The Reich stuff. Or not.

 So here's what happened with the Indianapolis Colts yesterday out in sunny Buffalo -- there are actually a few hours of daylight there during January, despite what you've heard -- in the AFC wild-card playoffs:

* Philip Rivers threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions and no sacks against one of the gnarlier defenses in the league.

* Jonathan Taylor scratched out 78 yards and a score against that same D, and the Colts' O-line generated enough push for them to average 5.4 yards per carry as a team.

* The Colts lost 27-24, and Frank Reich is the dumbest coach in America.

Sorry, folks. But as they used to say on Our Only Available Kicked-Off-Twitter President's former Twitter account: That last is in dispute.

The 27-24 loss is not, and Rivers throwing the ball out of bounds twice on the last possession is not (apparently a heinous crime against football, to hear some tell it). And the clock management on the last possession is not.

"Clock management", as in, "A German shepherd could have managed the clock better than Frank Reich did on the last possession."

Which is true. Also true is the Colts took some peawitted penalties across the afternoon, and no playoff team has ever done that before. Also true: They got away with a turnover on the last possession and still couldn't get close enough to force overtime or win the thing outright.

Here's what isn't true: That Frank Reich is therefore the dumbest coach in America and needs to be fired.

Overreaction is always most untamed in the immediate aftermath of a playoff loss, particularly a playoff loss that could have been a win. Folks just ain't at their most rational then, particularly folks who paint their faces in their team's colors and don funny hats and the throwback jerseys of old punters and taxi squad quarterbacks. You just can't talk sense to people like that.

So it's probably a fool's errand for the Blob to try to tell the Horsie set to slow the roll this morning. No, Frank Reich has not left any indications to date he's the second coming of Noll or Shula or Belichick or even Tony Dungy. But neither is he Kevin Gilbride or Frank Kush or pretty much every Lions coach going back to Wayne Fontes. 

Under Reich's hand, after all, the Colts went from 7-9 to 11-5 this season. They ranked ninth in the league in scoring offense and 10th in scoring defense. Had the Texans not gagged against the Titans in the last game of the season, the Colts would have won their division.

Did they lose some games they should have won, like the first Jacksonville game and (maybe) Buffalo yesterday? Sure. Did Philip Rivers turn out to be Philip Rivers and not Tom Brady? Absolutely. Should Rivers have not thrown the ball away twice on that last possession?

Well ...

Well, I suppose he could have thrown it into coverage instead and gotten picked. Or waited for a few more precious seconds to drain from the clock and then thrown it away.

In which case the game would have been over a lot sooner, and the Horsie set would have been saying "Why did he throw it into coverage like that? Why didn't he throw it out of bounds right away instead of letting the clock run? I thought Reich was the quarterback whisperer! How come he didn't teach Rivers not to do that?"

I don't know. Because Frank Reich is the dumbest coach in America?

Sorry, but nah. Nah.