Defense is the name of the Game
Indianapolis vs. Baltimore Game Recap

You would think that in this divisional playoff game that we would be talking about the Ravens defense against the Indianapolis offense, and that was the case on many sports talk shows. The problem with that is the Colts have a pretty good defense also, this game was touted as the cerebral assassin on offense Manning of the Colts versus the relentless high pressured motivator Lewis of the Ravens. There comes a time when you begin to feel disrespected, when you feel as though your contributions are overlooked and this in a nutshell was the Indianapolis Colts defense. If you think about how well the defense for Indy has played then you would understand why they felt disrespected. With the two best defensive ends in the game, in my opinion, Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis pressuring the quarterback and with a much improved secondary the defense is making big plays for the team. In this divisional game the defense made a statement, the Colts’ defense.

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The game had the intensity of a big playoff game, the Colts coming off of a bye week and the Ravens coming off the smashing of New England, made this a big time match-up in prime time. The Colts got the ball first and came out in rhythm, Manning found his receivers early and often, but the Ravens defense stiffened and held the Colts to a Matt Stover 44 yard field goal. Next it was the Ravens turn they came out passing the ball, a different look from the week before, and they moved the ball effectively on their first drive but the Colts defense held and the Ravens settled for a Billy Cundiff 25 yard field goal making the score 3-3. That would be all the scoring for the Ravens on this night, the Indy defense stepped up there game, they had something to prove and prove it they did; with most of the talk revolving around the other defense, it was time to put up or shut up. The Colts defense held explosive Ray Rice to only 67 yards on the ground and Baltimore had a hard time putting any type of offensive drive together. As for the Colts offense they put together a couple of impressive drives, one was a 14 play drive covering 80 yards ending with Manning finding Austin Collie for a ten yard touchdown pass, the other right before the half was an 8 play 64 yard drive that ended with a Manning to Reggie Wayne three yard touchdown pass. The Colts led at the half 17-3 in the forth quarter they added a Matt Stover 3 yard field goal making the final score Colts 20, Ravens 3 and Indy will move on to the AFC championship game.

I was extremely impressed with the Colts defense, they came in with a chip on their shoulder and they came ready to play. This Indianapolis Colt defense could be the fastest in the NFL today and in order to handle a speed rushing attack you need speed on defense and the Colts are up to the challenge. Peyton Manning was ready to make plays and he had those young corps of receivers ready to play. On a side note, one of the plays of the game was a pass that was thrown and Ed Reed came in an intercepted the pass as he was returning the interception back, Indianapolis wide receiver Pierre Garcon ran him down from the back and punched the ball out and Indy recovered, this was just evidence of how bad these Colts wanted this game. I truly felt that if Indy was to win this game and advance they must find the rhythm early and they did, and it can only get better from this week on. I think that this defense is now taking it upon themselves to make things happen and create plays. When the offense gets rolling, finds the rhythm and the defense feels that they have something to prove, if both offense and defense are in this mindset the Colts are in a good position going into this AFC championship game.

By Sam Adams
Pro Football Fans Indianapolis Colts Correspondent