That’s all for today.

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Andrew Luck (Getty Images file photo)

MINNEAPOLIS — All that good luck the Indianapolis Colts received on the field these last two weeks could leave them with no Luck when the NFL draft rolls around.

The Colts won two straight games to tie with the Vikings and Rams for the league’s worst record and the chance to take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick.

With Peyton Manning out for the year with a neck injury, the Colts lost their first 13 games of the season, and most figured Luck could start looking for an Indy-based realtor. Then a funny thing happened — the Colts started winning.

The Colts beat Tennessee two weeks ago for their first win of the season. No big deal, right? They still had a game on two-win teams in Minnesota and St. Louis and didn’t have to deal with the ignominy of going winless for an entire season.

Vikings fans were already dreaming of USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil coming in to protect Christian Ponder and clear a path for Adrian Peterson. With Sam Bradford under center, Rams fans were drooling over the prospects of bringing in Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon as a stud receiver.

Then the Colts went out and won on Thursday night against the playoff-bound Texans.

All of a sudden some Colts fans have an entirely different pain in their necks. Now all three teams are tied for the fewest wins in the league, with the Vikings and Rams still to play this weekend.

The Associated Press

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Indianapolis —
The game — Indianapolis Colts (0-12, 0-3 AFC South) at Baltimore Ravens (9-3, 4-0 AFC North), M&T Bank Stadium (Shaw Sportexe Momentum Turf), Baltimore, MD, 1 p.m. (EST).

Coverage –CBS Sports (Bill Macatee, Steve Tasker); Colts Radio Network (Bob Lamey, Will Wolford, Kevin Lee); Sirius NFL Radio Channel 06 (Colts), Channel 85 (Ravens); XM NFL Radio Channel 233 (Ravens).

The coaches — Colts: Jim Caldwell (24-20, 3rd year); Ravens: John Harbaugh (41-19, 4th year). Caldwell has a 2-0 record against the Ravens. Harbaugh is 0-3 in games against the Colts.

The series –  10th regular-season meeting. Colts lead the series, 7-2. Indianapolis has won every meeting between the two franchises since 2002 (six straight regular-season victories), including a pair of post-season victories (15-6, 2006; 20-3, 2009). The last time that the Ravens won a game in the series occurred in 2001 (39-27 in Baltimore). The Ravens’ two series victories came in 2001 and 1998 (38-31 in Baltimore). Indianapolis won the first game of the series, posting a 26-21 victory in Indianapolis in 1996. The Colts have a 3-2 regular-season road record against Baltimore, including a 17-15 decision at M&T Bank Stadium in 2009.

Noting it — The Colts are closing in on tying the record for the worst regular-season start in franchise history. Indianapolis is currently 0-12 for the year. The 1986 team lost its first 13 games of the season before running off a three-game winning streak to close out the year…Indianapolis is the third home for the Colts’ franchise. The team initially began operations as the Dallas Texans in 1952 before moving to Baltimore for the 1953 season. The team was in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983 before moving to Indianapolis for the start of the 1984 season…QB Dan Orlovsky had career-bests in passing yards (353) and quarterback rating (113.2) in last week’s 31-24 loss at New England…DE Dwight Freeney needs half sack to become the 26th player with 100 career sacks. Freeney has registered 99.5 sacks during his NFL career…DE Robert Mathis has had four sacks in his last five career games against the Ravens…Baltimore offensive coordinator Cam Cameron grew up and attended high school in Terre Haute (South HS). Cameron, the stepson of former Indiana State football coach Tom Harp, played football and basketball at Indiana University. He also served as head football coach at IU….Ravens coach John Harbaugh is the brother-in-law of Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean.

Did you know? — Counting post-season games, the Colts defense has registered six interceptions in their last three meetings with Baltimore.

Did you know 2? — RB Donald Brown is shooting for his third straight games with a rushing touchdown this season.

Did you know 3? — WR Reggie Wayne, with his 52 pass receptions this season, has caught 50 or more passes in nine straight seasons.

Did you know 4? — WR Pierre Garcon has registered single-season best in receiving yardage (805) and has tied his career-high in touchdown receptions with six.

Stat of the week — Including postseason games, RB Joseph Addai has three rushing touchdowns in five career games with the Ravens.

The game plan — Continue to improve on offense. And keep tweaking the defense.

The Colts want to try, if possible, to control the tempo on offense. Indianapolis did a pretty good job against the Patriots defense last week, but the Ravens offer up one of the better defensive units in the league.

Continue their development of the running game, which has shown signs of improvement since the beginning of the season.

