How about them Cowboys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Romo for MVP!)

Hey guys this is MasterRWayne and I am a writer for the Colts blog at www.stampedeblue.com.

I wrote an article detailing Mandarich's interview on "Inside the NFL" because he made his comeback with the Colts and started for us from 1996-1998. Now I know Mandarich is hated by you guys because he was a draft bust, but allow me to say two things.

1. Mandarich was a VERY good starting NFL lineman for the Colts. In fact, he was a bright spot on an otherwise talented, but inexperienced O-line that featured rookies at LT and LG. The bottom line is that Mandarich turned his life around, got sober and played his guts out for the Colts. In fact, he was part of the Colts 1997 victory over the Packers in which an 0-9 Colts team defeated a then 9-0 Packers team. One of my favorite Colts memories is him running down the field with his helmet off after the game winning field goal went through.

2. I had the pleasure of meeting Tony Mandarich in 1999 shortly after his retirement and he was kind, humble and respectful. I was working at Starbucks back then and I recognized him and he took time out of his day to talk football with me.

My point is that Tony Mandarich seems, both from the "Inside the NFL" and my personal experience, like a good person who made a lot of dumb mistakes when he was in his early 20's and then turned his life around. In short, Tony Mandarich as a Colt was a different player and a different person than Tony Mandarich as a Packer.

So yeah you can be upset about how Tony Mandarich was a "draft bust" for you guys, but you have to recognize that the guy fought hard to turn his life around and never gave up. You just have to respect that.

Let me just say right off the bat that Tony Mandarich is perhaps one of my favorite Colts players of all time. That is right folks; I rank him right up there with Manning, Harbaugh, The Edge and a slew of other potential/guaranteed hall of famers.

Many of you might not even remember that Mandarich played for the Colts from 1996-1998 so you might be wondering if I have completely lost my mind when I rank him as one of the favorite Colts. You also might not even know that he is widely considered one of the greatest draft busts ever. In fact, even to this day people who are draft busts on measured on a Tony Mandarich scale of "draft bustiness."

In 1989 Tony Mandarich was selected with the second overall pick in the draft which was unheard of, for a left tackle, at that time in the NFL. The Packers picked him ahead of guys named Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas and Emmit Smith. Mandarich only lasted three years in Green Bay. He started off bad by referring to Green Bay as a, "village" in his first interview and by challenging Mike Tyson to a boxing fight. It sounds ludicrous, but it is 100% true and the Green Bay organization had to step in to prevent the fight which was scheduled to take place just prior to the first pre-season game. Despite all of that Mandarich had everything going for him in the beginning. He had a big multi-year contract and he had his face on the cover of SI with the title, "The Incredible Bulk!" Many thought that a player like Mandarich was going to change the game so that left tackles could finally take on rushers like Lawrence Taylor.

However, Mandarich struggled mightily in the NFL. In one Monday night game Reggie White just absolutely abused him up and down the field. After awhile he was benched and then was later cut in 1992. He faded away as easily the greatest mistake in Green Bay’s history.

Mandarich remained a ghost until 1996 when the Colts suddenly gave him a chance. If you recall that was when the Colts were trying to retool their O-line with young guys such as Tarik Glenn and Adam Meadows so we were desperate for some help. Still the pundits thought Mandarich wouldn’t make it, but not only did he make the team, but he started at guard for the Colts. Still can you imagine the shock of going from probably the best LT in college sports to playing guard for a rebuilding offensive line? Yet Mandarich accepted his role (are you listening Vince Young?) and went on to be a very good offensive guard for the Colts. He even got a chance to play his old team the Packers. The Colts went into that game 0-9 and the Packers were one of the best teams in the NFL that year. Yet Mandarich and the Colts, who were QB’ed by Paul Justin, went out there and won the game. It is one of my favorite Colts memories when Mandarich ran down the field with his helmet in his hand cheering after Cary Blanchard kicked the game winning field goal.

I mention all of this because "Inside the NFL" is running a very good two part interview with Mandarich in which he details his addition to drugs, steroids and alcohol while playing for the Packers. He discusses how they just took over his life and that he was so focused on, "getting high" that he couldn’t even bring himself to work out three times a week when he was with the Packers. He also, for the first time, admits to steroid use while playing for Michigan State and on how he evaded steroid detection during the NFL combine. Next week the interview will focus on his recovery from drugs and time as a Colt.

