Normally, I put announcements like this in a FanShot. But for this, I wanted to make an exception. Robert Mathis is AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his 2 sack, fumble return for a TD performance against the Browns last week. This season, Robert Mathis has been playing out of his mind. Remember, the plan for Mathis this season was for him not to start. Robert has only started 2 games at DE, but he has played a ton of snaps and made the most of his opportunity. He looks healthy, rested, and ready to destroy people.

Oh, and Robert Mathis better make the flippin' Pro Bowl this year. He should have been there last year, but this year he already has 42 tackles, 9 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovered for a TD. He could post career numbers this year, and if some dude like Aaron Scobel or Kyle Vanden Bosch gets a Pro Bowl nod over Robert, I might lose it and eat someone's kid.

Robert Mathis is totally THE man. He will also have a few drinks with you down in Broadripple, if you are lucky. Robert is now #2 on the Colts all-time sack list, behind Dwight Freeney. Mathis and Freeney are the best DE tandem in football. Still my favorite quotes from Robert Mathis:

KingRichard: I just wanted to come over and say we appreciate what you do and wanted to say good luck next year!

Robert Mathis: Thanks a lot homie, we appreciate you guys too.

...much later, and several drinks later...

yellowsnow: Sack Tom Brady!

Robert Mathis: Already did. Twice!

Again, the man.

Greetings Bengals fans from your friends just up I-74. This Sunday, our teams will meet again. This is the third meeting in four years between the Colts and Bengals. Back in 2005, the game was a very entertaining shoot out between both offenses. I'll admit that I have always been a fan of Carson Palmer. When he is healthy, he is right behind Peyton and Brady. He is better than Brees, Eli, McNabb, and Roethlisberger. Losing him for much of the season really hurt Cincy's chances. QBs going down has been the theme all year for the NFL. Tom Brady, Carson, Vince Young, etc.

I'm here to answer any questions you might have about the Colts. I actually think this will be a tough game because... well, I don't subscribe to this notion that team are supposed to team someone else. Any team can beat anyone, anywhere, anytime in this NFL. The Bengals still have good players like Peko and TJ. If you want to know more about the Colts, ask away. I'm here to answer.

A good FanPost on this popped up recently, and I'd like to highlight some things that will, likely, get mentioned in light of Plaxico Burress shooting himself out of football, essentially. Unless you've lived under a rock, you know Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself this past weekend at a NY nightclub. He then tried to hide the injury, the weapon, and his real name when he eventually checked into a hospital. NYPD charged Burress with possession of an unlicensed firearm. The next day, the Giants suspended him and placed him on the inactive roster.

He will not play again in 2008, and his career with the Giants is over.

Make no mistake, this is a career-threatening f@&k up. No team will ever give Plaxico Burress the kind of money he just signed for with the Giants. In fact, several teams will indeed pass on him because they simply do not want to deal with yet another dumbass headcase. Earlier this year, Burress was on top of the world, having scored the game winning TD in the Super Bowl to help beat the then-undefeated Patriots. Now, he is garbage.

So, the eventual question many will ask is How is Plax's incident any different from what happened to Marvin Harrison? Well, here are the answers:

• Plaxico Burress discharged an unlicensed handgun in a close, public space. Marvin Harrison didn't shoot anyone. He didn't fire a gun at any one person, according to police.
• Plaxico Burress tried to hide the fact that he'd done something wrong. Marvin Harrison cooperated fully with police and local Philly DA's office.
• Plaxico Burress was charged with a crime. Marvin Harrison was never charged. He wasn't even a suspect. 
• Plaxico Burress' gun was unlicensed. The gun owned by Marvin Harrison that was used to shoot at a felon causing trouble at Marvin's bar was licensed and legal.
• And, most importantly, Plaxico Burress is a complete moron, stupid enough to actually SHOOT HIMSELF IN A PUBLIC SPACE the day after Thanksgiving. Marvin Harrison is one of the greatest WRs ever to play the game of football, and he is certainly not stupid enough to shoot himself in public and then try to lie about it.

