Look, it's no secret that Scout Inc.'s Jeremy Green is a schmuck. He's especially schmucky when he writes dumb stuff like this for ESPN's AFC South "blog" while Paul Kuharsky is on vacation:
The Colts pride themselves on having a defensive front that comes off the ball quickly. They have a philosophy of playing the pass first and then worrying about the run. Even though Johnson and Muir possess very good initial quickness off the ball, you just don’t see either player making plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage against the run or the pass. Muir and Johnson would be decent backups on most teams, but they are forced to start in Indianapolis.
Look, I don't know what film Jeremy Green is watching, but the play of the defensive tackles last season was outstanding. I mean, seriously, did he even watch the playoffs?
Against the Baltimore Ravens, who had the #5 rushing offense in football in 2009, the Colts and their defensive tackles held them to 19 carries for only 87 yards with 0 touchdowns. Just the week prior, against the supposedly vaunted New England Patriots defense, the Ravens ran for 234 yards and 4 TDS!
Facing the New york Jets, who had the NFL's #1 rushing offense, Daniel Muir and company held them to 29 carries for 86 yards with 0 TDs. Again, that's the #1 ranked rushing offense stuffed for 3.3 a carry.
Finally, in Super Bowl 44, the Saints made a strong attempt early to run the ball right at the Colts with their #6 league ranked rushing offense. It failed, utterly. The Saints muttered only 51 yards on 18 carries for the entire game. The one rushing TD they scored was the only one the Colts allowed in the playoffs. Correction, Pierre Thomas' touchdown in the Super bowl was on a screen pass, not a run. Therefore, the Colts allowed zero rushing touchdowns in the playoffs, making Jeremy Green look even more inept as a football analyst.
Seriously, ESPN paid Jeremy Green to write that nonsense? With numbers like these staring him in the face, he actually thought it was intelligent to write that Daniel Muir and Antonio Johnson were the weak links on this defense? The Colts stuff the #5, the #1, and the #6 ranked rushing attacks all in a row, in the playoffs, and Green seems to think the Colts need an upgrade at defensive tackle going into 2010.
Unbelievable.
Teams will use an offensive tackle and tight end to double one side and an offensive tackle and guard to double on the other. That leaves the defensive tackle duo to win battles against the center and other guard, and the Colts’ defensive tackles are not winning that battle on a consistent basis.
Yes Jeremy. If you completely ignore the 2009 playoffs, I guess your theory holds up.
Paul Kuharsky really needs to get back from vacation, like, NOW!