Maybe the idiot kicker was liquored up

A few years back, Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning and Mike Vanderjagt were at a war of words when the season ended....Vanderjagt questioned Manning’s leadership.....then on national television at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, Manning called Vanderjagt "the idiot kicker who was liquored up".....I believe both comments come into question after the Colts debacle at the Hoosier Dome (I still call it the Hoosier Dome).....

As anyone could see, the Colts were flat from the start....which brings into obvious question about coach Tony Dungy resting his players the final two weeks of the regular season and then having a bye week.....hopefully this is a lesson that all coaches learned – play your players the entire way no matter if you have the playoff locked up....

Look at Cincinnati.....the Bengals rested quarterback Carson Palmer for most of the last game of the year against Kansas City only to watch his season, and maybe career, go down the drain on a freak accident hit on the Bengals second play of the game last week....

About five weeks ago, the Colts were a well oiled machine.....I don’t care how the Colts players and coaches spin it, they lost that timing with all the rest over the last few weeks...

Second, credit should be given to the Steelers....they did exactly what any team needs to do in order to beat the Colts – force Manning to have happy feet....the Steelers came with the heat throughout the game....a defense cannot, and I repeat, cannot let Manning just sit back there and pick a defense apart....the Steelers got an A+ on defense and preparation.....

With that loss, Manning is now 3-6 in the playoffs....going back to his college days at Tennessee, Manning always came up short in the big games.....arch-rival Florida beat him four straight years....

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not bashing Manning at all.....he is the finest and smartest quarterback in the game today.....however, under the playoff pressure, he often times plays down to his opponent or lets the pressure get to him.....

Another observation from yesterday’s game is why did Nick Harper run right into Ben Roethlisberger after scooping up Jerome Bettis’ fumble.....I watched three replays of that play and each time I cannot fathom why Harper chose to run right at Big Ben instead of up the right sideline....there was NO ONE behind Ben.....I can’t understand it.... what was Harper thinking?!?!?!

Finally it brings up Vanderjagt's choke....what the hell was that?!?!?!....that was one of the worst field goal attempts I have ever seen....Vanderjagt is one of the leagues highest paid kickers and he flat out choked under the pressure....that kick was no good from the nanosecond that it left his foot....

I know all the blame should not be placed on him, but I am sorry, NFL kickers, who are well-paid, are expected to make 46-yard field goals when the game is on the line....general manager Bill Polian needs to cut Vanderjagt and save cap room.....who knows, maybe he was liquored up at the time of the kick....

But in the end, all the credit should go to Bill Cowher and the Steelers....they flat-out whooped the Colts in every facet of the game and deserve the victory....