This Peyton Manning vs. Jim Irsay stuff is getting dicey. We all knew it would. What if Andrew Luck is a bust? What if he ends up being another Ryan Leaf? If the guy makes questionable facial hair choices, how are you going to trust him with your franchise? Peyton Manning does things behind center that very few people are capable of. Peyton Manning could very well be the best quarterback OF ALL TIME. Letting him go could send your franchise into a complete tailspin. You’ve got no pass rush, no secondary, and no running game. You’re going to put Andrew Luck behind center with no weapons and ask him to win games with a porous defense. Luck will inherit an offensive line that gave up 35 sacks this year. Luck will be in a position to fail and the Colts will be the next Jacksonville Jaguars while Peyton Manning goes elsewhere and wins playoff games.

Don’t compare the Colts situation to the Brett Favre situation. The Packers had an amazingly talented young team that was taken over by a one-of-a-kind star like Aaron Rodgers, who SAT BEHIND a veteran before taking over a talented team.

The Lakers are now 1-7 on the road after falling to the Bucks last night. Kobe had a decent all-around game with 8 rebounds and 9 assists to go with his 27 points. They travel across the border for a match-up with Minnesota tonight.

Carmelo Anthony got out of Denver like he wanted. The Nuggets sport a 14-5 record while Carmelo’s Knicks are 7-13. Maybe ‘Melo is the problem?

The Washington Wizards have won 2 of 3. Don’t call it a comeback.

The Heat host the Bulls today at 3:30 in a preview of your future Eastern Conference Final. I can’t wait.

Are you more likely to watch the NHL All-Star game today or the NFL’s Pro Bowl? Neither is a completely acceptable answer.

Tiger Woods finished 3rd in the Abu Dhabi Championship. He has now finished in the top 3 of his last 3 stroke play tournaments.

Unranked Iowa State upset #5 Kansas yesterday.

Unranked Pittsburgh defeated #10 Georgetown.

Murray State remains undefeated.

#4 Syracuse narrowly escaped West Virginia 63-61 at home.

*Feel free to comment. Due to excessive spammers, we have to approve commentors. But, after you have an approved comment, all of your comments will appear instantly. Sorry for the inconvenience

*Follow us on Twitter @sportsaholicnet

I want you to imagine winning the jackpot on any lottery ticket. It could be a few hundred dollars or several million. Now, I want you to imagine giving it back because they didn’t give you crisp, new bills. Unless you already have a lot of money laying around, that sounds pretty stupid. That is how I feel about any team not willing to take a chance on Peyton Manning’s health. At least any team that hasn’t already hit the jackpot with a Tom Brady, Drew Brees, or Aaron Rodgers.

Peyton is due a $28 million dollar bonus in March if he is still with the Colts. Several people believe that he will be cut because of the timing and his health. If that is the case, where would he want to play? Here is my top five if I were Peyton.

5. Tennessee Titans – Manning would get to return to the state where he is still worshiped. Few players are still loved like he is in Tennessee. Even though he never won a national championship, he is arguably the best player to play on “Rocky Top”. The Titans also have a good running back and capable receivers. They also gave up the second fewest sacks last season.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars – Don’t you think Maurice Jones-Drew deserves someone like Manning? The entire team does, really. Last season they finished 6th in total defense and MJD was the NFL rushing leader. The Jags do have first year quarterback Gabbert, but after finishing 32nd in passing yards last season, he could learn a lot from Manning.

3. New York Jets – New York is probably the only city big enough for two Mannings. Peyton would be in a major market, which I think he would like. He has had a ton of commercials and his Saturday Night Live United Way skit is hilarious. He could be the missing piece for the Jets. Shonn Greene ran for over 1,000 yards. Receivers Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress both finished, tied for 11th in the NFL, with 8 touchdowns. I’m not sure he would want to deal with the current Jets drama but winning would fix everything.

2. Miami Dolphins – The Dolphins struggled early last season, but rallied to win six of their last nine. However, that didn’t save their coach. Joe Philbin was hired as head coach and named Mike Sherman his offensive coordinator. Sherman and Manning would make a great pair. Sherman has plenty of head coaching experience, including his time in Green Bay. In 2003, Brett Favre led the NFL touchdowns passes under Sherman. There, he would have 1,000 yard guys in Brandon Marshall and Reggie Bush.

1. Houston Texans – Current quarterback Matt Shaub only has one year left on his contract and is coming off of a foot injury. It would make plenty of sense to trade him and pick up Manning. The Texans could get something for Shaub before he becomes a free agent and Manning would make the Texans a Super Bowl contender. Peyton would give them the right amount of time to decide on Yates or draft a quarterback later. Manning paired with the running game of the Texans and Andre Johnson really doesn’t seem fair. That combination paired with the NFL’s 2nd ranked defense would be tough to beat.

All of the teams except New York are in states that don’t have an income tax. That could be a factor in his decision but I think winning a Super Bowl will be the biggest. Three of the teams are in the AFC South. If I were Peyton I would want every chance to make the Colts regret cutting me. The Texans give him the best chance at beating them twice a year, winning a Super Bowl, and making a little more money.

