I'll admit. When I read that the Colts had brought in Kerry Collins I thought, "Thank God!" After watching the Colts/Packers game Friday night the optimist in me thinks there might be hope for Curtis Painter just yet.

True, in the first quarter it was more of the same. The offense was not pretty and to call Painter's performance ugly would be a compliment. Then came the second quarter.

The man looked sharp. By sharp, I'm not talking about his hair being parted real pretty-like on the sideline. Some of those passes were dead-on, and in some pretty tight spots too. It was amazing considering how he looked more like a nervous high school quarterback playing in his first junior varsity scrimmage in the first quarter. Had I not seen it, I would not have believed it, but the man played pretty good.

Overall he was 11-21 for 171 yards and two touchdowns (no interceptions) and led the Colts to a 14-10 halftime lead. We all know how little the preseason means in the broad scheme of things, but to be up after playing so bad the last couple games sure had to be nice.

Of course it would have been nice to stay up and actually win, but it just wasn't in the cards for the Colts Friday night. Dan Orlovsky was not too successful with the offense in the second half. Luckily, neither was Matt Flynn or Graham Harrell, the Packers back-ups, for the most part. The sun shined on Harrell at the end of the game and he was able to pull out a miracle in the final seconds to win 24-21.

With it being preseason though, we all know that score does not matter. What does matter is what the team found out in the second quarter when Curtis Painter was 10-16 for 164 yards and two touchdowns.

There might be a decent quarterback not named Peyton Manning after all.