A look back at the '95 Colts

[YDFL Commish]

I've been watching the videos of the '95 Colts playoff run. Watching the full games or as close to full games as I could. I have come to a few conclusions on this team and the playoff games.

• The O-Line was really good at run blocking and average at pass blocking.
  The defense was not great, but had good depth. When you've got Ellis Johnson, Eugene Daniel and Trev Alberts as reserves, who played useful minutes, that's pretty damn good.
  My memory must be bad, but could kickers not at least kick into the end zone in this era?
  The Colts were dominant vs the Chargers. By dominant...I mean, in the trenches.
  The Colts were lucky vs the Chiefs. The 3 missed FG's cost the Chiefs the game.
  For all of the belly aching by Colts fans about the dropped Coryatt int, then Carnell Lake also dropped an int for the Steelers.
  For all of the belly aching about the Kordell Stewart out of the end zone TD, we also had some very questionable calls go our way.
  Ashley Ambrose looked gassed on the late 4th qt pass to Ernie Mills. Why no safety help?
  The non-calls that really bother me vs the Steelers, was how many times Harbaugh and the Colts in general were tackled out of bounds? That would not happen in the NFL today.
  No only were the Colts without Faulk at HB, but they were also without Roosevelt Potts at FB and they were without there #1 WR to start the season, in Flipper Anderson. Also although Zack Crockett had a career game vs the Chargers. It was all O-Line and play calling that created that.
  The Colts and Chiefs would have beat the Cowboys in the SB.
  And finally, the biggest weakness on the Colts defense was David Tate. He couldn't cover anybody. From Ben Coates, in the final regular season game to RB's in the playoffs, he was a huge liability.

[DragonTails]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

I've been watching the videos of the '95 Colts playoff run. Watching the full games or as close to full games as I could. I have come to a few conclusions on this team and the playoff games.

• For all of the belly aching by Colts fans about the dropped Coryatt int, then Carnell Lake also dropped an int for the Steelers.

That play hurt, but the biggest gripe for me was the shoestring tackle on Warren on a 3rd and 1. He would have gained 20+ yards and iced it.

Those last 5 mins were very painful as a Colts fan.

[IndyNorm]

That's a fun idea. I might try that myself here sometime.

That's interesting about the OL. We definitely ran the ball well in the playoffs, and the run game was dominant at SD. Agree that was mostly OL and play calling, but Crockett's fresh legs (he only had 1 carry in the regular season) definitely helped. From what I remember it was pretty much the opposite for the OL in the regular season. Seemed like Faulk never had any sort of hole to run through except for his big game vs. LAR. But the OL seemed to be ok at pass blocking.

Agree we were lucky at KC. It was crazy cold that day (I'm seeing 11 deg, -15 w/ wind chill), which was definitely a big factor in the kicking game.

And speaking of kicking game - the league moved the kickoff line from the 35 back to the 30 in '94, which had an impact on touchbacks. They moved it back to the 35 in 2011. Of course kickers legs are WAY stronger today than 30 years ago. 55+ yard FGs outside of Denver were pretty much unheard of back then.