Colts O-line remains in question with Ugoh’s departure

Four days before the Colts open the regular season at Houston, the team continues to make changes to their roster. Today, they announced that left tackle Tony Ugoh had been waived by the ball club.

Ugoh was the guy targeted to replace long time LT Tarik Glenn who had covered eventual hall-of-fame quarterback Peyton Manning’s blindside for so many years. The Colts liked Ugoh so much to trade their 2008 first-round pick to move up and select Ugoh in 2007.

The offensive lineman appears to lack the desire and dedication to play such an integral role in the Colts offense. He has been injured multiple times, including his left toe this year—in a preseason game at Green Bay.

Six-time executive of the year, Bill Polian continues his quest to bulk up the O’ line. He came down heavily on the unit following the team’s Superbowl loss to New Orleans in Miami.

After waiving Ugoh, the team signed Joe Reitz who was waived by the Dolphins earlier in the day. Reitz is a local product from Hamilton Southeastern. Interesting enough, Reitz chose to play basketball in college at Western Michigan. Following graduation he opted to pursue a professional career in football due to his size and height (6-7, 320). Being such a late acquisition, I suspect Coach Caldwell will be hesitant in playing the 2nd-year player Sunday in Houston.

The question going forward remains the same…who will protect the league’s only 4-time MVP. It is reasonable to suspect that #18 isn’t happy with the way the line has (or hasn’t) for that matter shaken out this offseason. After having once again, the worst running game in the league last season, Polian was determined to make some long overdue adjustments.

Charlie Johnson has filled in nicely in the past but he is coming off surgery on his right foot that he suffered in training camp. Jeff Linkenbach was picked up this offseason to help the offensive line. It is still baffling that Polian waived guard Ryan Lilja as well as their other offseason acquisitions—Adam Terry (picked up by San Diego) and Andy Alleman. So now after much evaluation, the offensive line hasn’t really shuffled.

To make matters worse, long time center Jeff Saturday is rehabbing offseason knee surgery to repair a “loose body” just three weeks ago. He practiced this week and should be good to go. With the line in question, Manning’s backside remains vulnerable.