I don’t mean to sound corny guys, but this is an amazing story here and it is an excellent interview. So if you have Showtime check out "Inside the NFL" this week and next week for both parts of the interview. Mandarich also has an autobiography due out this spring, but he makes it perfectly clear in the interview that he will not name other steroid users because he does not wish to, "profit off other peoples personal mistakes."

Hey Saints fans I heard the news about Hurricane Gustav potentially striking New Orleans and forcing the Saints to practice in Indianapolis. The Saints, and there fans, are always welcome here. While it is almost certain that Gustav wil strike the United States I truly wish that it does not strike New Orleans. A new storm there could cause severe damage to a levee system that has been neglected and it not fully repaired.

I hope a tragedy is avoided for both the Saints the city of New Orleans.

Hey guys I write for the Colts blog, but in my fantasy league I drafted Nate Burleson in the finals round because of the injuries sustained to both Branch and Engram. My question is how has Burleson looked? Do you think he will have a successful season this year? I know last year he had some success later in the season so maybe he will be able to replicate that for a full year. Is there anyone else to fill in outside Burleson?

Thanks!

Hey I am MasterRWayne and I help write for www.stampedeblue.com which is the blog here for the Indianapolis Colts.

I really liked the article posted yesterday discussing that the Saints really didn't have any true defensive philosophy or identity. This, I feel, is really hurting your team. The Colts run cover 2 and cover 3. That is what we are and that is what we practice. Its not a very advanced scheme, but it works great because we know exactly the types of players we need to draft for it.  If you wanted to can read my article about the advantages of Cover 2 here...

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2008/6/18/554149/cover-2-is-the-best

Basically almost all of your defensive problems come from a lack of scheme and this is exemplified in Jason David. When Jason David played for the Colts he was very very good! Yeah you may think I am crazy, but trust me the guy won games for us. In fact, I remember one game four years ago where it was a high scoring game between the Colts and the Packers with the Packers driving for a game winning touchdown. Farve threw a 15 yard pass to Javon Walker and Jason David (who was a rookie) stripped the ball and recovered the fumble thus ending the game.

This just shows that Jason David can be a very good player when he is in the right system such as Cover 2. The system you guys run just has him confused out there. He doesn't know his assignments and after playing Cover 2 for so long the guy just can't play the system the Saints run.

If you want my advice you guys need to have a system and a philosophy on defense because that can make ALL the difference. Eight years ago the Colts had one of the worst defenses in league history and then Tony Dungy came and we switched to Cover 2. We made an effort to draft faster, smaller guys that fit into our system. Currently we drafted a guy named Marcus Howard at the bottom of the 5th round and he has FOUR sacks his pre-season and is amazing. The reason we got him in the 5th was because he was "small" and other teams wouldn't touch him. Its the same reason we got Bob Sanders (last years DPOY) in the 2nd round because he was "small" at 5'8.

Bottom line is you guys need a defensive system that compliments your quick strike offense and Cover 2 can do that. By scoring fast and effectively with your offense it forces teams to throw the ball in order to catch up which in turn plays into the strength of the Cover 2's speed rushers and zone coverages.

Anyways I wish you guys the best of luck. In my 3 Man keeper league this year I thought about keeping Reggie Bush, but decided instead on Larry Fitzgerald. I am just not sure if Reggie has it, but feel free to challenge me on that or on my knowledge of NFL defenses.

Overall a very sloppy game with lots of turnovers.

Recap will come tomorrow. I am heading to bed right now.

Open thread for todays game.

Go Colts!

Hey its MasterRWayne here from Stampedeblue! You may recall last year I posted on www.stampedeblue.com that if you guys swept us I would, "Eat my keyboard with tartar sauce." Well I am still just as confident this year even though Peyton will never play again *rolls eyes* Anyways I look forward to owning you guys for another year, but hey look on the bright side; at least Matt Shaub can be looking up at the ceiling of a different stadium (Lucas Oil Field) after Freeney sacks him!

Also, I hear that Ahman Green bought a new car! That's hardly surprising because he basically "earns" a new car per yard that he gains with the over inflated contract that you guys gave him.

