Collins was brought in to provide the Colts some depth at the quarterback position. I get that, the Colts don't really have a valid option if Peyton were to go down with an injury. Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky are the current backups on the roster.. Painter and Orlovsky can't be legit starting NFL quarterbacks, and everyone knows that, however the Colts have never needed to play without Peyton Manning.
So what do we do when Manning may not be able to go?
In walks 16 year veteran Kerry Collins. Yep, like he's the answer. Collins has not started a full 16 games since 2002 with the New York Giants. His quarterback rating is consistently in the low 80's with the exception of 2009 where his rating was 65.5.
Manning, on the flip side, has never missed a start in his career. Aside from last season, Manning almost always has a quarterback rating in the upper 95 or hovering around 100.
So what does this mean?
Given the fact that I've had about a day to think about this, there are a few reasons why I think this signing took place.
I believe that come the start of training camp no one thought Manning would miss any time, so therefore they kept everything "as is" and allowed Painter, Orlovsky, Davis, and Hartline take the reigns hoping Manning can make a transition into the already "up and running" offense.
My guess is that he is progressing a bit slower than usual, and Collins was a cheap "fall back plan." Collins has a history with Polian and with Caldwell. Bill Polian has actually always been pretty high on Collins as a pure passer.
However my personal opinion, and the opinion of many other people who are close to the team feel as though Manning will be ready for the September 11th opener. However his status at the moment is a little in doubt, in doubt to the point that it got owners and front office guys worried, and worried to the point where they began thinking "What if we start week one with Curtis Painter under center?" Once the thought of actually trying to win a game with Painter as the starter became a reality, they (the front office) realized that was a moronic idea, and thought "Hey, if we need to squeak out a game, let's get a guy in here who has experience winning a regular season NFL game."
That was where Kerry Collins entered the picture.
If Collins were to start a game, the Colts would have little chance to win. Reggie Wayne's quote yesterday was hilariously accurate.
"We don't even know him, we ain't vanilla, man, we ain't no simple offense. [...] So for him to come in here and be the starter, I don't see it. I think that's a step back."Who says Kerry's going to be the starter? Just because we bring him in doesn't mean he's the starter. He's got to learn too, right? Unless they gave him a playbook months ago, he's got to learn too. […] He's going to have some studying to do. I'm not sure how he is with the books, not sure about Penn State's education, but he'll have to do some studying. [...]
"I don't care who you are, I mean I'm not going to let anyone just come in here and just push someone aside like you're that dog now, you know what I mean?"
Here is the bottom line. If Peyton Manning can go, he will go. If he doesn't Collins is better than Painter/Orlovsky, and gives the Colts a little bit better of a chance to win, but it will never actually happen. We need Manning to win, Collins is better, but he's not Manning.
What do you make of the new signing?
Tweet