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NFL Films: 2003 Indianapolis Colts

Alright, I love these. Prepare for me to put these here when I find them.

Two New Colts

 Happy Saturday. Er, Friday. Feels that way when you take a day off for the first time in a while. As I battle through a bout of gastritis/stomach ulcer pain, I attended the NCAA tournament for the first time today. It was definitely on my sports bucket list. There was some news in Colts land in the past 48 hours.

The Colts signed Tom Zbikowski! They now have a real walking, breathing safety! Here are some things to know about 'Zib', and I suggest a visit to his football reference page if you want to spend time looking at old football information that will waste a lot of your precious time you can never get back.

• Notre Dame product, was a teammate of Brady Quinn.
• Selected in the 3rd round, 86th overall in the 2008 NFL draft.
• Has basically played only on special teams even though he figures to be the starter for the Colts.
• Who he might be when he grows up: Jim Leonard-type with an emphasis on his ability to return punts.

Also, another Eagle has left the nest for Naptown. His name is Mike McGlynn. On McGlynn:

• From Austintown, Ohio. Was a Pittsburgh Panther on Saturdays.
• 4th round pick, 109th overall in the 2008 NFL draft. 
• Started 14 games for the Eagles in 2010 at center, and then 4 last season for the Bengals at guard.
• Figures to be a swing-man type on the line. Hopefully just a back-up.

Also in closing out this post, Peyton Manning plans to sign with his new team next week. Rumor has it that the new team is the Broncos, and there's an interesting story behind it all.

Reggie Wayne - A Colt for Life

Here's a great read from the Indystar Blog Bounce it off Phil B. on Reggie Wayne's decision to remain a Colt.

Winston Justice will beef up Colts Offensive Line

Today the Colts opened up the morning by acquiring Offensive Tackle Winston Justice from the Philadelphia Eagles (Grigson connection here), and they didn't have to give up a whole lot to get Justice.

The two teams simply swapped 6th round selections in the upcoming NFL draft, meaning now the Eagles get the No. 2 pick in the sixth-round from the Colts, and Indy gets the No. 17 pick in the sixth-round along with Justice.

Justice will probably be playing a lot of right tackle for Indianapolis. If you're getting to know Winston Justice's name for the first time, here are some notes:

• He's going to be playing in his age 28 season.
• He played college football as a USC Trojan. 
• I've seen him listed at 6'5" and 300 and also 6'6" and 320. 
• He's made 31 starts in his NFL career, all as an Eagle. 
• You might remember the night in 2007 when he allowed Osi Umeniyora to get four sacks of Donovan McNabb. That's my NFL memory of Winston Justice.

I think a lot of people expected the Eagles/Ravens connection from Grigson and Pagano, and this is definitely one of those moves. You have to think the Colts are thinking one thing right now, get bigger in the trenches immediately, and start compiling lineman so they can have every chance to keep Andrew Luck unscathed in his rookie season.

Justice will be a guy who the Colts are depending heavily on in 2012 to protect the franchise. He's an important piece to the puzzle. 

Colts Agree to Terms with DE Cory Redding

Chuck Pagano has brought over his first Baltimore Ravens cast-off. Cory Redding was signed today to a 3-year, $10.5 million dollar deal.

Things to know:

-Redding was a 3rd round pick (66th overall) out of Texas, originally beginning his career with the Detroit Lions in 2003.
-His best year was 2006, when he had 8 sacks for the Lions.
-His second highest sack total was last season with 4.5 in Baltimore.
-This will be his 4th stop in the NFL. This will be his age 32 season.

Reggie Wayne signs 3-year Deal to Remain with Colts

The greatest Colts wide receiver of all-time will be given the opportunity to keep on keeping on in Indianapolis. Reggie Wayne has signed a three year contract extension with the Colts. Terms were believed to be $17.5 million dollars over the life of the deal that should allow Wayne to retire a Colt.