*Feel free to comment. Due to excessive spammers, we have to approve commentors. But, after you have an approved comment, all of your comments will appear instantly. Sorry for the inconvenience

*Follow us on Twitter @sportsaholicnet

First of all, I must admit for the first time on this site that I was wrong.  Unfortunately for all of us this is most likely the first of many.  So, the Jags didn’t lay down to the Colts yesterday.  Silly Maurice Jones-Drew and his quest to crush the competition for AFC rushing supremacy.  Jones-Drew out-rushed the nearest competitor, Ray Rice of Baltimore, by 240 yards.  He had almost 2000 yards from scrimmage this year.  Could you imagine if he had been supported by any sort of a passing attack?  Wow, just wow.  With 25 carries for 169 yards, the Jags didn’t need anything from Blaine Gabbert (which is good, because the vaunted Jacksonville passing attack gained a whopping 71 total yards for the game).  Did I mention it was the Colts too?  That team is bad and they showed it again yesterday.

So, now that the Colts have secured the #1 overall pick in April’s draft, the consensus says that Andrew Luck is the guy.  Right?  Not so fast.  Today, the Irsay family said goodbye to Bill Polian and his sons.  You know, the guy who came to this Colts franchise a few years ago and made a statement in his first draft with the team.  That statement was named “Peyton Manning.”  The Colts won 10 games per season in 9 of the 14 seasons Polian was in charge.  There are rumors floating around that Polian was willing to cut ties with Peyton and move forward with a QB named “Luck.”  Apparently that option did not sit well with the Irsay’s.

So, does Indy auction the number one to the highest bidder and gear up for another Super Bowl run before Peyton finally breaks down?  Does this franchise pass on a near “can’t miss” guy at QB and take a tackle like Ryan Kalil?  Does Jim Irsay simply want to make sure Manning is with this team the next few years to help bring along the ”next guy”?  I’m not sure. And I doubt that anyone outside of the Irsays can answer that for sure… and there is a good chance that they have no idea what they plan to do just yet either.

The smart money is on the Colts taking Luck and letting him learn the ropes behind, possibly, the greatest signal caller of this generation. But, in the NFL, the smart money doesn’t necessarily do the talking.  Step one for the man or men who replace the Polians: Decide what to do with head coach Jim Caldwell.  My guess is that there will be a new head guy patrolling the sidelines in Indy next season, but we shall see.

While Polian was perhaps the most shocking casualty of the day, he was far from the only one.  Raheem Morris could not survive the 10 game losing streak his Buccaneers ended the year on.  Morris seemed to simply lose his team.  Tampa Bay was simply bad this year.  The effort wasn’t there. And as a result, the Glazer family had a pretty easy decision to make.  This franchise is very young and has some important pieces in place.  Tampa isn’t the only place looking for a new coach, though.  The St. Louis Rams parted ways with General Manager Billy Devaney and Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo.  This group looked like they had turned the corner last year and the Rams were a sexy pick to make the playoffs this year.  Well, injuries and regression nipped that in the bud.  The Rams suffered through a 14 loss season and that wrote the final notes on Spagnuolo’s tenure.  SI’s Peter King dropped this nugget about the Rams under Spagnuolo: the Pats have lost less games in a decade under Bill Belichick than the Rams did in three seasons under Spagnuolo.  Ugh.

The Jags, Dolphins, and Chiefs all can now start looking to replace the interim coaches with full-time guys.  Romeo Crennel may have a chance to keep his spot in K.C.; but in Jacksonville and Miami, there will be new coaches.  Keep your ears open because Black Monday is just the beginning.  AJ Smith and Norv Turner are probably gone in San Diego.  I’m not convinced that Jason Garrett is coming back to Dallas, despite every word of support from Jerry Jones.  Garrett simply seems over-matched out there.  We all know Jones needs a puppet for a head coach, but I’m not sure Garrett is up to the task.

Stay tuned for more off-season previews!  The fun has just begun!

Now mind you, the Colts could very possibly end up with the first pick in next April’s draft. I just don’t see it happening that way.  So what happens if Indy misses their chance at Andrew Luck?  Before any of you Colts fans throw yourself off a cliff, I want you to consider the idea that maybe the Colts haven’t blown their chance at Luck… it’s just going to cost them quite a bit to get him.  Even while sitting just one spot below the Rams I assume it will cost Indy a pretty penny to move up and select Mr. Luck;  maybe this year’s first, second, third plus a number one next year, maybe the year after as well.  Sounds like quite a bit, but you never know.  Personally, I feel the Colts shouldn’t spend that much on a quarterback that has proven absolutely nothing on the pro level.   It’s not that I don’t believe Luck will succeed. I do. It just seems that spending that much could be detrimental to the future of this franchise.  This team simply has too many holes to mortgage their future on one guy.

