For the better part of the past 10 years, the Peyton Manning led Colts have been contenders in the AFC. For many of those years, Peyton’s inability to rise up in big games, in addition to poor coaching in the post season, primarily vs. the New England Patriots, led to an early exit shy of their ultimate goal: winning a Super Bowl. The stars finally aligned in 2006 with the help of dominant safety Bob Sanders, and a choke job by the best team in football that season, the San Diego Chargers. The Colts won their first Super Bowl. Last season, they were unexpectedly knocked out by those Chargers one game shy of the AFC Championship Game, and now we find them this season in unfamiliar territory. They’re 1-2 heading into the bye, having lost both games at their new home, Lucas Oil Stadium, and lucky to have one win after pulling out a game vs Vikings in miraculous fashion.
Even in their current predicament, this is hardly the end… and wasn’t so hard to envision coming into the season at least from an offensive standpoint. I was a bit surprised to see them get romped on opening night by the Kyle Orton Bears, but playing without starting center Jeff Saturday and Left Tackle Tony Ugogh, not to mention all of the time Peyton missed with his knee surgery, the Colts were out of sync on offense and kept one dimensional because they were unable to run. The Bears’ defenders, which are good, were able to come after Manning and make his life miserable. I don’t care who you are, 9/10ths of the QBs in this league will struggle when you make them one dimensional. Bill Belichick did this for years when facing Peyton in those classic playoff games during the Patriots’ Super Bowl run.
On the defensive side of the ball, they received some bad news in week 2 when they learned that Bob Sanders, the 2007 NFL Defensive MVP, would be out 4 to 6 weeks with a knee injury. Sanders is as important to the defense as Manning is to the offense. In 2006, the surprising year the Colts won, Sanders missed an enormous amount of time during the regular season and the Colts fielded the worst defense vs. the run by a Playoff team in decades. When Sanders came back for the playoffs, it was the defense’s play, his in particular, that propelled the Colts on their run. Now that he’s out, we’re seeing deja vu all over again. Last week vs. the Jaguars, a team that hadn’t been able to run a lick the first two weeks because of damaging injuries to their offensive line, both RBs (Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew) put up over a 100 yards in the Jaguars’ victory. The defense just couldn’t get off the field. If opposing teams are able to run the ball and control the clock, it keeps the Colts best assets, Manning, Addai, Wayne, Harrison, Clark and co. on the sidelines, without a chance to contribute. This formula usually means defeat for any team, the Colts included.
They have a bye week this Sunday which is good. Unlike the Patriots who have to dwell on the whipping they took vs. the Dolphins, the Colts still have their main pieces in place and the time off will allow them to get healthy. This really is the only thing holding them back. In an AFC that looks much different than the experts predicted, the Colts can still do damage and be in contention for the AFC crown come January, although they may not do it as the AFC North Division Champ as they’ve done since ’02, and certainly not as the top seed in the league.
