Whitlock on Indy's Vulnerabilities

[dchyde]

Okay, admittedly, Jason Whitlock can be a tool, but maybe he's on to something here. I especially like the part about creating running lanes -- Rudi, unlike Dillon -- won't be "gimping around on a bum ankle." What do you guys make of this:

"The Colts' 40-21 romp over the New England Patriots proved to me that Indy, the best team in the league, is still vulnerable.

Fact: The Patriots, playing a rookie left tackle, made Dwight Freeney disappear. Nick Kaczur, with some help from his teammates, pitched a shutout. Not only was Freeney's name missing from the postgame stat book, but he was also a virtual nonfactor.

Fact: If not for gimping around on a bum ankle, Corey Dillon would've run wild on the Colts. New England's line created running lanes that Dillon just couldn't get to because he was hobbled.

Fact: And this is most important -- the one time the Patriots got some legit pass-rush pressure on Peyton Manning, the Human Highlight Film (Manning is the Dominique Wilkins of football, all stats and no rings) lobbed a foolish pass over the middle of the field and linebacker Mike Vrabel picked it off.

Again, there's no question the Colts are the best team in football, but I'm not sure they can beat a healthy New England team in the playoffs."

[andybren]

Okay, admittedly, Jason Whitlock can be a tool, but maybe he's on to something here. I especially like the part about creating running lanes -- Rudi, unlike Dillon -- won't be "gimping around on a bum ankle." What do you guys make of this:

"The Colts' 40-21 romp over the New England Patriots proved to me that Indy, the best team in the league, is still vulnerable.

Fact: The Patriots, playing a rookie left tackle, made Dwight Freeney disappear. Nick Kaczur, with some help from his teammates, pitched a shutout. Not only was Freeney's name missing from the postgame stat book, but he was also a virtual nonfactor.

Fact: If not for gimping around on a bum ankle, Corey Dillon would've run wild on the Colts. New England's line created running lanes that Dillon just couldn't get to because he was hobbled.

Fact: And this is most important -- the one time the Patriots got some legit pass-rush pressure on Peyton Manning, the Human Highlight Film (Manning is the Dominique Wilkins of football, all stats and no rings) lobbed a foolish pass over the middle of the field and linebacker Mike Vrabel picked it off.

Again, there's no question the Colts are the best team in football, but I'm not sure they can beat a healthy New England team in the playoffs."

Is there a link?

[dchyde]

Yup, here it is: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...whitlock/051110

[derekshank]

Well said. After that first NE drive, and the Peyton Manning INT, I thought that NE would pull it off again. Sadly, their Defense simply was not up to the task... but NE made Indy's defense both passing and rushing look vulnerable several times in the game.

NE is not a bad offense... actually pretty good, but had injuries as key positions. We will be healthy, and are more explosive than they are every day of the week...

I'm not convinced we will win... because Indy is very good... but they still looked vulnerable even in their most impressive game of the year. We definetly have the perfect situation for the upset.

[andybren]

Here's why I asked for the link:

3. Best team no one is talking about: Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jags own victories over Seattle, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

That's the closest we'll get to a compliment from Whitlock --- implying that a win over the Bengals is worth mentioning.

[bengalboomer7]

If you wanna get real pissed, read the newest john Clayton story. I think Joisey atarted a thread(yes I'm a mod, but I'm a really lazy one) Basically talks about how easy the bengals schedule is and theat Pitt will win the division. fails to mention they have the same DAMN schedule. Can't tell he's from Pittsburgh

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Gimpy schmimpy, Dillon did just fine and looked like always does last week - a tad slow a-foot but effective over-all. That's just an excuse for the media darling Patsies.

The Freeney-Jones matchup scares me to death.

The Colts went up there and handed NE their a$$es. No excuses for NE, tired of hearing how banged up there are even with Bruschi back.

The Colts are the best team in the league next to the Steelers for now.

The Bengals are right in there with the Falcons, Panthers, Giants, Jaguars, Seahawks and Chiefs IMO (with the Cowboys and Redskins not far behind).

[HoosierCat]

The Colts are the best team in the league next to the Steelers for now.

The Bengals are right in there with the Falcons, Panthers, Giants, Jaguars, Seahawks and Chiefs IMO (with the Cowboys and Redskins not far behind).

Oh, I don't know, that seems a bit extreme to me. In terms of total offense, for instance, we're pretty much neck-and-neck.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/OFF-...ar?sort_col_1=4

They've been a bit better at scoring but the difference remains less than a TD…

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/OFF-..._1=3&_3:col_2=4

Defensively, the Bengals are giving up only about 30 more yards a game than the Colts; both D's are virtually identical in TOP and third down stops. The only real advantage for the Colts that jumps out is that they've had a lot fewer penalties, and the Bengals have seemed to have solved their penalty issue.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-...ar?sort_col_1=4

And in terms of scoring D…well, they're 1, we're 3 and the difference is less than a FG.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-...NG/2005/regular

And we kick their ass defensively on TO's…

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-..._1=3&_3:col_2=9

No doubt Indy is a good team. And no doubt they may beat the Bengals. But IMHO they aren't leaps and bounds better than us. This game could go either way.

[jrandom42]

The Freeney-Jones matchup scares me to death.

It shouldn't. Levi did play well against Freeney when they met as rookies on Oct 6 2002. Freeney got a sack, but then disappeared for the rest of the game.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

I didn't want to imply the Bengals are that much worse than the Colts. Had some things gone differently early on against the Steelers - it might've been different...or vs the Jags.

But despite things being close statistically, the Colts have won those tough games and the Bengals' haven't.

Just hope the defense here gets better like it did last year, and the last two weeks aren't an abberation.

The Colts will be ripe for the pickins, but that's a team on a mission. I don't see the veteran confidence in the Bengals' - they are awfully young for this kind of match-up later in the season.

[HoosierCat]

Agan, I don't know that the Colts have won any tough games, with the possible exception of Jax. Like the Bengals, they've been blessed with a powder puff sked: Balti, Cleveland, Houston, San Fran, Tenn. And it's worth noting that they barely scraped by Cleveland. What I will give you is that, where the Bengals started out the season blowing out the other guys, but have recently struggled more on offense, the Colts struggled more early and have come on as of late. But IMHO the sked has played a role there too.