Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian: 'We ran very well when we needed to run'

Indianapolis Colts RB Joseph Addai (Darron Cummings/AP Photo

The statistics say the Indianapolis Colts aren't much different than last season in terms of how they run the football.

Colts President Bill Polian said the reality is a bit different.

Polian, in his 12^th season as the Colts' president, said on his weekly radio show Monday evening that while the team finished 32^nd in the NFL in rushing this season, the Colts were effective when they needed to be while rushing this season.

And he said that's the best gauge of a running offense.

“There are two ways to judge running,” Polian said Monday on his weekly radio show on Hank 97.1 FM in Indianapolis as the Colts (14-2) prepared to play the Baltimore Ravens (10-7) in an AFC Divisional Playoff at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis Saturday at 8:15 p.m.

“One is statistically, and statistically we were quite poor. I think we were 32nd in the league. The other is, 'How effectively did you run in the context of your offense and the way people are defensing you?'”

Polian said the Colts were very effective in the second area.

“If you measure it on that second standard, we ran exceptionally well,” he said. “We ran very well when we had to run.”

Polian did say the Colts need to work on an area that was a trouble spot in a critical area last season. That's the four-minute offense – i.e., when a team is trying to run late in the game to secure a victory. The Colts failed to convert such a situation late in a 23-17 overtime loss to San Diego in an AFC Wild Card game last postseason.

“We didn't do as good a job as we should have with it this year,” Polian said. “That's something we continue to work on. We worked on it last week. Hopefully, we'll improve upon it during the playoffs.”

Polian on Monday also discussed:

*Colts backup RBs Chad Simpson and Mike Hart: “Both have the capability to be good players and to add to that running game. Chad, of course, had a kickoff return for a touchdown against Jacksonville and he'll be back there returning kickoffs in the playoffs. We have a good group there. The question is finding the right mix and blocking it get correctly.”

*Importance of blitz pickup to Colts RBs: “Our backs have to pick up blitzes. They're going to have to do that this coming week. That means you have to stand in there and take a lot of blows from big people coming at you 100 miles per hour. That takes its toll over the course of a ball game, which is why we use multiple running backs. It's hard to stay with one guy with all the blitzes that go on.

*On the NFL's decision to move the Pro Bowl a week before the Super Bowl: “The people who decided to have the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl were league office people. It was discussed perfunctorily at an (NFL) Owners Meeting. I don't think many people focused upon it. It was discussed with the Competition Committee. The Competition Committee explained to the league office that you would not have the Super Bowl players and that would take some luster from the game and that there was some likelihood that you would not have players from the championship games because they're so disheartened by losing and virtually every player has an injury at this time of the year, so at least some of the players from the championship-game participants won't play in it. I certainly was not in favor of it. I think there were very few football people who were. While the players will not participate we were told in a disturbing decision that they are expected to be in Miami a day before their teammates to be introduced at the Pro Bowl and interviewed on television. That came as a shock and if we're fortunate enough to advance, we'll deal with it at the time. That's apparently how the league office has chosen to deal with the fact that the Super Bowl players will not play. But they will not play in the game – that's for certain.”

A breakdown of Polian's weekly radio show:

* Colts healthy heading into postseason. Here.

* We ran very well when we needed to run. Here.

* Expectations for rookies part of fabric of organization. Here.

* Uncapped year won't hurt in short term. Here.

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