The Best of the Best: The Indianapolis Colts

The Colts win because they are the epitome of what a football team should be. They’re smart, fast and highly competitive on both sides of the ball. But what do they do best? Everything!

Running

Quarterback Peyton Manning’s knee hampered him all season long. Ironically, where it hurt most was the run game. The stretch play, a long time staple of the Colts offense, wasn’t as affective early on in the season because Manning wasn’t able to stretch it out. So, with a faltering run game, Manning and the Colts were forced to pass. This opened up defenses to the shotgun draw, a play the Colts had seen used against them with great effectiveness.

With teams bearing down on Manning due to the Colts propensity to throw the ball, Manning quite often handed the ball off to Running Backs Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes in shotgun draw to fool aggressive defenders and pick up necessary yards.

With the addition of No. 1 draft pick Donald Brown look for the ground game to return to form.

Passing

With a QB like Manning, throwing the ball every down would be very tempting. Last year, it was a necessity. So, Manning and his arsenal of offensive weapons went to work. Manning threw for 4002 yards and was named the leagues MVP for a third time, tying Brett Favre.

The Colts use the screen pass, whether to Tight End Dallas Clark or to one of the backs, the Colts use this play better than anyone. Manning is a master at dinking and dunking his way down field using an assortment of tight end screens, middle screens and wide reviver screens.

From the shotgun or from under center, when the Colts need to pick up a quick gainer or a crucial first down, Manning likes to sling out a Rocket-Laser-Armed slant pass to a waiting Marvin Harrison (now retired) or Reggie Wayne. The slant pass has been a fixture of the Colts passing attack for years and nobody has connected on more slant passes (possibly besides Montana to Rice) than Manning to Harrison.

No play in the Colts play book is more affective than the crossing route. Whether it’s Harrison (who will be replaced by Anthony Gonzalez), Wayne or Clark dragging across the field, chances are Manning will find them and connect for a big gainer. The crossing pattern fits into the Colts game plan of short to mid-range passes mixed with timely runs in order to open up defenses down field for a big strike.

Despite loosing No. 88 look for more of the same in the passing game from Manning and company.

Defense

For the Colts, defense is simple. The Colts run Tony Dungy’s (now retired) Tampa Two deep zone defense. The premise of this formation is this: keep everything in front of you. This puts the onus on safeties Bob Sanders and Antoine Bethea not only to make the big play in the run game, but also to protect against the long ball. And with studs up front like Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, Sanders and the defense are quite capable of running the Tampa Two.

Resigning Ed Johnson and drafting Fili Moala and Terrance Taylor should beef up the Colts undersized D-line.

Prediction

If the Colts can overcome the emotional letdown of the devastating playoff loss to the San Diego Chargers and if the new coaching staff can mesh their personalities with Manning, the Colts will return to the Super Bowl and once again be the best of the best.