Mister Faded Glory | www.misterfadedglory.com

You might notice in the links to the right, ladies and gentlemen, a fellow named Eric Conner. He writes for AOL’s NFL Sportsblogs (Not sure if I’m a fan of that whole idea yet). Regardless, he is a Colts blogger — and a very good one.

What does this mean? Besides MFG never getting a football gig with AOL, all it means, silly, is that Mister Faded Glory is no longer your only stop for weeklyColts‘ head-scratching or screaming playoff game diatribes.

And, with the NFL poised again to launch next week, you can expect a lot more Colts stuff here. When the hiatus ends, of course. Personally, I’m just giddy at the prospect of the upcoming season — if only because of the Cubs’ death spiral. Yep, normally the NFL sneaks up on me, because I’m focused on baseball and can’t handle the hype machine without games. This season, however, I’ve been counting down. Giddy, indeed. However, not sure if it’s excitement — or sheer nerves.

I think we could be in some trouble here. You all know that Mr. Faded Glory ascribes much of the Colts’ seven-year success to Edgerrin James, though certainly, drafting, coaching, the offensive line have quite a bit to do with Edge‘s – and even, sort of, Peyton’s – success.

And you’ll notice, that everywhere – from SI to FO, everyone is predicting continued success for the Colts. This is the problem with forecasting the NFL, however — because of a minimal schedule, exaggerated player movement, and, of course, luck — past results are even less indicative of future performance than other sports. So, it leaves me predicting, someday soon — perhaps even this season — a death knell for our boys in blue. (By the way – SI picks Carolina AGAIN to win it all. Stop the freaking presses.)

Edge is quite a fantastic runner. Even on busted plays, he could be counted on for 4+ yards. I just can’t believe the offense will be as efficient as years past. I don’t buy it for a second. Not with Rhodes, not with Addai, not with anyone. I’m a pessimist, granted.

And, honestly, I’d bemoan the loss of David Thornton, but the offense is our problem. It’s never — I repeat, NEVER — been the defense in playoff losses to the Pats or Steelers or Titans. Sure, it would have been nice to hold those teams under 10 each time, but under 28, with our club? The Colts should be able to score 30. But they’ve stalled against defenses, abandoning their only sure thing — Edge – and tried to make up two scores per one drive, or you know, too much. We’ve seen it. It’s painful. So you’ll forgive me if I don’t subscribe to the thinking:

Edgerrin James is going to miss the Colts a lot more than the Colts are going to miss Edgerrin James.

Hardly. Sure, we’re OK in the running game – but that’s just it. OK. Defensively? Well, we’re OK, again. I can’t believe that Cato June or even favorite son Bobby Sanders will have similar years to last season. Our corners are somewhat undecided and we still employ Rob Morris. I’ve got immense faith in Tony Dungy and Dwight Freeney, and the four-year improvement has been outstanding. Still, Dave Thornton bolts, and we don’t draft Abdul Hodge? You wait . . .

Meanwhile, until about week 15, I’m going to have Peyton’s fluttering throws, hand-wringing and Nick Harper, the Innocent Criminal failing to cut the correct way against Ben Roethlisberger flashing through my memory. It’s been a mostly-good seven years. But it’s been stressful.

Sure, the Colts will be good. But so is New England. So is Jax. So is Pitt. So is Denver. So is KC. So is Cinci. And so forth. We’ll see. The window never edges closed for teams knocking on the door — it slams shut. See, Philly, 2005.

And we hope it’s not this season – back with more next week.