The nerves are natural, and they’re real, and every NFL player has a different way of coping.
Jim Sorgi has a very specific way.
He depends on his family to get him through.
Sorgi, a quarterback selected by the Colts in the sixth-round of this past April’s NFL Draft, didn’t play against the San Diego Chargers in the team’s preseason opener last Saturday. But Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy said it’s likely he will play Saturday against the Jets.
Sorgi very much wants the opportunity.
The thing is not to be too uptight.
“Every stage is a different kind of nerves,” Sorgi said as the Colts – last season’s AFC South champions and the AFC runners-up – prepared to play the New York Jets in the Colts’ preseason home opener Saturday at 7 p.m. at the RCA Dome.
“You went through them in high school before you played and you went through them in college before you played and now, I’m going through them before I play my first NFL game. How I do it is my family. I wasn’t happy I didn’t play last weekend, but by family couldn’t make it out to San Diego.
“They’re all coming down to Indianapolis.”
Sorgi, who played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin, was impressive two weeks ago in the Colts’ intrasquad scrimmage, leading a late touchdown drive that gave the Colts’ rookies and first-year players a victory over the veterans.
But a real game – even a preseason game – is different, Sorgi said.
“My dad will take me and give me a talk like he’s always done,” Sorgi said. “He’ll put it in perspective. I’m young. I know this offense well enough I can go out and there and move the ball, and play football.
“I don’t know it down to a ‘T’ yet, so I’m going to make mistakes. I’ll just go out and play hard, and hopefully, we’ll come out on top.”
Sorgi, who started 17 games at Wisconsin, completed 288 of 519 passes for 4,498 yards and 33 touchdowns in college, finishing his career as the school’s all-time passing efficiency leader.
How long he’ll play Saturday night is still a question.
The Colts’ first-team offense and defense likely will play longer than they did in the preseason opener, Dungy said this week. The first-team offense played six plays – two three-and-out series – and the first-team defense played through the first quarter.
The first-team offense wanted to play more, Dungy said, but “that was how we had it set.”
“You have to take advantage of the opportunities you get,” Dungy said. “That was the message we were trying to send in that game.”
Against the Jets, Dungy said, “We want to play them a little more. We want to get some work and see if we can get them a little sharper. I would anticipate both groups going into the second quarter and then we’ll kind of see from there how much time they’ll have had.
“We want to look at some guys and put them in some situations to see if they take a step forward or a step back,” Dungy added. “The next week, against Buffalo, is pretty much to give our young guys a taste of how we do things in the regular season.
“We’ll have a very, very specific plan and we’ll do everything like we’re going to do for opening day.”
Starting quarterback Peyton Manning, who completed three of four passes for 18 yards in the preseason opener, said he expects the first-team offense to play slightly more Saturday. Manning said the first unit ideally would experience several specific situations, particularly scenarios that are difficult to simulate in practice.
“It would be nice to put a drive together and get some different situations,” Manning said. “I’ve always said you’d love to get a couple of third-down conversions, you’d love to get some red-zone work and you’d love to get to the goal line if you can.
“You can’t script it that way. You just get as many scenarios as you can.”
Manning and Dungy each said the Colts game-planned more this week than they did for the opener, and said the Jets – who changed defensive coordinators in the off-season – necessitated more preparation than usual.
The Jets hired defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson from the Ravens in the off-season, and switched from a four-lineman, three-linebacker based defense to a three-four scheme.
“It’s always tough when they have a new defensive coordinator, and they have one game on film,” Manning said. “It’s hard to know what they’re going to do, so you prepare from things that you hear around the league. We treat all these games very seriously, so we researched the defenses to try to cover ourselves on the different blitz packages.
“This is a team you could see again, possibly in the playoffs, so that’s why you take it seriously.”
Cory Sauter, who completed 13 of 16 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown Saturday, likely will again play extensively in Manning’s place, with Sorgi entering the game after that, Dungy said.
“I feel pretty prepared,” Sorgi said. “We’ve watched a lot of film on the Jets. They run a 3-4 defense, same as the Chargers do. So, what you studied last week kind of coincides with what you’re doing this week. Basically, the base of what they do you already know.
