PFW- Rookie Meter: Young Colts on the rise

[Tribal Warfare]

Rookie Meter: Young Colts on the rise

When you think of teams that could use rookie help, you tend to think of the cellar-dwellers of the NFL. Take Detroit, for example. Even the veterans that Jim Schwartz kept had hands in the Lions’ 2008 disaster, so it’s only natural to think he’d give rooks like Matthew Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew and Louis Delmas the chance to strut their stuff early.

You don’t, however, think of perennial playoff participants like the Colts as clubs that will be trotting out their rookies for meaningful snaps. Yet there was Indy Sunday night in Nashville, entrusting a host of their guys that spent the 2008 season as pawns of the college game laying waste to the woeful Titans.

Austin Collie, the smooth-operating receiver from BYU, is proving that sickening collegiate production in Provo shouldn’t be merely chalked up to the system as the regrettable NFL careers of former Cougars greats like Luke Staley and the boatload of Norm Chow-schooled quarterbacks would indicate. Donald Brown continued running hard in relief of Joseph Addai, affording the Colts their best 1-2 RB tandem in years.

And, perhaps most impressively, was the stunning work of Jerraud Powers and Jacob Lacey in the secondary. Both were given starts with stud corners Kelvin Hayden and Marlin Jackson on the mend, and both more than made the defense proud. Lacey, who went undrafted in April, was particularly good, toying with Kerry Collins and knocking away three of his passing attempts.

1. QB Mark Sanchez, Jets (First round, fifth overall pick)
Watching Sanchez hit Braylon Edwards on all those tight money balls Monday night, it's not hard to get the feeling that this duo is going to be a good one for a long time. A really good one.

2. OLB Rey Maualuga, Bengals (2, 38)
Make no mistake, Maualuga is the single biggest difference between the Bengals' defense last season and the 2009 edition. In Sunday's downing of the Ravens, the tatted-up Samoan who just looks like a football player tallied two tackles for loss among his eight stops.

3. RB Knowshon Moreno, Broncos (1, 12)
There's no longer any question, Moreno is the Broncos' No. 1 back. In Josh McDaniels' takedown of Bill Belichick's Patriots, the pride of Georgia carried the ball 21 times to LaMont Jordan's three carries, and delivered over 100 yards of total offense.

4. OLB Brian Cushing, Texans (1, 15)
No, Cushing wasn't assigned to Larry Fitzgerald, who showed once again why he's peerless in the receiving ranks. Cushing did what he could for the Texans, getting some nice penetration on the Cardinals' line, but there's not much he can do when his quarterback telegraphs a ball to Cardinals CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to win the game for Arizona.

5. WR Percy Harvin, Vikings (1, 22)
For Harvin's standards, there was nothing too special he did in the beatdown of the Rams. Of course, there was nothing too special he needed to do, seeing as the Vikings were playing, well, the Rams.

6. OT Michael Oher, Ravens (1, 23)
Oher did himself proud in his first start at left tackle following Jared Gaither's neck injury, especially in pass protection. He remains the elite lineman on either side of the ball in the rookie ranks.

7. OLB Aaron Curry, Seahawks (1, 4)
Curry has stepped up his game a lot the last few weeks, and Sunday might've been his best showing yet. Among his nine tackles was a strip sack of David Garrard early in the third quarter of the Seahawks' rout of the Jaguars.

8. MLB James Laurinaitis, Rams (2, 35)
Not much went right for the Rams against the Vikings, but Laurinaitis did pick off Brett Favre. Then again, that might be a bit more of feat against any other Hall of Fame quarterback.

9. WR Austin Collie, Colts (4, 127)
Collie jumps up to the top 10 after not even being "on the cusp" last week. That's what happens when you string together an evening like he had in Nashville. Of his three touchdowns the last two weeks, two will be replayed on the season-ending highlight reel.

10. WR Johnny Knox, Bears (5, 140)
Knox and the Bears had the week off.

On the cusp (listed alphabetically)

S Al Afalava, Bears (6, 190)
WR Kenny Britt, Titans (1, 30)
RB Donald Brown, Colts (1, 27)
CB Derek Cox, Jaguars (3, 73)
S Louis Delmas, Lions (2, 33)
CB Jacob Lacey, Colts (not drafted)
OT Phil Loadholt, Vikings (2, 54)
CB Jerraud Power, Colts (3, 92)
QB Matthew Stafford, Lions (1, 1)
WR Mike Wallace, Steelers (3, 84)