Essay

The Indianapolis Colts were handed their first second round playoff loss for the first time in as many as four years. They obtained a first round bye because of their 13-3 record, but were not able to get past the San Diego Chargers. Mistakes haunted one of the AFC’s dominant teams midway through the game. Poor blocking and bad defensive plays coast them the game and a chance at redemption against the Patriots.

In the beginning they looked pretty good. Payton Manning hooked up with Dallas Clarke for a 25-yard touchdown pass. The defense seemed to be handling the Chargers “BIG THREE’” of LaDanian Thomlinson, Phillip Rivers, and Antonio Gates. They were ahead 7-0 after the first quarter and held onto it for about five minuets into the second quarter. Then a fumble on a pass to Marvin Harrison gave the Chargers all the momentum they needed. On their next offensive series the Chargers tied the game up on a blown coverage in the Colts secondary.

Most fans like me would think, ok we have one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game so we’ll be fine. We couldn’t have been more wrong. The Colts couldn’t get anything going on that series and instead of a touchdown they had to settle for a field goal. The fans in Indy were looking pretty worried, and they realized that even thought the Chargers were without Thomlinson and only had a partially healthy Antonio Gates this was going to be a battle to the end. Thomlinson left the game with an ACL injury and Antonio Gates was playing with a dislocated toe.

Manning and his cast got something of a flow going when he and Reggie Wayne hooked up for a 9-yard touchdown, but poor defense, something that had caused them problems in the first half, was another issue. The secondary wasn’t covering the right people, and the Chargers offensive line was dominating the front seven. When the chargers got the ball back Philip Rivers and Daren Sprols hooked up for a 56-yard touchdown. The Colts defenses looked dismantled and confused and seemed to not have a clue of what was going on. Poor blocking caused Manning to make bad throws, and even though they scored they were still behind. This obvious was not the team that won the Super Bowl the year before.
Without quarterback Phillip Rivers in the game because of a sprained MCL they should have been able to wrap things up. But on defense the Colts were still struggling to cover receivers and come up and make plays. Second string quarterback Billy Voaek took advantage of the poor defense the Colts were playing. His first pass was a screen to the running back for a ten yard pick up. He then hit hooked up with Chris Chambers for a touchdown, and turned what should have been a horrible drive for them into a touchdown.
In this game the Chargers came into the game as an underdog by a touchdown. Nobody gave them a chance at going into Indy and beating the defending Super Bowl Champions. With Marvin Harrison back from injury they should have had no problem getting past them, but they did and ended up loosing and getting sent home. Poor blocking and bad secondary coverage was the main reason. There is talk about head coach Tony Dungy stepping down and letting someone else take the roll of coaching now, but he hasn’t made a decision yet.