Defensively, the Colts can’t afford the communication issues that allowed three second quarter touchdowns at New England.

Getting consistent play from the cornerbacks is paramount, especially since there is only one starter available from the beginning of the season.

Key matchups — Colts QB Dan Orlovsky vs. Ravens rush DE Terrell Suggs. Orlovsky showed pretty good pocket presence last week against New England but was still sacked twice. Suggs, meanwhile, is a one-man wrecking crew for Baltimore with a team-high 10 sacks, two interceptions and five passes broken up.

Ravens RB Ray Rice vs. Colts’ run defense. Rice is coming off a 204-yard effort against Cleveland last week. Indianapolis’ run defense is allowing 99 yards per game and is ranked 26th in the league.

Colts secondary vs. Ravens QB Joe Flacco. Indianapolis cornerbacks are beat up and the safeties, with the exception of Pro Bowl free safety Antoine Bethea, are largely inexperienced. Flacco has completed 240-of-434 passes for 2,895 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

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Marvin Harrison(notes) was inducted into the Indianapolis Colts’ ” Ring of Honor ” at mid-field in Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday during halftime of the Colts’ game against the Carolina Panthers. It was an honor that was overdue for the receiver who helped Peyton Manning(notes) build a winning franchise during the early 2000s, but Harrison has struggled with off-the-field issues since his retirement in 2008, and Colts brass probably wanted to make sure that he would stay retired before making the move. That said, I think the franchise needs to open up the “Ring” a bit more and close around a couple of other past Colts who helped make those mid-decade teams so great. I don’t think many of my fellow Horseshoe fans would balk at the inclusion of Tarik Glenn and Edgerrin James(notes).

Glenn , drafted in the first round by the Colts in 1997, welcomed Manning to the league the next year and protected the quarterback’s blind side for the next nine seasons. The left tackle from the University of California at Berkeley began his college career as a defensive lineman, but made a successful conversion to the offensive line as a junior. Glenn’s strong blocking gave Manning the time he needed to hone his game and become one of the all-time greats. It also gave the quarterback a confidence that has been hard to recapture since Glenn retired before the 2007 season to pursue an MBA.

James had the unenviable task of replacing Marshall Faulk when the future Hall of Famer left for the St. Louis Rams before the 1999 season. James delivered splendidly, leading the league in rushing in each of his first two seasons and topping the 1000-yard mark in five of his seven seasons with the Colts. Ironically, James left the Colts as a free agent just in time for Indianapolis to make its Super Bowl run in 2006. Even though he was in Arizona that season, the Colts gave him a championship ring after their big win.

No matter how you look at it, Tarik Glenn and Edgerrin James are two of the Colts’ all-time greats, even including the franchise’s many decades in Baltimore. It’s time for the team to beef up its “Ring of Honor” and let in these two champions of the gridiron.

Adam Hughes was raised, and still lives, in rural Indiana. He has been a Colts fans since the team arrived in Indianapolis on a snowy morning in 1984. The Blue and White eventually replaced the Chicago Bears as his #1 team, and Super Bowl XLI was a dream come true.

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Regardless of how you do the math, the numbers don’t add up well for the Indianapolis Colts.

The big one is the Colts’ 0-10 record.

Dig below the surface and past the glaring absence of injured quarterback Peyton Manning and the reasons for the winless season become more apparent.

The Colts have scored 27 points in their last four games.

Over the last 22 quarters, the Colts have scored five touchdowns and thrown seven interceptions.

Quarterback Curtis Painter, who will start against the Panthers after some discussion as to whether he should be replaced by Dan Orlovsky, has thrown five touchdown passes and seven interceptions this season. His 67.7 passer rating is 31st in the league. His fourth-quarter passer rating ranks 39th.

The Colts rank 31st in total offense and 29th in total defense. Their minus-10 turnover ratio is tied for 29th in the 32-team league.

“It’s been tough,” Painter said. “Any time you’re not winning games, it’s tough especially to be where we are. We’re still optimistic in the sense that we look at some of the things we’re doing and we’re still doing it to ourselves. We’re still positive that those are things we can correct and we look to do that and hope to end this last section of the season the right way.”

While outside chatter focuses on the Colts’ increasingly good chance of landing the first pick in next year’s college draft and, almost by default, securing the chance to pick Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, the inside emphasis is on changing the direction of the suddenly struggling franchise which is likely to be without Manning for the rest of the season.

