I'm sitting here at work, listening to Sportscenter in the background and listening to the customers that are talking about the Colts' game yesterday.

Now, some of these guys know their stuff and some of the others know enough to keep up in the conversation, while a couple others don't really know what they are saying most of the time.  It is usually the same group of guys in here on Monday mornings, talking about the weekend sports action and then they play some basketball.

Usually, the guys are pretty tame with their reactions to the games, but today was a bit different.  Today, I heard some very harsh words about the Colts, about how Peyton has "lost it", about how Tony Dungy doesn't have control of the team anymore, and some other stuff that I won't repeat.

Now, I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable person when it comes to sports and I would disagree with about 99% of what those guys were saying.  I don't normally get involved in their conversations, because I like to keep the peace at work!  Today was the same until I actually heard someone say that Peyton Manning was a "piece of snicklefritz" (I changed the last word for the PG folk that read the page)!  After that statement, I had to ask what the guy meant by that.  He explained to me that Manning was the reason the Colts lost the game.  As he was explaining this, I could tell that my facial expressions were letting the guy know that he was talking out of his aaa...lack of knowledge.  Here is what I stated to him in my defense of Peyton:

*  The Colts had the ball for 18:25, while the Jags had the ball for 41:35.  How effective can a person be in that short of a time frame? 

*  While Manning did throw two interceptions on questionable passes, Marvin Harrison was mugged on both plays.  The first one, Harrison was pulled down by his jersey and the CB jumped the route for the easy pick six.  The second one, Harrison had his man beat on a post down the middle of the field and then was beaten into submission as the safety came over and made the easy pick as Marvin was shoved into the end zone.

*  Manning also did not allow Fred Taylor to run for 121 yards nor did he allow Maurice Jones-Drew to run for 107 yards.  He also was not responsible for the lack of a pass rush when David Garrard did decide to drop back. 

*  Manning is not responsible for the soft coverage of the corners either.  Maybe if they played a press coverage once in a while, teams couldn't convert 8 of 14 third downs, half of which were completed passes to Matt Jones.  How is Matt Jones even playing after being caught with COCAINE in his hand this off season?!?!?

After I made my points to the gentleman, he came back with, "Well, he is paid all of that money for a reason and if he can't get the job done, then get him out of town."

I guess there really is no point in talking to some people!