With a strict salary cap, the NFL is a sport with considerable amounts of parity. While there are elite teams and terrible teams there is a fairly sizeable middle class and it is not uncommon for teams to move between the three groups within the space of a few years.
This is in contrast with the NBA and NHL, both of which have much less fluidity between teams and a clear divide between the haves and the have nots exists.
The Indianapolis Colts are a team that have started the plunge into mediocrity.
The warning signs first appeared last season, despite making the AFC Championship match they ranked just 12th in DVOA.
The team has sat atop the NFL mountain for much of the past 15 years, first led by Peyton Manning and then Andrew Luck. Despite this they have won just one Super Bowl in this period and the team’s efforts have been thwarted by poor off-field decisions.
Over the past six weeks it has become very clear that this team is average at best.
They were completely outplayed by both Buffalo and New York before escaping against Tennessee and Jacksonville and outlasting Houston last week. While they delivered a very strong opening half of football against New England the team fell apart in the second period, especially following that bizarre fourth down trick play.
Many of the Colts’ problems start with the battle in the trenches. After six weeks the Colts have allowed 41 quarterback hits, fourth most in the league. On the defensive side of the ball the team had picked up just 23 quarterback hits. It’s not hard to tell that this imbalance is hurting the Colts. Additionally, they have recorded just eight sacks, ranked 28th in the league.
If you can’t pressure the quarterback and you can’t protect your own quarterback you are not going to be successful in the NFL. Unless, of course, you play in the AFC South.
Hands down the worst division in football, the Colts have won three games purely because of the terrible play of their opponents. Tennessee collapsed in week three, Jacksonville missed multiple game-winning field goals in week four and Houston still don’t have a quarterback.
The Colts find themselves in this position today because of poor decision making over the past few years. They have made poor trades, have struggled in the draft and have repeatedly flunked free agency.
The Colts did not draft smart this year, choosing to draft a wide receiver in the first round despite a massive need on defence. The Colts’ 2014 draft class was judged to be the worst in the league at the time and while the players have outperformed their initial expectations the 2014 draft class remains a shocker.
In terms of trades, the Trent Richardson trade stands out as a befuddling decision. Richardson had struggled in Cleveland, and while he was a superstar at Alabama running backs are the players that can be found on the cheap in the late rounds of the draft or free agency. If the Colts were trading for Adrian Peterson it may have made some sense, however trading a first round pick for Richardson was absolute madness and cost the team dearly.
On the free agency front, the team loaded up on veterans this past off-season. Rather than hoping to recruit young players that they could develop in the coming years, the Colts went all in on this season with the recruitment of the likes of Andre Johnson, Frank Gore and guard Todd Herremans. Herremans has been a disaster and has even been deactivated in recent weeks.
Colts general manager Ryan Grigson has had so many recruiting failures over the past three years that it will be surprising if he keeps his job at the end of the season. He has drafted or signed multiple offensive linemen that were absolute disasters, including Donald Thomas, and Luck’s body has taken an absolute beating as a result.
Yes, he has been known to put his body on the line rather than slide to the ground in the past but his recent shoulder injury did not occur because of reckless abandon, a la Robert Griffin III. It occurred because his offensive line couldn’t protect him.
On Monday he was sacked three times and there were multiple holding penalties also called against Indianapolis offensive linemen. It thwarted the Colts’ attempts at a comeback and cost them dearly in the end.
Barring an absolute disaster, the Colts will make the playoffs. Their division is that bad. Once they get there anything is possible. This weekend showed us that it is possible for them to challenge the top teams despite their many flaws.
Another team with a disappointing offensive line is the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have also fluctuated throughout the past decade, from very bad to mediocre and anywhere in between. This season it appears that they are mediocre. They are able to grind out the tight victory, but also lose the odd close game and struggle against the very best teams.
On Monday they actually played very well against a poor Denver team. Unsurprisingly the offence struggled and was shut down by the Broncos’ league-leading defence for much of the match. However their defence outplayed Denver’s offence and restricted them to just one touchdown, while picking off Manning three times.
Unfortunately the Browns have also been a mess off the field for a number of years.
The quarterback position lies at the crux of their problems. Since 2010 the team has used 10 starting quarterbacks. There has been just one season since the team’s reinstatement in 1999 in which the one player has started all 16 games behind centre.
The current quarterback situation is extremely intriguing. Josh McCown, a career back-up, is the starting quarterback and doing exactly what his coaches have wanted from him. Despite throwing two intercepts against Denver, overall he has done a good job protecting the football this season. However McCown is a known substance, he is someone we know that will not get this Browns team to the playoffs and at 36 there is no chance of development.
Johnny Manziel is the definition of an enigma. He showed us during his time at Texas A&M that despite his small stature he has the talent to be great. During his time at College Station he also showed us he has the ability to get heavily distracted off the field. Unfortunately during his 18 months in Cleveland we have heard more about his indiscretions off the field than his performances on the field.
These indiscretions reared their ugly head yet again over the weekend. It was revealed that while driving he had gotten into a heated argument with his girlfriend before being pulled over by police. It was also confirmed that Manziel had been drinking, however he was not over the legal driving limit.
The Browns expressed their disappointment with Johnny Football however he was not deactivated for the match against Denver. It’s clear that it’s time for Manziel to make a choice. His career is at a fork in the road, he either needs to grow up, accept the spotlight and play football or he can do nothing, in which case he will soon find himself without a team.
Ever since he became Johnny Football as an Aggy, Manziel has struggled to deal with life in the spotlight. He suddenly burst into public consciousness as a 19-year-old who wasn’t ready for his entire life to change. Just weeks before his breakout college football season he was able to use a fake ID at local pubs. That’s how unknown he was.
During the offseason it looked as though he was taking the first steps to overhauling his image and fixing his problems. He checked himself into a rehab facility and stayed out of the spotlight for much of the American summer. Hopefully this latest mishap is simply a blip on the radar rather than a sign of things to come.
If it is, Manziel could develop into a passer of a similar mould to Russell Wilson. Slightly taller and just as mobile, Manziel has the arm strength to make it in the NFL. From what we saw in the pre-season and his two games this season he has the potential o develop into a star. He made throws that very few NFL quarterbacks would even attempt.
And therein lies his problem. He is a rocks and diamonds player. He is always trying to make a play and doesn’t like throwing the ball away or just taking a sack. This is why he has thrown three intercepts thus far in the seven games that he has featured and it is why he has four fumbles already this season.
If he is willing to put in the hard work on the training field and in the film room he will learn to eliminate those rocks. And while the diamonds will not be as shiny, overall he will be a better player.
Unfortunately it appears as though he’s on his last chance at the Browns and there’s every possibility that he won’t get another chance to mature and develop into a star.
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