Within minutes after the Denver Broncos lost to the San Francisco 49ers last
weekend, NFL analysts like Shannon Sharpe were proclaiming that the resulting
Chiefs-Colts matchup was "The Colts' worst nightmare."
And he wasn't alone in that sentiment. NFL analysts, reporters and fans
across the country were undeniably guilty of piling on.
But on Saturday night at the RCA Dome, the Indianapolis Colts bid a fond
farewell to their supposed Boogeyman, Chiefs running back Larry Johnson --
and the rest of his entourage to boot -- with a solid 23-8 victory over the
Kansas City Chiefs.
The Colts defense arose like a slumbering giant, denying the Chiefs offense
of even a single first down until almost five minutes into the third quarter.
And they allowed them just seven first downs by the end of the game.
After all the anticipation and hullabaloo about Johnson easily racking up
200, maybe even 300 yards against a Colts run defense that was allowing a
league-worst 173 yards per game, Indianapolis hit their gaps quickly and
efficiently, disrupting him in the backfield before he could get any real
momentum. Johnson finished the night with a paltry 32 yards on 13 carries for a
2.5 yards per carry average -- his second-worst outing of the season. The Indy
defense was so effective that his longest run of the day was for just six yards.
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| Bo Schobel and Robert Mathis sack Chiefs QB Trent Green (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) |
And while they swarmed over Johnson, they simply stifled Chiefs quarterback
Trent Green. Defensive end Dwight Freeney logged two of the team's four sacks on
the night and forced a fumble. The pressure increasingly got to Green as he
threw two second-half interceptions. He was first picked off after getting hit
by Colts defensive tackle Anthony McFarland, which forced the ball to be badly
under-thrown. Safety Bob Sanders made the interception and returned it 17 yards.
And as the Chiefs tried to mount a late fourth-quarter attack, rookie safety
Antoine Bethea timed his move on a Green pass perfectly to snatch it away for a
game-clinching interception.
Green finished the night 14 of 24 for 107 yards with one touchdown and two
interceptions. His sole score of the night came on a 6-yard pass to tight end
Tony Gonzalez with just eight seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Colts offense moved at will, posting 435 total yards versus just 126 by
the Chiefs. Both of the Colts' running backs contributed to the success with a
combined 188 yards on the ground. Rookie Joseph Addai had 122 yards (4.9 yards
per carry) while Dominic Rhodes added 68 more (5.2 yards per carry). It was
their second-best combined rushing total of the season, only bested by their 239
yards against the Eagles in late November.
For Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, it was an odd night. He completed 30 of
his 38 pass attempts and spread the ball around effectively to eight different
receivers. His top target of the night was tight end Dallas Clark, who repeatedly exploited the middle zone of the Chiefs' defense, catching a career-high nine passes for a season-best 103 yards.
And when the Chiefs closed the gap to 16-8 at the end of the third
quarter, Manning calmly and methodically engineered a 9-play drive that gave the
Colts a more comfortable 23-8 lead that they never relinquished.
But Manning's Ghost of Playoffs Past, cornerback Ty Law, was a haunting
presence as he made two interceptions which were clearly unsettling. It appeared
for the first time in a very long time, Manning and wide receiver Marvin Harrison were out of sync. Usually executing in a manner that reeks of some
bizarre telepathy, the duo clearly had their wires crossed Saturday night as
Harrison twice cut away from where Manning threw the ball. With Law lagging
behind Harrison, he was the beneficiary of the errant throws.
Law's first interception nearly allowed the Chiefs to pull ahead early in the
game with the Colts leading by just six points. But a big hit by rookie
linebacker Freddie Keiaho stopped Johnson short of a touchdown on a second-down
run. On the next play, Green was toppled when one of his own linemen stepped on
his foot. And then the unthinkable happened. Chiefs kicker Lawrence Tynes hit
the left upright on a 23-yard field goal attempt. During the regular season, he
made all eleven of his attempts inside of thirty yards.
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| Jarrad Page of the Chiefs returns an interception against the Colts (AP Photo/Tom Strattman) |
Manning's third interception, an attempted touchdown pass to Aaron Moorehead,
was the only one that appeared to be a moment of bad judgment by the Colts
quarterback, simply trying to force a reception that just wasn't there. Jarrad Page made the interception for Kansas City.
A further touch of irony in this game was the performance of the Colts'
special teams. During the season, both kicker Adam Vinatieri and punter Hunter Smith were the nearly flawless performers with Vinatieri even being forced to
make tackles much too frequently on kickoff coverarage. But on Saturday night,
they both committed key miscues while the coverage teams excelled.
Vinatieri had one of his kickoffs bounce out of bounds, putting the Chiefs in
business at their own 40-yard line. And they took advantage of that field
position for their only touchdown of the game.
Then, with just over five minutes remaining in the game and the Colts leading by
15 points, Smith fumbled a punt opportunity, turning the ball over to the Chiefs
at the Indy 37-yard line. But the defense came up with three sacks on the next
five plays. And on the third one, as Robert Mathis and Bo Schobel converged on
Trent Green, he fumbled the ball. Josh Thomas recovered for the Colts to end the
threat.
Head coach Tony Dungy mentioned earlier in the week that he was going to
insert some former special teams stars like defensive end Robert Mathis and
safety Marlin Jackson back onto the coverage units. And the impact was
noticeable. Mathis had both a tackle and an assist and the overall coverage and
hitting was much better. Second-year linebacker Tyjuan Hagler's monstrous hit on
Dante Hall's punt return attempt with less than four minutes to play added the
proper punctuation mark to the coverage units' performance for the night.
With the win, the Colts will travel to Baltimore next weekend to take on the
Ravens, who finished the regular season with a 13-3 record in the AFC divisional
playoffs.