Is there a quarterback controversy in Indy?
Published: September 16th, 2011 | Tags: Kerry Collins, Curtis Painter, Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning
After one week of the Kerry Collins experience in Indianapolis, NFL Network analyst Joe Theismann is ready to hit the panic button.
In fact, while many believe the veteran Collins — who struggled along with the rest of the offense, completing 16 of 31 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown — will eventually be able to execute the offense, Theismann is subscribing to the fact there is (or at least should be) a quarterback controversy for the Peyton Manning-less Colts.
“Curtis Painter has been there for three years,” Theismann said on “Playbook” Thursday. “I have to be thinking, if I’m Painter, ‘How bad am I that they’re going to bring a guy in, spend two weeks, and start him ahead of me?’ He doesn’t know the offense.
“Painter, he’s a guy who understands the offense. He knows where the receivers are supposed to be. He has some familiarity with the receivers. I still, for the life of me, can not understand why Collins was chosen to be the starter. Is he just a friend of Peyton’s? I don’t understand it.”
The truth of the matter is, it might not matter who is lining up at quarterback for the Colts if his name isn’t Peyton Manning.