Oh and even though you guys suck I do hope that you don't have any injuries this camp or during the pre-season.

Peace!

-MRW

With this article I wanted to advance a long held belief of mine that the Cover 2 defense is the best defensive approach to use for the modern NFL. Now there is, naturally, a great deal of strategy that goes into defensive and offensive arrangements. Some teams, such as the Patriots, prefer to employ a bigger and more veteran 3-4 defense. While other teams have employed styles different from the Cover 2 and had great success, I still hold that the Cover 2 (Tampa 2 variation) is the best defensive arrangement.

A major advantage that the Cover 2 defense has is that it is much easier to draft for this style of defense than other types of defenses. The reason behind this is that most teams put a high emphasis on size, strength, and height because their defensive arrangement demands these sorts of attributes. Take the DT position for instance; in most other defensive schemes, the DT must be massive so that he can take up two offensive linemen and thus free up the LB’s to flow directly to the football. The Ravens are a team that does this and they drafted Ngata a few years ago just to take up space to free up Ray Lewis from offensive guards that might get to the second level. Therefore, there is great demand for these types of players and they are almost always drafted early and often. They also tend to go quickly in free agency.

Cover 2, on the other hand, places much less emphasis on size. Consequently many players that work great in Cover 2 (such as Mathis, Sanders, June) do not get drafted by other teams because they are worried about size issues. This naturally enables the Cover 2 system to have easier access to talent because it allows for players to thrive in its system that otherwise do not work in other more “traditional” defensive systems. The best example of this would be Montae Reagor who failed to ever get off the bench in Denver’s system, but when he came to Indianapolis he thrived because the system values speed above just pure strength at the DT position. It is based on “knifing” through the line as opposed to engaging offensive guards and centers.

Corner back is yet another great example; guys like Marlin Jackson and Kelvin Hayden were passed up by other teams because they lacked amazing 40 times. However, the Cover 2 defense does not require CB’s to have 40 times speed in the 4.3 range because they play in a shallow zone were size and tackling is more desirable. So when other teams are drafting the Antrel Rolle’s and Fabian Washington’s early in the 1st round, the Colts are able to get bigger more talented CB’s due to the fact that they have skill sets that other defenses put less of an emphasis on.

Cover 2’s other major advantage is that it is a very affordable defense to run effectively. This is due to the fact that young players fit very well into the system and can often times effectively start in their rookie seasons. This is in direct opposition to the 3-4 defenses which requires veterans players at many of its positions because it can take two to three years to get a young player adjusted to the complexity of the scheme. This, in turn, drives up costs for operating this defensive system because your 3-4 defenses have to award veterans contracts to veterans who additionally may have trouble with injuries. A prime example of this is when the Patriots signed Chad Brown and Duane Starks to massive contracts because they desperately needed veterans who understood the 3-4 system.

The Colts, with their Cover 2 system, can employ young, affordable rookies and plug them right in. Guys like Antoine Bethea, Cato June, Freddie Keiaho and Tyjuan Hagler would have never worked out in the standard 3-4 system. But because the Cover 2 is a much simpler system you can make use of young guys who can produce at a much more affordable rate. This, in turn, allows your team to spend more money on its offensive skill position players such as Manning, Harrison, Wayne and Clark. It would be virtually impossible for a team to have big time experienced offensive skill position players and also run an expensive 3-4 defense. This, I believe, is the ultimate doom of teams such as the Patriots, Browns, and Cowboys because there is simply not enough cap space to pay an expensive defense on top of an expensive offense.

Furthermore when you have an expensive offense, you will throw the ball a lot more as the Colts, Pats, and Cowboys all did last year. When you have a great passing attack you will score early and often, and that is when you want a Cover 2 defense because its specialty is stopping the other team from throwing on you whereas the 3-4 defense is focused on blitz packages and stopping the run. The Cover 2 therefore has a great synergy with an explosive offense because you can score early and often and force the other team to throw when you are dropping seven guys into coverage and rushing with four pass rushing specialists. How many times have we seen the Colts destroy teams with that basic and effective system?

So that concluded my brief article on why the Cover 2 is the best defensive scheme in the modern NFL and, as always, feel free to comment on this and challenge my viewpoints.