It’s still a team sprinkled with familiar names – receiver Reggie Wayne, center Jeff Saturday, running back Joseph Addai and defensive end Dwight Freeney – but injuries have limited them. Besides Manning, receiver Dallas Clark is also out.

What started with a 34-7 loss at Houston in the season opener has spiraled downward. The Colts’ last four losses have come by an average score of 32-7.

Manning’s absence is a huge factor in the Colts’ struggles but not the only one.

“It’s not just one problem. It’s been different ones that have popped up,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “If I wanted to give you one word to describe the season it would be inconsistent. There have been games when we’ve played well offensively and maybe didn’t play well in other phases in order to get us a win. Or we’ve played well defensively and the opposite has been true. We’ve been turning the ball over a little bit too much and inconsistent play on and off throughout the season.

“What we’re trying to do is to see our team ascending and getting better. That’s the key here down the stretch. We’re working hard to make certain that happens. There’s a lot of things we need to keep concentrating on. It boils down to the same things week in and week out. It’s your fundamentals. Sometimes we’ve been just a little off, and in this league if you’re a little off, you’re going to have some problems.”

In Painter, the Colts are relying on a seventh-round draft choice out of Purdue who had played briefly in one 2009 game before this season. After Kerry Collins went down with an injury in the third week of the regular season, Painter was pushed into action.

He’s completing less than 55 percent of his passes as the Colts have made just 19 trips inside opponents’ 20-yard line this season. Two weeks ago, the Colts never got deeper into Falcons’ territory than the 33-yard line.

“(Painter is) a guy that has not played a whole lot of football for us,” Caldwell said. “We’ve got to give him some help and give him a chance to learn and develop.”

After playing behind Manning for two seasons, Painter now takes pointers from the veteran recovering from neck surgery.

“He’s been around. He’s been helpful, certainly to me,” Painter said of Manning. “He’s been a great help whether it’s been during the week at practice or during game day when I’m coming off to the sideline and talking to him about different looks or things we’re doing offensively. I can’t say enough about how much he’s helped out this year.”

As the Colts move closer to locking down the first pick in the next draft and the likelihood they could use it on Luck, Painter said he hasn’t paid much attention to who might be playing quarterback for the Colts next season.

“It’s not much of my concern. It’s hard to worry about anybody that’s not here right now,” Painter said. “We’re really not looking any past (this week).”

Not much else going on in the NFL world today.

By Alex Boeder

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Nov 23, 2011 – Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Caldwell confirmed on Wednesday that quarterback Curtis Painter will start this weekend against the Carolina Panthers, despite fans pushing for a change at the position.

Not that Colts fans need any reminding, but Painter has lost all seven of his starts this season, during which time he has thrown just five touchdowns along with seven interceptions.

“Curtis has not played a whole lot of football around here for us,” the Colts coach explained. “I think he’s got to be given a good, clear opportunity. There are a lot of things that may have happened to him during the [Jacksonville] game that may not have always been his fault.”

The Colts have not eclipsed 10 points in of their previous four games with Painter at the helm. And they have only scored more than 17 in one start by Painter, a 28-24 loss to the Chiefs in Painter’s best game of the season, when he threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Caldwell is still holding out hope that Painter can replicate that performance from all the way back on Oct. 9.

“Well, I think he’s developing. One of the things that I don’t think there’s any question about in this league, you very rarely see a young quarterback, which he is, really flourish. It’s rare that they really flourish in a system that’s predominantly passing. Most of the young guys that you see that are making progress in this league are [in an offense that is] able to couple his abilities with a real strong running game,” Caldwell explained.

Both Painter and his backup, Dan Orlovsky, are 0-7 as starting quarterbacks in the NFL, so it continues to be a lose-lose situation for the Colts in 2011.

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INDIANAPOLIS —
Starting with the team’s Oct. 16 road game with the Cincinnati Bengals, the

Indianapolis Colts embarked on a series of games against the top three

quarterback prospects from this past year’s NFL draft.

Bengals starter Andy Dalton completed 25 of 32 passes for 264 yards and a

touchdown in leading his team to a 27-17 win. This afternoon (1 p.m., CBS

Sports), Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Blaine Gabbert will make his first trip

to Lucas Oil Stadium.

And in two weeks, after a bye weekend for the Colts, the top pick from the

2011 draft — Carolina Panthers’ starter Cam Newton — will get his chance to

face the Indianapolis defense. A fourth highly-rated prospect — Tennessee’s

Jake Locker — is currently the backup to veteran starter Matt Hasselbeck.

“We saw [Andy] Dalton and he performed well. Cam Newton’s doing a fine job

from what I’ve been able to see through the film because we have some common

opponents,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said late last week.

