Game 1 Recap
By Staff
We’ve had 12 hours or so to digest last night’s game, right? And I, personally, am still amazed. Now, here’s a few points we fans should keep in mind going forward, as the Colts made some obvious “structural” changes to the lineup, but they also had some “maturation” points, too.
1. It was 10-10 at Halftime…2nd half stats look like this:
*Saints: 0 points, 181 total yards, 45.4 Brees pass rating, 3 turnovers.
*Colts: 31 points, 263 total yards, 157.9 Manning pass rating, 0 turnovers.
2. Jason David (last night’s Naptown’s Finest Inaugural Bitch of the Game Award Recipient) was burned 3 times for long-range TD passes. But, come on! It’s Week 1 and he’s only going to get better.
3. Marvin Harrison made some serious adjustments to his game, too. He never does these things, but he did tonight, which opened up the offense even more than ever.
*He lined up in the slot!
*He went in motion!
4. Reggie and Dallas were just on it, coming up big exactly when and where they needed to.
5. And the rest of the offense was great too, including Tony Ugoh, a rookie, covering Manning’s blind side that Manning suffered not one single sack against a very aggressive and large Saints defensive line. Ugoh was also key on several run blocks.
6. Joseph Addai had some great runs, but Kenton Keith (pic on right) coming in on key 2nd and 3rd downs did an amazing job in his NFL debut.
7. Even Shaun Salisbury – Captain Pessimist – touted the Colts D, saying, “I’ve never seen the Colts…play better defense. Heck we don’t even mention Peyton Manning’s name for the first 15 minutes! Everybody was a hat on a hat.”
*Keiaho blasted a lineman’s block for tackle Bush for a loss. He also came up big with an INT.
*Mathis chasing several ball carriers down from behind, not to mention stripping Brees and falling on the fumble.
*2006’s worst run-defense kept Bush and McAllister to just to a total of 76 yards, holding each to under 4 yards per carry!
*”And it’s proven,” Salisbury says, “with Bob Sanders No. 21 on the field, who I think is one of the five best defensive football players in the world, it’s an attitude change for [the Colts defense] and if the Colts defense becomes a constant like their offense I’ll tell you what, Patriots, Bengals, Ravens and Steelers…all you guys better take notice ’cause the Colts are for real!”
There are four teams the Colts need to watch out for this season: Chargers, Saints, Patriots and Jaguars…and they’ve already made the best team in the NFC look like a college B Squad. If they keep it up…oh, if they keep it up.