So who should they take?  Matt Kalil, offensive tackle USC.  It’s not a secret that protecting Peyton Manning is now more monumental than it ever has been.  How better to do that than by taking the best tackle prospect in the draft.  Kalil has the bloodlines. His brother is a Pro-Bowler for the Panthers.  He comes from the same university as Anthony Munoz and Tony Boselli.  Just last year the Cowboys selected Tyron Smith to eventually play Left Tackle for the next decade.  Smith wasn’t good enough to beat out Kalil at USC, so he played the right side in college.  Kalil will walk into camp and take the Left Tackle position over for the next decade.  He seems like the closest thing to a sure bet in this draft.  Colts fans may say that they just drafted Anthony Castonzo (OT/Boston College) last year.  Yes you did. But Kalil is that good.  Slide Castonzo to the right and that offensive line has bookends for a decade.  That should put a smile on Peyton’s face. The Colts will have to look at guys like Quinton Coples (DE/UNC), Morris Claiborne CB (CB/LSU), Trent Richardson (RB/Alabama) and even Robert Griffin III (QB/Baylor).  The most intriguing of those listed, in my opinion, is Griffin III.  While Luck sitting behind Manning for a year or two would be a bonus, could you imagine if Griffin had that opportunity.  With his exceptional athleticism, football IQ, and obvious improvements throwing the ball, sitting behind Manning and being able to pick his brain for a couple seasons would only increase his almost unlimited potential.  That being said, top notch, game ready blindside blockers don’t come around very often either and I feel the Colts would be hard pressed not to select Kalil.  Holding onto their picks gives them a chance to start looking for replacements at DE (Freeney and Mathis aren’t getting any younger), RB (you can’t believe Donald Brown is the answer, can you?) LB (Pat Angerer is a start, but he needs help) and basically any other position on the defense.

What about the coaching staff?  Jim Caldwell probably saved his job with a couple victories at the end of the season.  Caldwell is a holdover from the Tony Dungy era.  He is a solid, steady coach.  Caldwell is not the answer in Indy, though.  If Manning is still around next year, which I would assume is pretty damn close to a given, the Colts will do all they can to win another Super Bowl.   Stability on the sidelines seems as though it would be a positive. In this instance, though, I’m not sold on the fact that it is.  This team looked so uneasy and lackluster for the majority of this season.  Like a few other teams (off the top of my head the Giants, the Cardinals, the Bears, etc) it seems this franchise might be better off shaking things up and bringing in a new regime.  Can the Colts go to the playoffs next year with Caldwell as the head coach?  Most likely. There is plenty of veteran talent on this team and that should be enough to help right the ship a bit.  If this team really wants to get ready for the future, but still play for today, it might be time to bring in a coach like Jeff Fisher; someone who is good with the veterans, but is a good enough teacher for the next bunch of guys.  Indy has had success putting together a winner in the past, I’m interested to see how they intend to continue that trend.  This off-season should be an interesting start to that process.

With this season coming to an end, many fans are looking towards the playoffs.  Many are not.  Some of us poor saps are already looking towards next April and the NFL draft.  This weekend, the top prize in the 2012 draft will be decided and the next big thing (Andrew Luck) will have a new place to call home.  Will it be Indy?  Definitely seemed that way up until the last couple weeks.  Could it be St. Louis?  Sure could.

What decides who ends up with number one?  Pretty simple actually; Indy loses and the pick is theirs.  St. Louis needs an Indy win and a loss to San Francisco to secure the pick.  Mind you, San Fran needs a victory to lock up the second seed in the NFC and New Orleans could end up in that spot with a win and a Niners’ loss.  Indy plays Jacksonville so, one might think that this matchup could easily go either way, right? Not necessarily

If you are part of the Jacksonville Jaguars organization, do you really want the Colts to have stability at the quarterback position for another decade?  Do you really want to have to face the best QB prospect since John Elway or Peyton himself for the next 10 to 12 years?  Absolutely not!  Should Jacksonville simply lay down and lose to Indy?  Absolutely.  I can hear the screams already.  The football (and sport in general) purists will say that it cheats the game to simply lay down and lose on purpose and maybe it does.

But, we need to remember that the NFL is a business, and along with that, so are the individual franchises.  It may be shrewd, but I believe it makes some sense.  If I’m in Jacksonville’s front office, I’d love the opportunity to stick it to the Colts.  If that means that some of my starters with questionable injuries are held out as an extra “precaution,” so be it.  Blaine Gabbert has been terrible this season (which is a completely different discussion for another day closer to the draft), take away the few weapons he has (even for a portion of this game), and it’s all but a guaranteed loss for the Jags.

Am I saying that Jacksonville should announce that they plan to lose this game and not even show up?  Of course not, though I feel that its in their best interest to “see how some of the younger guys fit into our plans for next year.”  Will it happen that way?  Who knows.  Would most of the players sporting a Jags uniform be pissed that I’m even discussing this?  I assume they would.  Would they know deep down that not seeing Andrew Luck twice a year is better for them as a franchise, a team, a business?… I would venture to guess that they do.  We’ll see what they think come Sunday.