Posts from the Indianapolis Colts Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

On Sunday, MDS pointed out that Canadian national treasure, Mike Vanderjagt, had accepted a full-time job to play professional football in the motherland, and in his very first game honked three field goals. Not to worry, though; Vanderjagt managed to convert two attempts, and also had a fine day punting.

And come to find out, the three misses weren't even his fault. Vanderjagt's Toronto Argonauts coach even says so.

[Rookie head coach Rich] Stubler believes the Argos have done Vanderjagt a disservice by not practising on a field fitted with uprights, an oversight that will be addressed.

"We had two days all of camp where we went some place that had goalposts," Stubler said. "That's a coaching fault and I'll take that."

Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty big oversight. Luckily, the Argonauts appear to be in very capable hands; Stubler not only takes the blame, but the situation will be rectified. That's leadership, people.

I guess the sight of Vanderjagt taking a nap in the stands during every training camp practice didn't seem unusual to Stubler. Of course, this is the same guy who said of Vanderjagt's three misses (two "wide rights", and one "woefully short"): "In the NFL, those kicks are right down the middle", based solely on the fact that the CFL hashmarks are six yards wider than NFL hashmarks.

Made-up laws of physics aside, Bill Parcells vehemently disagrees.

Hat tip: Hashmarks. Naturally.

Former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt was finally back on a football field Saturday after a nearly two-year absence. It took him some time to shake off the rust.

Playing for the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Vanderjagt missed his first three field goals. He did, however, finally straighten out and hit a 49-yarder and a 44-yarder in the game's last four minutes to help the Argos to a 23-16 win.

Vanderjagt also punted for the Argonauts, and he did it well, averaging 48 yards and at one point uncorking a 60-yarder after his protection broke down and he was nearly tackled.

All things considered, it wasn't a disastrous outcome for Vanderjagt, who previously played in the CFL in the 1990. But it also wasn't particularly impressive, and it was a reminder that Vanderjagt, who was once among the NFL's best field goal kickers, will never be that kind of player again.

Hat tip: PFT.

After a long courtship, the Texans signed tweener OLB/DE and former Patriot Rosevelt Colvin to help primarily as a situational pass rusher. Above is a HoustonTexans.com video of Colvin and his agent Kennard McGuire talking about the signing. (Transcript here).

No word on the terms of the agreement yet. And that's sort of a big deal because this is a great signing for the Texans, unless they substantially overpaid for a situational pass rusher who has been in the league 10 years and has a bit of an injury history. Colvin says that he is willing to play whatever position or role the Texans want, and will prepare like an every down player.

If you look at the Texans defense, their best players, DeMeco Ryans and Mario Williams are relatively young. The defense some older players, but none who have truly come close to what Ryans and Williams mean to their team. The only outstanding defensive player who should be in the prime of his career is Dunta Robinson, and he is coming off of a serious injury.

Fifteen years ago, the name Peyton was unusual -- birth certificate data indicates that it wasn't even one of the 500 most popular boys' names in America.

But then a freshman named Peyton Manning enrolled at the University of Tennessee, and things started to change. By 1997 -- Manning's senior football season -- Peyton had become the 51st most popular boys' name in the state of Tennessee. And it didn't stop there.

Good news: Colts sixth-round pick Mike Hart is pleasantly surprised by his NFL experience so far. Bad news: he's still got a lot of work to do to make the team amid a pretty crowded backfield.

"It's a little different," Hart said ... "The only surprise is it's not as tough as I thought it was going to be, as far as practice and those type of things ... It's more laid back."

... "Indianapolis is a different organization. You watch 'Hard Knocks' on HBO and you expect to be hazed and a lot of those things, but the Colts are a lot different. It's not as bad as I thought -- we don't get taped, we don't get hazed with the Colts."

Too bad the Colts didn't draft Erasmus James in 2005. Things might've turned out differently.

Hart, who set the record for most rushing yards by a freshman at Michigan, and left four years later as the school's all-time leading rusher, will be fighting for a roster spot in Indianapolis. Newly (re-)signed Dominic Rhodes and Kenton Keith will battle for the backup/change-of-pace job behind Joseph Addai. If Hart shows well in the coming weeks and months, he could also be in the mix.

The easiest way for low-round picks to make the club in on special teams, and given the Colts have one of the worst units in the league, it might not take much for Hart to sneak onto the final 53.

NFL teams love sigining discarded players from division rivals, if for no other reason than to pick their brains -- which ends up being all they ever do with those players most of the time. After all, there's a reason those players were dscarded in the first place. Still, insight into an opponent's playbook is always valuable, so NFL teams will keep looking for free agents who have that.

