Meanwhile, the Colts will retire Peyton Manning’s No. 18 during the Oct. 8 game against the 49ers. They’ll also unveil a Manning statue the day before the game.
And if you have two minutes, here’s a great little video report on the woman who has been sewing the names on the Colts’ jerseys for the past 33 years. Maybe she should get her own statue, just like Manning, right?
While they don’t want to admit it, the Bills appear to be entering a rebuilding period, if not outright tanking for a quarterback in the 2018 draft. Buffalo has extra picks in each of the first three rounds and could very well be transitioning from Tyrod Taylor, who’s in the concussion protocol and could miss Week 1, to rookie fifth-round pick Nathan Peterman at quarterback. As they try to move away from the dismal decisions and brutal contracts of the Doug Whaley era, the Bills don’t appear especially interested in competing for a Super Bowl this season.
The 2000 Patriots had a Pythagorean expectation of 6.1 wins. The 2016 Jaguars had a Pythagorean expectation of 5.9 wins. Basically identical. There’s more to it than that, of course, but the Jags could easily sneak into the playoffs with some modest improvements. Given that they had the league’s third-youngest roster last season and upgraded with two key defensive contributors in free-agent signings Calais Campbell and A.J. Bouye, it’s entirely plausible the team could take a step forward as a whole.
As for that turmoil at quarterback? It looks like Blake Bortles will start, and there’s little evidence he’s going to be very good. (A preseason game against backups shouldn’t convince you Bortles has turned things around.) Chad Henne isn’t much better. The Jaguars had a sixth-round compensatory pick in his second season on the roster in Brandon Allen, but they released the former Arkansas signal-caller Cheap Rugby Jerseys on Sunday, and the Rams picked him up. Maybe Allen isn’t Tom Brady after all. The Jags Cheap Sports Jerseys will need to hope they can run the ball and play great defense to win the AFC South.