Teams The Eagles Don't Play: Indianapolis Colts

The team of destiny; or at least the team of the right place, right time.

The Colts have everything going for them this year. The offense is as potent as ever. The defense is the best the Colts have fielded in recent history. The schedule is cream puff. Their nemesis has been struck low by departures, retiring players, and an ungodly amount of injuries. The Super Bowl is in a dome. Have the stars aligned for the Colts or what?

Fortune favors the bold, and the Colts management has quietly been mading a number of bold moves that culminated in an interesting offseason. The first moves were locking up their franchise QB, then bringing in the defense minded Tony Dungy. Interesting theory, the offense would be dominant no matter who the coach is, so bring in a coach who could mold talent from the draft into a competitive unit. In the salary cap era, the Ravens proved that one dominating unit plus one efficient unit, add decent special teams, and there's your Super Bowl recipe. Only problem for the Colts: the New England Patriots defied the logic of the salary cap era and became the dynasty every pigskin wonk said was impossible in the current football climate.

The Colts have been patient, though. They took their shots at the Pats (and came up noteably short). They've waited for the D to gel. They've kept the offense together, even developed new weapons like Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokely to take the pressure off the big three. And this season, with the Pats seemingly reeling from so many key loses, the Colts moved all-in. They gave Marvin Harrison well deserved money. They added a legit Pro-Bowler in Corey Simon to shore up the middle of the line, and take pressure off their speed rushing ends. They franchised Edge, keeping all the pieces together for one big run.

Something unforessen happened this offseason, something I don't think even the Colts' front office took into account. The D finally became the unit they hoped Tony Dungy could make. A new dimension has emerged in the Colts' D, one I hadn't condered until I saw the Colts physically dominate the Steelers this Monday night: the Colts' D has a physical, hard edge nobody has seen from the Colts before. Bob Sanders has emerged as a brick-laying safety. His 70 tackles are only bettered by Adrian Wilson, Lawyer Malloy, and the underrated Chris Hope. Two of those guys spend their time chasing WRs their corners forgot to cover.

The other guy who suprised me in the Pittsburgh blowout was Dwight Freeny. Freeny came out of Syracuse with the rep of a very talented speed rusher who would get tossed around by big NFL tackles. He's listed now at about 270 lbs, a repectable size for an NFL DE. Monday, he ran over Marvel Smith. Repeatedly. Straight bull rushed the guy, knocked him over a couple times. It was so bad Bill Cowher pulled Smith for Trai Essex, who then got run over by Freeny. Repeatedly. Freeny is on pace for 10 sacks, the lowest total of his career, but he is argueably a more complete defensive player on a more complete defensive unit.

I didn't believe the Colts' D was for real. They played nobody the first seven weeks, then gave up 21 to NE and 37 to CIN. But in the dome, the Colts crushed the Steelers. They were faster and made more plays, but they were tougher than the Steelers. If I were a fortune teller, that alone might be the brightest of those stars that are all comming together for the Indy Colts.

Bad News is Good News

OK, that's an exageration, and the silver lining is paper thin, but today's game might reveal the shape of the Eagle's future in two ways:
1) If they lose, they'll be losing alot from here through the end of the season. That's bad news to season ticket holders, not so bad to people looking to next season. Remember the goal for this team is to win a Super Bowl. That's obviously not happening this season, but that does not mean the window is entirely shut. Eagles fans can expect a revitalized squad in 2006, liberated from the TO mess and renewed in their determination to prove they are a championship caliber team. The pride of the defense and Donovan McNabb requires no less.
The other pluses to losing out (I can't believe I have to write this, but here we are) are draft position and schedule. A pick in the top 12 could net either a stud at any position or a starter quality player at a need position. And there are now plenty of those: DE, T, WR, OLB, G, S, FB. The draft is a story for another day, though.
2) Today's story is the left side of the offensive line. With Tra Thomas and Artis Hicks out, the Eagles wil start two guys with little experience: at tackle 4th round pick Todd Herremans and at guard two year "vet" Adrien Clarke. With John Runyan's contract expiring at the end of the season, and Artis Hicks getting knocked around by DTs all year, these two will have a chance to make an impression on the coaches and enter next year with a shot at a starters job. If either can play at this level, that would be tremendous news for the Eagles. The offensive line is set for big time transition in the next couple seasons. Tra and Runyan will be phased out and Shaun Andrews should move to tackle. That leaves two or three spots to fill. If either Herremans or Clarke shows the accumen to fill one of those holes, that's money and draft picks saved for the future, or for one of those other holes listed in #1.
If they can't Mike McMahon may not make it out of 2005.