The Best Team In The League

For the second year in a row, week nine has proven to be significant for the Colts. Last year, the undefeated Colts came into Foxboro and thrashed New England, finally getting the Patriot monkey, the inability to win in New England, off of their backs. This year, they beat the Patriots in New England again, and the Bears lost to the lowly Miami Dolphins - leaving the Colts as the only undefeated team in the league.

On the off-chance that you’re still not convinced the Colts are the best team in the league, then let’s look at those 1-win teams from last week: Arizona, Detroit, and Miami. Well, this week, two of those teams won (Detroit and Miami) and the other did not play (Arizona). Those three teams are now a combined 5-18 on the year, and they have all played the Bears, who are 2-1 against them - having lost to Miami today. The Colts, by contrast, have beaten three of the current division leaders (Denver, New England, and NYG, combined record 18-6), with all of those wins coming on the road.

Further, Peyton Manning has thrown for over 300 yards for the third straight game, something he has, astoundingly, never done before in his career; the Colts are the first team in the history of the National Football League to have won back-to-back road games against 1-loss teams; Marvin Harrison had eight balls for 145 yards and two touchdowns; Cato June had two picks, one of which sealed the game late in the fourth quarter; and the defense, that much-maligned (although for good reason) defense, generated five turnovers, including four picks of Tom Brady.

And, oh, by the way, Bob Sanders was back in action for the Colts as the starting free safety. (And, by the way, Bob Sanders is a strong safety, not a free safety. He's 5'8" and 206. You try arm-wrestling him.) During the post-game chat in the media room, Colts coach Tony Dungy said that Sanders brought some energy to the game, his first game back since arthroscopic knee surgery in September; what Sanders actually did was show up on a number of missed tackles and coverages, deliver those famous bone-crushing hits for which he is so well known, and amass between 9 and 11 tackles (ESPN has two different numbers - 11 in the game’s box score, and 9 in the line for tonight’s game on the Bob Sanders page) and pull down one of those aforementioned picks of Brady. That’s more tackles than anyone else in a Colts uniform today (if the 11 in the box score is accurate), and it was the same as the number that Junior Seau had for the Patriots - and Bob Sanders hasn’t played in six weeks.

The Colts defense, apart from the takeaways, was mostly miserable. The run defense was its usual porous self, giving up 148 yards on the ground, and two touchdowns to Corey Dillon. The Colts were out-rushed 148-53. If it were not for Bob Sanders, who seemed to be flying in on every play with the kind of closing speed you’d kill for in your shutdown corner, the Colts would have given up a lot more yards, and might have been looking at this game in a whole new way. As it was, the non-Sanders defenders made way too many mistakes - blown coverages seemed to be more prevalent than missed tackles this week, especially in the wide-open middle of the field.

The offense, on the other hand, put up its usually gaudy numbers, against a New England defense (third in points allowed, eleventh overall) that missed Rodney Harrison, who hurt his arm in the first quarter and did not return, which would prove to be significant, and were as porous defending the pass as the Colts have been all season defending the run. Unlike a lot of teams the Colts have played this season, New England chose to concentrate on defending the run, which they did well - limiting the Colts to 53 yards on the ground and one touchdown - by throwing linebacker blitzes the way Mike Tyson used to throw uppercuts. In a way, this strategy worked for the Patriots, who sacked Manning three times and caused him to throw a pick; going into the day, Manning had been sacked seven times this season, or once a game on average, and he had thrown a scant two picks.

In another, more accurate, way, that strategy failed for the Patriots, They overextended themselves with their blitz packages, which crowded the line of scrimmage and left four guys to defend the open field - none of whom were wearing #37. This is where the absence of Rodney Harrison, one of the best strong safeties in the league, really hurt the Patriots. By crowding the line of scrimmage, the Patriots were unable to drop enough guys into coverage, which essentially left corners Asante Samuel and Chad Scott in man coverage on Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. The result: Harrison had eight catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns, and Wayne had six catches for 90 yards. Without Rodney Harrison patrolling the open field and all those linebackers at the line of scrimmage stuffing the run, the Patriots had no options in zone coverage against Manning’s arm. All Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne had to do was run their routes and catch the ball, and both were wide open a number of times. Even tight end Ben Utecht had a couple of key catches near the end of the game.

