The AFC belongs to the Denver Broncos as the season approaches the halfway point.
Look at the evidence. The Broncos have a 6-1 record, and their only loss came in overtime at Seattle in Week Three. They are coming off convincing wins over the San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers, and they will have a chance to cement their status even further when they go to New England next Sunday for a game that will give football fans all the Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady hype they could possibly want.
But while everyone focuses on Manning, his TD record, and his possible return to the Super Bowl, there’s a pretty good story brewing in Indianapolis.
The Colts have reeled off five straight wins after dropping their first two games of the season. Head coach Chuck Pagano has the kind of team that just might be very dangerous by the time the season hits the home stretch in late November, and there are signs that the Colts will be in peak form by the time the postseason starts in January.
The Colts are starting to become the kind of team that Pagano dreamed they would be when he was named as the head coach prior to the 2012 season.
That’s a team that is dominant on defense.
You may think that Pagano and quarterback Andrew Luck are in lock step with each other, and you would not be wrong. Luck is probably the key to their chances of winning the AFC South and going a long way in the postseason. He is the best of the league’s young quarterbacks, and when you compare his statistics to Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III or any of the Generation Next Quarterbacks after five more seasons, Luck will be light years ahead.
But the part of the game that truly excites Pagano is defense, and that’s where the Colts are growing by Bob Beamon leaps as the season progresses. The Colts are coming off a 27-0 blanking of the high-powered Cincinnati Bengals in Week Seven, and they now have the third-ranked defense in the league.
They have been getting better every week, and Pagano couldn’t be happier. He made his bones as a defensive coordinator on John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens team, and that’s the part of his game that excites him the most.
After his team finished up the bagel job it laid on the Bengals, Pagano had to bite his lip in order to contain his excitement. “Looks like that monster is starting to rear its head a little bit,” Pagano said. “We just have to stay humble, keep working and get better.”
Pagano and defensive coordinator Greg Manusky are starting to get it right. The Colts are suddenly aggressive and nasty and getting after the quarterback. Outside linebacker Bjoern Werner has 4.0 sacks and is a speedster when he comes around the corner. He’s got plenty of company in the pass rush department.
Defensive end Cory Redding has 3.0 sacks and is regularly pressuring the pocket. Linebackers D’Qwell Jackson and Erik Walden have 3.0 sacks each, and when you can bring pressure from several different directions at the same time, that’s when a defense is dangerous.
Harbaugh and Pagano developed a mutual admiration society when the two worked together. Harbaugh admitted that even though Pagano was his subordinate, he learned a lot of football from him.
“First of all, I think the way he relates to players is something that jumps out at you right away,” Harbaugh said. “I try to watch that and learn from that. Then, just talking football, we’re both defensive guys in a way. In the secondary, we both played defensive back. I just listen to him, his coaching points, the way he teaches, the way he studied tape and all that, you learn football.”
Pagano’s battle with leukemia made him a national figure during the 2012 season. Bruce Arians ran the team in Pagano’s absence, and Pagano’s name was invoked by the interim coach, and the team won games for him.
When he returned, he was portrayed as a truly beloved figure, and his players were thrilled to have him back.
In many cases, TV image and reality are two unrelated items. But not in this case, because Pagano’s players generally love him and would run through a wall for him. There aren’t many coaches that inspire that kind of loyalty.
Most coaches invoke quite a bit of fear as they try to get their lessons across, but Pagano does not. He has a Bum Phillips type of personality, and he projects the message that “I’ve got your back” when you play on his team.
And like the late Houston Oilers coach, he also has an affinity for defense. That’s the calling card that may take the Colts from good team to serious contender by the end of the season. His most talented players – Jackson, Werner, and free safety LaRon Landry – have all bought into Pagano’s message.
The Colts are just starting to find their stride and the monster is starting to make an appearance.
The glamor teams of the AFC had better take notice.
