| Anthony Holds. 12th August, 2009 - 10:58 am
 With over a week under his belt, new Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell seems calm, collected, and firmly in control. His entrance onto the scene as the new leader of the franchise has seemed thus far as smooth as the demeanor he shares with departed icon Tony Dungy. Given, they aren’t the same guy… Caldwell may be a little more pointed in some of his comments on the practice field, for example. But they’re similar enough that one doesn’t anticipate a huge hiccup in the team’s understanding of what’s expected and what’s at stake. Dungy didn’t hand pick his successor without good reason.
Training camp opened up for the Colts on August 2, and while there are no headline-dominating stories (as with last year when Peyton Manning was recovering from knee surgery and hidden away from the public eye during camp), there are definitely some interesting subplots to follow in the coming weeks:
Leading off, there’s the battle for the number three wide receiver position. With Reggie Wayne as the unquestioned number one, and Anthony Gonzalez stepping into the number two slot occupied last year by Colt legend and future Hall-of-Famer Marvin Harrison, there is an opportunity for someone to step in and become an integral part of the Colts’ vaunted offense. The apparent frontrunner is Pierre Garcon, a second-year wide receiver from tiny Mount Union College who showed the team enough in preseason and some limited work during the regular season in ‘08 to get some looks in the offseason this year. He has apparently impressed, and it would be surprising if he didn’t draw the start in the team’s preseason opener at Minnesota on August 14. Also in the mix are Austin Collie, the Colts’ 4th round pick out of BYU who led the nation in receiving yards and yards-per-game last year, and Roy Hall, the huge third-year Ohio State product who the Colts have been hoping will stay healthy and develop into a contributor for some time now.
The running game is another subject of great interest. Incumbent starter Joseph Addai presumably heard the message loud and clear when the Colts used their first round pick to draft Donald Brown, the nation’s leading rusher last year at Connecticut. Brown isn’t going to be making first round money to ride the pine, and his arrival is a clear statement that Addai needs to stay healthy and focused, and improve dramatically on a very disappointing 2008 in which he ran for only 544 yards and a 3.5 yard-per-carry average. If he can return to his ‘06-‘07 form, the Colts have a chance at fielding one of the most dynamic running back tandems in the league. Add Mike Hart, the promising second year grinder out of Michigan, and one has to like the way things are shaping up at the position. That’s a good thing, because the Colts’ running game went to Hell in a handbasket in ’08, finishing 31st in the league.
Addai took much of the blame for that, but many of the problems were caused by a very unsettled, injury plagued, and subpar year for the Colts normally reliable offensive line. Things on that front should improve, and could do so dramatically, this year. Howard Mudd, the stolid architect of many years of very good Colts lines, is back for one more season (he announced his pending retirement from the position on Friday morning) after a spring episode in which he and longtime Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore were forced to retire in order to avoid being financially tripped up by a loophole in the NFL’s pension plan. They have both returned as “consultants”, but will, it appears, be doing the jobs they’ve always done with the team. Ryan Lilja, the starting left guard since 2004, is back after a lost season in 2008. Multiple knee surgeries kept him out for the whole year, but he is back in camp working with the starting unit and saying he’s feeling good. Mike Pollak, the right guard, is another year older and more seasoned. Tony Ugoh (left tackle), Jeff Saturday (center), and Ryan Diem (right tackle) are all healthy and ready to go. Charlie Johnson and Jamey Richard, among others, provide solid depth along the line. So it would seem that, barring a rash of preseason injuries, a much more business-as-usual start to 2009 could be in the cards for the Colts’ front five.
On defense, the two primary issues are the arrival of new defensive coordinator Larry Coyer and an effort underway to make a significant upgrade at defensive tackle. Coyer comes to the Colts with many years of experience under his belt, and acted last season as the assistant head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Colts will still play from their base Cover 2 scheme, but Coyer plans to shake things up a bit by making the squad more unpredictable, introducing some blitz packages the likes of which Colts fans haven’t seen since before the arrival of Dungy in 2002. He’ll also be trying to shore up an interior run defense that has been a recurring problem for the team the last several seasons. It gets better and worse, but a glaring lack of prototypical size along the defensive line has allowed opponents to consistently generate gashing runs and run up their time of possession. This, of course, is unacceptable in that it keeps the ball out of the hands of the Colts’ bread-and-butter: Peyton Manning and the offense. Bill Polian acted aggressively to remedy this shortcoming in the offseason, targeting bigger defensive tackles who still bring the quickness and athleticism necessary to play in the Colts’ scheme. Second round draft pick Fili Moala, a 303-pound Tongan out of USC, will figure prominently in the rotation this year, as may fourth rounder Terrance Taylor, a 319-pounder out of Michigan. Perhaps most importantly, Ed Johnson, who started 18 consecutive games for the Colts at defensive tackle before being kicked off the team last year for disciplinary reasons, is back in the fold and currently penciled into the starting lineup. He weighs in at 296. So bulk is back, and the tackle rotation should be nice and deep. So deep, in fact, that it’s allowed the Colts to move Keyunta Dawson, a two-year contributor at defensive tackle who’s sorely undersized for the position (265 pounds) to defensive end, where he makes for one of the better four man DE groupings in the league. He and Raheem Brock will spell starting ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis on the outside.
How these issues on offense and defense play out will tell a great deal about what kind of season 2009 ends up being for the Indianapolis Colts. The four preseason games will weigh heavily toward the personnel decisions to be made, and should make for interesting viewing. As for Coach Caldwell, no real analysis will be possible until the bullets start flying on September 14. But one thing is for sure – his inaugural camp with the team is starting off on a much more stable and tranquil footing than last year’s edition. Colts fans can only hope the honeymoon lasts. |
