Everyone knows the most valuable player in the NFL plays for the Colts. But he might not be Peyton Manning.
It’s becoming apparent the player who makes the Colts complete is safety Bob Sanders, the AFC defensive player of the week.
Sanders missed 12 games last season with a knee injury. In those games, the Colts gave up an average of 22.9 points and 175.5 rushing yards with an average of 0.6 interceptions per game. In the 10 games Sanders has played since the beginning of the 2006 season, the Colts have allowed an average of 18 points and 123.9 rushing yards with 1.6 interceptions per game.
If Sanders can prevent 4.9 points per game and 51.6 rushing yards and give the Colts an extra interception, he may be the most valuable player in football.
Texans coach Gary Kubiak said this week that Sanders is football’s best safety, which means he ranks Sanders ahead of players such as Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu and Baltimore’s Ed Reed.
Colts President Bill Polian, the man who drafted Sanders out of Iowa in the second round in the 2004, cites Sanders’ “incredible acceleration,” his sub-4.4 40-yard dash time (Sanders claims to be the fastest man in the NFL) and his pound-for-pound ability to hit as hard as anyone he has seen as reasons for Sanders being a difference-maker.
“If he were a heavyweight boxer, he would be a championship contender,” Polian says of the 5-foot-8-inch, 206-pounder. “He could knock you out with one punch.”
But Polian won’t go so far as to attribute the statistical improvements in the Colts’ defense directly to Sanders’ presence.
“There were other issues involved,” Polian says. “A lot of what we do is built around his talents. Part of the problem we had last year is when he went out we didn’t change the structure of our defense.”
Whereas Sanders is versatile enough to play the safety position any way possible, his replacements were not. Opponents took advantage of that.
The only problem with Sanders is he plays so hard he often ends up injured. In his first three seasons in the NFL, Sanders missed 44 percent of his games with knee, foot and back injuries. The Colts are giving him Thursday practices off this year in an attempt to keep him fresh.
Sanders has incentive to stay on the field: His contract is up after the season.
Nose dive for Tank?
There is a chance Tank Johnson will be a bust with the Cowboys — regardless if he runs afoul of the law or violates team rules.
The issue is that Johnson is playing nose tackle in a three-man front. The best position for him is nose tackle in a penetrating four-man front.
The job of the nose tackle in a 3-4 is to absorb blocks. That’s why the best players suited for the position are huge men like Jamal Williams of the Chargers, Vince Wilfork of the Patriots and Ted Washington of the Browns.
The job of the nose tackle in a 4-3 defense like the Bears’ is to get between the center and guard and penetrate or get upfield push.
At 6-3, 300 pounds, Johnson doesn’t have the girth or bulk to play the nose well in a traditional three-man front. His game is based on quickness and beating blockers to spots.
What might save him is the willingness of Cowboys coach Wade Phillips to play to the strength of his nose tackle. Phillips has said he can use any style of nose tackle, as long as the player has ability. But he won’t be able to use Johnson the same way he used Jason Ferguson, the injured nose tackle Johnson is replacing.
What Phillips can do is tilt the nose to one side of the center or the other, depending on the strength of the offense. One assistant coach, whose team uses a 3-4, said in this scenario Johnson simply would fire into the center and attempt to defeat that one player, even though he probably also will be getting double-teamed from a guard.
Johnson could have some success being used this way. But he could have a lot more success being used in a scheme like that of the Bears.
A pass on Anderson
Nobody knows if Browns quarterback Derek Anderson can sustain his performance level over the course of the season, or even if he can put two good weeks together. But a lot of NFL teams have to be questioning themselves this week after watching Anderson throw five touchdown passes Sunday against the Bengals.
NFL teams all knew the Browns quietly were offering either Anderson or Charlie Frye to any takers before the season. Not a single team nibbled at Anderson.
After Frye started the season opener for Cleveland, the Browns traded him to the Seahawks. That left the Browns with Anderson as their starter, and it reminded the team of that old axiom: Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.
The Schaub difference
Through two games this season, the Texans have given up two sacks.
Through two games last season, they had given up nine sacks.
Through two games the season before that, they had given up 13 sacks.
Their offensive line is protecting the passer better, but the biggest difference is Matt Schaub knows how to avoid a pass rush better than David Carr.
“With Schaub the ball comes out,” Texans general manager Rick Smith says. “He knows where to go with the football. And he’s in the rhythm of the offense. He also has presence and command.”
This also explains how the Texans can be 2-0 as they prepare for what could be the most important game in their young history: a showdown Sunday in Houston against the Colts.
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dpompei@tribune.com
