Painter makes his debut, Colts fall to 0-4

After watching yet another tight game lost by the Colts' inability to stop the other team's offense late in the game, I have to say I'm not feeling horrible about the prospect of finishing the year with Painter as the QB. Is he going to win many games for us? Probably not. Is there a chance he'll be the eventual heir to Peyton's throne? Not a chance. But, given his relative inexperience, I thought he did an okay job last night. He didn't make the glaring mistake (although Tampa helped by dropping a couple of sure INT's) and seemed to audible pretty well at the line. That was encouraging.

The injuries to the offensive line will prove to be the bigger detriment to the remainder of the season, not Painter. If they don't get healthy across the front line, it's not going to matter who is playing QB, it's going to be ugly (uglier).

The defense, late game falters notwithstanding, has played pretty well, considering the fact that they're missing their starting ILB (Angerer is a beast, though) and starting safety. Eric Foster's gruesome ankle injury and injuries to defensive linemen Fili Moala and Drake Nevis only mean a further softening of the middle of the defense. This defense would be much better if Peyton was scoring points and putting pressure on the other team's offense to score. But, he's not.

So, we're left with Painter grinding out games and hoping the defense can help him hang around long enough to finally pull off a win. Perhaps next week's game at home against the lowly Chiefs will be their first win of the season.

Another close loss, though, will only keep them on track to have the #1 pick next year and the chance to get the REAL heir to Peyton's throne through the draft. I'm okay with that.