Colts Will Be Tough to Stop

With Peyton Manning at quarterback, the 10-0 Indianapolis Colts are just about a sure thing to complete the 2005 schedule with a 16-0 record -- and finish 19-0 in Super Bowl XL at Detroit on Feb. 5 -- if they win Monday night’s game against Pittsburgh at Indianapolis.

For the Colts are now playing a game of their own in a league of their own.

In a novel no-huddle system, Manning has replaced the coaches as the play-caller in a different kind of offense that he seems to have largely designed, with the enthusiastic support of offensive coordinator Tom Moore and Coach Tony Dungy.

One result is that, of their three most threatening opponents this season, Pittsburgh alone remains on the schedule.

Manning overwhelmed the injury-devastated New England Patriots, 40-21, on Nov. 7 at New England. And in a 45-37 shootout at Cincinnati last week, he outlasted a very good young quarterback, Carson Palmer, who can already nearly match him touchdown for touchdown.

Most of the components of the new Colt offense have been tried in other years by other teams, but Manning and Moore are the first to combine them in a coherent system, the hurry-up feature of the no-huddle giving Manning his edge, freezing the defensive team.

The situation substitutions that all pro clubs make these days are thus denied to opponents of the Colts.

If an opponent tries to send in any of the special substitutes, the Colts snap the ball, earning five easy penalty yards when the replaced player fails to get off the field in time.

Thus, Manning’s secret is that he knows the defensive personnel he will face for the duration of every series of plays in every game. That is his secret and his edge.

Even if the defense jumps around and tries to confuse him, it has to jump with the personnel it has on the field. And Manning, who spends hours studying the tapes of opponents, knows what each group is capable of.

If it’s a gifted blitzing group, he’s ready with the quick passes to single-covered receivers that so often define the Colts.

Here are two specific advantages Manning appreciates most about the no-huddle offense:

* On every offensive play, he gets to make the final decision after the defensive players have made theirs. For each play actually starts when the opposing team calls the defensive signal from the sideline, whereupon Manning looks over the defensive alignment before calling his signal.

* The no-huddle simplifies football for the offense, which needs only a handful of plays when it always knows before the snap what’s doing defensively.

During the week before a game, therefore, the Colts can polish the few plays they’re sure to use against each defense.

Three Receivers

Four determining aspects of the Colts’ offense set them apart in today’s NFL:

* In their basic offense, the Colts line up three wide receivers, a tight end and a running back -- or sometimes two tight ends instead of the third wide receiver. So at all times, Manning has four potential receivers on the line of scrimmage, ready to attack downfield.

* The hurry-up, no-huddle approach puts continuous pressure on the defense.

* If they choose, the Colts can throw pass after pass, as they did last week when Manning, during five long touchdown drives in the first half, handed off for only nine runs.

* He’s the only NFL quarterback calling most of his team’s plays.

To begin with, when he sought field control of the Colt offense, his coaches agreed that it would help. As an essential fundamental step, the three-receiver approach was installed by Moore.

Dungy, a defensive expert, contributed by drafting the Colts’ swift and brilliant tight end, Dallas Clark, when his need for more defense was more acute.

These days, Manning can use Clark as either wide receiver or second tight end -- threatening runs to either side and putting great pressure on the pass defense.

Their personnel frozen by the no-huddle, Manning’s opponents can no longer shift players to match the shifting Colt threats as provided by Clark, running back Edgerrin James and other offensive regulars.

That gives Manning an advantage over the defense while he works with some of the NFL’s finest talent, including James and wide receivers Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokley.

Weakness or Strength?

Manning’s lone weakness is a tendency to panic when pressured. Thus, every defensive team’s objective is to surprise him with a heavy rush, preferably blitzing with defensive backs or linebackers.

He’s a great quarterback, but not a great athlete. Manning, if he has called a pass, often reacts like a wild man when blitzed on the play, throwing the ball anywhere just to get rid of it.

Most of his interceptions have been thrown in such circumstances.

Knowing this as well as anyone, Manning has worked out a system to keep the blitzers away from him by forcing the defense to declare its intentions by its alignment

He sees most blitzes coming, gets them blocked, and attacks isolated defensive backs with his superb receivers. He runs most teams out of the blitz before it can hurt him.

Steelers Will Blitz

Now that Manning has nearly perfected this unique offense, the only teams that have a chance to beat him are those with either an unusually sophisticated defense (Pittsburgh, New England) or with a passer who can best him in a shootout (Cincinnati, New England).

The Patriots held Manning to three points last winter by using his advantage against him. They lined up in defensive sets that invited him to hand off to runner James, then, after Manning called the play, they shifted to a run-stuffing alignment that held James to 39 yards for the day.

Essentially, the Patriots called Manning’s plays for him, first showing him what appeared to be a weakness before making the last decision themselves.

The Steelers, whose defense is based on different principles, will be closely watched Monday night when they attack Manning with the NFL’s gaudiest array of blitzes.

The hallmark of Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is the unexpected blitz that can come at the quarterback from anywhere, that hits without warning, and that might involve any of the Steeler linebackers, cornerbacks or safeties, in concert, perhaps, with some of Pittsburgh’s defensive linemen.

To have a chance, the Steelers also will need quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the lineup because their defense plays with more confidence when Big Ben is there to give his team a scoring chance. He has missed the last three games and four of the last six with injury and surgery.

As for Cincinnati and New England, these are the teams that can count on passers who will keep up with Manning. Palmer is, in fact, more accurate than Manning on deep throws, and Patriot quarterback Tom Brady is a better all-around passer.

This year, the Bengals were too inexperienced for the Colts and the Patriots were too beaten up. In the near future, only three other NFL teams seem to have strengths enough to trouble the Colts: Denver, San Diego and Philadelphia.

The Eagles, of course, won’t do it this season with Donovan McNabb in the hospital. And the Chargers with capable passer Drew Brees -- who is restricted by an extraordinarily conservative coach in Marty Schottenheimer -- may never do it.

The Broncos, with quarterback Jake Plummer improving, are a viable playoff longshot.