The Colts are in the playoffs despite going 3-4 to close out the last 7 games of the season. They simply have not been able to win on the road in the past couple of months. The offense has been remarkable. The defense has been bad and the special teams have been suspect.
The Colts will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Indianapolis on Saturday. If the Colts win that game, I believe they will then face the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore. But, by no means can they overlook the Chiefs. The Chiefs have a good running back in Larry Johnson, averaging 111 yards per game against normal defenses. Against the sieve-like Colts’ run defense, who knows what will happen. Hopefully Bob Sanders will be healthy and able to put some serious hits on Johnson and make him a little nervous about running the ball. Other than that, the Colts basically just have to get a good lead, force the Chiefs to throw it and hope Mathis and Freeney can get to the quarterback.
That’s my take on it, anyway. But I’m largely ignorant. For more expertise, I recommend checking out the folks at Stampede Blue, a great Colts blog.
And, in many respects, I should be happy that the Colts are even in the playoffs this year. I thought our running game would be awful this year. Turns out, the Colts drafted an excellent running back in Joseph Addai. I had no idea that our defense was going to be the source of our problems this year.
Doug,
The Colts will have to play a exceelent game to beat the Chiefs.Larry Johnson the Chief’s powerful running back set the NFL record Sunday for most carries in a season(416) and put up 138 yards and 3TD’s on the Jaguars run defense which is one of the top run defenses in the NFL.Besides the fact that the Colts run defense is last in the NFL let us also note they are last in kick return coverage and if not for Manning leading a last minute drive at the Jet’s would have lost the game for them the way the run defense did at Houston and Tennessee.
Sanders is supposed to play Saturday.In short missed tackles and one arm tackles will not get it done against Larry Johnson.This defense is lacking in personnel it isn’t the scheme in my opinion.Manning can hardly get on the field because this defense can never get the other team off the field.
Joe Addai before Sunday’s game led all rookie running backs in rushing yards and was only a few yards behind the Jaguar’s Maurice Jones Drew in yards from scrimmage he just doesn’t get a lot of media attention like Reggie Bush does who has not had the great year the media types had hoped for but he will end up being a excellent player.I would think the Colt’s were hoping to get the Jet’s in the first round and would have had Denver managed to beat San Francisco at home Sunday which would have sent Denver to New England and the Jet’s to INDY.
I like that the media know-it-alls have basically declared us DOA against the Chiefs. Reminds me of how the Reds wouldn’t be able to beat the A’s back in 1990, or any time the Marlins are in the series, or Texas vs. USC last year. The more sure a pundit is that a team has no chance, the better I feel about it. Goes into the same category as the announcer saying “This kicker never misses from this distance”.
The Colts need to hit hard and tackle well. They do that about every third or fourth game, usually after an embarrassing loss. Theres a risk Freeney and Mathis will spend their day getting to the quarterback AFTER he hands off to Johnson and the play is already 10 yards down the field. They probably need to plug holes or rush the runner rather than the QB.
What a run the Colts will have to have, though. IF they win Saturday (I give them a bit better than 50-50, since the apparently now-mighty Chiefs did manage to cough up 7 losses, while we only lost 4), they then go to Baltimore which will eternally be angry over the Colts’ defection. And their defense can kill you. That one we either eke out a win that is an instant classic, or we get spanked bad. Meanwhile, I kind of figure the Pats will beat the Chargers, setting up an AFC title game in Indy. Dare to dream…
T,I’d say you’re probably right about the Colt’s chances against the Chief’s.Here’s another stat for everyone the Colt’s are also last in the NFL in number of posessions per game.Translation the Colt’s offense must put points on the board almost every posession because of the inability of a bad defense to get the other team off the field.
I miss the “Good Old Days” with Johnny U. and “Big Daddy.”