I was at the game on Sunday, and it was the first time I had witnessed a Colts loss in person since Jim Mora was head coach. It was very sad. First, I want to say that the pass interference was bogus, but that isn’t why we lost the game. Having the ball for 18 minutes is what killed us. However, losing by two when the offense barely sees the field in the second half really shows how good this offense is. The defense can’t do anything without Bob Sanders, and that is sad. We need someone to step up. Here are three ways to make the 2008 defense look more like the 2007 unit than the 2006 unit.
1. Bench Clint Session: Do not let this man see the field as the strongside linebacker. He is a weakside linebacker and is out of position. He is being exploited for his bad tackling and poor play reading. Draws killed this team, and Session was a main reason why. He bid on everyone. I could see the draw coming, but apparently he couldn’t. Start Philip Wheeler in his place or sign Rob Morris. Session looks like Gilbert Gardner, the worst starter in the history of the Dungy-era Colts.
2. Forget about the pass defense: 8 men in the box every play, even if it is third and long. The next two QBs we face are Matt Schaub and Joe Flacco. I’m not scared of them. Sadly, I’m scared of Steve Slaton and LeRon McClain. If we can stop the run, then we can put seven men in the box. For now, put Bullitt in the box and have multiple spies on the running back. We would have won this game if we could have stopped the draw play. Sadly, we didn’t.
3. Make a Booger-esque trade: Free agency is all dried up, and we need to make a move. We have our second and third round draft picks. I think we could get a SAM linebacker from a Tampa 2 team. The teams that fit our style would be Chicago, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Kansas City. Looking at their rosters and stats, and a player like Demmorio Williams from Kansas City or Ryan Nece from Detroit might do the trick, but there aren’t too many options. We need a new SAM though. I support signing Rob Morris, but I don’t know if that’s happening. If we don’t sign Morris, a trade has to go down.
4. Run the ball: The stretch is back and better than ever. It looks like that is why we couldn’t run. That and the fact that Jeff Saturday wasn’t playing. But with Saturday and the stretch back, Addai is looking great again. Now we have to run the ball. Put in Rhodes and Hart to keep all the backs fresh. We lost because we couldn’t get the Jags offense off of the field. We need to keep our offense on the field if we want to win.
These four changes could get the Colts winning again. Some of these may not happen, but if they do, expect to see the Colts playing in February.