The New In-"DEE" Colts

By Jake Brown

If you would’ve told me a year ago that the Indianapolis Colts would be undefeated through three games with only two touchdown passes by Peyton Manning I would have laughed at you. But here we are, three weeks into the season, and that is exactly what has happened.

The defense Indianapolis has featured over the past few seasons certainly has not been Super Bowl caliber, to say the least. If it weren’t for Manning and his offensive mates, the Colts defense would have held them out of the playoffs. But this year is a different story. Dwight Freeney and company have established themselves as a defense to be recokoned with, or have they?

Let’s have a look at Indy’s opponents so far: Baltimore, Jacksonville and Cleveland. Call me crazy but none of those offenses exactly strike fear in me. Baltimore is a run-first, pass only when we have to offense that has struggled to score points in recent memory. Jacksonville has a good young quarterback in Byron Leftwich, but that’s about it. The Cleveland Browns, while improved over last season, are not going to put the fear of God in a defense with Trent Dilfer under center.

I will be much more convinced about this “improved” defense when they play a more high powered offense, like Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati or New England. So the defense has been impressive, but I’m not convinced until they show me they can shut down an offense capable of putting up some points.

So until that time comes, they had better figure out the offense. Peyton and company have been woefully inept at putting the ball into the endzone even by Ravens standards. Their 47 points scored ranks third in their own division, behind the Jaguars and the Titans. So I guess it’s a good thing the defense has been good, or they may have found themselves on the wrong side of the win-loss column.

They have played a couple of good defenses (Baltimore and Jacksonville), but 13 points at home against the Browns, you must be kidding me. That’s really bad, and nobody knows that better than Manning and his record breaking band of receivers. It is possible that defenses have figured them out; it is also possible that the departure of tight end Marcus Pollard and the injury to tight end Dallas Clark have hurt the offense more than anyone suspected.

I’m convinced that the Colts offense will come around, and still not convinced that the defense is as good as everyone has been playing it up to be. So until they can prove that to me, the AFC title still goes through the defending champion New England Patriots, who reasserted their dominance with a victory over Pittsburgh this weekend.

Besides, if everyone else in the league has “figured out” the Indianapolis offense, can you imagine what Bill Belichick will be able to do when he gets a chance at making Manning’s life a living hell again? If Manning can’t put up points against the Browns, there is no reason for me to believe he will be able to do so against the Patriots.

So for those reasons the Colts still have a long way to go if they want to play in Detroit at the end of this season. They not only have to prove they can beat other perennial AFC heavy weights, but they also have to go through a team that is less than two hours away down I-74, the Cincinnati Bengals.