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Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian on K Adam Vinatieri, DT Fili Moala and the RB rotation
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Indianapolis Colts RB Joseph Addai will continue to start, Colts President Bill Polian says
Indy Football Report Editor John Oehser examines what Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian had to say on his weekly radio show Monday evening following the 2009 bye weekend. (PART TWO OF TWO PARTS/PART ONE HERE) . . .
The Indianapolis Colts last week signed 41-year-old veteran K Matt Stover in the wake of veteran K Adam Vinatieri undergoing a second knee surgery this year.
On Monday, Colts President Bill Polian addressed the situation.
Speaking on his weekly radio show on 97.1 Hank FM, Polian said Vinatieri developed pain along the side of his leg the week leading to a 31-9 victory over Tennessee on October 11. That situation eventually led to Vinatieri undergoing surgery.
But not, Polian said, at first.
“Adam is so tough mentally and physically and emotionally that he never said a word about it,” Polian said. “Toward the end of the week, he said, 'You know, I have this pain on the joint line.' They went and tested it – I believe on Monday – with an MRI and some other things and found that there was some loose cartilage there along with some irritation in the capsule that surrounds the joint. The irritation was reasonable and to be expected because Adam had had that same cartilage operated on back in perhaps April, very close to minicamp.
"The loose cartilage was something new and something the doctors felt needed to be addressed. They felt it needed to be addressed, because they weren't sure even though Adam felt very strongly that he could kick through the pain that it wasn't going to get worse over the course of the season and reach a point, let's say around Thanksgiving, where he could no longer stand the pain and that there would no longer be appropriate kickers out there to replace him.
“They said, 'Let's do the arthroscopic surgery now. Let's get it out of the way. Let's get him fully rehabbed.' We said, 'That's fine. We can get a kicker now who will certainly fill the bill for us and do a good job.' We did in Matt Stover. We'll just move on from there. Adam already has begun his rehab and Matt is here and rarin' to go.”
Polian said he expected Vinatieri to kick again this season.
“We think like most of the things that have happened this year that it will be a relatively seamless transition,” Polian said. “I no longer put any time frames on these things, because if you hazard a guess it becomes graven in stone and I don't want to do that, because it's unfair to the player. But it's not expected he'll be out for the season or anything approximated to that. We just hope it's normal rehabilitation and away we go.”
Polian on Monday also addressed:
*Rookie DT Fili Moala, who has yet to play this season but who likely will move into the rotation after the release last week of DT Ed Johnson: “He is ready to play. He has not been dressed nor has he played in the regular season thus far. He will do so on Sunday.”
*On the running back rotation, in which veteran Joseph Addai is starting with rookie Donald Brown playing extensively as a backup: “Right now, there's no plan to change the rotation. We feel pretty good about it. We think it has been successful for us. Donald is a rookie. Traditionally, rookies wear down toward the end of the season, so we're trying to husband his carries early as we did with Joseph when he was a rookie, to make sure he's healthy and viable at the end. That leads us to the rotation we have now. It has served us well and I think we'll stay with it.”
* On the role of WR Hank Baskett, acquired in Week 2: "He has been doing a good job in practice. He is getting acclimated to the offense. It's a very different offense than that which he played in Philadelphia. He is a good, solid contributor on special teams and that speaks to his professionalism and his dedication and his work ethic and I think you'll see him more in a pass receiving role as the weeks go on."
*On the possible return of injured players such as S Bob Sanders, CB Kelvin Hayden and CB Marlin Jackson: “It's an interesting and nice dilemma to have, No. 1. Let's address the safety issue: If and when Bob (Sanders) gets back, I think you're going to want to be a little careful with how many plays he plays at the outset. This will be in effect preseason for him, so you have to be a little careful. Secondly, you have a very capable player in Melvin Bullitt who is manning the position right now. Barring injury, you would probably see Melvin get some reasonable amount of playing time because you want to be careful with Bob going in and get him ramped up in a reasonable and judicious way. With respect to Kelvin, I think the injury situation is such that Kelvin would probably get in there at pretty much full go. Now, if you had a 70-play game such as we had in Miami, you certainly would get him out at some period of time in the early going and then of course, Jacob Lacey and Jerraud Powers would be the other two defensive backs who play pretty consistently. All three would be in in the nickel. Now, if you want to use a specialized nickel, here's where Bullitt comes in. He's capable of being a nickel back or a dime back as is (safety) Antoine Bethea. It gives you a little more flexibility in terms of what you can do in certain situational substitution-type things. That's something to look for as time goes by. When (cornerback) Marlin Jackson gets back, we're in hog heaven if everybody is healthy at that time. But in my experience, that's never quite the case. We strive very hard to try to build a 53-man team. Now, you don't always and in fact very frequently you don't get there. The best teams get to 47, 48 perhaps, where those are all guys you can count on to play winning football. I think we're pretty close to that. I know we are in the defensive backfield. I think we're pretty close to it on the defensive line. There are some other areas where we may be a bit shy, but by and large, we have a pretty deep team this year. We've always proven that with all the injuries in the defensive backfield. You're going to need everybody before it's all over. This isn't like high school or college football where, 'Well, this player's a starter, so he's back in there and the other player doesn't see the field at all.' Special teams are critically important. Situational substitutions are critically important. The more good, healthy players you have the better off you are.”
ED JOHNSON COVERAGE
* Ed Johnson release performance-based, Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell says. Here.
* Ed Johnson officially waived. Here.
* The ramifications of releasing Ed Johnson. Here.
* Ed Johnson reportedly released. Here.
MORE COLTS NEWS . . .
* K Matt Stover calls kicking for Colts "awesome" opportunity. Here.
* QB Peyton Manning says knee was fine after Wednesday practice. Here.
*** A REVIEW OF COLTS PRESIDENT BILL POLIAN'S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW POST-COLTS/TITANS. PART ONE. HERE.
*** A REVIEW OF COLTS PRESIDENT BILL POLIAN'S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW POST-COLTS-TITANS. PART ONE. HERE.
*** READ COFFEE WITH THE COLTS: INDY FOOBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S NEXT-MORNING LOOK AT COLTS-TITANS. HERE.
*** PRE-GAME PRIMER. INDY FOOTBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER PREVIEWS TITANS-COLTS. HERE.
*** THE TOP FIVE SEASONS OF COLTS QB PEYTON MANNING. HERE
*** WR PIERRE GARCON AMONG FIVE KEY EARLY-SEASON DEVELOPMENTS FOR 3-0 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS HERE ***
MAGNIFICENT SEVENS: WEEKLY COLTS THOUGHTS . . .
Magnificent Seven I: Seven training camp thoughts and observations
Magnificent Seven II: On the Colts' defensive tackle position and WR Reggie Wayne
Magnificent Seven III: On the Colts' running backs and offensive line
Magnificent Seven IV: On the Colts' offense, OG Ryan Lilja and WR Anthony Gonzalez
Magnificent Seven V: On S Melvin Bullitt and QB Peyton Manning
Magnificent Seven VI: On RB Donald Brown and the start of the season . . . at last
Magnificent Seven VII: On WR Reggie Wayne, the OL and blitzing
Magnificent Seven VIII: On WR Reggie Wayne, QB Peyton Manning and DE Dwight Freeney
Magnificent Seven IX: On DE Robert Mathis, S Bob Sanders and DE Dwight Freeney
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