In his most cogent column in weeks, Bob Kravitz rightly asseses many things.
2005 to Pittsburgh: That was the best Colts team of all, and they gagged. First, I believe rust played a role; Tony Dungy completely shut them down the last two weeks of the regular season. The Steelers led 21-3 heading into the fourth quarter before the Colts woke up. Second, that was the season Dungy’s son committed suicide. We will never truly know how much that affected the team’s play, but it’s hard to imagine it didn’t play some role.
2007 to San Diego: I’m not buying the rust explanation on this one. They shut it down the final game of the regular season, and came out buzzing in this game. But they committed turnovers at the San Diego 22-, 11- and 2-yard lines. Dwight Freeney didn’t play that day, and Robert Mathis and Raheem Brock played with disabling injuries.
“I wore two knee braces that game,” Mathis recalled. “Raheem had a broken rib, and he was wearing one of those Bryan Cox cowboy neck collars. But that’s not an excuse.” No, it isn’t. The Chargers played the fourth quarter with Billy “Freaking” Volek.
2008 to San Diego: The Colts couldn’t run the ball. They couldn’t overcome punter Mike Scifres’ Hall of Fame-worthy performance. Darren Sproles went nuts. And Gary Brackett missed that game because of an injury.
If the Colts fall short of the Super Bowl, it won’t be because of injuries or because team president Bill Polian and coach Jim Caldwell denied them a shot at immortality. It will be because they were outplayed that day. Again.
If you aren’t buying the rust explination, why did you sell it SO MANY TIMES?
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