Tony Ugoh cut!

killxswitch · 09-08-2010, 08:22 PM

Man, is this Polian's biggest whiff or what!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5548009

He's being replaced by a guy who never played in college and was dropped from Miami's practice squad. He is 6'7 and 320 lbs.

CJSchneider · 09-08-2010, 08:28 PM

Is he honestly that poor of a run blocker?

RagingColt · 09-08-2010, 11:33 PM

Polian blames the O-Line for poor play in the Super Bowl. Polian then signs a bunch of unkowns in the offseason in addition to cutting Lilja, our best guard by far. The unknowns such as Terry and a KC Chief reject, shockingly don't make the 53 man roster. Polian doesn't draft a player for the O-line until round 5 in this year's draft if my memory is worth a hoot. Possible starting level left tackles are available at the end of the 1st round and into the beginning of the 2nd. Among these are players from Indiana and USC. Polian passes on all of them. Jump forward to preseason and Ugoh is moved to guard. We had heard in the offseason through numerous reports on Colts.com and Indystar that the light was on with Ugoh. Due to injuries, he is then shuffled back to LT. In the 3rd preseason game, he is hurt suffering a 'toe' injury. After final cuts this preseason, our 2nd round draft pick which Polian gave up our #1 for, is abruptly cut after Charlie Johnson practices for the first time in a month.

The Colts could have addressed the O-Line far better. Charlie Johnson is fine as a stop gap but is in the lower 3rd of starting LT in the NFL. If Polian and the colts were so worried about the O-line sucking, why wasn't it addressed in the top 4 rounds of the draft.

Ugoh pick=Epic Fail! Peyton more than makes up for our relatively weak line by getting rid of the ball as quick as any other QB in the NFL, but our lack of running game and run blocking the last two years has come back to bite us in the ass. See the Mike Hart carry on 3rd down at the end of the 2nd Q in the SB. The Colts as an organization need to dramatically reassess how they grade and choose O-Lineman from hear on out. They seem to be flunking at the moment. I don't want to see the last 4/5 years of Manning's career and SB prospects be squandered cause of shoddy run blocking and poor management in the front office.

MidwayMonster31 · 09-08-2010, 11:51 PM

A rare miss for the Colts. The Hughes pick this year made some sense, but I'm surprised that they have been trying to patch up the line with late round/ undrafted players when they have had plenty of chances to pick linemen.

LonghornsLegend · 09-09-2010, 12:00 AM

Wow. Funny thing is when you have Peyton and as fast as he releases the ball and with his awareness he can make it work with most guys, but this may be why their run blocking has been suffering lately. Hard to cover up below average lineman in that regards.

They have opted to go in different directions lately in the draft when there have been some pretty decent options there in the draft. Charles Brown was a very good pass blocker that probably would be their starter now.

Flyboy · 09-09-2010, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LonghornsLegend

Charles Brown was a very good pass blocker that probably would be their starter now.

We'll gladly take a potential franchise LT, thank you very much!

LonghornsLegend · 09-09-2010, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy

We'll gladly take a potential franchise LT, thank you very much!

Wonder why the Colts didn't have any interest in making an offer for Jamaal Brown, or McNiel for that matter. I guess they are fine with taking Peyton for granted in how well he moves around back there.

MaxV · 09-09-2010, 07:27 AM

Polian was asked why he decided not to pick any OTs in last draft.

He stated that there was a big drop-off in talent for that position after the players that were picked before Colts were on the clock.

This sucks. We have such a talented team, on both sides of the ball. It'll really disappointing if O-Line drags us down.

Saints-Tigers · 09-09-2010, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LonghornsLegend

Wow. Funny thing is when you have Peyton and as fast as he releases the ball and with his awareness he can make it work with most guys, but this may be why their run blocking has been suffering lately. Hard to cover up below average lineman in that regards.

They have opted to go in different directions lately in the draft when there have been some pretty decent options there in the draft. Charles Brown was a very good pass blocker that probably would be their starter now.

It's absolutely the reason they can't run the ball. The Saints had the same problem, and no one realized how bad our O-line played for a few years because Brees wasn't getting sacked.

After our O-line grew together and matured as players, boom, top 6 running game.

Charles Brown seems like too big of a project for the Colts, they tend to like guys that will come right in.

killxswitch · 09-09-2010, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

Is he honestly that poor of a run blocker?

Actually run blocking is one of the things he does fairly well, especially if he is supposed to get to the 2nd level and clear the way. He is not a good pass blocker at all and his effort level has dropped each season. This year in preseason he was getting pushed into Manning by 3rd string DEs regularly. He has all the tools but the big scouting knock on him was that he didn't seem like he liked football that much. He has no heart.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saints-Tigers

Charles Brown seems like too big of a project for the Colts, they tend to like guys that will come right in.

Haha, not really. Brown would probably be our best lineman by now. Polian is just not a very good OL talent evaluator.