While there were some missed tackles and they didn't seal the edge on a couple of early runs, as BB said the game plan and the coaching bore some responsibility in that regard early on and then adjustments were made. Much like the Dallas game where 1 play somewhat skewered perception (albeit while only gaining 2 yards following Barber's scamper around the EZ) I think the Addai catch and run tends to skewer perception in this game too. It was a brilliant performance by Addai, who is also paid to play. Otherwise they held him to I think 113 yards on the ground (after which he was gassed in the 4th quarter) which was probably within the parameters of the game plan which was to shut Manning and his WR down. They limited Wayne (absent two PI calls) and fairly shut down Clark. And they were certainly stout in the red zone with one exception.
And when you have the capacity to score points and you win the turnover battle vs. Manning and hold the Colts to 20 in their dome with that kind of officiating, I think you had a pretty damn good day. For three quarters of the game the offense struggled more against their D than our D did against their O enabling the Colts to dominate TOP while only managing to build a 6-10 point lead. And that is a lead that should never be insurmountable with this offense, as in the end it proved not to be.
There has been lots of talk already about the rematch when the Colts have Marvin and Ugoh back and two more LB to rotate. But lots of things can change between now and then as both teams have a couple of tough (as in hard hitting) matchups remaining on their schedules. And if Pittsburgh emerges as the best of the rest there is even the possibility that these two teams don't get to a rematch since Indy would likely have to deal with them first - and we know how that went last time. Unfortunately we won't get Morris back to bolster our ground game, but there is no guarantee they will have Harrison back after several more games have passed and if they do he will never be a 100% Harrison again anyway.
I also think that while the Colts will have to play harder for 60 minutes, we will rather have to play smarter and execute better early on. And having seen their best effort D through three quarters of a regular season game, I think we will be in a position to. Particularly at home where we won't be going off a silent count which allowed the Colts DL to really get a good jump at the snap, and Tommy can use snap count and cadance to disrupt their burst and with any luck we will have OC to QB communication beyond sign language. And meanwhile Manning will be limited in his audibilizing ability by a likely frigid but well lubricated and loud 12th man.
Sorry about that.