There. Hope that clarifies things for everyone. So, if some schmuck (like, perhaps, the ignorant person known to the sports world as Sal Paolantonio) starts trying to make comparisons between these two incidents, we bloggers and Colts fans will kindly throw the facts right back in Sal Pal's cheese steak-looking face.

Side note: The Giants are finally rid of the three dumb schmucks that held them down for years: Tiki Barber, Jeremy Shockey, and Plaxico Burress. All three had worlds of talent. All three were Grade A douchebags. Character over talent will win you football games. We see example of this time and time again, yet teams still shower idiots like Burress and Shockey with loads of cash. NFL owners really are THAT dumb, folks. The Giants are a better team without Burress, and it is obvious. Stable, consistent players like Hixon, Smith, Boss, and Toomer will step up for Eli and the Giants will not miss a beat.

Rufus Alexander was signed today, and Rufus is a player we at Stampede Blue know some things about. In 2007, just prior to the draft, Rufus was a player the Colts (and us bloggers) had an eye on. In my mock draft that year, I had Indy taking Rufus in Round 4. Here is what I wrote about Rufus back in April 2007:

Rufus Alexander is a versatile LBer tat can play SAM and WILL. He's fast and covers well. He also seems to never get hurt.

Rufus went undrafted was drafted by the Vikings in 2007, and he has spent two years on their practice squad. Rufus is a big backer at 6'1, 232 pounds, but he is good in Cover 2.

Though signing Rufus is a good move, this does not bode well for Gary Brackett. More news as we get it.

UPDATE: Back in February 2007, Rufus stated he wanted to be drafted by the Colts. Almost two years later, he signs with them. From the article, printed prior to the NFL Combine:

“I’ve got a great motor, great instincts. I play with a lot of emotion and enthusiasm. I’m just a competitor.”

Rufus Alexander at Oklahoma

The Colts are awaiting the news on Gary Brackett's x-rays to his ankle. The positive is it is not his knee. The negative is x-rays to an ankle could suggest a break or a severe sprain. One thing is certain about Brackett: He will not play against the Bengals this Sunday. Replacing him at MLB is Freddie Keiaho. Sliding over to replace Keiaho at WILL is Clinton Session and jumping in to replace Session is Tyjuan Hagler. That is a pretty good group of LBers, and if Brackett is out for a few weeks, they should hold the fort nicely. Backing up Keiaho are Philip Wheeler and Buster Davis.

The other injury of note is to DT Keyunta Dawson. He has a pulled hamstring and is likely out a few weeks. Dawson, an under-sized DT at 260 pounds, has played the under tackle spot most of the season. For an under-sized kid, he has played extremely well. But, with Dawson on the mend, look for the Colts to FINALLY activate DT Daniel Muir and actually PLAY him. Why the Colts have deactivated a quality DT for 10 of 12 weeks when the DT position is THE weakest position on the team right now, I have no clue. But, the positive is Antonio Johnson is starting to develop into a good NT for this team. He had 6 tackles against the Browns, and he has done a fine job helping the Colts stop the run. Since Johnson started playing, the Colts have surrendered a respectable 113 yards a game on the ground. Many of those games have been without Bob Sanders. Prior to Antonio Johnson playing, the Colts surrendered 143 yards rushing on the ground.

Speaking of Bob, it seems "The Chuck Norris of the NFL" is slated to return this week against the Bengals. As always, the key to Bob coming back is him playing well and staying on the field week, after week, after week. If Bob plays, that is a big boost to the entire defense, especially with Brackett is out.

The Shakedown League just posted their update, and like them the 2008 FFL playoff field is set. And the team seedings went right down to the wire. Going into the final game, nine teams were fighting for six playoffs spots. Without question, the toughest division was the Peyton Division. Each team had at least 6 wins, and all four had a shot to win the division or get to the playoffs going into this week.

The #1 seed in the playoffs is mgrex30's Statistical Anomaly team. Take one look at mgrex30's roster and you have to ask yourself How the hell did this guy win 10 FFL games with THIS team? I mean, Darren McFadden, Dwayne Bowe, and Shaun friggin' Hill? But, this is why mgrex30 is the stats guru here, and he has clearly played the right people at the right time all thus far. The #2 seed is metal militia's Speed Blue Militia team, which had clearly ridden the Eli Manning and Deangelo Williams bandwagon all season long. Williams gave Speed Blue Militia 32 points this week. Both mgrex30 and metal militia have byes this week.

