Now THAT'S a lot o' beef!

Photo: Colts.com

Imagine, for a moment, that you are a 230 pound linebacker. It's 3rd and goal, and you need to prevent the offense from scoring. The offense is inches from the goal line. Manning audibles. The offense adjusts. You and your d-line mates adjust with them. The ball is snapped. Manning turns to hand the ball to the running back. The o-line opens a hole and the back is coming for you. There is no blocker. Just you and the back. You are the only thing that will stop him from getting into the endzone. You know what to do. You're a pro linebacker. This is what you get paid to do. However, there's one problem: The guy running at you with the ball is not Dominic Rhodes  or Joseph Addai.

It's defensive tackle Darrell Reid (6'2'', 288 pounds o' man), and the man fully intends to run you over flat on his way to pay dirt!

Enjoy tackling that.

This is what the Colts want to do on the goal line now. Indy has never had a true fullback since Jim Finn was here in 2002. Since then, running back James Mungro has been the fullback on goal line situations. This lack of a real fullback has hurt the Colts in short yardage situations. They are addressing the issue by lining up Darrell Reid [pictured left], a 288 pound DT, and telling him to crush anyone that dares try and touch the ball carrier.

Over kill? Maybe. Long overdue? HELL YEAH!

Reid has great foot work and is quick for someone his size. He also has decent hands. In practice he caught a goal line TD pass.

The Colts have tried to address their goal line woes to no avail for many years now. They used FBs like Finn. They used James Mungro, but rather than running him off tackle they designed a shovel pass nicknamed "The Mungro Shovel" for goal line situations. Actually, The Mungro Shovel was the pass that tied Manning with Dan Marino for the single season TD record (Manning broke the record later in the game with a TD pass to Brandon Stokely). The Colts have even tried to spread the field on goal line and short yardage, putting in 3 WRs and letting the RB pick his rushing hole.

Now, it looks like the Colts are tired of getting fancy. Reid is quick and is a LOAD at 288. If he has a knack for making big blocks, he could crush opposing LBers and other would-be tacklers. Regardless, I like that the Colts are really addressing this issue with power and not finesse.

I wonder if they will use it on the Rams this Thursday?