“So I’ve had an opportunity to see him a little bit here and there. They are

all progressing, they are all getting better and they’re all very talented

people.”

Which brings Gabbert, a former University of Missouri standout, into the

conversation. Although his statistics so far this year have been up-and-down

— he’s completed 79-of-173 passes for 907 yards, five touchdowns and four

interceptions. He has connected on just 46 percent of his passes and has a

62 passer rating.

Not glaring numbers, but Caldwell has been impressed with what he’s seen so

far from the 6-foot-4, 233-pound signal caller.

“It appears that he’s a guy with talent. A big, strong guy that can throw

the ball. And not only that, but he can move [and] he can run. You can see

him convert third downs and things of that nature with his feet, so he’s a

pretty dangerous guy,” the Colts coach previewed.

“Just like anybody else in this league, [rookie quarterbacks] learn and

develop as time goes on. And you can see him getting better and better each

and every week. He’s a pretty impressive physical specimen. You [can] see

week after week that he just gets a little bit better.”

Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio made the tough decision to go with his

first-year quarterback this season and release veteran starter David

Garrard.

“He’s done a pretty solid job really of kind of being unflappable. It’s not

easy coming into this league playing the most demanding position in all of

professional sports. I like the way he’s approached things. He’s a sharp

guy, he’s studying hard, he’s spending the extra time trying to dial in on

his opponents each week, he’s got physical talent, he’s got the will to

prepare and I think he’s got a bright future,” Del Rio voiced.

“Clearly the passing game part of our offense is [lacking]. We’ve played

good defense through the years, we’ve run the ball well through the years,

we haven’t been very penalized and we’ve been a pretty smart and tough team.

Having a quarterback that has a chance to be a real franchise quarterback is

a real exciting thing for us. We’re just trying to grow with him and around

him and bring him along. We know that there’s a bright future with a guy

like that in the mix.”

Key matchups

Colts QB Curtis Painter vs. Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert — Neither quarterback

has been consistent this season. Gabbert’s excuse is that he’s a rookie who

has completed 79-of-173 passes for 907 yards, five touchdowns and four

interceptions. He has completed just 46 percent of his passes. Painter,

meanwhile, has connected on 104-of-195 passes for 1,221 yards, five

touchdowns and five interceptions. He has completed 53 percent of his

passes. Gabbert has a 62 passer rating. Painter’s is 70.5.

Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew vs. the Colts’ run defense — Jones-Drew is a

long time nemesis of Indianapolis. He has rushed for 740 yards and three

touchdowns this year while averaging 4.5 yards per carry. In 10 career games

against the Colts, he has had five 100-yard rushing games and 929 yards

total with eight rushing TDs. He has a career 5.2 rushing average against

the Colts.

Colts DEs Dwight Freeney/Robert Mathis vs. Jaguars pass protection —

Jacksonville rookie QB Blaine Gabbert has been sacked 19 times so far this

season. Freeney and Mathis haven’t had a sack in nearly five weeks.

Something has to give.

Colts game plan

Just win. Find a way to win a game. After getting off to an 0-9 start this

season, that’s where the Colts find themselves now.

Offensively, Indianapolis has to be able to have sustained drives and be

able to score in the red zone. Too often, the Colts have been forced to

settle for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns.

Defensively, be consistent. Play your gaps. Play smart. Indianapolis’ run

defense has been feast or famine. The pass defense has been almost

non-existent at times.

That’s all the news for today.

Just two seasons ago, the Indianapolis Colts made it all the way through Christmas with an unblemished 14-0 regular season record, leading many to believe that the team could make history with a perfect season.

Now the team is attracting attention for just the opposite reason. But just as the 2009 Colts did not win every game (they lost its final two regular season games as well as the Super Bowl to the New Orleans Saints), the probability of the Colts not winning a game this season remains low. According to AccuScore, the Colts have just a 2.2 % chance of going 0-16.

The Indianapolis Colts are in the exact opposite situation of the Packers. The Colts are winless in their first eight games and ranked offensively and defensively in the bottom third of the league. After another big loss Sunday, Indianapolis has a 0-percent chance of winning the division or making the playoffs. They have a better chance of losing every game this season at 2.2 percent. That percentage is low thanks to upcoming games against two of the worst teams in the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers.

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INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Colts take Peyton Manning’s injury seriously.

Jim Irsay’s tweets, not so much.

