The top five myths surrounding the Indianapolis Colts

Peyton Manning (AP Photo)

Today, we borrow – read: steal – an idea from ESPN AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky and go over five myths surrounding the Indianapolis Colts.

I'll preface this by expanding on that first sentence:

I got the idea from Kuharsky's plea for Colts fans to email him with myths about the team, meaning things that people nationally thought and that seemed to grow without merit and never seem to go away.

A great idea, one I wished I'd thought of.

So, because Kuharsky has been a friend of Indy Football Report and the Examiner's Colts coverage for several months, here's hoping he takes my use of his idea as a compliment, and perhaps it can even contribute in some small way to his piece.

As with many myths, there are elements and snippets of truth in some that have emerged as broad beliefs, with those beliefs either being wrong or not being nearly as true as some want to believe.

Anyway, the Top 5 myths surrounding the Indianapolis Colts . . .

5)The Colts are an indoor, “dome” team. Have the Colts been good indoors in the last decade? Sure, they have, because they've been a good team. Good teams are typically good at home, and the Colts have been that, but the Colts also have been an exceptionally good road team. Former Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy's belief is the Colts have been good on the road because of an experienced offense. Teams that struggle on the road typically do so because offenses can't function in hostile environments, and that hasn't been a problem for the Colts with an offense that features three-time MVP and quarterback Peyton Manning. Some of the most memorable games in franchise history have come on the road – a 38-35 come-from-behind victory over Tampa Bay in 2003, a 15-6 victory postseason victory over Baltimore in January of 2007 are just two – and many of the Colts' playoff disappointments have come at home.

4)Bob Sanders never stays healthy. This is what I meant when a partial truth turn into a myth. While it's true that injuries have been an issue throughout Sanders' career, it is not true he never stays healthy. He played the entire season in 2005, making the Pro Bowl for the first time, and he did so again in 2007 when he made a second Pro Bowl and was the Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He played about half the season as a rookie in 2004, and missed much of the 2006 and 2008 seasons, but he returned in late 2006 to lead the Colts' turnaround that led to their Super Bowl victory.

3)The Colts never have played good defense this decade. Again, this is a myth that seems to stem from the frustration of fans and short-term memory of media and observers. The Colts have been far more consistent on offense than defense, and they have been defined as a franchise by an offense that has featured at least one Pro Bowl selection every season since 1998, but there have been solid defensive performance as well. The 2005 Colts led the NFL in scoring defense, and in 2007, they finished third in the in total defense. In 2006, they struggled throughout the regular season, but were stifling for the four games that mattered: the four postseason games that led to a victory in Super Bowl XLI. Most often, their defensive surges have coincided with quality play at defensive tackle, which leads to . . .

2)The Colts never 300-pound defensive tackles. Another area where short-term memory has led to myth-making. The Colts played much of last season without an elite-level 300-pound defensive tackle, but it wasn't as if they planned it that way. Quinn Pitcock and Ed Johnson, each of whom played over or near 300 pounds, each left the roster unexpectedly, and as a result, Pitcock wasn't around the entire season and Johnson missed the last 15 games. Colts President Bill Polian pointed out shortly after the 2009 NFL Draft that the Colts' best defensive stretches – including the 2005 season and the 2006 postseason – came with first Corey Simon in 2005 and in 2006 Anthony “Booger” McFarland playing the interior line at 300-plus pounds. The Colts haven't built the defense with a ton of 300-pounders, but to say they've completely ignored the concept is certainly a myth.

1)The Colts have underachieved in this decade. This may be the biggest myth, and it's also very much a matter of opinion. I've heard it said the Colts have "only" won one Super Bowl since Manning's 1998 arrival, and knowing how hard it is to win one, I never grasped the logic. Just ask franchises such as Jacksonville, San Diego, Minnesota, New Orleans, Philadelphia and so on how miserable a failure an organization must be to win just “one” Super Bowl. The other problem I had with this was what I've always thought of as a failure to really examine the situation year by year. The Colts have won 12 or more games seven times since 1998 :1999, 2003-2008. In 1999, they improved their record by 10 games and lost in the postseason to a team with an identical record (the 13-3 Tennessee Titans). Manning also was in his second season, and a team with a second-year veteran starter really can't underachieve. The Colts' 2003-2004 teams each finished 12-4 and won AFC South titles, but they lost each season in the playoffs to the Patriots. Indianapolis may have been the second-best team in the NFL each season, but it lost to the best team each season, so I don't call that underachieving. In 2005, the Colts finished with the best record in the NFL --- 14-2 -- and lost to Pittsburgh in an AFC Divisional Playoff, so that's the one year the argument could be made they underachieved. But the Colts finished 12-4 with the No. 3 seed in the AFC the following year and won the Super Bowl, so if they underachieved in 2005, they overachieved that season. The Colts had a big-time, 13-3 season in 2007, but I'm not sure anyone thought they were better in the postseason than 16-0 New England, particularly with defensive end Dwight Freeney injured. Indianapolis last season won its final nine regular-season games to finish 12-4 with a wild-card berth. The Colts did so despite a slew of injuries and the NFL's 31st-ranked running game, so I thought of that as an overachieving season rather than the reverse. Overall, I've always thought the Colts basically achieved to their expected level the past 11 seasons. They have had an unbelievable run, making the postseason nine times in 10 seasons with a Super Bowl, and that's achieving a great deal.

The last one was a but longwinded, but such is the case when explaining myths, which I hope we've done a bit here.

And I hope, too, we've doen Kuharsky's idea a bit of justice.

OTHER EXAMINER COLTS TOPICS . . .

• The Colts' Top Five Underrated Players
• On Loss of Dom Anile
• Top Five Breakout Players for Colts in 2009
• Loss of Moore, Mudd would be end of an era
• Ex-Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy meets with Michael Vick
• Re-signing DT Ed Johnson makes DT situation even better
• Top Five Nonissues facing Colts in 2009
• Peyton Manning Top 10 underrated moments.
• Breaking Down the 2009 Colts Schedule
• Colts Rookie Minicamp
• Top 10 rookie free agents in the Polian era
• On the re-signing of LB Freddy Keiaho
• Too early to quit on Addai
• A recap of the Colts' 2009 NFL Draft
• Colts had to do what they did with RB Dominic Rhodes
• Signing of S Matt Giordano solidifies position