Adam Vinatieri missed his first two field goals of the season. I don’t even know what to say about that, except that it didn’t matter in the end - and perhaps gave the New England fans something to cheer about on a night that was mostly somber for them. The dynasty may be over, but this team is still very competitive: Tom Brady is still pretty young; the defense, when Rodney Harrison is healthy, is stingy; Bill Belichick is still the best coach in the league (ask yourself how many other coaches would have gone for it on fourth down, in field goal range, down by a touchdown, in the first quarter, at home); and they have this guy called Laurence Maroney, a rookie tailback, who ran for 68 yards today and returned five Colts kicks for 139 yards.

There may not be time for a dynasty for this Colts team, but the rest of this season is looking pretty good. The toughest game left on their schedule is at Jacksonville on December 10th. Another tough game is at Dallas two weeks from today. They’re three games up on Jacksonville, plus the tiebreaker; and they’re two games up on New England and Denver, plus the tiebreaker in both situations there. Last year, the Colts locked up homefield advantage after going 13-0, and then they limped to a 1-2 record in their last three games. This year, their last two games are at Houston and home versus Miami. The other four games they have left are Buffalo, Philadelphia, at Tennessee, and Cincnnati. The aggregate record of the teams the Colts have left to play is 21-35 and only one of those teams (Jacksonville at 5-3) has a winning record. Jacksonville is also the only one of those teams that is going to the playoffs - unless Cincinnati gets a lot better in a hurry, but if they make it then Jacksonville is out. So the Colts have two potential playoff teams left, but only one team left on their schedule is actually going to go to the playoffs.

(For Shane - yeah, that Cover 2 scheme is frustrating with all the rush yards we give up. On the other hand, it also limits the vertical game, which generates points more quickly, and it also spreads out the defense to create turnovers. The Colts offense, which relies on the vertical game, scores points quickly; the Cover 2 scheme keeps our offense rested. Dungy is playing to our known weakness, the rush defense, hoping to force opponents into going vertical and making mistakes. I suspect he’s willing to give up long yards on defense because it chews up clock time. The Colts were +7 in turnovers going into New England, good enough for fifth in the league; and they have always been near the top of the league in turnover margin since Dungy brought the Cover 2 up from Tampa. I would love to see the run defense improve, but since even having a good one - as we did last year - hasn’t done the Super Bowl trick, it’s probably impressive enough that the Colts can spend the money they need to spend to keep the offense explosive and the secondary and special teams dangerous - Terrence Wilkins, even with the fumble, had a splendid day, with 175 yards on five kick returns. As I’ve said before, I think Dungy’s conservative style - taking baby steps each year to throw this or that monkey off our backs, and he inherited a team with a lot of monkeys on a lot of backs - is the one thing that really holds this team back; and yet, slowly but surely, it seems to be working. I get the feeling that this year may be different. I sense a calm, collected feeling in the players this year - which should not be confused with a lack of urgency. I don’t see fear and panic in Manning’s eyes, as I have seen in the past - and best of all, I don’t see him breaking down after mistakes; granted, he hasn’t made many, but there’s another point - Manning isn’t making mistakes, and the rest of the team is feeding off of his confidence. For the first time in a long time, I see a team that isn’t afraid to come back from a deficit because they know they can put the ball in Manning’s hands in any situation and score at will, a team that isn’t worried when one of its pistons isn’t firing, a team that is supremely confident in its ability to craft a win from any slapdash grouping of ingredients thrown before it. For the first time since I can remember, the Colts are, truly, the best team in the league. And damnit, there just aren’t any arguments. I was convinced before today that the Colts had supplanted Chicago as the best team in the league. And today, Chicago lost to Miami and the Colts beat the Patriots in Foxboro. Thanks for reading, man.)