This is the primary reason why former Indianapolis Colts receiver Craphonso Thorpe (Craphonso!) signed a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend. The Jags probably aren't all that interested in him as a receiver, even if he probably could play better than Matt Jones. They just want to know a little more about the inner workings of the Colts' pass-heavy offense, and who better to tell them about it than a former Colt receiver?

I suspect there's a pretty slim chance that Thorpe will make the final cut. This particular story seems more likely to end with either a practice squad offer or a nice big "injury settlement check" that will leave other teams free to give him a shot. Still, if Craphonso! can help the Jags can get a leg up on their AFC South rivals, it's worth a shot, right?

Mike Vanderjagt, the ex-Indianapolis Colt whom Peyton Manning famously referred to as "our idiot kicker," has signed a free-agent contract with the Toronto Argonauts.

And just as Vanderjagt was among the NFL's least popular players, he's already got a nemesis up in Canada: The kicker he's supplanting, Noel Prefontaine, who tells the Toronto Star:

"It hurts, really," he said. "I made my life here in Toronto. I wanted to retire as an Argo. This disrupts a lot with my family."

Vanderjagt was once among the NFL's most accurate field goal kickers, but he has a weak leg for kickoffs and hasn't played anywhere in 18 months. I'd like to give the Argos' front office the benefit of the doubt and assume they know what they're doing in bringing him back to the CFL, but I wouldn't be surprised if Prefontaine has a better season than Vanderjagt.

I suppose it's a fair question given that Marvin Harrison is 35 years old, missed much of last season with a knee injury, and perhaps most important, the Colts offense chugged right along in his absence. But Indianapolis fans -- and Marvin -- probably still don't want to hear it: has Harrison become irrelevant?

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Ashley Fox asks that in today's column. So how much does Harrison have left? Well, he missed minicamp earlier this month as he continued to rehab the knee, and Reggie Wayne, the Colts No. 2 receiver, is the obvious choice to replace him.

"I guess I'm Marv now," Reggie Wayne said last weekend.

If Wayne, the Indianapolis Colts' eighth-year wide receiver, who had his best season in 2007, is now "Marv," where then does that leave Marvin Harrison, the 35-year-old Philadelphia native with more than 1,000 catches in 12 seasons? On the downhill arc of his career? As the "other option" in the Colts' offensive arsenal? One more tweak away from becoming Mr. Irrelevant? A successful rehabilitation away from regaining his status as The Man?

And then there the off-field issues confronting Harrison. Assuming he's healthy by the start of the season, is there any reason to think he'll be close to his 2006 form? And if not, what does his role become? No. 2 behind Wayne? The third option after Gonzalez?

Whatever happens, two things are almost certain: the Colts offense will continue to regularly hang 35 points on the scoreboard, and Harrison, five years after he retires, will likely be giving his Hall of Fame induction speech.

In another clear sign that the league wants the Colts and Peyton Manning to win multiple championships, NFL owners awarded Indianapolis the 2012 Super Bowl. I might be embellishing a bit, especially since Manning will be 35 when the big show comes to Naptown (although no doubt still playing, and playing well), and the Colts lost out to the Cowboys for the right to host the game last season.

With less competition and a shiny new stadium, Indianapolis was selected over Houston and Arizona, two cities that have hosted Super Bowls in the past four years. And while owner Jim Irsay is understandably thrilled about the news, the city of Indianapolis is the big winner:

Mayor Greg Ballard said the experiences of past host cities suggests that Indianapolis can expect 100,000 visitors and an infusion of about $120 million into the local economy.

"This was truly a community bid. It began with a process of involving anyone interested in being a part of it, and ended with our 8th grade ambassadors flying all over the country to hand-deliver our final bid package."

Added bonus: Indy in February. It'll be just like Detroit but without access to the Canadian strip clubs.

The guy you see on the right wearing the No. 33 Colts jersey is Melvin Bullitt, a defensive back entering his second season after making the team as an undrafted rookie in 2007.

Handing Bullitt No. 33 last year was an afterthought -- at the time he got it, the coaches didn't even expect him to make the roster, meaning they thought no one would wear 33 all year. But the jersey number was somewhat significant because for the previous six years, it belonged to running back Dominic Rhodes.

Now Rhodes is back with the Colts, and he wants his jersey number back. He's currently wearing No. 38, while Bullitt keeps 33, but Rhodes hopes a financial arrangement could be worked out that would allow them to trade jerseys.