The Lions signing a defensive tackle to a seven-year deal worth about $49 million, when he’s never made a Pro Bowl and hasn’t played a full season at his position, is absurd to me.
But then again, they are the Lions. What I think is an even worse deal is the Colts contract with Dwight Freeney, which is some six-year, $72 million deal. Not because of the money specifically, but because this guy isn’t a complete defensive end.
Freeney is a one-trick pony when it comes to playing the position. Yes, he is devastating as a pass rusher, with speed and moves that could crush a small city. But if you want to neutralize him, just run right at him. He won’t mind. He won’t stop you either. Not only were his 5.5 sacks unacceptable, he only had 45 tackles. To put that in perspective, Juqua Thomas had 47.
Another reason I think he’s been such a successful pass rusher in the past is because of Indy’s offense. In the past, the Colts would typically find themselves up by four TD’s in the second quarter, which forces their opponents into “we have to throw every down” mode. The Colts made opposing offenses one-dimensional and that suits Freeney just fine. But last year, that was less often the case: A five-point win against the Giants, a seven-point win against Jacksonville, a three-point win against the Jets, a one-point win against Tennessee and Buffalo. You get the idea. They only had four wins of two TD’s or more. This shows me that more teams were in the games and not in “we have to throw every down” mode. This helped to slow down Freeney and thus he ended the season with a miserable 5.5 sacks.
I think the Colts are in bigger trouble than people think. I would be shocked if they repeat. I will even say that they caught a lot of breaks this year to win it. People talk about the improved play of their defense in the playoffs and I didn’t see it. They stacked eight men in the box against Kansas City in order to stop Larry Johnson. They did, but the Chiefs couldn’t make any plays to the wide receivers and make the Colts pay. I think Trent Green just stunk, not the other way around. They stopped a terrible Baltimore offense with a broken-down, soft Jamal Lewis and an over-the-hill Steve McNair. Well done. New England’s offense rung up 27 on them (Asante Samuel had the pick for the TD), and would have won if they had a wide receiver that could play football. And the Bears? I think we all know about that offense.
So now, the defense loses Montae Reagor (who wasn’t that good to begin with), Nick Harper, Jason David and Cato June, their leading tackler by far. They couldn’t stop the run before, their personnel is worse, they used their first pick on offense, and they just invested the farm on a one-dimensional player. No repeat in Indianapolis.
micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
