Kravitz plays fast and loose with the numbers
In 2006, the Colts went 11-1 with Clark in the lineup. When he went down with a knee injury, the Colts finished the season 1-3, although a lot of the blame fell on the porous run defense, which got shredded by Houston and Jacksonville. When Clark came back for the postseason — thank heaven for medical second opinions — the Colts didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard, but Clark was their best weapon on the way to a Super Bowl title.“It’s going to be different than 2006 because we’ve literally seen a change in the way teams defend Dallas now,” Manning said. “Since he’s established himself as such a threat in the slot, at tight end, in the backfield, he’s become even more versatile. The last four years, teams are using nickel, using dime, double-teaming him with a defensive end and a linebacker; we just didn’t see it back then.
Well, let’s look at that. Over those four games, Indy averaged 23 PPG. Over the whole season they averaged 26.7. That’s a slight decrease, but if you go through the individual games, you’ll see things like a Houston loss where Indy scored on every possession they didn’t fumble on. Indy scored: 17, 17, 34, 24 points in those four games. Hard to make the case that Clark was the issue. After a couple of games, the Indy offense was right back to where it was before.
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