POSITIVE SPIN . . .
The Colts have been without center Jeff Saturday and left tackle Charlie Johnson this preseason. Speculation has been that their absence has hurt the team in trying to focus on improving the running game, but Manning said there may be benefits. “I don’t think you can say it set us back,” he said. “It’s another opportunity for other guys to step up and play, which there is no question you are going to need depth throughout the course of a 16-game season. I think we’ve hopefully taken advantage of some of the injuries and tried to turn them into a positive to give some other guys a chance to play.”
HISTORY LESSON . . .
Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell wouldn't say officially how much starters and front-line players will play Thursday against Cincinnati, but he offered a pretty good hint. Caldwell said the Colts' approach won't differ much from past seasons. Manning hasn't played the preseason finale since 2004, and the Colts last season played just two starters in the preseason finale. It's doubtful many more will play Thursday. “This week has always been treated as a ‘get the Colts better week,’'' Manning said. “We’ll do some Cincinnati review, but always for this fourth game, unlike the third game where we truly do game-plan and get ready and treat it like a game, but this fourth week we are focusing on the Colts and getting better. Obviously, there are some serious evaluations this week on some guys that they are looking at. Who is going to start? Who is going to make the team? Coaches are trying to get a lot of different looks with different guys and putting us in more competitive situations.”
STAY ON THE FIELD . . .
Manning spent a lot of time Monday talking about the need to continue to improve between now and the regular-season opener. The most important way to do that offensively, he said, is to work on maintaining drives. Manning said there were times the offense executed well against Green Bay, but that too often the Colts “just weren’t able to finish. On some of the other ones, we got ourselves out of bad field position, hit a long pass here and then we got down there and stalled. So, just working on finishing drives and being able to put up 10, 12 good plays in a row, as opposed to maybe five or six good plays and then having a negative play, a run for zero yards or an incompletion or a penalty, which are all potential drive-stallers. . . . Over the course of a season you have to be able to finish drives.”
ADDAI OK
Running back Joseph Addai said despite leaving the game after sustaining a concussion Thursday, he likely would have returned had it been a regular-season game. “I knew I was OK,” he said. “(It was) preseason, so let’s be smart about it. Obviously, we, the starters, came out after that, so it looked like, ‘When are they going to go back in?’ So, obviously I was fine.” Addai, who sustained the injury tackling linebacker Robert Francois after a fumble by Manning said Colts defensive players have joked that they “want me on their side of the ball now.” He added, “We looked over it and I probably would do the same thing next time. I was trying to save a touchdown and whatever it is to win the game, that is the situation we are trying to put ourselves in and it just so happened I went down. I was fine, but I think everybody liked the effort of me trying to go for the tackle, so it was a good call.”
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