The Indianapolis Colts' pathetic handling of the knee injury to wide receiver Marvin Harrison is a big part of the reason their season is over.
When Harrison first hurt the knee, ESPN's Ed Werder reported -- correctly -- that it was a serious injury that threatened Harrison's injury. The Colts responded by saying Werder didn't know what he was talking about.
If the Colts had simply put Harrison on injured reserve when he got hurt in October, they might very well have won the game against the San Diego Chargers Sunday. Harrison's fumble -- the kind of thing that happens when a guy who's hurt and rusty is sent out on the field for the playoffs -- was incredibly costly; the Colts looked like they were ready to march down the field for a touchdown on the drive before Harrison dropped the ball after a fairly ordinary hit.
And then came the end of the game, when Harrison couldn't play on the injured knee, even when Reggie Wayne got hurt before the final play. Harrison said this after the game:
"I did what I can do. That's the bottom line," Harrison said. "It was a coaching decision. I don't know how it came down, but at that point in the game we were better off probably without me out there."It's not Harrison's fault that he was hurt. But it is the Colts' fault that they put him on the field yesterday while he was hurt. He had no business being out there.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
It's Karma Indy. Thats why you play to win EVERY game.
I don't think they mishandled Harrison, they mishandled sitting all their starters against the Titans. They lost their luster. Nice work Colts.
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I think Marvin's problem was more of an ego thing than a knee. We did quite well without him and he shouldn't have even played yesterday. He's a head case.
It's one thing to say they mishandled the knee injury thing. You might very well be right about that. But trying to claim they "might very well" have won the game if they'd done it how you think they should have is stupid. At best, you're just engaging in some petty I-told-you-so's. At worst, you're trying to describe a world in which Indy's management behaved immorally and are being punished for it, which, frankly, is delusional. So it was because of Indy's mismanagement of Harrison's knee that two balls ricocheted off of Colts receivers' hands directly into the waiting hands of Chargers defenders? And then their moral failure went on to cause Tony Ugoh to mess up a block on Merriman? If you just want to reiterate your point that it was dangerous for Harrison to play while he maybe wasn't ready, fine; trying to pin the Colts' loss on that decision makes you seem a bit hysterical.
Marcus, you are correct. They just lost the game. The other WR's had 8 weeks to show they should be playing instead of Marvin. They saw Marvin in practice so they had way more information than any of us. How could they have mishandled it in the beginning when he never played until now. And the fact that he made it back proves he was worth the risk. He is one of your best players he is worth the risk.
When they gave up a touchdown drive to a backup QB that was the real difference.
It's funny if Manning makes one throw for a touchdown on any of the last two drives this article wouldn't have been written.
I agree. It's so funny when we loose we are always looking for someone to blame. They lost as a team. Lets get over it and get ready for next year.
Great comment MARCUSJM. It could not have been said any better than that.
For one, why do people spell lose as loose? Never have understood that one.
Second, resting the starters against the Titans had nothing to do with them losing to the Chargers. The Colts had 4 or 5 starters in this game that hadn't played in 4 or 5 weeks, or longer in Harrison's case, due to injury. Resting starters had nothing to do with the tipped passes for INT's, had nothing to do with a non existant pass rush to allow 3rd and 4th tier QB's to march down the field with ease.
The Colts offense was able to move down the field at will, but like the whole season, they had issues in the red zone. That is why Adam V. had an average distance of 27 yds for his FG attempts this season. For the mathematically challenged, that means the Colts on average were lining up at the 9 yd line for their FG attempts.
If you happen to recall a few years ago when the Colts rested their starters against the Broncos in the final week, they played the Broncos again the following week in the Wild Card game and the Colts won in a blowout. So people need to put to rest the notion that resting the starters hurts the team.
Typical Dirty Dungy putting his players carrers on the line in a bid to protect his own. Most coaches would have put him on IR at the time of the injury.