The winner of the cometitive Peyton Division was MasterRWayne and his LincolnBrigade team. To give you an idea of just how good this division was, the division leader coming into this week did not make the playoffs. Also, every single team in that division scored more than 1,240 points. Impressive.

The wildcard spots went to KingRichard's King's Colts (who had the second best record in the whole league, but just happened to play in the same division as mgrex30's 10 win team), yellowsnow's Blue Ballad (who closed the regular season winning 4 in a row), and... ME! That's right! I'm back from the dead, baby! Coming into the last game of the regular season, even though I had scored the most points of anyone in our league (1,376) I was on the outside looking in. But, I managed to win despite Peyton Manning giving me a whopping 2 points. My win coupled with a few loses by teams in the Peyton Division got me in the playoffs.

So, without further ado, here are the playoff games scheduled for this week:

You will notice that there are consolation games for the teams that did not make the playoffs. Yes, these games mean something as there will be a prize for the winner of the consolation bracket. I can't tell you what it is yet, but it is something. For the playoffs, my reward for sneaking into the playoffs is to play MasterRWayne while KingRichard and yellowsnow battle it out in their game.

I must say, this has been one of the more enjoyable FFL's I've ever played in. Thank you to everyone who has participated. Now, it is playoff time, baby!

Last week, we took some shots at our favorite punching bang from SI (Peter King) for his laughable notes on the 2008 MVP race. This week, it seems Peter King has had a bit of a revelation. Maybe he read something here and it sparked a thought in that coffee-stimulated brain of his. Or, maybe someone just dropped a rock on his head just to shake out the cobwebs. Whatever happened, Peter King is finally starting to make some sense:

I think Kurt Warner is rapidly playing himself out of all those nice things -- like a third MVP, like a winning January -- he'd played himself into through the first 10 games of the year. At some point, an MVP has to win a game he shouldn't win. Warner hasn't had one of those yet this year, and though he's played very well overall in engineering the Cards' 7-5 record, he's been downright bad in big games on the road, including throwing interceptions to end the first two drives at Philadelphia Thursday night.

Welcome to the world of the living, Peter! We've been saying for weeks how the Warner for MVP bandwagon was a silly mockery of what the MVP is all about. MVPs come up big in big games against tough teams, especially on the road. Last year's MVP, Tom Brady, won a tough games on the road in Indy and NY. Warner, meanwhile, has nearly made the turnover look like an art form when he plays quality opponents on the road. Again, Warner's resurrgence is a great story, and Arizona fans have every right to root for him. But after Thursday's meltdown, Warner is now officially gone from the MVP radar. Like Washington's Clinton Portis (who was the mid-season favorite before his team started to suck), Warner just hasn't done enough to prove he is the best player in the NFL.

The same is true for Saints QB Drew Brees. Brees was another reason why the Warner for MVP talk was silly. Brees is clearly a better QB than Warner. Yet, with their loss to the Bucs yesterday, Bress knocked himself out of the MVP discussion. His team, likely, will not make the playoffs and no legit MVP-candidate sits home in January. This doesn't take anything away from Brees and what he has accomplished in New Orleans. Without a defense and the continued suckiness of non-running back Reggie Bush, Brees has managed to will New Orleans to respectability seemingly by himself. Brees is a helluva player; a top 5 QB now. He doesn't need an MVP to prove that.

So, with Warner, Brees, and Portis now out of the picture, the MVP race is pretty much a one man race now. Boring, I know. But it is accurate. Hell, it is so obvious, even Peter King gets it now:

MVP Race

1. Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis. OK. You give me an MVP after the debacle weekend of so many candidates. Manning ascends to the top by default, despite engineering zero touchdown drives for only the fifth time in a 10-year NFL career. This is a seasonal award, obviously, because of the Colts being 8-4 and Manning being most responsible.

