Rocky's Football Corner #22

by Rick Rockwell

Although something called the Pro Bowl will be played this weekend, for all intents and purposes the National Football League (NFL) season ended in historic fashion on Sunday.

Tony Dungy finally broke the championship color barrier for African-American coaches. Many knew he would. He did it because he finally managed to get top-flight play from his defense, which is odd, because Dungy made his reputation as a master of defense. But he had to wait years for the Colts’ defense to gel and it finally did in the playoffs.

And “Perfect” Peyton Manning, the quarterback who conducts the symphony that is the Colts’ offense, finally won his Super Bowl ring to go with his growing collection of passing records. (However, Manning’s Super Bowl performance was just a shade above mediocre. His running backs, either rookie Joseph Addai or Dominic Rhodes, actually deserved the most-valuable player honor.)

Fans won too. The Colts and Bears delivered a close game for three quarters, mainly thanks to Devin Hester’s spectacular opening kickoff touchdown gallop and a stubborn Bears’ defense that refused to break completely until their offense had turned the ball over too many times. The game was the third most popular television program in U.S. history.

But already, some teams are probably wondering how the Colts beat teams designed to stop them. Consider how the Colts played in the regular season, and you’d think the Chiefs, Ravens, and Bears all had the right combination to chew up the Colts. And those teams that are wondering (like the Titans and the Jaguars, which have potential to climb into the playoffs next year and must play the Colts twice each) need to understand the Colts have not only won the Super Bowl but are revolutionizing football.

With a quick defense, led by whirling dervish Dwight Freeney at defensive end, and Bob Sanders, the hard-tackling safety, the Colts can now shut down both running teams and those who want to spread the field and pass (see the second half of the American Football Conference championship with the Patriots). This means turning the ball back to Perfect Peyton and the offensive wrecking crew after many three-and-outs. And now that Manning is patient enough to go with a grind-it-out, long drive offense (unlike the first quarter of the Super Bowl, when he reverted to his older tendency to use the long ball and he paid the price with a turnover) the Colts can eat up the clock, something other teams once used as a technique to keep the Colts’ potent offense off the field.

The key here is how many offensive plays the Colts run. The Colts run a no-huddle offense which means they are in a modified hurry-up mode throughout the game. They use this to keep the defense from situational substitutions. This creates mismatches for them to exploit. Manning is smart enough (and so is Dungy) to try to snap the ball early to get movement and substitution penalties on the defense which keeps moving the ball downfield. In the Super Bowl, the Colts ran 81 offensive plays. In the AFC Championship game, they ran 80 plays. Against the Ravens: 66. Against the Chiefs: 80. Start to see a pattern here? This is how they wore down superior defenses, through the sheer number of plays. This is actually a technique pioneered at Texas Tech by Coach Mike Leach, who believes if you give offenses more plays, eventually they will wear down bigger and stronger defenses.

So next season, everyone will want to know how to stop the Colts.

Here’s how. Get a shutdown cornerback, like Denver’s Champ Bailey. Get a hard-hitting safety like the Steelers’ Troy Polamalu, who can cover but also dish out punishment on running plays. Sure, players like that are hard to find, but they are out there. And get at least two fast pass rushing linemen, like Jason Taylor of the Dolphins. Don’t forget the middle linebacker. You’ll need someone like the Bears’ Brian Urlacher. These players are conditioned and hit like assassins on every play. Because, against the Colts, the days of the slow, brawny linebackers and linemen are done. A team that beats the Colts must be conditioned to stay on the field. Like the Colts’ defense, they must be lean, fast, and sure. They’ll also need coaches who can devise two game plans, because the Colts will adjust and figure out the defense by halftime. The sheer number of plays allows the Colts to gather this information.

Look for folks like Bill Belichick in New England to figure this out (and to finally cough up some money for better receivers – that flaw cost the Patriots the championship this year). There’s the formula. Stop the Colts’ long game with superior talent and coverage schemes. Level their receivers at the line to disrupt the short passing game, and expect the talent at corner and safety to help plug the holes when the Colts switch to the run. This is a tall order, but possible.

Otherwise, count on seeing the Colts again in Super Bowl XLII.

Final season prediction average: .588. See you in September!

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Indianapolis Colts
football
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