Defense executed when it mattered against New England, Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian says

Indianapolis Colts S Melvin Bullitt stops New England
Patriots RB Kevin Faulk
AJ Mast/AP Photo

The aftermath of the Indianapolis Colts' latest victory has focused as much on the opponent – and specifically, the opponent's coach – as it has the winning team.

And Colts President Bill Polian said that's not right.

Because while the NFL's hottest topic in the last two days has been the decision of Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick to – unsuccessfully – go for a first down on 4th-and-2 from the Patriots 28 with a six-point lead and just over two minutes remaining, Polian said something else is equally important.

Once the decision was made, a play was played.

And the Colts made it.

“A lot has been made of the decision Coach Belichick made,” Polian said Monday on his weekly radio show on 97.1 Hank FM in Indianapolis. “That's for them to talk about and for them to deal with, but what I don't think has been talked about a lot is that we had to execute in that situation.”

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Patriots QB Tom Brady threw a short pass to his right, and while RB Kevin Faulk caught it, he bobbled it enough that when S Melvin Bullitt hit him and knocked him behind the first-down line, officials ruled he gained possession short of the first down.

“In that particular situation – and this may speak to some of Coach Belichick's strategy, which personally I think is sound – we had to defend three things when they went for it on fourth down,” Polian said. “We had to defend a hard count, trying to pull us offside, because it was 4th-and-2. We had to defend a quick-snap quarterback sneak, which they do quite frequently on fourth down. Then, we had to defend a pass, some sort of a pick play, which they typically do in short-yardage situations, so we had to be prepared to defend all three situations in a very quick kind of hurry-up mode, so to speak.

“We did a terrific job of it. Even though they made a decision to do X, Y or Z, we still had to be in a position to execute no matter what they did and we did. Great credit to our defense for that. “

Polian said the official who made the call deserved credit for being correct.

“I saw the juggle from my vantage-point – the hands moving up and down, which indicates a juggle – and I thought he [Faulk] had dropped the ball,” Polian said. “Then, I saw them spot the ball. [Vice President of Football Operations] Chris [Polian] said to me, 'No, no, no. He bobbled it.' Once the bobble takes place, you don't get forward progress at that point. You have to secure the ball. [Safety] Melvin Bullitt was Johnny On the Spot. He came driving in there, with a bad shoulder, I might add, a hundred miles an hour. He put [Patriots] running back [Kevin] Faulk right on his back.

“One national reporter said to me [Monday] he thought it was a foot short and even if they had replayed it and measured it, it still would have been short. It didn't matter [Sunday] night. It was what the official ruled it was. It takes courage and a lot of alertness to make that call.”

Polian said if Bullitt hadn't made the play, Belichick likely would have been praised for the decision, adding that if Faulk gets the first down, “The game's over and it's a great call and no one's questioning it.

“Without Melvin Bullitt and the execution he provides in that situation, it's a great call,” Polian said. “It's another of their fourth-down calls that worked for them and the game is over and we have no chance to win.”

Polian also was asked he would have gone for the first down.

“Most people would tell you they would play the percentages and punted it,” Polian said. “When it comes to football, I am an ultraconservative. When it comes to football, I was raised with the idea you play field position and you always go when the game is on the line to the lowest common denominator – the safest possible play. That would be my thinking. Having said that, we don't know what their game plan was, what they felt they could get versus a particular defense of ours that they thought we would be in. They had numerous injuries on their defensive line over the course of the night and that may have entered into their thinking – we don't know.

“It's his decision to make and anyone else conjecturing on it is just that. It's just conjecture, because you don't have all of the information that he has at hand. You can say, 'Well, I would have done this, that or the other thing,' but you're not in that position. All of that is simply conjecture. He had all of the information. It was his decision to make. They have gone for it on fourth down quite frequently and with good success. If you're looking for a history of making it on fourth down, they have a lot of it. It may well be that their team is used to doing that and perfectly attuned to doing that and executing in that situation.

“We performed admirably and were going to have to perform admirably no matter what happened. [Hall of Fame Head Coach] Marv Levy, who is my mentor in all things Pro Football, used to say, 'It's not the decision you make. It's what you do after you make the decision that counts.' The decision was made and it's what we did after the decision was made that counted.”

Polian on Monday also addressed:

*The Colts' defensive performance Sunday. “It sounds funny to say, 'You gave up 34 points, but the defense played great,' but they did, particularly so in the second half. Our whole team, and [Colts Head Coach] Jim [Caldwell] emphasized this [Monday] morning, fought for 60 minutes. You couldn't be prouder of them. Yogi [Berra] said, 'It's not over 'til it's over,' and we believe that. We play for 60 minutes, and furthermore when we play the Patriots it's not over 'til it's over no matter where we play. Even when it's over, it's not over. It was a great game for America, a great game for the NFL.”

*The crowd noise in second-year Lucas Oil Stadium. “I took my own scientific survey in the locker room. The feeling generally is with the roof closed, it's only slightly – just very slightly – less noisy than the [RCA] Dome was, which is perfectly good enough. [On Sunday] night, it was as loud as loud can be. It's fine. I don't need to take a scientific measurement, because as long as it remains at the level it was [Sunday] night and the level it was toward the end of the Texans game, we're going to do just fine. With our fans engaged the way were [Sunday] night and the way they were in the Texans game [the week before], we're going to have a heck of a home-field advantage.”

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