I was speed reading through an article early today about the needs of the various teams in the NFL. I found the headline for the Colts a little on the obvious side--a transition from the Peyton Manning Era.

With or without him, that is exactly what the team is going to have to do next season. What I did not envision at first was that the Peyton Manning Era would not just include the famed QB, but quite possibly many of the key players still on the roster.

I have been hearing that Peyton's only center, Jeff Saturday, might be calling it quits; Ryan Diem too. There has been talk that the team might do away with Reggie Wayne, Gary Brackett, and even Dallas Clark, but want to keep Robert Mathis and Pierre Garcon.

I'm with you on Mathis; he and Dwight Freeney are easily among the top three defensive front duos in the league. Garcon? He's young and has break-away potential, but he's also lazy and prone to dropping balls. If Austin Collie didn't have all the concussion issues last season I'd say the team should worry more about him then Garcon.

I digress....after reading how QB is the biggest concern immediately thought that a few other concerns were not too far off. The line will need to be even better than it was during Manning's day in order to give a rookie QB the protection he'll need to learn the pro game without getting killed. I firmly believe that the Colts did not win more Super Bowls with Manning because their running game always sucked; for that we need guys that can run block as well as a better runner than either guy we have right now.

That's not the end of the Colts concerns though.

The secondary was atrocious last season. A guy in my fantasy league picked up the QB of whomever the Colts were playing (if available meaning he got what would normally be a scrub for fantasy football purposes) and each time he did he outscored his regular starter easily. Those guys were just plain bad. Now hopefully Melvin Bullitt will be good to go next season, but that still leaves us short a pair of cover corners.

So in summary, we need a QB, an offensive line, running back, and a secondary; and if the team dumps Reggie Wayne a legitimate No 1 receiver as well (Garcon is not a No 1).

Umm...good luck Grigson. You got your work cut out for you.

I'm typically not one to explain things away by saying that it was fate, destiny, or some other kind of crap like that. I think that a man (or men as in the case of a team like the Colts) makes his own destiny. However, with the news of the latest blow to the Colts starting line up I might be convinced otherwise.

The news broke today that the defense will be without hard-hitting safety Melvin Bullitt for the rest of the season making it seem even more as if the team is destined to suck this year (and get the chance to draft Luck, Landry, or another top QB in the draft).

Can you believe that crap? The team finally looks decent (at least the defense did) last Sunday night, giving hope to the loyal that maybe this season will not be a wash after all. Then this happens. We might as well bench Gary Brackett (UPDATE: Now Bracket is on the IR as well?!??!?Aargh!!!) and tie Dwight Freeney's legs together! To keep it interesting we'll let Robert Mathis and Pat Angerer (still love that name) run free, but two guys can only do so much.

Should the defense be able to handle the loss of Bullitt, there could be hope for these guys. I'm not silly enough to think these guys have a good shot at the Super Bowl or even the playoffs, but they could make it interesting.

While watching the guys kick butt and take names for the last decade, I'm actually looking forward to this season, and not because I want to see the guys lose (so they can get Luck). Now they actually have to play football. While they still have a bevy of talented players, they are missing the key.

Now the key is not always the quarterback, but it is a player that is going to be the go to guy; someone who the fans and rest of the team can look to for late game heroics when the rest of the group can't get the job done. For the Ravens, it's been Ray Lewis; Chicago has Brian Urlacher; Detroit had Barry Sanders; Dallas (in the 90s), Emmitt Smith.

Without Peyton, the Colts don't have someone with that 'It' factor. Now they have to look to the defensive line to wreak havoc on the running game and harass the quarterback; the linebackers to make plays; Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clary, and Joseph Addai to get yards by any means necessary; the offensive line to protect whoever lines up at QB.

Everyone has to do their respective job.

In short, the Indianapolis Colts have to play like a team.

It is tough enough for the Colts already. They got an offensive line that is trying to gel, a quarterback that has not been with the team a month--and is starting, and the expectation of impending doom from any and all analysts due to the absence of one person (as if the other 52 on the roster don't have anything to do with the success of the team).

When they need their defense to play even better than normal in order to give the offense more time to work out the kinks the D may not be able to hold up their end of the bargain.

They are going to likely be missing two of their top players on Sunday, linebackers Gary Brackett and Ernie Sims.

"Well, I can tell you when I said those two guys are out, unless some miracle occurs, OK?" head coach Jim Caldwell told reporters Wednesday.

What a lot of people don't realize is that defenses are often constructed to make the linebackers absolute studs. Whatever the defensive alignment is, the general task of the linemen is to keep blockers off the linebackers essentially freeing up the linebackers to make plays.

Now how this happens teams are not too picky about, and of course, if the linemen end up being awesome enough to make the plays without the linebackers--great! Typically though, when you have good defensive linemen than the offense will key on making sure they are blocked first whether it is through a double team or by design.

When offenses have to double team the linemen (see Dwight Freeney on any given Sunday), the linebackers will often have just one person to beat (if anyone) to make the play.

With second-string backers in the game, the blocking schemes will be a little simpler for the Browns now. If that translates into more offense for the Browns and less time for Kerry Collins and crew on the field, well--do I need to say that's bad?

Oh boy. Just remember Colts fans--that which does not kill you, only makes you stronger.