And suddenly, things don't seem so bad. The Colts retain one of the best receivers in the game to help out Andrew Luck. And if they can add another piece or two, this offense has a chance. Not everyone is leaving Naptown.

Welcome home #87. Put the money in the bag!

Peter King MMQB on Peyton Manning Free Agency

"I still am trying to get my brain around the thought that one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time is a street free agent -- and was in our building talking about playing for our team,'' said one official of a team in the running this weekend.

Free Agency Tuesday

This is a couple of items that I ordered off the menu at the Colts Grille in Indianapolis when my wife and I made a stop there Super Bowl weekend. It's my favorite restaurant on the planet, and I had to get these pictures on the blog somewhere.

*Also, if you stop in the Colts Grille on a Tuesday, you can get the Yak burger. Try it if you're ever in town.

Today at 4:00 PM ET, NFL free agency begins.

I don't expect the Colts to be very big players. But we'll keep the updates flowing frequently throughout the day and night.

Pierre Garcon has probably played his last down as an Indianapolis Colt.

Colts Showing Some Class with Mural message

Hat tip: Stampede Blue

Make Your Luck (Nike Football Commercial)

Andrew Luck could have done worse in his first NFL commercial.

Reservoir Colts

Everyone is being whacked in Indianapolis. This is increasingly feeling like Reservoir Dogs. No one survives this purging.

The Colts said goodbye to a lot of their core today. With Addai, Clark, Bullitt, Brackett (and Curtis Painter on the side) being the latest and most prominent names to hit the free agent market, the Colts regime is sending out a silent message.

With Peyton being out of the way, and Dwight Freeney likely next; the Colts are going to be Robert Mathis, Andrew Luck and a bunch of new faces filling out the media guide next year.

They're starting over, completely. They just might resemble the 1999 Cleveland Browns--if you were feeling like this is an expansion era NFL team you were probably not far off in your assumption.

There's something concerning about what the Colts are doing and the way they're doing it. But also with a purge, a fasting, or a diet--it's sometimes surprisingly energizing. The most painful week in the history of the Indianapolis Colts is wrapping up. And we're about to enter one of the most intriguing periods here in the near future.

When will Colts negotiate contract with Andrew Luck?

With Peyton Manning off the Colts roster, they're currently naked in terms of having a starting Quarterback on the team. The next question logically becomes, when do they start to negotiate a deal with presumed #1 overall draft pick Andrew Luck?

It was reported just before the combine began that the Colts were free to sign Luck before the draft began, a notion that Grigson shot down pretty quickly just the day after the option was presented to the public.

That said, it's easy to tell if you read between the lines that Jim Irsay is smitten with Andrew Luck. The Colts didn't even interview Robert Griffin III at the combine at the end of last month. They have made up their mind who is going #1 overall.

Now that the Manning saga has played itself out and the hardest part is behind the Colts, the logical next step would be to cement the sale and sign Luck to his rookie contract, making him the first true building block of the rebuild.

I would be very surprised if we don't see something around this prior to next month's draft. The Colts won't be without a face of the franchise for long.

Drew Magary on Peyton Manning leaving Indy

The reactions will continue to trickle in, and while Drew Magary from Kissing Suzy Kolber (and now Deadspin) isn't always right, he usually sums things up pretty well. He's like me, just a fan at the core. For instance, I loved his post on Randy Moss the day Moss retired. He was pretty much spot on.

Here's his spot on Peyton Manning today.

No other quarterback in NFL history—not Marino, not Montana, not Elway, not Favre, not Brady—has ever strung together such a remarkably consistent run of excellence. And now that run is over, just like that. I'm not sure any successful NFL tenure has ended so abruptly. Twelve months ago, Manning was everything to the Colts, and now he'll be cut without recompense. You already know why the Colts are doing this, and why it makes perfect sense. But that doesn't make the whole phenomenon any less bizarre. It's still mind-blowing to think that even one of the greatest QBs of all time is still a fungible cog in the NFL's machinery, dispatched in a relatively quick manner for the sake of "building for the future." In the NFL, the future is always the prize. The now is undervalued, and the past is utterly worthless.

