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The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 33

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Indianapolis, Indiana
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Page:
33
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

he Indianapolis Star MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1990 Sports Oilers leave Colte acfaiii -F 4-10 win in 2 I Si I 41 i.i nun in urn. imiiiiu iuji 1 'm olts were bad By MIKE CHAPPELL STAR STAFF WRITER Houston Not only did the pain refuse to go away Sunday afternoon, it escalated from a dull ache to a steady throb. Welcome to the House of Pain, Indianapolis. Welcome to 0-3. A team in search of a cure to what ailed it encountered yet another shock to its system.

Houston left the Colts winless, wounded and nearly quarter-backless with a 24-10 victory at the Astrodome. "It's one of those deals when it rains, it Coach Ron Meyer said, his spirits severely dampened by the loss. "You're seeing that right now." What you're seeing, in fact, is a team on a downward spiral. Sunday's loss dropped the Colts to 0-3 for the second time in three years and stretched their two-year losing streak to four games. The agony of defeat, however, was forced to take a back seat to the physical abuse Indianapolis absorbed.

Seven Colts left the Astrodome in worse shape than they entered it, including the team's three quarterbacks. Rookie Jeff George started, but probably shouldn't have. A strained abdominal muscle limited his effectiveness and led to his removal midway through the second quarter. "He didn't want to come out. I took him out he was struggling," Meyer explained.

"There was a big debate whether to even start him and, looking back, I'm sorry I did. Physically, he wasn't ready." Exit George, enter Jack Tru-deau. Backup Jack rallied the Colts from a 14-0 halftime deficit to within 17-10 at the end of three quarters, then was force-fed his personal dose of misery. Oilers' defensive tackle Doug Smith poured through the line and bounced Trudeau off the Astro- Colt QBs took a beating, Page 4 Colt notebook and statistics, Page 4 Next week's opponent, Philadelphia, beats LA Rams, Page 4 NFL roundup, Page 5 Turf, leaving Trudeau with a sore left wrist and a pounding head. "Right now, it's mainly a headache," Trudeau shrugged.

Exit Trudeau, enter Mark Herrmann. Two plays after replacing Trudeau, Herrmann was blind-sided by Sean Jones. The Oilers' end beat the snap count and was called for a five-yard offsides penalty, but Herrmann was left in a heap. A separated shoulder threatens his season. Exit Herrmann, re-enter George.

Before the scoreboard ran out of seconds, Indianapolis nearly ran out of quarterbacks. George aggravated his abdominal injury by rolling left and throwing right. The Colts, known for quarterback controversies, left Texas with a quarterback quandary. Will George heal enough to start Sunday's game at Philadelphia? Will it be Trudeau? "1 can't answer that," Meyer insisted. "We'll have to wait and see what the physical status of the players is tomorrow (today)." The well-being of the team matches that of the quarterbacks.

"It's not pretty right now," Meyer understated. It's not, because the Colts insist on playing some ugly football. And the unsightly picture is a family portrait no one's left out. The offense continued to self-destruct with four first-half turnovers, while the defense remained defenseless against the forward pass. Warren Moon, giv-See COLTS Page 4 rom every angle -rl Robin Miller 1 Jr v.

IOUSTON IF YOU watch the Colts too long, you can se your perspective. That's hy I went looking for help fol-wlng the Colts' 24-10 defeat Sunday. You see, I wasn't sure whether ie Colts played good enough to se or the Oilers played bad lough to win. And the coaches weren't uch help. "It started out as your typical ternoon with the usual things lat happen in a game," said 3lts coach Ron Meyer, whose ub was called for illegal proce-ire on Its Initial play from "I think Indianapolis is a good am, they Just didn't get the eaks today," said Houston boss ick Pardee, who wasn't about to idmouth the only team he's this season.

