The AFC Title game- Jets vs Colts. Questions and Answers with Wonder and ’18 to 88′ Colts blog.
Wonder– the NFL guru and Jets expert who is featured here on UltimateNYG regularly throughout the season.
DZ– blogger for the Indianapolis Colts at Bloguin.
The two faced off in a Q&A about this weekend’s AFC Championship. DZ’s answers to Wonder’s questions are below. You can find Wonder’s answers to DZ’s questions on the Colts site, 18 to 88.
Defense:
Q1) How are the Colts going to handle the Jets bread and butter (Power Inside Trap with Faneca pulling)? This was the play on 4th and 1, everyone knew it was coming, could not stop it, got 3 yards. They won’t. If I’m the Jets, I run on every third and fourth and short. Indy has been better in recent weeks at stopping short runs, but I would take it right at the center of the Indy defense. The Colts are built to stop third and long, not third and short. That being said, the Jets will have to run better on first and second down than they did against the Chargers on Sunday in order to set up those short yardage plays.
Q2) How are the Colts going to handle Nick Mangold, as he controls half the line of scrimmage? Again, they probably won’t. Indy will be content to force 4.5 yards a carry and give the Jets ground yardage. Their goal is to force a team to take 10-15 plays to score, knowing that most teams will commit a penalty, turnover, or other mistake first. Mangold will manhandle whoever he blocks, but Colts DTs are mostly there to take up space so the LBs can make plays.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!