Those last three sentences really are the take home message from today.

Colts Release Peyton Manning

The end has officially arrived. It was a pretty sad scene really. I feel for Jim Irsay, and I especially feel for Peyton Manning. On a larger scale, it's an awakening for me as a sports fan. If this can happen to Peyton Manning it can happen to any player in sports.

In terms of being an NFL fan and following that shield my entire life, this is one of the paramount moments you just don't forget. I'll always remember the day the Colts and Peyton Manning broke up. Like in all the classic Mafia movies, Manning was the last to get whacked in this one as all the old boys who had gone before him.

In terms of how huge this was, even CNN televised the press conference. I got a text from my wife during lunch hour saying that she was watching it from the student center of her university. Everyone knows about this. When I leave the parking lot at work tonight, I'll have to pick between ESPN and local Indianapolis 1260 WNDE because the coverage will be everywhere until we go to sleep tonight.

There will be plenty of time to talk about the Colts, and Andrew Luck (the most important part of the rebuild), who the Colts will draft, Chuck Pagano, Ryan Grigson and the new band that is getting ready to set up shop on stage. But today is about Peyton Manning. It's about an icon, and a door closing today.

As a football fan, just remember you will always be able to stay within the warmth of all the memories.

Seattle Seahawks to make a monster run at Peyton Manning

With the release of Peyton Manning coming at a noon press conference today in Indianapolis, the first shots of one of the NFL's other 31 franchises figures to be fired by the Seattle Seahawks.

According to this report, the Seahawks are preparing to “come out checkbook blazing".

I had originally thought the Kansas City Chiefs would be the team to pick up Peyton Manning. It was no more than a gut feeling that gained steam as time went on after I had initially had the thought. Now I truly believe in my heart that Seattle could work for Manning.

I particularly think that the interaction he would have with head coach Pete Carroll would be one that would be effective; Carroll is a veteran coach that doesn't seem to be a control freak. He could let Manning come in and have control of the offense for a few years and focus on other areas of his football team. Carroll has been close to turning the corner in Seattle but has lacked the signal caller to fully make his own break.

Also, when big money is being thrown around; it shows that you are very desired. I think the Seahawks will show the most amount of desire in terms of teams with their checkbooks.

Don't discount the fact that Seattle isn't a huge media market. This is a situation Manning might find some fondness with. They don't have five beat writers in Seattle. It's the opposite reasoning which leads me to rule out destinations like the New York Jets and Washington Redskins.

I think the only teams in the realistic Peyton Manning market will be Seattle, Kansas City, Miami, and Arizona.

Peyton Manning Era Comes to an End

After 14 years and 4,682 pass completions, the Peyton Manning era in Indianapolis is over with.

Here's a video from the airport in Indianapolis tonight, where the Colts owner and former QB landed in anticipation for their noon press conference tomorrow:

Full reaction coming, as the boys said; tomorrow.

If you want a primer, here's Bob Kravitz's take at the Indy Star. He will never cover a bigger story.

The Peyton Manning YouTube Workout Video

Above is the video of Peyton Manning making four throws that was clearly put out by Manning Camp early this morning. In actuality, it was between the 1:00 and 2:00 AM hour last night. At the :06 mark, you've got "what a ball". That tips me off that this video was put out by Peyton Manning's group (along with the fact that Chris Mortensen broke the story). But what was the reason?

He obviously wants to show that he is healthy. That he can still play. But what about his status with the Colts? Is he trying to show the Colts organization he can still play so they'll pick up the option? After all, Jim Irsay did say that if #18 is healthy he'll be a Colt.

Everywhere else, people are saying it's a matter of when and where until Manning moves on.

Thursday the wait should be over. That's March 8th. But I wouldn't discount the possibility of Jim Irsay and Peyton delaying things and making us wait a while longer. It just doesn't feel like an answer is coming Thursday, does it?