GarageGabs

It looked like the Colts had solved most of their defensive problems after they beat the Bengals 34-16 on Monday night.  Gone were the thoughts of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew running rampant on their defense.  Then came today’s matchup with the Houston Texans.  If I had told you that Peyton Manning threw 3 TD’s and Joseph Addai ran for 100 yards against the Texans you would have probably figured the Colts won.  You would have been wrong, as the Colts rush defense was shredded once again, this time by Ron Dayne of all people.  Dayne ran for 153 yards and 2 TD in leading the Texans to a 27-24 win over the Colts.  What does this mean?  Well, it pretty much means the Colts are going to have to go on the road at some point in the playoffs…..more than likely to San Diego or Baltimore….Two teams that run the ball pretty well.  It also means that Indianapolis doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of making the Super Bowl.  Defense has always been their problem but it has never looked THIS swiss cheese.  When you start giving up 150+ to Ron Dayne AND losing to the Houston Texans you have pretty much booked yourself an exit from the playoffs.

Not that some other AFC teams don’t seem to have problems.  San Diego escaped, and I do mean escaped Seattle, surviving a 10-30 passing performance from Philip Rivers.  Rivers has seemed a bit off lately but was able to hit a wide open Vincent Jackson for a 37 yard go ahead touchdown with 29 seconds to play, giving the Chargers a 20-17 win over Seattle.  Quite frankly, Seattle should have won this game, but they won the NFC West anyway, thanks to the ineptitude of the division.
Jay Cutler led Denver to a HUGE win over Cincinnati, 24-23.   Carson Palmer hit T.J. Houshmanzadeh with a 10 yard TD with 41 seconds to play on to see the extra point attempt muffed.  An extremely big win for the Broncos playoff chances, and a tough blow for Cincinnati.  I’m ready to admit, it appears I was wrong about Cutler…..sorry Ruben.
Here is the rest of the NFL rundown from ESPN

Here is the Playoff Picture as of tonight