Colts blow it!

This was a great sports weekend with the ASU-Oregon game on Sat and the Colts-Pats match-up on Sun. The football weekend was nicely sand-wiched between 2 Suns game for me - Fri against the Fakers and Sun night against King James. But now that the games have ended, I am not too happy with the results. I went 1-3 starting with the Suns losing badly on Fri in their home opener to the Fakers. Then ASU loses at Eugene in a rather disturbing fashion. The Colts look like they were going to shock the World by knocking off the Pats, but then with 9 mins to go in the 4-Th quarter, they lose the game by not scoring again as the Pats poured in 2 TDs. Finally, the Suns score a meagre 38 in the first half, but luckily turn it around to beat the Cavs on Jerry Colangelo's "ring of honor" night.

First, ASU. They played a frustrating game in Eugene as they blew some early opportunities and some late opportunities and just did not execute. As always they were behind 21-3 early, but it was not because of their offense starting slowly. The defense could not stop that dude Dennis Dixon and their offense, but the offense moved the ball. They just couldn't punch it in from the 5 yard line. Curious call by the coaches to run on all 3 downs instead of mixing it up even with Rudy Carpenter's sore thumb. So instead of starting the game 7-7, it was 7-3. Oregon scored 2 more times before ASU scored to get the game to 21-10. Suddenly the defense found a way to slow down double-D in the second quarter, This is when Rudy screwed up big time with the 2-min drill before half-time. He completely mis-managed the clock and ran just one play from the 25 yard line with 45 seconds on the clock. ASU had to settle for a field goal that was missed and the Devils who had an opportunity to go in 21-20 ended up with a 21-13 half-time score.

Still not bad for the Devils, but again Dennis Dixon could not be stopped in the 3-Rd quarter. They kept scoring and the Devils either stalled on their own or scored field-goals instead of TDs. The deficit was too high to overcome in the 4-Th even with double-D injured and on the sideline. We got to see Ryan Leaf's brother on the field, but Rudy Carpenter just did not have a great game. ASU lived off of it's running game and they just could not pass protect for Rudy. When he had the time, he did OK, but couple of turnovers in the fourth sealed the deal for Oregon. Great win for the program and a bad loss for the Devils. The championship game is out of the window now for the Devils, but they still need to win out and hope for a BCS bowl. You know what, that ain't all that bad considering where they started this season.

Similar story with the Colts on Sunday. They did great to bottle up Tom Brady and also rode Joseph Addai to to a 20-10 lead with 9 mins to go in the game. Then Brady went Brady. He connected on long bombs to Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth on 2 consecutive TD drives. Peyton just could not move the ball enough to score in that 4-th quarter. I wonder how the game would have looked if the Colts had Marvelous Marvin. I think Colts win if Peyton had one more weapon in Marvin. But even with all the injuries, the Colts looked very good today. They ran all over the Pats and were in control for 3 quarters. They intercepted Brady twice and all they had to do was close it out. That didn't happen and now they probably have to go in to a frozen Boston in Jan for another AFC championship game. But the Colts did show they are a real good football team and all this hype about how this game would be a Patriots blow-out turned out to be just that - hype. Chris Collinsworth is even saying the Pats are the best ever team in the history of the NFL! I think that boy needs to take it easy! May be now he can say that the 2007 Colts are the second best team in the history of the game since they only lost 20-24. In other games, I gotta tell you this Adrian Peterson is an absolute stud! Almost 300 yards rushing for a rookie against a decent Chargers D. This guy's burst and power is awesome to watch.

As for the Suns, they got embarrassed by the Fakers in their home opener on Friday. They looked listless and their offense is just not flowing yet. This offense takes a while to heat up every year and I don't think we should panic yet. Ballers need to get into "run and gun" game shape, incorporate new pieces like Grant Hill and also the shooters need to get their rhythm going with those 3-bombs. This is exactly why the Suns go on huge winning streaks often. It's kind of a streaky style they play that thrives on rhythm and chemistry. Tonight, they started badly against the Cavs as well, but the second half was much better. MP3 is in mid-season form, but the best is yet to come from the others. Amare missed tonight's game against the Cavs, but the Suns hung on instead of using that as an excuse. Colangelo's ring of honor celebration at half-time was pretty nice with Chuck, KJ, Majerle and the gang in the house. As for the Fakers, they start hot every year and this year seem no different. They look real good right now, but lets see how far it goes. Andrew Bynum is in top shape and looks pretty impressive. Boston looks like the real deal in the East and it should be a fun season.