Somewhat lost in all the hubbub of the near-end to the NFL lockout the last couple of days was the news that the New York Jets have hired former Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore as a consultant.  Moore was with the Colts for 12 seasons, which just happened to coincide with Peyton Manning’s first dozen years in town.  I’m sure the thinking in bringing Moore to New York is that he can help mold Mark Sanchez into the best QB that he can be, and that may be true.  But Manning was a very polished product when he came to Indy in 1998, and he would have probably thrived with any number of coaches at the helm.  Moore’s reputation has benefited from Manning’s excellence much as Leo Mazzone’s did from being the pitching coach for Glavine, Maddux and Smoltz in the 1990s.

Moore is a solid coach, but he won’t turn Sanchez into Manning.

After the Super Bowl loss, longtime OC Tom Moore stepped down from the role. Currently he is still with the organization in a senior offensive assistant capacity in order to help with the transition to new OC, Clyde Christensen, the former assistant head coach and wide receivers coach.

I got to say that I am a little curious why the Colts even see the need for a transition. With a scheme that is so strongly focused on the pass it would seem that the person that would know the offense as well as Manning or departing OC Tom Moore would be whomever was in charge of the receivers; in this case Clyde Christensen.

So far during the off-season the Colts have made it appear as if they may be looking to make a few changesLongtime linemen have been jettisoned to make room for new, bigger guys; ones more adept at a running game rather than the traditional Colt passing attack. As good as Peyton Manning and the Colts have been throwing the ball it has been the lack of a running game that has kept the team from being a Super Bowl winning dynasty.

Head Coach Jim Caldwell has already stated that part of the reason in hiring Clyde Christensen is a desire not to rock the boat. Perhaps doing so, at least a little bit, may have been the change that the Colts could have used to fine tune a really good offense to a truly legendary one. Whatever difference Christensen has, the Colts will undoubtedly still be one of the best offenses in the NFL next year. Whether that can translate into a Super Bowl victory remains to be seen.