Caste Football Looks at the 2010 Indianapolis Colts
Once again all of the Colts White starters are on the offensive side of the ball. The team is noted for its great offense and porous defense, but the demographics on defense always remain coal black. Even the White backups have been purged for this season except for newcomers Mitch King and Pat Angerer.
King was an unstoppable force at Iowa, but was not drafted by the NFL and was cut by Tennessee after they signed him as a free agent. King is 6-2 and 280 pounds and very athletic, but this does not fit the required NFL model for tackles of black only, morbidly obese non-athletes who can't penetrate but who "take up space." The Colts are one of the very few teams that don't load up on fatsos on either side of the ball, so maybe King will eventually be "allowed" to start, but we won't hold our breath waiting for that to happen.
Another Iowa graduate, LB Pat Angerer, was drafted in the second round in 2010. Angerer can play inside or outside but is probably best suited for the inside. In preseason games, Angerer stepped right in when incumbent MLB Gary Brackett was hurt and instantly performed better than Brackett, even making the defensive huddle calls. However, Brackett was signed to a long-term contract extension in the offseason, and is a "revered" fan favorite, which means he will have to be seriously injured, or his level of play drop so much that it is obvious to everyone, for Angerer to replace him. Indy's starting LOBL, Philip Wheeler, is awful, so Angerer may have a shot at playing there until the middle opens up for him. Angerer's a tackling machine in waiting, but the Colts have shown quite the aversion to starting White defensive players for the past decade or so.
The offensive side of the equation is about as good as it gets in the NFL from a demographic standpoint. QB Peyton Manning is an absolute master of his trade, and is well on the way to being the best quarterback ever, maybe the best football player ever, though for that to be acknowledged the Colts will need to win at least one more Super Bowl under his leadership. One thing for sure -- Manning will break all the career marks currently held by another Iron Man, Brett Favre, if he continues to stay healthy and hungry.
Manning is backed up by second year player Curtis Painter from Purdue. As his previous understudy, Jim Sorgi, can attest, backing up Peyton Manning is the easiest job in the NFL.
The Colts' offensive line is almost always one of the best, and again this season follows its time-honored formula of starting White men everywhere except left tackle, a position which, using that most peculiar NFL logic, is more and more deemed only capable of being manned by blacks. The anchor of the line remains C Jeff Saturday, who is almost as good at his job as Manning is at his. One of the reasons the Colts are so enjoyable to watch on offense is because the organization is smart enough to surround Manning with the kind of component parts he needs, and none is more important than the veteran Saturday. Tenth year man Ryan Diem is the starting right tackle; Kyle DeVan, in his second year out of Oregon State is the RG, and Jamey Richard, in his third season, is the LG.
Backup White o-linemen are tackle Jeff Linkenbach and center Mike Pollak, a second round draft pick out of Arizona State in '08.
Tight end Dallas Clark reached career highs in 2009 with 100 catches, 1,106 yards and 10 TDs, one of the very best seasons ever by a TE. Another positive of the Colts organization is that they use Clark as a receiving tight end and as a wideout, dispensing with the nonsense that White TEs must be great blockers in order to start. Clark, a former first round draft pick from Iowa, is 31, so enjoy him while he's still at his peak while you can.
Jacob Tamme, a very fast athlete from Kentucky, and rookie Brody Eldridge from Oklahoma, are two of the three backups behind Clark.
After the first regular season game of the 2010 season, it became obvious that second year WR Austin Collie is a far more polished and better receiver than Pierre Garcon, who remains a "project" with dubious hands and smarts. Collie had a terrific rookie season in '09 and also shone in the post-season. He is very capable of playing outside and not just in the slot, as his 73 yard catch and run TD in the season opener showed (yet again). Hopefully he'll replace Garcon as the second wideout.
Anthony Gonzalez, the former first round pick from Ohio State (and yes, he's one hundred percent of European heritage), was injured almost all of 2009 and was hurt again in the '10 opener. He had already been demoted to fourth on the depth chart, a demotion that he made his displeasure known about.
The Colts inexplicably kept just four wide receivers. The obvious fifth choice would have been Blair White, the free agent from Michigan State. White dominated the Big Ten his senior season, has hands of glue, big play ability, and 4.49 speed, and the future dentist is obviously no slouch in the brains department. In other words he has all the qualities NFL coaches dream about -- when a receiver is black that is. One such as Blair White finds himself undrafted and then put on the practice squad. But keep repeating, the NFL is colorblind, white and black football players are treated exactly the same, there's no agenda, there's no affirmative action when it comes to giving out scholarships and developing players. Keep repeating that, and keep living in a fantasy land. . .
NUMBER OF WHITE STARTERS: 6
NUMBER OF WHITE PLAYERS ON 53 MAN ROSTER: 18
GRADE: D