Indianapolis Colts QB Jim Sorgi didn’t like missing an opportunity last preseason, and to try to prevent that happening this offseason, he’s trying to get a little bigger.

About 20 pounds bigger, in fact.

Sorgi, entering his sixth season as the Colts’ backup quarterback, said recently he is close to 220 pounds, up from his previously listed weight of 196 pounds:

I always wanted to be heavier, but I didn’t think it was that important. Getting older, taking care of your body becomes just a little more important. It’s just a conscious decision to put on a little more weight. It helps your ability to throw the ball. It helps in every aspect. I’m getting better at carrying it and getting in shape. I think it will help with the little things, the nicks and preventing injuries.

Sorgi, a sixth-round selection in the 2004 NFL Draft, has been Peyton Manning’s top backup since his rookie season. He has played in 15 career games, with extensive action limited to five games at the end of seasons when the Colts had secured their playoff positioning.

Said Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell:

He has certainly been in the system a long time. He has a very good grasp of the system. He has not had an opportunity to play a significant amount. This last preseason would have been an opportunity for him to play a lot more than normal, but then he was injured at the end, then he missed a couple of games. I think he has been able to demonstrate what he was capable of doing.

Said Sorgi:

When I was younger, I got by more on making plays while I was out there. Now, it’s more of a thinking game. I think knowing the offense as well as do, being in it for so long, it gets to the point where you make plays based on the position you put yourself in on the field. I’m getting better at controlling everything and putting us in the right situation and the right play at the right time, and just taking more of a leadership role when I’m out there. Most people get the chance to get better playing – making mistakes on the field and playing. In this organization (as a backup), you have to get better through different aspects of the game. You have to get better through practice and you have to get better through watching film. When you get that chance to play, you might not get another one.

With Manning out last training camp and preseason after offseason knee surgery, Sorgi got extensive work as the start of camp and early in preseason before missing the last two preseason games with an injury: 

Those first three preseason games, I played a series or two, then the game I didn’t play was the fourth preseason game, which would have been the game when guys get more playing time. I probably would have gotten at least a half or into the third quarter. That would have been nice to see what I would have done with that kind of time, but it’s one of those things.  You can’t foresee that kind of thing happening. You’ve just got to try to prevent it.

IFR Analysis: For some Colts fan, Sorgi is the guy about which they love to worry and analysts sometimes to downgrade the Colts’ quarterback situation based on Sorgi’s limited experience. He also has been listed low on many analysts rankings of NFL backup quarterbacks, but in five career games in which Sorgi has played extensively, the Colts have won twice — a victory over Arizona in the 2005 regular-season finale and a victory over the Tennessee Titans in the 2009 regular-season finale. Statistics aren’t everything, but Sorgi has completed 99 of 156 passes for 929 yards and six touchdowns with an interception for a passer rating of 89.9 in 15 professional regular-season appearances. The Colts selected Purdue QB Curtis Painter in the sixth-round of the 2009 NFL Draft this past April, after which Colts President Bill Polian made it clear Painter would not push Sorgi for the backup job this season. Sorgi’s probably not a frustrated Pro Bowl quarterback and I don’t know that he’s a big-time starter, but I’ve sometimes gotten a feeling that because people don’t see much of Sorgi, they tend to discount him more quickly than his fair. If pressed into service, I could see Sorgi getting the Colts a .500 record in Manning’s absence, which would mean he’s keeping the team afloat and that’s what you want from an NFL backup quarterback. One final thought on what the Colts have in Sorgi. Matt Cassel was nearly released last preseason and after starting 15 games in place of Tom Brady last season, he suddenly became of the NFL’s most sought-after players this past offseason.

Jim Sorgi will be the Indianapolis Colts’ backup quarterback in 2009, Colts President Bill Polian said Sunday evening.

And yes, that’s even with the team having drafted Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter in the sixth round.

“Jim is our backup quarterback and he’s fine and we love him,” Polian said. “He proved to everybody last year what he could do under fire. Curtis is not going to beat him out as a rookie, that’s for sure.”