A flurry of activity from Shank on Sunday. We have a Globe column that is heavy on the hyperbole and pleads for more Indy - New England games, replete with nicknames, pop culture references and the like. His CNN / SI column leans a little more on the game stats, but I'm hard pressed to make anymore distinctions between the two.
Now that's lazy!
UPDATE, 11/23, 7:30 PM - Lazier still, Shank is ripping off other writers. Have you no shame, sir?
Lame? Let's count the ways -
ReplyDelete1 - Shanks seems to assume the Patriots haven't had memorable battles against the Vikings, Steelers, and Chargers before - that the Colts are the only rivalry worth following. It's especially cheesy given how the Chargers have owned the Colts the last five years; I'd say a team that's beaten Peyton twice in the regular season and twice in the playoffs the last five years is pretty darn good, eh Shank?
2 - Shank repeats the "Belichick didn't trust his defense" myth on 4th and 2, as though playing Martyball (the term to describe punting back to the Colts instead of converting a 4th down that NE Patriots Tailgate showed was converted) ever works.
3 - Peyton Manning, all-galactic quarterback? I'm surprised Shank left out the Adama/Apollo/Starbuck references here; BTW when was the last time an all-Galactica quarterback found himself stuck with a .500 playoff winning percentage? And Didja know, Shank, that Manning is 8-5 in his last 13 games and cost the Colts in three of those losses with late-4th-quarter INTs (vs. New Orleans, Philly, and New England)? Oh wait, Shank MENTIONS the INT vs. the Saints, but to dismiss it.
4 - Oil Can Boyd Stadium? What's next, when talking about the Vince Young soap opera we get references to (Chris Johnson fan Faith Hill's Newest) LP Field?
5 - Shank dredges up another cliche - the Marino Mythology cliche - to defend Manning because "his supporting cast is thin" and how his receivers ran bad routes and dropped passes. Uh, Shank, will you think about that if you get around to the Patriots offense not moving the ball after the two Manning TDs in the fourth? BTW Shank, the way they constructed this Colts team is the same way they've constructed it since Bill Polian was hired and drafted Manning - like his Bills teams in the 1990s Polian's Colts are built completely around Manning. It's damning to Polian but it's also damning to Manning that, unlike Brady, he doesn't make his supporting cast better in terms of the team's competitive depth.
Shank wants Patriots-Colts in January - I'd rather see Patriots-Titans; Jeff Fisher and that group actually work to build physical teams.