FanHouse Jim Sorgi

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the ...
Team under Peyton's leadership for the first time without Tom Moore*. That's right. Peyton's only offensive coordinator for his entire 11-year career has been the venerable Moore. Moore's first year at the helm was Manning's rookie season, so the two grew together. It's going to be interesting to see how Manning fares without his mentor calling the shots.

Of course, Manning's obviously cerebral enough to deal quite well with the transition, and the Colts have enough weapons in their arsenal to remain the high-octane offense we're used to seeing every fall.

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Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

I often chuckle at the amount of time people spend whining about how you can't accurately evaluate the draft immediately. We know that. We also don't know exactly who is going to do what in each season, but that doesn't stop us from giving preseason predictions or fantasy football advice. Sometimes you just have to have a little bit of intestinal fortitude and put yourself out there. The reader demand is there, so we'll provide the supply.

One of the few cases (along with teams like the Steelers and Patriots) where it's probably not a good idea to say anything bad, though, is when it comes to Bill Polian and the Colts.

The combine is over, we're a week into free agency, and the draft is less than two months away. For NFL teams, this time of year is about finding cheap, young talent to replace aging or ineffective veterans, and the draft evaluation process is a big part of that.

Everybody agrees that Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez are the draft's two best quarterbacks, the only question is where they will end up. The Lions, who have the first-overall pick, are the favorites to take Stafford, but they could very easily select an offensive lineman -- just as big a need -- at No. 1. (And it may also help explain all the Jay Cutler trade talk.)

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

St. Louis (2-13) at Atlanta (10-5): If Atlanta takes care of business here, they could be facing the Arizona Cardinals at home in their first playoff game. Could a scenario get any better for a rookie quarterback? Hey Matt Ryan, I know it is the playoffs and all, but this is one of the worst sports franchises in the history of football. Also, they've won just one game since Veterans Day.

If this shakes out, Ryan might be the most blessed kid since the one Mary conceived.

Pick: Atlanta

If you owned DeAngelo Williams all season -- and surrounded him with quality "teammates" -- the odds are pretty good you were still playing meaningful fantasy football this weekend. If you were, you enjoyed another off-the-charts fantasy night from DeAngelo. Seriously, four touchdowns in the Meadowlands against the Giants? This guy is just stupid studly. He's also a great example of why your league should have its championship in Week 16, because the Panthers' game next week is meaningless. He could easily see a drastic decrease in his workload.

On the opposite side of the spectrum we have Kurt Warner. The second-highest scoring passer for the entire season ended up being the biggest Brutus Boy of them all. In case you were counting -- and odds are, you were -- that was a 1.5 point performance yesterday. If your league still plays in Week 17, he should be due for a bounce-back at home against Seattle. The Cardinals really need some confidence at this point, so I bet they go all out, at least until they get a nice lead.

Randy Moss is obviously a Hall of Famer, all time great wide receiver. Etc. He is glitter. He is glisten. He is awesomeness. And he is also now the holder of the following "records": 13 most receiving yards in NFL history (13,014) as he passed Jimmy Smith, who is busy not driving today I'm sure, and third most all time 100 yard receiving games in the history of the NFL.

The catch (yes, pun intended)? The deep ball -- a 58 yarder -- he caught to go over 100 for the game and to break get these milestones was a pass thrown by Matt Cassel. You know, the guy with the second cushiest job in America behind Jim Sorgi? Until today, anyway, when he had to come in and replace an injured Brady in the first quarter of the season opener.

The lesson, as always? Bill Belichick doesn't even need Tom Brady. All he needs is personnel that cares enough about winning and "TEAM" and that tries hard and focuses and keeps their mouth shut ... okay that's not the lesson. The lesson is that the Chiefs stink. And the Patriots are a very talented team and I could probably hook up with Moss for a touchdown this week. So everyone can stop freaking out. For now.

Update: Moss and Cassel love each other so much they decided to hook up for a touchdown. Awww.