OK, so let's ask some players. "Today we should have played than we did," claimed alts' receiver Clarence Verdin, ho left the game with a sprained and frozen hands. "Indianapolis plays that bend-jt-don't-break defense and it's ird to come up with those big ays against them," lied Warren oon after completing 29 of 39 isses for 303 yards and three uchdowns. "I think Indianapolis has a od secondary," declared Drew ill and why wouldn't he? ter catching 10 passes for 123 irds. Still not satisfied, I ap-roached former Oiler coach Bum hillips and asked for some local isdom.

"It was a good game, I thought both teams played well enough to win and there's no such thing as winning stated Bum, who has understandably been out of coaching for several years. Then, Just as I was about to give up, I spied Joe Namath. Na-math had the unenviable Job of providing color commentary for NBC. Tell me true, I asked Broadway Joe, what was your analysis of the battle of these AFC powers? "Sometimes," drawled Namath, breaking into a grin, "two bad teams makes for one bad game. This was one of the worst games I've ever seen." Thankfully, a voice of reason.

Now I could pursue my storyline with a clear mind. But, back in the pressbox, I was still haunted by two questions. Was Houston's "why-should-we-run-when, shoot, we-can-pass-all-day" offense too much for Indy's ice-cream soft secondary? Or, was the Colts "we-can't-run-so-let's-shoot-ourselves-in-the-foot" offense to blame for their third consecutive loss of 1990? I decided it was a tie. Because the Colts' corners play that "Dairy Queen" zone, hX V'. i'1' SCORES AMERICAN LEAGUE New York 5 Boston 4 NFL Baltimore 2 Milwaukee 1 Houston 24 Colts 10 Toronto 5 Cleveland 4 Washington 19 Dallas 15 Minnesota 6 Texas 4 Kansas City 17 Green Bay 3 Kansas City 4 California 0 NY Giants 20 Miami 3 Detroit 6 Oakland 0 Chicago 19 Minnesota 16 Chicago 2 Seattle 1 Cincinnati 41 New Enoland 7 New Orleans 28 Phoenix 7 NATIONAL LEAGUE San Diego 24 Cleveland 14 Philadelphia 2 Montreal 1 San Francisco 19 Atlanta 13 Pittsburgh 7 St.

Louis 2 Philadelphia 27 LA Rams 21 Atlanta 3 Houston 0 LA Raiders 20 Pittsburgh 3 New York 7 Chicago 3 Denver 34 Seattle 31 San Francisco 6 Los Angeles 2 Tampa Bay 23 Detroit 20 Cincinnati 9 San Diego 2 STAR STAFF PHOTOS JOHN WARNER Rookie Jeff George (top photo) hit the turf hard in the fourth quarter. Mark Herrmann (lower photo) picks himself up after taking a fourth-quarter hit. quarterbacks usually have their and fell), the Houston Hammer way. Moon was 5 of 8 on third- completed 74 percent of his down conversions. passes.

Because once again Indiana- polls failed to get a legitimate Because nobodv wno looked quarterback sack (Moon slipped See MILLER Page 5 Rejuvenated Reds find offense to top Padres 5 1 -i -i Vfichael's win ightens race or CART tide V. RACE AT A GLANCE NATIONAL LEAGUE Western Division Pet. GB Cincinnati 87 66 .569 Los Angeles 82 71 .536 5 San Francisco 78 75 .510 9 Remaining games CINCINNATI (9) HOME (9): Sept. 25, 26, 27, Atlanta; 28, 29, 30, San Diego; Oct. 1, 2, 3, Houston.

LOS ANGELES (9) HOME (3): Oct. 1, 2, 3, San Diego. AWAY (6): Sept. 24, 25, 26, Houston; 28, 29, 30, San Francisco. SAN FRANCISCO (9) HOME (9); Sept.

24, 25, 26, San Diego; 28, 29, 30, Los Angeles; Oct. 1, 2, 3, Atlanta! we can go home and get the Job finished." Any combination of Reds victories and Los Angeles losses totaling five would give Cincinnati Its first division title since 1979. The second-place Dodgers lost to San Francisco. 6-2, Sunday. Danny Jackson (6-6), who had lost four consecutive decisions since Aug.

