no doubt ... talk about bringing all of my off-season enthusiasm to a screeching halt. For some reason, all I have in my head is a distinct visual of CJ backpedaling and falling on his a55, leaving 18 completely unguarded.

No. No. No.

Charlie Johnson at RT, I could get behind just because Diem was so awful. I don't understand him at LT over Ugoh, he wasn't better at LT than Ugoh last year. The only way this makes sense is if it's to give Ugoh a kick in the pants.

. . . that this makes no sense except as some sort of motivational tool. But even if that's the case - it doesn't bode well that we have to "motivate" our LT with anything more than assigning him the roster spot.

And if this is really some kind of motivational tool, then why the BS about how CJ was really the starter from the beginning and Ugoh was only keeping his seat warm while CJ was on the PUP?

Of course that line about CJ being the starter from the beginning seems far fetched given the disparity between their respective performances at LT last year. The fact is, as anyone could see, Ugoh was the better player.

The other reason this stinks is that Ugoh doesn't have CJ's experience as a backup guard or at RT - two positions most of us agree that CJ did a serviceable job backing up in the past.

In Mudd we trust?

Why is this happening to me?

My best guess: Ugoh did something to really piss the team off.

that's the problem.

This is NOT a case of CJ improving and taking Ugoh's job. CJ hasn't even been practicing.

He hasn't had the chance to get any better. If he had, I could maybe live with it. This is clearly all about Ugoh. I can only pray it doesn't last.

I feel sick.

I would feel better about this had CJ been at camp from the start and just out-played Ugoh. If that were true, we could at least say that while CJ leaves much to be desired he did win the job. But that can't be the case here, because CJ hasn't even been at camp before today. Barring the aforementioned motivational tactic, it has to be that Ugoh has regressed in the coaches' minds, which is puzzling in itself because all reports that I've heard were that Ugoh was playing well.

I'm just hoping this was Mudd's call or that he was totally on board. Then I'd trust that they are probably going about this in a good way. Dungy's endorsement only takes Caldwell so far.

Time to give up, I guess. I love passionate fan blogs, where one day the Colts are Super Bowl bound and the next day, after one change that can be reversed at any time and prior to even 1 preseason game being played, "The ceiling on what the Colts can accomplish in 2009 just dropped significantly in my eyes."

Glad you guys weren't running the U.S. in 1941; you all would've surrendered after Pearl Harbor and we'd be cheering on the Yomiuri Colts.

Hey, we have to be honest. We never sugar coat things here. After Gary Brackett went down last year we said consistently that the Colts wouldn't win a playoff game without him.

Super Bowl teams don't start Charlie Johnson at left tackle. He's not good. He's horrible at tackle.

I have to think this won't last. It's the only hope I have.

There is nothing good about this. The only optimistic though when looking back at CJ at LT last season is that at least Lilja will be next to him at LG this year. I mean, who played there last year when CJ was at LT? That couldn't help Johnson's performance at all.

But this stinks.

We all know this is an ominous sign. Unfortunately I somewhat saw this coming (having been throwing out the "potential bust" label on Ugoh for a while, and why I was one of a few that said we had to draft a LT if at possible in round 1 or 2. Maybe there weren't any better LT's on the board but now we are stuck with not many options.

Could it be that they feel CJ is going to be a much better run blocker than Ugoh, and with their commitment to running the ball effectively they are willing to give something up on pass protection? Most of the problems I saw with CJ at LT last year were in pass protection. So maybe the Colts really want to start playing a more "smash mouth" running style and CJ is a piece towards that end. It is true that if you can run effectively on 1st and 2nd downs and on 3rd and short you don't need to have as effective of pass blocker at LT.

What we do know is whoever is playing at LT to start the season, we are likely to see a great deal of 2 TE's with a TE set to the left side to assist with pass rush on a regular basis.

I agree with JTBLA that it isn't time to jump off the cliff, it's a very bad sign and it certainly should reign in our optimism, but I'm not ready to flush the season down the toilet yet. A lot can still happen. one thing is FOR SURE. An LT in 2010 is now priority 1,2, and 3! Draft the 3 best on the board and hope that 1 can pan out as an LT and the other as a RT.

It's not about throwing up the white flag or flushing anything anywhere. It's about lowering the ceiling of expectations.

I'm no O-line expert, but CJ's feet just aren't fast enough in pass protection. We've seen this movie before.

As DZ once famously said abut the guy, "He's just not very good at football." Obviously, we've come to respect CJ since then, but I think you can accurately change that quote to "He's just not very good at Left Tackle."

What is Caldwell thinking. I need a real explanation from him, pronto.

I posted to Phil B. before I came here, and said exactly what you guys have been saying. I'm sick about this. I don't pretend to be an expert judge of line talent, but this makes no sense to me. I really had myself convinced that a healthy Ugoh was going to make the jump this year. All indications were how hard he was working.

I pray this is a motivational ploy... and boy do I hope it works.

They benched him last year for Johnson. I know he was injured, but he played special teams for several games. Why? Was he just slow to get up to starting speed? I think the team must think Ugoh sucks worse than Johnson. If that's the case, the real question is why didn't they draft an OT when they had a chance (or a big, fast OG they could convert)?

Anyway, I'll assume that the stretch will only be run to Diem's side this year, and Manning will work from the shotgun 25% more. Not that Ryan Diem really instilled a lot of confidence in me last season...

Maybe the Colts could try more inside runs? But then, there goes the stretch, one of the playbook's key run plays.

If I had to apportion $100 in bets on this scenario, I'd lay $75 on "this is a motivational issue to get TU moving."(that includes punishment)
Assuming there is no physical/injury issue and CJ did not suddenly grow as an NFL liineman by leaps and bounds, $20 is on it being a truly open competition and $5 on CJ actually being the TC starter and likely to be the 2009 Season starter at LT.

They're not crazy and not stupid. They DO have more info than we do and Mudd has earned my trust and Caldwell gets it via Polian's and Dungy's votes of confidence.

Clearly OL is less settled than we hoped/assumed. Let's see what the next few weeks bring....

But I always figured CJ to start this year...just not at LT. I always thought Lilja would never play football again and CJ would have to fill in for him. Maybe this is a convoluted way of instilling confidence in CJ/Motivating Ugoh/getting CJ reps in TC for the inevitable Lilja re-injury. Knowing how clandestine the Colts have been in the past, it wouldn't surprise me.

Bottom line: Ugoh is a flake, and this is the best solution they could come up with. So what if Ugoh is or should be the better talent, he's a slacker. I, for one, would rather have a fired-up, passionate sixth-rounder at LT than a lazy, apathetic 2nd-rounder. For all I care, Ugoh can get released.

I think everybody is overestimating Ugoh's abilities. He wasn't that great either. Congrats to CJ.

Hate Ugoh all you want...he's markedly better than CJ. Ugoh may be mediocre. He may need replaced.

CJ is AWFUL. He will destroy the offense if he plays tackle all season.

He didn't win the job. He was handed it.

There's a big difference.

I agree that Ugoh is better than CJ. Still, LT is a problem for us no matter who you pencil in. I'd rather increase the heart and character of the line with CJ, than put Ugoh in there. Hell, the rest of the guys on the line will probably play harder for CJ than they would for Ugoh anyway. I'm just saying, this isn't the end of the season. If I was a coach, I would put the kid on the bench in the game if the starter wasn't taking his job seriously. That's what this is. If Ugoh gets his act together, he goes back in. Until then, he can get the gatorade.

And anybody who believes a coach that says "this guy is the starter for the season" hasn't been paying attention. Ugoh might be back starting by next week for all we know.