning and the Colts are good enough to win games vs the Jaguars and Panthers without Harrison, but in this game you need
all your weapons on offense and that's not going to be the case. Also, Tackle Tony Ugoh didn't play last week and is still questionable.
The way the Patriots play defense and are
constantly changing their defensive fronts and schemes, you need your best linemen in the game and the colts might not have that. They also have injuries on defense, with LB Freddie Keiaho and CB Marlin Jackson both questionable. Those are
significant injuries on both sides of the ball. That's one thing that people aren't talking about, the Colts aren't 100% and the Patriots certainly are.
Not only are they healthy, but they get back DL Richard Seymour, who's a
monster.