I was actually surprised that this many Bears fans thought their team was going to win Sunday night in Indy. There isn't much optimism emanating from the Windy City these days when the topic of conversation is their beloved Halas Hall residents. So I looked around to see if anyone without bias thought the Bears could win.

No one at sportsline even thinks they can cover.

ESPN, while not ballsy enough to pick against the spread, doesn't have a Bears pick.

Peter King, while obviously putting a ton of time into his analysis, has the Colts -- and check out the side poll. Over 95 percent of the voters have the Colts winning.

FanHouse's own Will Brinson has the Colts in blowout fashion.

And so it goes, on and on and on ... no matter where you look. There are a few people who think the Bears can cover, but I didn't find a single entry where the Bears were the predicted winner.

It makes sense. To illustrate why, let's first go over what the Colts have to do to win.

When the news broke in mid-July that Peyton Manning would be out 4-6 weeks after having knee surgery, the focus immediately turned to his backup, Jim Sorgi. The fifth-year pro out of Wisconsin seems perfectly capable of stalking the sidelines and feigning interest during the regular season, but anything more than mop-up duty is cause for alarm among the Colts faithful.

And then Sorgi goes down with a bum leg during the preseason -- nothing serious, but enough to keep him out of action just in case you-know-who isn't ready for the regular season -- meaning that there's a very real chance Jared Lorenzen or Quinn Gray make the final 53.

Didn't happen. Manning declared he'll play in Week 1, Sorgi will resume his rightful place next to Tom Moore, and J-Load and ThrowPix6 are out of work. To be fair, neither player showed much in the last month; Lorenzen played like he was hungover on cake, and Gray threw enough interceptions to make you think he was really left-handed.

In less depressing news, sixth-round pick Mike Hart made the roster. In fact, every one of the Colts' '08 selections are currently on the team, which is pretty impressive.

The new Lucas Oil Field looks awesome (anyone who has seen this thing as you head to downtown Indianapolis knows this). What happened during the building's opening tonight wasn't.

Peyton Manning hasn't played all preseason after "minor" knee surgery and Jim Sorgi was benched due to a gimpy knee. What we had on Sunday night was a battle royale for the Colts third string QB spot ... and it was sad.

Jared Lorenzen did nothing great ... going 7-for-11 with 52 yards. He led the Colts on four drives with three ending in four plays or less. Lorenzen did move the Colts offense one time, but he and Joseph Addai missed an exchange and turned the ball over. He didn't do anything to snatch the job up ... but he didn't do anything to kill it either.

Quinn Gray may have.

Gray threw four interceptions ... including an extremely poor pass deep inside Bills territory. Courtney Roby's spectacular return started the Colts inside Bills territory. Two plays later, Gray overthrew a receiver who jumped and tipped the pass which was intercepted. Gray was on the run, threw off-balanced and made a horrible decision.

This morning's whispers that Peyton Manning may not be ready to start the season opener means the door is open for Jim Sorgi to start at QB for the Colts' offensive show.

Things should be ominous.

Sorgi faced the vaunted (cough) Falcons defense Saturday night. His final line in two drives: 7-12, 67 yards. He led the team to three points. Hardly impressive, in fact, it's barely passable against such a poor defense; especially when you consider the weapons at Sorgi's disposal. On the other hand, two drives is an insanely small sample on which to base a final judgment.

I was still shocked to see this headline:

"Sorgi Outplays Ryan in Colts' win over Falcons"

Wow. You're trying to replace Peyton Manning with a guy that played better than a rookie QB in the middle of a rebuilding project? In fairness to the Indy Star, that article was an AP one, so it's not like I can really accuse the local wrap of homerism or too much optimism. I just found it curious that the Colts page on the site still used that headline. Like they are trying to sell Sorgi to the fans.

Of course, check out the comments section at the bottom. Doesn't look like the fans are buying.

A final rhetorical question: do you think NBC will be excited to air Kyle Orton vs. Jim Sorgi on opening weekend?

At the very least, the theme song ("I've been waiting all day for Sunday night") should be altered.