The Colts will sit all of their key starters for the final preseason game against the Bengals. It's a smart move considering that Indianapolis is a well oiled machine who are expected to contend for the Super Bowl.
With nothing at stake, risking an injury to it's key players would be foolish. On the other hand it has been announced that Carson Palmer and the Bengals first unit will start this game. The combination of those two realities has the Colts pegged as FG underdogs on their own field, but I am not buying it.
The reality is that preseason home teams own a FG edge over their visiting counter-parts and in this case maybe more. You see, I will bet my money that the Bengals commitment to start it's first unit and franchise QB will be extremely short lived if not abandoned altogether. Simply put, Indianapolis has one of the league worst playing surfaces (turf) with regards to injury and there is no way that Cincinnati allows Palmer to play more than 1 series on it in a meaningless game on his surgically repaired knee.
Furthermore, all of the Bengals are playing on just 3 days rest after pummelling Green Bay on Monday Night Football, putting all the Bengal starters at an increased risk of injury. Therefore, my money says we will see the battle of the backups as early as the first quarter and in my books, this battle clearly favors the Colts. In particular, the battle to back up Manning should provide some sparks as Jim Sorgi and former NFL starter Shawn King continue their battle. Colts 23, Bengals 17.
Play: Indianapolis Colts
Event Date: 9/1/2006 7:00:00 PM
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Bengals vs Colts
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