American Football Spectacular: Indy's Race Against Themselves
When looking at the 2005 schedule of your San Francisco 49ers' season, the Week 05 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts didn't bode well. The Colts've had one of the most overwhelming offenses in league for a while now, with two problems keeping the team from earning the Lombardi Trophy: a poor defense, and a history of executing their offense with less precision when playing outside in the elements. Tony Dungy, a defensively-skilled coach, took over the Colts when they were a mess of a team with a growing nucleus of an offense. Since then, their O has blossomed into one of the most effective NFL offenses of all time, with Peyton Manning barking audibles, Edgerrin James providing versatile backfield punch, mustachioed Marvin Harrison as the primary receiving threat, and a criminally-underrated line anchored by Tarik Glenn. Glenn is local; he went to Bishop O'Dowd in Oakland, and then Cal. Much to SFist Eve's glee, (and despite totally overpaying for Manning,) Indianapolis' regime has been able to keep all the offensive key parts contracted in place as their seeds have come to fruition. A usual thing that happens once a NFL guy starts getting some good results is that he looks for more recompense, whether money or opportunity. Ricky Watters, I'm talking to you.
Here's the issue: as with anything, this offense will not be forever. Indy's challenge is to assemble personnel to run the "Cover 2" zone-based D in which Dungy excels before the offensive personnel leaves or becomes too old. Otherwise these Colts will fall into that stack of really great teams that never made it over the hump to win the big one. A "Yeah, But" team. It's known that it is unfair and ridiculous to judge a player or team by whether they collected a ring or not, yet that's how results are regarded in American Football. All you need is one big win, and your legacy is safe.
Indy hasn't gotten that big win yet, but this year -- this year -- the pieces may all be in an optimal-enough place for the Colts to go all the way. The defense is executing scary-good right now, attacking and stifling their opponents. So, with that side of the ball crackin', the current Colts are to be favored against any team in the league. Which leads us to this Sunday...
SFist Christopher Rogers, contributing
Yeah, so, this wasn't one of those games that your Niners figured to have a realistic chance of winning. We mean, yeah, Coach Nolan's first goal is to win the NFC West and that's still doable and all, but this game? No, the Niners wouldn't be winning this game. Cold adversity has come to roost at Candlestick these days. It must be faced. Most worrisome are the injuries to the secondary: CB Ahmed Plummer (ankle); CB Derrick Johnson (thigh); CB Willie Middlebrooks (groin, and you hate to see that); FS/"CB" Mike Rumph (foot). So, you've got second-year guy Shawntae Spencer and practice squad dude Bruce Thorton as starting cornerbacks. For the love of Pete, backup quarterback Cody Pickett was getting practice reps at safety! Never has AFS heard of such dire conditions for a secondary.
At the very least, we are glad for Coach Nolan's go-get-'em-ness. He's really instilled this team with a never-say-die attitude. Whereas teams under Coach Erickson would be showing a marked lack of effort in difficult scenarios, this year has been different. Yeah, we've lost most of the secondary, we'll fight you with whomever we got. Your Niners may be suiting up administrative assistants to play DB near the end of the season.
Which leads us to the first of many times this season that AFS is to feel as though "gee, we really could've used Jamie Winborn right about there." Details about that whole thing are still conflicted. We'll keep you posted as details are exhumed.
The game began, and seeing as how it was Alex Smith's first start at QB, it was very trying. On this day, the Colts didn't really have a problem with reaching Smith and forcing him to make bad decisions. He threw four interceptions, got sacked twice, and was constantly under threat, even as the Colts rarely sent more than four men to get the QB. Freeney and Mathis, the Colts' defensive ends, created havoc for Smith, often closing on him from each side like a set of evil blue pincers. The SF running game was able to find traction for the first time this year, but any team should be able to run on Indy's undersized D-line -- they're basically there to rush the QB, not clog the line of scrimmage.
On the flipside, San Francisco's defense kept the Niners within yelling distance for three quarters! Look, if you take out Indy's defensive TD, then they would have only been up 7 - 3 at the end of three! Fantastic. Even with everything the Niners had being held together by duct tape 'n baling wire, for the game to be that close in the face of an overwhelming foe speaks volumes for this young club. It was close, despite A. Smith's five turnovers, and though it broke open at the end, this game was a lot closer than we thought it would be. Next year, the Niners will match up with Indy far better. As for the Colts, this season may be their best shot yet at claiming the NFL's crown.
Next on your American Football Spectacular: Probably some college coverage, since it's likely that the Raiders' game will be blacked out on TV and all.