Word on the virtual street is that the Indianapolis Colts are practicing as if Purdue product Curtis Painter will be the team's starting QB when the Colts head to Tampa Bay for Monday Night Football this week.

"There's no other way to do it. I had this old adage when I started coaching that you've got to coach who shows up. Today, Curtis is practicing and Kerry is not, so obviously, we have to get him (Curtis) ready for the ball game," Caldwell said on Thursday.

I might be one of the few, but I am not sweating this change. I feel some for Kerry Collins; apparently he is still feeling some of the concussion like symptoms that got him pulled. It can't be easy to keep playing this game like he has, but I give him credit for trying. Hopefully he didn't come out of retirement only to get the injury he was trying to avoid by retiring.

Anyway...I am looking forward to seeing what Painter can do. The man can play. As a sophomore he set the Big Ten single season passing record, beating out Drew Brees's (who was not too good when he came out of college) record by two yards (3985). He averaged just under 285 yards a game, good enough for seventh in the nation.

In his junior year he improved his average to a shade under 300 yards a game. He led his team to the 2007 Motor City Bowl, and set a school record with 540 yards through the air.

His senior year wasn't so pretty. He lost a few weapons making his job a lot tougher. An injured shoulder didn't help much either. In the end, he still threw for over 11,000 during his time at Purdue with 67 TDs and 46 INTs.

In case you were not sure--that is pretty damn good.

Now I know that he has not looked very good in the limited action he has seen since getting drafted in 2009. In all fairness, you have to remember that since the team had Peyton, he likely practiced little if at all with the Colts offense. They did not see the need for him to do so.

Anyone would look like crap without practice. If memory serves, even Peyton didn't look too sharp when he missed all of training camp last year.

I've said this before, but I was real encouraged with the way he played in his last preseason game; after a poor first quarter, he looked strong in the second. Last week, after looking like he belonged in a high school pick up game, he responded like a solid professional QB should and drove the team down the field to tie up the game.

I would be willing to bet that he had gotten few to no reps since the aforementioned preseason game. After getting all the first team snaps this week, he could look sharp...

Or he could suck.

I guess we'll find out on Monday after Hank Williams Jr. ask the question that we all love to answer.