30. allowed two runs and six hits in seven Innings, struck out six and walked two. Ed Whitson (13-9) was knocked out without retiring a batter in the fifth. He gave up seven runs and 10 hits as his ERA second in the league at the day's start rose from 2.39 to 2.63. See REDS Vage 3 STAR PHOTO KEITH PRITCHARO A.J.

Foyt's car, minus most of its front end, is towed out of the woods. ASSOCIATED PRESS San Diego Seeing their lead in the National League West dip to 3'2 games did wonders for the Cincinnati Reds. Eric Davis had four hits and Barry Larkin had three as Cincinnati beat San Diego, 9-2, Sunday to complete a four-game sweep of the Padres. The Reds lowered their magic number to five. "Everybody's been focused.

It's like everybody took it to another level," Davis said. "We had to pull together. That's why we've had five or six guys drive in four or five runs in this whole series." Cincinnati, bidding to become the only NL team to remain in first place over a 1 62-game schedule, had lost seven of 1 1 games coming into San Diego. But the Reds offense came alive against the Padres. Cincinnati, which had 16 hits Sunday, outscored the Padres, 34-12, in the series and outhlt San Diego, 54-31.

"A 3'2-game lead helped us get focused," Davis said. Larkin drove in three runs and Luis guinones homered for the Reds, who play their final nine games at home. Cincinnati has won four straight for the first time since Aug. 24-28. "We're putting it all together like we were at the beginning ofHhe season," Reds manager Lou Pinlella said.

"Now I RICK SHAFFER AR STAFF WRITER Elkhart Lake, Wis. Michael An-rettl won Sunday's TexacoHavoline 200 idy-car race to keep the CARTPPG 3ints race alive, but there wasn't a lot of at the Road America circuit. With a crowd of 45,000 watching, An-retti drove the martHavoline Lola-Chevrolet to a 2.3-second victory over merson Fittlpaldi and averaged 106.192 iph. He trails Al Unser 194-157, ith two races left in the season. However, Andretti's victory was larred by the Lap 26 accident involving )ur-tlme Indianapolis 500 winner A.J.

oyt. Foyt's Copenhagen LolaChevy ap-arently lost its brakes in Turn 1 and the 5-year-old Texan shot through an em-ankment and into a ravine. Foyt sustained a broken left knee, a roken left heel and dislocated right foot, was flown to Milwaukee County Medial Complex In critical but stable condi-on. His condition has been upgraded to atisfactory. Dr.

Steve Olvey, director of medical ffalrs for CART, said Foyt was conscious broughout the episode and that he was awake, alert and talking." ii was racing on the straightaway nd he was on the Inside," said Dominic Michael, Unser, Bobby Rahal and Mario Andretti dashed Into the pits on Lap 33. Rick Mears and Fittlpaldi came in a lap earlier and when the red flag came out, Roberto Guerrero (who had not pitted) was first and Mears was second. CART ruled that the restart order would be based on the Lap 33 standings of Sullivan, Michael. Fittipaldi. Rahal.

Unser, Mears, Mario. Arte Luyendyk and Guerrero. "I'm not satisfied," said Mears, whose third place eliminated him from the title Dobson. "I decided to tuck in behind him going into the turn and he went straight ahead. The skid marks looked like maybe the brakes failed at one end.

He Just launched into the air." The accident brought out the yellow flag for seven laps and because Foyt was still trapped inside his car, CART officials decided to red-flag the race with 33 laps completed. It was an hour before for the race could be restarted. Polesitter Danny Sullivan was the leader at the time, although the decision to place the cars in their position prior to th4 red flag seemed to cause confusioii. Sullivan and those directly behind him chase. "You bust your tall to get into See CART Page 2.

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