Published: January 13, 2008 10:44 pm            

From the Press Box: No rush, no Super Bowl repeat for Colts

INDIANAPOLIS — The first two times Marvin Harrison’s name blared over the public address system, he received some of the loudest cheers heard in the heard in the RCA Dome this season.

The prodigal son returneth. All would be right with the Indianapolis Colts. With Harrison back, the Indianapolis Colts would return to form just in time for an AFC playoff run, or so it was assumed.

It turns out the injured prodigal son who couldn’t return had a much bigger impact on the Colts’ 28-24 loss and season demise against the San Diego Chargers than the one who returned.

Mark it down. The Colts’ season didn’t turn when it lost to the New England Patriots on Nov. 4. Doubts weren’t put in Peyton Manning’s mind when the Chargers intercepted him six times on Nov. 11.

But that is the date the worm turned for the Colts. When Dwight Freeney suffered a Lisfranc injury to his left foot during the fourth quarter against the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium, hindsight can now tell us it was the pivotal moment in the Colts’ season.

The Lisfranc injury, which occurred when a Chargers’ blocker stepped on Freeney’s foot, was too severe to come back from this season, and the five-year veteran had to be put on injured reserve.

No one knew it at the time, but the Colts’ hopes were put on the shelf too.

Without Freeney, the Colts were helpless against a beat-up Chargers’ offense that got more beat up as the game went along because there was no pass rush to speak of.

The Chargers’ injuries didn’t matter. It didn’t matter whether the Chargers put Phillip Rivers, Billy Volek, Charlie Whitehurst or pulled an aged Dan Fouts out of retirement, the absence of any Colts in the Chargers’ backfield meant whoever was in command of the ‘Bolts was going to make lightning struck more than twice. Seventeen times to be exact. The Chargers completed 17 passes for 312 yards on Sunday.

The Colts had no sacks; they had nothing that came close to resembling a sack. The NFL keeps a statistic called quarterback hits and the Colts had just one of those — by Keyunta Dawson.

The lack of any pressure was especially damning against Rivers, who is mistake-prone under the gun. Instead, Rivers was able to settle into a nice groove after an early interception by Kelvin Hayden. Before Rivers was hurt, he completed 14 of 19 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns. Volek filled in and completed 3 of 4 for 48 yards.

Several of the passes were completed after Rivers and Volek were able to go through all of their reads. The Colts’ secondary can only do so much when it has to defend receivers for more than five seconds. The lack of any pressure contributed to the Chargers 6-of-10 third-down conversion rate.

“We didn’t do a good job getting those guys stopped, no question about it. There were some big third-down conversions for them,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said.

The impact of Freeney’s loss is obvious. Colts’ opponents can double-team left end Raheem Brock and/or Robert Mathis and challenge Dawson, Ed Johnson and Josh Thomas to bring the rush. They couldn’t do it and the Colts couldn’t overcome it.

Even if the Colts’ offense managed to pull out a victory, they were living on borrowed time.

With no pass rush to speak of, what would have happened next Sunday against the New England Patriots? If Rivers and Volek could slice-and-dice their way against the Colts’ defense, what would Tom Brady have done with the Patriots’ great receiving corps?

Given that the Chargers exposed the Colts, should a defensive end be the Colts’ point of emphasis on the free agent market or a draft priority? It couldn’t hurt.

When Freeney is healthy, the Colts’ line transforms into a solid unit because he draws the double-team and allows Brock and Mathis to be free. But how good could the Colts’ line be if another defensive end took double-team pressure off Freeney?

Acquiring another pass rusher is easier said than done, especially with the investment the Colts have already made at the position with Freeney’s $72-million contract. But the Colts can’t aford not to upgrade a position that was a liability in crunch time on Sunday.

Freeney, the prodigal son, will return next season. The Colts need to make sure their pass rush fortunes don’t fall solely on his shoulders.



Todd Golden is sports editor of the Tribune-Star. He can be reached at todd.golden@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4272.

        

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