“You just have to go out there, make the right checks and throw it to the open guy.”
colts.com
Jim Sorgi has a very specific way.
He depends on his family to get him through.
Sorgi, a quarterback selected by the Colts in the sixth-round of this past April’s NFL Draft, didn’t play against the San Diego Chargers in the team’s preseason opener last Saturday. But Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy said it’s likely he will play Saturday against the Jets.
Sorgi very much wants the opportunity.
The thing is not to be too uptight.
“Every stage is a different kind of nerves,” Sorgi said as the Colts – last season’s AFC South champions and the AFC runners-up – prepared to play the New York Jets in the Colts’ preseason home opener Saturday at 7 p.m. at the RCA Dome.
“You went through them in high school before you played and you went through them in college before you played and now, I’m going through them before I play my first NFL game. How I do it is my family. I wasn’t happy I didn’t play last weekend, but by family couldn’t make it out to San Diego.
“They’re all coming down to Indianapolis.”
Sorgi, who played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin, was impressive two weeks ago in the Colts’ intrasquad scrimmage, leading a late touchdown drive that gave the Colts’ rookies and first-year players a victory over the veterans.
But a real game – even a preseason game – is different, Sorgi said.
“My dad will take me and give me a talk like he’s always done,” Sorgi said. “He’ll put it in perspective. I’m young. I know this offense well enough I can go out and there and move the ball, and play football.
“I don’t know it down to a ‘T’ yet, so I’m going to make mistakes. I’ll just go out and play hard, and hopefully, we’ll come out on top.”
Sorgi, who started 17 games at Wisconsin, completed 288 of 519 passes for 4,498 yards and 33 touchdowns in college, finishing his career as the school’s all-time passing efficiency leader.
How long he’ll play Saturday night is still a question.
The Colts’ first-team offense and defense likely will play longer than they did in the preseason opener, Dungy said this week. The first-team offense played six plays – two three-and-out series – and the first-team defense played through the first quarter.
The first-team offense wanted to play more, Dungy said, but “that was how we had it set.”
“You have to take advantage of the opportunities you get,” Dungy said. “That was the message we were trying to send in that game.”
Against the Jets, Dungy said, “We want to play them a little more. We want to get some work and see if we can get them a little sharper. I would anticipate both groups going into the second quarter and then we’ll kind of see from there how much time they’ll have had.
“We want to look at some guys and put them in some situations to see if they take a step forward or a step back,” Dungy added. “The next week, against Buffalo, is pretty much to give our young guys a taste of how we do things in the regular season.
“We’ll have a very, very specific plan and we’ll do everything like we’re going to do for opening day.”
Starting quarterback Peyton Manning, who completed three of four passes for 18 yards in the preseason opener, said he expects the first-team offense to play slightly more Saturday. Manning said the first unit ideally would experience several specific situations, particularly scenarios that are difficult to simulate in practice.
“It would be nice to put a drive together and get some different situations,” Manning said. “I’ve always said you’d love to get a couple of third-down conversions, you’d love to get some red-zone work and you’d love to get to the goal line if you can.
“You can’t script it that way. You just get as many scenarios as you can.”
Manning and Dungy each said the Colts game-planned more this week than they did for the opener, and said the Jets – who changed defensive coordinators in the off-season – necessitated more preparation than usual.
The Jets hired defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson from the Ravens in the off-season, and switched from a four-lineman, three-linebacker based defense to a three-four scheme.
“It’s always tough when they have a new defensive coordinator, and they have one game on film,” Manning said. “It’s hard to know what they’re going to do, so you prepare from things that you hear around the league. We treat all these games very seriously, so we researched the defenses to try to cover ourselves on the different blitz packages.
“This is a team you could see again, possibly in the playoffs, so that’s why you take it seriously.”
Cory Sauter, who completed 13 of 16 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown Saturday, likely will again play extensively in Manning’s place, with Sorgi entering the game after that, Dungy said.
“I feel pretty prepared,” Sorgi said. “We’ve watched a lot of film on the Jets. They run a 3-4 defense, same as the Chargers do. So, what you studied last week kind of coincides with what you’re doing this week. Basically, the base of what they do you already know.
“You just have to go out there, make the right checks and throw it to the open guy.”
colts.com