A day after the team owner wrote on Twitter that he was in Hattiesburg, Miss., the city Brett Favre calls home, coach Jim Caldwell and his players tried to dismiss speculation Favre would be joining the Colts as Manning’s backup.

“I think they’re hilarious,” defensive captain Gary Brackett said of Irsay’s posts. “Usually, he’s trying to write something from some kind of country song, he has a lot of giveaways or whatever. But I wouldn’t call anything on Twitter gospel.”

Regardless, the Colts are now in the midst in a swirling storm that involves the league’s only four-time MVP, Manning, the league’s only other three-time MVP, Favre, and an owner who uses social media to connect directly – frequently and sometimes humorously – with fans.

Manning has been on the physically unable to perform list since training camp opened Aug. 1 as he continues to recover from May neck surgery, the second surgery on his neck in 15 months. On Saturday evening, Manning said he would not play in the Colts’ final two preseason games because the recovery was taking longer than expected, in part he believes, because he could not work out with team trainers during the 4 1/2 -month lockout.

Caldwell has not said when Manning will return to practice after missing 25 consecutive workouts. Manning insists he’ll need the next two weeks just to get healthy.

Irsay compounded the concerns Saturday morning when he tweeted that the Colts must be prepared to start the season without their No. 1 quarterback. Irsay has not responded to interview requests made by The Associated Press.

The Colts’ dismal preseason play – they’ve been outscored 49-13 in two losses – even prompted Irsay to ask fans who they’d prefer if they signed a veteran free agent. The only other quarterbacks on the roster are third-year veteran Curtis Painter, who has a career rating of 9.8, longtime NFL backup Dan Orlovsky and undrafted rookie Mike Hartline.

Painter is trying to ignore the talk.

“I never really have read much and I don’t follow too many things on there,” Painter said. “I kind of focus on myself and trying to put myself in the best position I can.”

On Sunday, Irsay was back at it, this time writing he was in Mississippi. It’s unclear whether he was being serious when he wrote: “I’m in Mississippi,down at the crossroads….looking 4 that deal Mr. Johnson cut so many years ago.”

More than likely, it was a reference to blues musician Robert Johnson, a Mississippi native. The legendary story says Johnson made a deal with the devil at a crossroads in his home state so he could become a star.

When the follow-up Tweet referenced Hattiesburg, speculation about Favre began in earnest, and then Irsay tweeted: “I can’t clear anything up…everything is fluid and in flux…b ready 4 anything n everything then nothing is not foe BUT FRIEND!

“One of the things that you know about him (Irsay) is that he’s very current,” Caldwell said. “He uses social media to engage our fans, he uses it to inform and he uses it have to fun. He’s got a lot of folks engaged and that’s what it’s for.”

Gotta run!.

Gotta run!.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings will stick
with their original training camp plans and report on Sunday.

The NFL said both teams would open camp on Friday. But Colts spokesman Avis
Roper says teams can report later than the date issued by the league office.
Both teams intend to do just that.

Indianapolis is scheduled to practice at Anderson University, 45 miles
northeast of Indy, from Aug. 1 through Aug. 18. The Vikings will hold their camp
in Mankato, about 80 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning had neck surgery Monday in Chicago to repair a disk problem.

It was the second neck surgery since February 2010 for Manning, the league’s only four-time most valuable player. The previous surgery was to repair a pinched nerve and this operation was less invasive and less complicated, Colts owner Jim Irsay said Tuesday at the league meetings.

“He had a bulging disk,” Irsay said. “The doctors removed a part of it.

“It’s usually a six- to eight-week recovery period. I think this is one you can bounce back from quickly.”

Even though the NFL has locked out its players, communication between teams and players in these cases is allowed. Thus Manning was able to contact the team and its doctors before heading to Chicago for the operation.

“Now is the time to do it, the end of May,” Irsay said. “He’s had things tougher than this before.”

Illegal hits could

lead to team fines

League officials said they will begin fining teams whose players collect a significant number of disciplinary actions for illegal hits, a move designed to encourage franchises to emphasize tacklers must avoid hits to opponents’ heads.

The measure comes after last season’s crackdown on enforcement of illegal hits to the head. But last season’s efforts were aimed at players, not their teams.

“It is going to be implemented,” said Adolpho Birch, NFL senior vice president of law and labor policy. “Some of the details, we’re still working out.”

Those details include the number of disciplinary actions or the amount of fines against players that would yield a fine against a team, and the size of penalties against teams.

Furthermore, the owners expanded protections for “defenseless” receivers and banned players from launching themselves to hit defenseless opponents. Under the no-launching rule, an offender can be ejected.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.