Comeback only highlights Colts’ woes
The Colts overcame a 17-point deficit in the final minutes against the Texans,despite Sage Rosenfels’s attempt to be Superman. (Dave Einsel/Associated Press)
By JUDY BATTISTA
The New York Times
(Oct. 6) — It may be just as well that a cable company dispute kept many Indianapolis Colts fans from seeing Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans. Who knows how many fainting spells were averted. It took rabbit ears to witness the Colts’ season teetering on the brink — inching, inching, inching toward disaster — only to be hauled back to mere frustration by a furious 130-second, 3-touchdown rush.
The 31-27 victory by the Colts was the first in N.F.L. history in which a team had come from 17 points down in the final five minutes to win in regulation. And it might have saved their season, at least for another week. But all is clearly not right for the Colts, who were expected to contend for the American Football Conference title.
The Colts are 2-2, but they needed two nail-biting victories to avoid an 0-4 start, and their defense is a mess. They blew a 10-point lead against the Texans. With safety Bob Sanders out with a high ankle sprain for perhaps another month, the Colts are dead last in run defense, allowing 188.5 yards a game. But Sanders’s injury cannot be blamed for all the Colts’ problems; they were not stopping the run even when he played in the first two games.
The Colts seemed slower to the ball, bad news in a defense that is predicated on lots of fast people converging on the ball carrier. The passing defense had not done much until those final minutes, when it forced two fumbles to win the game; before that, it had recorded no interceptions and only four sacks all season. (In Houston, the two fumbles by the Texans backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels might have averted a full-blown quarterback controversy with the starter Matt Schaub for at least a week.)
“I told the team in the locker room that this can be a season saver if we take this passion and energy and emotion that we played with in the last four minutes and play with that all 60 minutes,” Coach Tony Dungy said.
Dungy used the word lethargic to describe the first month. Two seasons ago, when the Colts won the Super Bowl, they had a defensive stretch like this when Sanders was injured. But the offense bailed them out then. The problem this season is that the offense, a stalwart since the minute Peyton Manning came to town, does not look as crisp as usual.
The offensive line is struggling. Manning, who did not play or practice in the preseason because he was recovering from knee surgery, has clearly not regained his pinpoint timing with receiver Marvin Harrison, who missed most of last season with his own knee injury. On Sunday, Manning underthrew a wide-open Reggie Wayne.
The schedule does not do the Colts many favors. Two of their next three games are against Baltimore and Tennessee, which are playing fabulous defense. Then come the Patriots on Nov. 2, albeit without Tom Brady. For the last few years, this game has gone a long way in determining home-field advantage in the playoffs.
This year, it may answer a once-unthinkable question: Which team is in bigger trouble?
Teams Are Holding Tight
Was that the same Arizona Cardinals team Sunday? The team that was blown out, 56-35, by the Jets on Sept. 28 blew out the previously undefeated Buffalo Bills, 41-17.
How can a team look so different in just seven days? Easy. The Cardinals committed no turnovers against the Bills, after turning the ball over seven times against the Jets. Coaches always preach about protecting the ball, and the Cardinals provided an obvious case study.
The Cardinals’ turnovers led to 20 points for the Jets, and on Sunday, the Cardinals scored 17 points off Bills turnovers, a 37-point swing in one week. The good news for the Cardinals is that they play in the National Football Conference West — the National League West of football — in which even a 3-2 record after an uneven month of play is enough for first place.
The seven-turnover game was an aberration in a league that is protecting the ball better than ever. Through Sunday’s games, the N.F.L. is averaging only three turnovers a game (219 total turnovers through 73 games). If that holds up, it would be the lowest average since 1933.
Six of the eight division leaders have either a positive or even turnover differential. And two of the biggest surprises in the N.F.L. — the undefeated Tennessee Titans and the one-loss Washington Redskins — are tied for the league lead with a plus-6 turnover differential. The Redskins have had only one turnover this season, a fumble.
An End to Violent Hits
Arizona safety Adrian Wilson could be hearing from the league office this week after one of his hits knocked Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards from Sunday’s game with a concussion. The league has already determined that it was not a helmet-to-helmet hit, but because Wilson drove Edwards into the ground, the play will be reviewed.
If the league determines the hit was excessive, Wilson may be fined, the latest player on the receiving end of the league’s crackdown for violating a rule that says a defensive player must not unnecessarily throw a quarterback to the ground or land on top of him.
Ray Anderson, the league’s executive vice president for football operations, said that a series of excessively aggressive hits during the first two years of Commissioner Roger Goodell’s tenure caught the league’s attention. According to a study by the league office, from the 2002 season until the start of this season, only two players were suspended for on-the-field dirty play: Albert Haynesworth, for his infamous face-stomp of an opposing player; and Roy Williams, for three horse-collar tackles in the same season.
“We weren’t holding players or clubs accountable,” Anderson said. “We don’t want players out an extended period of time with concussions or other career-changing or life-threatening injuries because we weren’t hard enough.”
Before a penalty is levied, a replay of the hit is viewed repeatedly, often in slow motion. Early in his career, Anderson was an agent for the firm that represented Darryl Stingley, the Patriots receiver who was paralyzed by a vicious hit from Jack Tatum of the Raiders in 1978. (Stingley died in 2007.)
That hit, in part, prompted the N.F.L. to adopt rules curtailing aggressive hits. Thirty years later, the league is becoming serious about enforcing them.
“Change doesn’t always come overnight,” Anderson said. “If the end result is that players and clubs change their behavior, then that will be good. Hopefully we’ll have fewer Anquan Boldin-type hits. And we’ll hopefully never see a Darryl Stingley again in our lifetimes.”
Detroit Still a Disaster
Detroit fans probably did not think the Lions’ situation could become any worse after the team fired Matt Millen. Wrong.
The Lions’ 34-7 loss Sunday to the Bears should count on Millen’s record as team president. The Bears did not have Nathan Vasher in the secondary or Tommie Harris to provide pressure, and they entered the game ranked 28th against the pass.
Presumably, the Lions would have been energized by the dawn of a new era — at home, too. No. They trailed by 31 points in the third quarter. They benched Jon Kitna (remember when he seemed like one of Millen’s few master strokes?) and replaced him with Dan Orlovsky. The Lions are giving up almost 37 points a game which is an indictment of Rod Marinelli, their defensive-minded coach, who on Sunday had to answer questions about whether he thought he would be fired, too.
He probably will be, assuming the housecleaning continues after the season. Nothing is assured, though. The team owner, William Clay Ford Sr., gave Millen extensions, after all, and he has not spoken publicly about his intentions. In the meantime, Millen received one gift when he was fired: he does not have to watch this anymore.