I blame the right side of the line, which was just horrible down the stretch. Nobody was complaining about him dancing in the backfield when he was getting his 1000 yard seasons. That’s because the stretch play worked with a healthy Peyton and a good O-line. I think he could have a bounce back year next year.

If I remember right, there were doubts about Addai in the draft. He wasn’t a workhorse in college, and was considered injury prone. All that was borne out this season. It seems like he ‘s become a lot more hesitant to hit holes head on, and now everything is catching up with him. He still runs like a deer in space, but I don’t see him as a dependable, durable back. It was painful watching Edge on Saturday, remembering that balance and power, the way he uses tacklers for leverage and just seems to slide through for extra yards. Polian actually knocked Edge when he left, saying that Addai might be able to turn a nine yard gain into twenty. How’s that working out? I love Addai, but the Colts need a monster, not a ballerina in pads. Hart, maybe.

Running backs don’t just fall off the way he did without some exterior circumstances influencing his performance. If he gets healthy and the line gets healthy, there’s no reason to give up on him yet.

That said, I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to picking up another running back (depending on what happens with Rhodes and Hart) but only because I think all of the elite teams have shown that you can never have too many running backs.

Does anyone gave access to how many screen passes were thrown to Addai this year? He has always been excellent on screens, but this season very few were called for him. Is that right?

I really like him, but as people keep saying he dances to much. Im giving up on him and think that improvements along the o-line and a healthy Hart (no pun intended) with a three man running back rotation would do Addai good. I still feel like he is getting to many carries and their isnt enough back rotation. A steady dose of three different backs will do Addai good and the running game. If we bring Edge back, Addai will get some face to face work with him instead of just phone calls to help him, which should improve Addai’s gane.

You know Dom was the healthier of the two and statistically were almost exactly the same right? Addai had a hamstring and a shoulder injury, both of which are terrible for RBs. I’d say he was about 60-70 for the majority of the year. That means a 60-70 Addai is about the same as a 80-100 Dom so I wouldn’t be ready to throw Joe under the bus.

I’d like to see the Colts run more of a zone run blocking scheme like Houston just switched to. Not all the time, but I believe we’re too predictable when it comes to rushing. And that scheme is great for “ballerinas” and receiving backs.

And don’t forget we lost a couple of our TEs and we all saw Gijon’s blocking skills. If you lose TEs on the strong side stretch plays are definitely not going to work.

But regardless of what we do you’re all right. We HAVE to fix the running game. Every defensive scheme has been used to try to stop Peyton hasn’t worked. But this year they found out that if they key on the run we’re vulnerable.

As long as three things happen:

1. we find ourselves a beefy bruiser as peytonsthebest suggests (Brandon Jacobs anyone?)
2. we shore up the O-line and learn those boys to run-block
3. Joe focuses more on running north than on dancing east-west (though some dancing is ok if he actually turns upfield afterward)

I’m a big Ward fan. He doesn’t get that much attention behind Jacobs, but he could easily be a Pro Bowl potential player.