Next Man Up, but Who Will Be Left?

After the news of losing Gary Brackett and Melvin Bullitt to the injured reserve list hit me, I got to thinking when will this injury bug stop.  I feel like every year the Colts have to go through this.  Right now they've lost the captains of all three areas of the team, offense (Peyton Manning), defense (Gary Brackett), and special teams (Melvin Bullitt).  In Bullitt's case, you have to feel bad because he got the same injury last year that kept him out about the same time as this year.  You don't want to be a strong safety on the Colts, apparently.  Looking into Brackett's case, I think he is the heart and soul of the defense.  Yes Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis get to the quarterback a lot, but I feel like Brackett was there to clean up missed tackles and get the defense set to make a play.  Losing him is a tough loss, but we'll see how Pat Angerer steps in as the old saying "Next Man Up."  


Looking into the quarterback situation is a tricky one as well.  Kerry Collins got knocked around Sunday night, and possibly had a concussion, so Curtis Painter came in.  Painter did lead a good drive down the field to tie up the ball game, and if he makes that pass to Pierre Garcon possibly leading a couple of good drives.  So maybe, the time is just to give him the ball.  Right now the Colts are sitting at 0-3, with a couple of winnable games in Kansas City and Cincinnati after the Monday night game against Tampa Bay.  Even the game against Tampa Bay could be winnable depending on what Tampa Bay team shows up.  Just another interesting twist to the quarterback story is that the Colts picked up again Dan Orlovsky, I'm guessing just as an insurance for Painter.  I don't imagine that Orlovsky would come in and get the job over Painter.  I think that would really screw with the players of the Colts.  They seem very supportive of Painter, so maybe when Painter gets the start on Monday night, they will all step up.


I know we saw the defense step up Sunday night, and I hope that they will continue to do that in the next one.  Time for the offense to start clicking together.  Time for special teams to do their job, and stop the returner before Pat McAfee is the last line of defense.  Time for the fans here in town to step up and show that we're not just a fairweather fan town, and we support a football team through everything.  The Colts 12th Man is the next man up.