The friendship between Herman Edwards and Tony Dungy is well known but that didn't stop Herman Edwards from putting pen to paper for an even-handed analysis of the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears in a column about the big game for the Kansas City Star. Er, maybe it did. Well, maybe it did. Or maybe it's that the Colts massacred his Chiefs in a lopsided opening round game and he wants to play down his failings on the sideline by building the Colts into an unbeatable juggernaut. Whatever the reason I don't think too many football scribes need to worry about losing their jobs to Herm Ed. He's not exactly digging deep with analytical doozies like these:
Defenses win games. I keep telling people that, and they don’t believe me.
Maybe because no one's convinced you know what it takes to win games? Talking about the Colts, Coach Hemingway writes,
It’s the playoffs, and you knew their defense was going to play better. I knew that when we got ready to play them. And I kept telling our team: “These guys are going to play different. They’re going to play with much more resilience.”
Thankfully you didn't play any different in response and kept ramming the ball into the center of the line even though it wasn't working and even though their offense was playing like garbage.
Their ends are going to get you. You can’t block ’em. You can’t block (Dwight) Freeney and the other guy (Robert Mathis). Freeney runs a 4.45, and the other guy runs a 4.5. There are no tackles in the league who can block them by themselves. So they’re going to run around and hit the quarterback. And they’re going to play Cover 2 so you can’t throw the ball down the field. So, bam, the quarterback gets hit, the ball falls out, now you’re down three scores. So what have you got to do? You can’t keep running the ball because the fans start booing you.
Ah, now we understand why Edwards didn't stop pounding the ball. Because the game wasn't at Arrowhead he didn't have to contend with booing fans and therefore was free to keep up the Larry Johnson recipe he'd followed all season long. In closing Edwards touches on a point that no one else has gleaned in the endless runup to Sunday's game.
Peyton is playing better. It was just a matter of time because he’s that kind of quarterback. To me, a key for both teams is special teams because they both have good return guys. And then how (Rex) Grossman plays against those guys. If he doesn’t turn the ball over, they’ll be in the game. If he turns the ball over, that’s not good.
Profounder than a motherfucker.
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