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Part 1

Area NFL teams showing their muscle

By Jeff Mayfield

[OCT. 12, 2000]  At least that’s what the fans of the St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts are saying. Both teams are off to a good start. In fact, the Rams are one of only two undefeated teams in the entire National Football League. The other of course, is the Minnesota Vikings. The Chicago Bears on the other hand are not flexing their muscles. But, do they have the personnel that those other teams have? This week the LDN offers up a progress report and prognosticates on what the future may hold.

The best thing I can probably say about the NFL can be summed up in one word: parity! Fans all over the league are operating under the fallacy that their area team actually has a chance to make it to the Super Bowl. I would bet the hot tub that the

San Diego Chargers will not make it to this year’s Super Bowl. Unfortunately for all of our local Bears fans, I don’t think Chicago is going to make it either. They started off with a good showing against the Vikings in the Twinkie dome. They really deserved a better fate. They even looked a little better when they beat the Packers. However, their poor performance displayed against the New Orleans Saints removes any hope that they’re climbing to some acceptable level of consistency and respectability. They just don’t seem to have enough skill at the skill positions. Their inability to run the football consistently has put too much pressure on quarterback Cade McNown. Also, the defense will need to step up big on a regular basis for this team to improve.

The Indianapolis Colts on the other hand, are entertaining Super Bowl dreams of their own after making it to the AFC championship game last year. Things may be not be going according to plan with their recent losses to New England and a tough home setback to Oakland. However, at times their offense looks as good as anybody’s. When Peyton Manning is in rhythm, he is as good as anyone in the NFL.

 

 

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Edgerrin James doesn’t seem like he is the dominant running back that he was last year. If the Colts are to go deep in the playoffs, James will have to punish people from week to week. I noticed how important he is to the overall offensive scheme when I recently attended their game with the Minnesota Vikings. When he was clicking, the Colts looked pretty hard to stop. That may say more about the Vikes' defense than it says about the offensive prowess of Indianapolis.

Speaking of the Vikings, their offense is really impressive. I know that they’re not one of the local teams that loyal Lincoln Daily News readers follow, but I’m on a roll here! Have you ever seen a quarterback the size of Dante Culpepper? He is 6 feet 5 inches and weighs over 260 pounds. How would you like to try to bring this guy down in the open field? Everyone dissed on the Vikings for letting all of their good quarterbacks go to keep Culpepper. It appears that Coach Dennis Green knew a lot more about it all than the armchair quarterback nation!

Back to the Colts… Several things impress me about them. One is the emergence of Peyton Manning at the quarterback position at such a young age. He is simply brilliant back there and has deserved a better fate in the few games that they have lost the last two seasons. The consistency of their kicking game also is one of their strong suits, especially Mike Vanderjack. He has shown a consistency that takes a lot of pressure off of both the offense and the defense. In fact, the game I saw versus the Vikes, he calmly hit the game winner as time expired. I think he has been one of the unsung heroes of the Colts rise over the last two years. Their defense will tell the story as to how far they will go this season.

(To be continued)

[Jeff Mayfield]


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