A week ago you wouldn't have paid a quarter for the Indianapolis Colts' defense. It wasn't simply bad, it was awful — the worst in the NFL statistically and quite possibly the worst of any playoff team in years and years. So, it's a stone-cold stunner that the same Colts defense, the one we all figured would undermine Peyton Manning's brilliance, has led Indianapolis to the AFC championship game.
The Colts out-Ravened the Ravens on Saturday in a game short on artistic impression but long on defense, field goals and old-fashioned playoff tension. And the story for Indy a second consecutive week is the Colts' defense. On a day when Manning completed only 50 percent of his attempts, was held to fewer than 200 yards passing and tossed two interceptions without a touchdown, the Colts' defense outperformed the Ravens' defense, which was only the No. 1 defense in the NFL this season.
If somebody had told you at noon that Manning would finish the evening with a passer rating of 39.6, the temptation would have been to find a betting parlor as soon as possible. But as hard as the Baltimore defense was on the Colts, the Indy defense was just as unyielding against the Ravens.
Last week, in the wild-card round of the playoffs, the Colts held Kansas City's Larry Johnson, the NFL's second-leading rusher, to 32 yards on 13 carries. This week, playing in a contentious and even bitter environment, the Colts' defense held the Ravens to a pair of rather lengthy field goals, and forced Steve McNair into two huge interceptions, including one at the 1-yard line.
It's as unlikely a flip-the-script as you're likely to find in playoff football. "We told our defense [they] had to keep it close, keep us in position," Colts Coach Tony Dungy said. "It was throwback game for us. . . . We went old school."
By "we" Dungy meant he and the coaches who were with him in Tampa where a signature Buccaneers victory was 15-6, just like Saturday. Asked how in the world a defense could go from sad sack to dominant for the playoffs, Dungy said: "Things weren't always as bad as they looked. We knew we had some people coming back [from injuries]. We knew what the problems were."
Dungy and his defensive coordinator, Ron Meeks, talked afterward about defenders finally being in the right position, about streamlining certain things to allow players to be assertive after being hesitant during the regular season, about pushing ball carriers and pass catchers back toward other defenders when tackles were missed. But it was defensive end Dwight Freeney who offered what sounded like the best analysis of this 180-degree switcheroo the Indy defense has had.
"Defense," Freeney said, "is about attitude, especially in the playoffs, which is more about attitude. We couldn't for one second concern ourselves with statistics and trends and league rankings. I understand the media having to use those stats to try and anticipate or analyze. But there's no way we could do that. It's a good lesson in how you can use negativity as motivation. I think Coach Meeks did a great job . . . he's one of those guys who helped motivate us that way."
In previous years, Meeks has been an assistant who has interviewed for head coaching jobs. "I knew," he said, "we had played nowhere near our capability, nor with the energy and sense of urgency I believed we had in us. So, there was criticism and rightfully so. . . . Nobody wants to hear that you've got guys out injured. People just expect you to put a product on the field. And that's my job, to get that product working. . . . But throughout it all, Tony was great. He just allowed me to keep doing my thing."
Asked how Meeks and the defense had been able to withstand the criticism, even ridicule, over most of the season, Colts President Bill Polian said, "They listen to one voice."
He was referring, of course, to Dungy's voice, which is almost certainly the calmest but surest voice you'll hear just about anywhere in professional sports. No matter how great the disappointment or the tendency to panic, Dungy has been unwavering. When it was suggested that the Colts have been better off relinquishing the role of favorite to San Diego or the Patriots or Ravens, Dungy called it nonsense.
"In training camp," he said, "we said our goals were to win our division, make the playoffs and go to the Super Bowl. We said the same thing at 9-0, the same thing when we lost three of four. We didn't lower our expectations — even though others might have."
Even so, if the Indianapolis defense is going to play like this, either at home against the Patriots or on the road against San Diego in the AFC championship game next week, there's no reason to believe the Colts can't get to the Super Bowl and even win it. Nobody in his right mind would have believed the Colts would win consecutive playoff games, particularly this one in Baltimore, with Manning nowhere near his best.
Bob Sanders, the third-year safety, might stand only 5 feet 8, but he plays like a monster. He missed 12 of 16 games because of injury and it seemed like the Colts were making excuses when he wasn't on the field. But as Meeks said, one player can indeed make that big a difference if it means everybody else on the field does only his own job and doesn't try to make up for a missing teammate and therefore do more than he should.
The skeptics will probably say that Brian Billick helped out the Colts' D with less-than-inspired play-calling. But the fact is, the Colts put more pressure on McNair than the Ravens did on Manning, which in and of itself is noteworthy. Cornerback Nick Harper and safety Antoine Bethea, perhaps because Sanders was anchoring the back line, made intelligent plays to come up with interceptions.
Don't get me wrong, the Ravens had a half-dozen narrow misses, including two interceptions that should have been, which could have reversed the result. But nothing that happened during the season, certainly not in the second half, suggested the Colts' defense could keep the game close if Manning wasn't on fire. It's impressive not only that Dungy and Meeks could in such a short time get the defense to play better, but could convince them their side of the ball — not the vaunted offense — had to and could control a playoff game.
Not that the Ravens' D didn't play extremely well, but they ran their mouths once again about putting a hurt on somebody, only to have their own feelings hurt and their season shut down. Now, they'll have to live the entire offseason knowing they were outperformed on their own field by another defense, one thought to be utterly inferior. It's Freeney and Sanders and Harper who will lead the Colts into the AFC championship game next week, not as a one-dimensional team, not even in the context of this postseason as Peyton Manning's team. One more defensive performance like the first two, and they'll be fitting the Indianapolis Colts for rings.
