Ed Thompson: You found yourself in quite a situation this past weekend…
Charlie Johnson: Yeah, early on Ryan Diem got hurt and my number was called.
I think I went in and played well. And I think as a team we played well and we
got a victory.
ET: What went through your mind when your number was called?
CJ: It happened really fast. I didn't really see Diem get hurt or anything, I
just heard people calling my name so I ran out there really quick…just going
on instinct that's about it.
ET: Tell us a little bit about your battle with Eagles defensive end Trent Cole…
CJ: I knew coming in that he was a good ball player…I knew he had a good
number sacks coming into the ball game. Going in I didn't know if I was going to
play or not so I just prepared myself to think what I would do if I got in; I
knew I had to be patient, he's a speed rusher and kind of an avoid guy - he's
not really going to hit you, he tries to avoid you - so I just had to settle and
not go for his face.
Q: How much did it help you having speed rushers of your own like Robert Mathis to prepare against before facing someone like Cole?
CJ: It helps a great deal and that's probably a good comparison. It helps in
practice going against a guy like Robert everyday. That's what he does, he's an
avoid rusher and he's really good at it. So that's good practice for me
especially going into this game with a guy like Philadelphia had.
Q: Peyton Manning walked out of that game with one quarterback hit and no
sacks. So you had to feel pretty good about your performance…
CJ: I did, and I was just blessed to be with the solid offensive line that I
was. My goal going in was "okay, these other four guys are going to expect
to not miss a beat with me in here" so I went in with that mentality that I
wasn't going to be the weak link or the reason Peyton got hit. And fortunately,
I think I played well enough.
Q: And then part way through the game you found yourself over on the left
side for Tarik Glenn...
CJ: Yeah, it's something I do in practice. I rotate in at both spots, in case
something were to happen to either guy and the situation came up. So I had to go
over there for one play.
Q: Did you have any thought when you moved over to the left side about the
fact that you would be protecting Peyton's blindside?
CJ: No, at that point we were really running the ball well and I knew we were
going to keep running it until we had to pass it. And I saw Tarik run off, so I
knew he was fine. He said he was going to come back and he wanted to come back
right away, but he had to sit out for a play. I knew he would be coming back and
that we were going to run the ball so it worked out.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the secret to the Colts' success blocking
against the Eagles…
CJ: I don't think there's any secret. It's something the offensive line and
the tight ends work on every week in practice. Our biggest deal during practice
was real solid technique and knowing who you're blocking and how to go about
blocking. We saw on tape that the Eagles had a really good defense, but teams
were able to run the ball on them. That was one of our focuses this week at
practice; running the ball and being aggressive with the run. It was a good game
plan and everything worked out for us.
Q: What were the vulnerabilities you guys saw on film that you tried to
exploit?
CJ: What we saw the most was just some of the formations we line up in and
run our plays out of. The way they line up to our formations, they gave us six
in the box and they would walk a guy out to the slot. With six in the box, you
have to be able to run the ball or else they can really end up dropping seven
into the passing game -- and that could really take us out of our offense.
Q: Was their frequent use of the nickel formation come as a surprise to
you guys?
CJ: No not really, I know during the week we watched tape and didn't see a
lot of nickel and we saw a lot of it Sunday night. But that's been the tendency
of defenses all year. We don't really see a lot of what they're going to do on
tape. We have to be ready for the unexpected because a lot of defenses are
trying to do things they haven't shown before to try and stop us.
Check back on Saturday when Charlie will share his thoughts with our
ColtPower Insiders on blocking for Joseph Addai and this weekend's matchup in
Tennessee.