As we have said for some time, Peyton Manning is the 2008 MVP. No debate. No argument. If you disagree you are wrong and you can go sit in the corner, facing the wall. When known blockheads like Bill Simmons and Peter King finally get it, you know it is so obvious it might as well have flames and sparklers shooting from it.

Now, in typical WTF! fashion, Peter King lists Falcons rookie QB Matt Ryan as the #2 MVP candidate. Look, Matt Ryan is a very good rookie QB, but if he is a legit MVP candidate, I'm no longer watching NFL football and dedicating my blogging Sundays to the PBA Tour. Why not throw Joe Flacco in there as well, Peter! His team is 8-4 and, like Ryan's Falcons, Flacco's Ravens are currently in the playoff picture as the #6 seed. Personally, I feel Jets QB Brett Favre is the #2 MVP candidate. Yes, his team lost to the Broncos at home yesterday. Yes, he played poorly. So what. People have bad games, and the Jets had just finished beating the Pats and Titans in previous weeks. Favre will likely bounce back next week.

The other real, legit MVP candidates are Titans QB Kerry Collins and Giants QB Eli Manning. My arguments for these candidates are simple: Without Collins, Vince Young continues to stink it up in Nashville and the Titans are .500 right now, not 11-1; Without Eli Manning, the Giants have David Carr throwing the football ('nuff said). The fact that niether of these men are on King's MVP radar suggests Peter's two feet are not quite firmly planted in the realm of the totally conscious, but for now we are just happy that he has seen the light regarding Peyton Manning. Baby steps for everything else. Baby steps.

So, why all this MVP talk?

Well, for one, it is cool to talk and write about MVP races. They are fun. Yes, admit it. They are. Remember, football is supposed to be fun, and if you do not see the fun in talking about MVP races, get a pulse. Do they mean anything in terms of who wins it all? No, of course not. Last year's MVP choked big time in the Super Bowl, and was outplayed by a guy who was booed in his home stadium just one month prior. In terms of the ultimate prize, the Super Bowl is way cooler than any regular season MVP award. However, this year the MVP award has an extra layer of drama added to the fun. It was starting to look as if writers were going to give Kurt Warner, a man who will never sniff the NFL Hall of Fame, his third NFL MVP. Only one other player has won three MVPs: Brett Favre. Favre will obviously be a first ballot HoFer, and if he wins his fourth MVP, he will further cement his legacy as one of the greatest ever to play.

Better than Elway. Better than Montana. Better than Starr. Better than Graham. Maybe better than Unitas.

So, knowing the stakes, giving the MVP to Warner would be kind of a slap in the face to previous award winners. How can a guy who will never get a HoF vote (nor should he) win three friggin' league MVPs? Fortunately, Warner has been re-exposed as the turnover monster he always was, and the person who will likely join Favre as the only other three-time NFL MVP is Peyton Manning. This is the way it should be. Yes, it is boring. We know Peyton is great. Why give him yet another award?

Answer: Because the great ones should always win the awards until someone better comes along. Deviation from that cheapens the award, and Peyton Manning is clearly the best player in this league right now. Once again, Peter King shows us he has a little life after all:

Let me tell you a story. My Sirius NFL Radio partner, Randy Cross, was on a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Atlanta eight nights ago after doing Oakland-Denver for CBS. Frontier has satellite TV at every seat and Cross and his seat neighbor were watching the waning moments of the Indy-San Diego Sunday-nighter. The Chargers kicked a field goal to tie the game at 20 with a minute and a half left. The ensuing conversation:

Seat neighbor: "Overtime.''

Cross, pointing to the time remaining: "The Chargers are toast.''

Seat neighbor: "Why?''

Cross, pointing to Peyton Manning on the screen: "Because of him.''

Eighty-seven seconds later , after another game-winning drive by the master of them, the Colts were walking off the field with a 23-20 win.

Thanks for the story, Peter. Now, do us a favor and hide those power rankings. You do not help your cause by ranking the Steelers and the Cowboys ahead of the Colts. The Colts beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and the Cowboys... well, they just suck in general. Beating up on the Lions doesn't magically make them a legit contender again. But whatever. Peter has seen the light regarding Peyton Manning for MVP.

Baby steps with everything else.