Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

I'm not one who buys into the media annointed dominant Indy defense. I do think they are clearly playing better, but here's some numbers from their two playoff opponents:

KC
16th in the league in total offense at 321.4 yards per game
22nd in passing with 187 ypg.
9th in rushing with 133.9 ypg (lower than I thought but still good)
15th with 20.7 points per game

Baltimore
17th in total offense at 317 ypg.
11th in passing with 214 ypg
25th in rushing with 102 ypg.
12th in scoring with 22.1 pts per game

On the whole, these are two AVERAGE offenses. While KC is good running the ball, they are in the bottom 3rd in passing. Baltimore is 11th in passing but near the bottom in rushing yards per game. Oh, and by the way, Bob Sanders played in the first game this year.

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

NEM, that proves my point even more. These aren't impressive offensive teams in terms of numbers and coaching.

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

For comparison :

New England
11th in total offense with 336 YPG
12th in passing with 213 YPG
12th in rushing with 123 YPG
7th in points with 24.1 PPG.

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

This thread sums up what I've been thinking.
While the Indy D is certainly playing better than they did all season. I'm not ready to crown them just yet.
Why did'nt Herm give the ball to Johnson more?
I think we all would agree that the Pats O is significantly better then that of the Chiefs or Ravens. Maybe this is a game where the Pats run game really gets going. We can only hope.

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

If anything he should have given the ball to Johnson less, at least in the beginning.

He could have gone back to Johnson after getting Indy to stop crowding the middle of the field with a few PAPs.

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

In all fairness, I did'nt watch that game THAT closely, I just heard all week how they were gonna have a hard time with Johnson.
And then - nothing.
Either way, I like our O against their D. (I'm a homer).

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

Thats what I thought too. Johnson looked flat and like he didnt even care to be there.

That KC vs INDY game was one painful affair to watch. Did you see those fools huddling up down by 2 scores with time running out? They made it easy for INDY to win.

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

Incidentally, I didn't put this in the original post. Here's the Colts sack numbers from the first matchup: 0

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

The other issue is that neither team attacked Indy's true weakness in run D, draws and runs off tackle. Both KC and Baltimore called over 80% of their runs straight up the middle. As poor as Indy has been all year, that is the one area that they hadn't been that bad.

But draws and runs off tackle had scorched them badly.

Edited to add that Baltimore's two long runs were runs where the middle was so dominated by Indy that Lewis broke outside almost immediately. And they still kept running right up the middle!

Re: Indy defense and their playoff opponents
 

Are you saying that the "run right at the spot where the most tacklers are" approach is a bad strategy?