If there is one thing that frustrates a football fan more than a losing team it is not being able to watch his team lose in the comfort of his own home so he can bad mouth them in peace with his friends or by himself wearing boxers and an old t-shirt. With the way things are going, the Indianapolis Colts might be robbing there fans of that option.

The NFL finally appears to be getting a clue. Going to games is expensive. Tickets are costly, parking isn't cheap, a single beer cost as much as  six-pack and you can get eight hot dogs and ten bus for the price of one at a game. It has simply become too expensive to go to a live game.

Even though you don't have the money to throw away at Lucas Stadium, it doesn't mean you dont want to watch and support the team. The NFL had eased the blackout restrictions on teams that may not sell enough tickets, but it appears to have been a choice teams could take. The Colts opted not to take it.

I understand that, but at the same time what he needs to be thinking is how to keep the fan base happy. The team once had a legendary waiting list for season tickets. That list has now been exhausted and there are still 2000 tickets left. That's not good.

People want to shell out the money not just for their team, but for games they think their team are at least going to be competitive in. Last season they were rarely competitive in any of them. I knew guys that won free tickets at work and still felt like they were robbed. 

The Colts may want to think twice about this before the fan base just revolts and starts backing the Cleveland Browns or Cincinnati Bengals or something. Than again, maybe that is part of Jim Irsay's master plan. Alienate the fan base and then move to L.A. in the middle of the night...

Well, I am sure a lot of you were like me yesterday. You thought there was no way in heck that the Colts would lose to the Cleveland Browns, Peyton or no Peyton. Sigh--sure enough they did.

I could spend this post going over a lot of the things that went wrong for the team; there were plenty. That goes without saying. However, like I've said in past posts, I am not going to take the easy way out and just bash the team to death. To me that is pointless, classless, and not all that interesting.

No matter what aspect of the game you want to look at--blocking/offense in general; stopping the run--they are all problems that the Colts have had for years, but in some way, shape or form have been able to cover for them by simply outscoring the other team or counting on the heroics of a certain QB.

What the game showed me yesterday was not that Kerry Collins is not the man for the Colts or that the offense of line is poor or that the defense is like a sieve when it comes to the running game. It showed me that the Colts have not been prepared for something that is a given when it comes to a contact sport like football.

Injuries.

We lose Peyton Manning and the offense goes to crap. It's not Kerry Collins's fault. I will defend that guy to the end. I think he is a solid QB that has been put in an impossible situation. If he at least had a similar style to Peyton's things might be going better, but he doesn't. It's not his fault; he is who he is.

The defense has never been stellar against the run. The defensive linemen are built to rush the quarterback, not protect against the run. While their speed is helpful against the running game, the advantage definitely lies with the offensive line.

That leaves the linebackers to step up and make plays in the running game, but since the team was without two of three starters that was kind of hard yesterday.

The success of the team has been contingent on the health of one man for so long. Yes, I know one man does not make the team, but he can be the key that puts it all together. Without an offense that has a legitimate chance to score every time it gets its hands on the ball, the deficiencies in the defense are exposed. The team can no longer count on slowing down opposing offenses and having its offense simply score more.

Whether it is the defense or the offense,  it all comes down to the team being thin. The first string was great, but the second string not so much. Now the Colts are being forced to use a lot of those second string guys. As could be expected--they are getting second string results.

On a brighter note, the offense is getting there. The guys did improve yesterday. It took them the better part of the game in Week One to show signs of life. Against the Browns they were able to get some offense going, just not enough to get in the end zone.

Hopefully, with more practice they will continue to improve. We have all seen teams go o crazy winning streaks after slow starts. Barring no more injuries and continued improvement, the Colts could still do just that.

You just gotta believe.

Regardless of who lines up at quarterback on Sunday, there is one thing that fans can rest assured of--the Indianapolis Colts will not lose to the Cleveland Browns.

Were Peyton playing this would be a game that I would set the DVR for and watch while feeding the kids Monday morning. It would have been boring. Peyton would have picked the Cleveland D a part and got the team out to a big enough lead in the first half that they would simply coast the rest of the way.

But Peyton isn't playing; we got Kerry Collins instead. Dwight Freeney could line up at QB for the Colts and still get the win though.

The Browns are the NFL's equivalent of the Have-Nots. They simply do not have enough pieces on the field on either side of the ball to be competitive on a regular basis. Guys like Colt McCoy and Peyton Hillis will keep the game interesting, but they will not be enough against the Colts D.

I am aware that the Colt defense will be short two out of three starting linebackers. Between that fact and the fact that Collins is only now closing in one being with the team for a month I think this could actually be a pretty good contest.

The missing pieces on defense will give the Browns what they need to put a few first downs together and possibly score. There are still enough play makers on the Colts D for them to be fine. However, they are going to vulnerable inside the box, and when your running back is of the fullback variety that is exactly where they are going to go.

For the Browns to be successful, they need the offense to control the ball. Success for the Colts will require Kerry Collins and the offense get as many opportunities as possible. They showed last week that they will get better in time. After another week of practice, they should not take nearly as long to get started as they did against the Houston Texans.

It goes without saying that the special teams units will have to keep the Browns from making any big plays.

This game will be close. The Browns are an up and coming team that still has a way to go. The Colts are a collection of talented veterans in need of an identity. They'll take a step closer to finding it after defeating the Browns.

This one only comes as a shocker if you live in a cave, got lost in the desert, or live in one of those rare places in the world that does not have internet access (there is a crazy rumor that at least one exists somewhere).

Without Peyton Manning behind center the line went from even to the Colts becoming a 9-point underdog. It was pretty easy to see why once the game began too.

What most folks fail to realize is that Kerry Collins is not the only one that has had to learn a new system in a short amount of time. Every one on the offense has had to relearn their job to a degree.

With Peyton at the helm, the Colts are accustomed to running the offense in a certain way. He essentially called the game on the field, making adjustments at the line with the same ease most people change the channel off of the Real Wives of Whatever once their girlfriend/wife leaves the room.

Kerry can't do that; at least not yet.

The timing of the entire group has been thrown completely out of whack, and in the first half it was pretty obvious. I don't want to bash the boys because I think they were put in a pretty impossible situation.

However...

They didn't look too bad in the second half. Collins appeared to start getting a little bit of a rhythm going. He had to get some; how else could Reggie Wayne clear 100 yards on the night (on seven catches) and score a touchdown?

Naysayers are going to say that it is because the Texans were reduced to using their third string back and continued to do so even when he made a few mistakes. Some of those mistakes would not have meant anything or even happened were it not for the opportunistic Colts defense.

Starting the season with what was going to be a tough game had Manning played, but without him was, well--it just sucked. On a brighter note, the offense began to look like something that doesn't stink in the second half. Another week of practice will do these guys wonders. 

Having an easier opponent in the Cleveland Browns next week doesn't hurt either.

Anyone know what Carson Palmer is up to?