Notes From Week 2
September 23rd, 2009 | by brooksbusch |The Colts are off to a 2-0 start this year, and after an impressive win in Miami it looks like the Colts are going to be able to survive the loss of Tony Dungy and Marvin Harrison better than expected. Coming off a respectable win against the divisional rival Jaguars, the Colts took on the Miami Dolphins in front of the entire nation. After a hard fought and thrilling game, the Colts came out victorious. With the win coming in classic Colts style, Manning was able to lead the Colts down the field for the game winning score.
Although the Colts are off to a hot start at 2-0, the defense is, once again, proving to be an enormous question mark surrounding this team. After struggling to stop Jacksonville’s running attack in week 1, week 2 against the Dolphins proved to be even tougher for the Colts defense, who surrendered 239 rushing yards Monday night. The wildcat formation used by the Dolphins gave the Colts’ defense fits, and the defensive line simply got man-handled. After adding both depth and bulk to the defensive tackle positions it seemed like the Colts may have finally addressed their run defense problems this offseason. However, Monday night showed that there are still problems along the line that must be fixed.
Along with the defensive line struggles, it seems Larry Coyer also struggled to make the right adjustments against the Dolphins’ wildcat. If you look at the blueprint for how defenses have had success in the past stopping the Dolphins’ wildcat, Coyer did the opposite of that blueprint. Instead of blitzing and clogging the line of scrimmage with as many men as possible, the Colts had the defensive line stunt and twist, while their linebackers sat back and waited for the runner. This allowed for the Dolphins to run right at the Colts and simply overwhelm them.
However, a win is a win, and the emergence of young players, such as, Pierre Garcon and Donald Brown was great to see. The Colts were also able to learn a lot about themselves, and hopefully they can improve and focus on key areas of their team that became exposed.
Official Colts Site Postgame: colts.com
