The Eighth in an Off-Season Position-by-Position Series on the Colts
INDIANAPOLIS – It's not that Jim Caldwell takes it for granted.
Far from it, because Caldwell – who in 2011 will enter his third season as the Colts' head coach – knows well the value of the Colts' pass rush.
As such, Caldwell said he knows well the value of the Colts' defensive end tandem.
Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, two of the NFL's top pass-rushing defensive ends for well more than a half decade, continued this past season to make history, and continue to be among the league's best at performing one of its most difficult, important tasks.
Ask a result, the tandem again made the Colts' end position one of the NFL's best. So, no, Caldwell said he certainly doesn't take the Colts' end position for granted.
But it definitely is something on which the team can depend.
"Being around them a number of years now, it's something you certainly grow to expect, that you're accustomed to, those two guys being able to be a real force and a real factor in the ballgame," Caldwell said during the 2010 NFL season. "They have the ability to rush the passer, and they do it in a variety of ways. They can bull-rush you, they can speed-rush you and they can rush you inside or outside. It makes it difficult.
"Oftentimes, teams will look at one rusher and turn the entire line toward that particular rusher, but when you have two that makes things a bit more difficult."
The Colts this past season ranked 13th in the NFL against the pass, and while Freeney and Mathis weren't the only reasons the unit played solidly throughout much of the season, they were critical, helping a defense that – like the rest of the team – sustained significant injuries remain effective against the pass.
Freeney and Mathis, who this season became the first post-Merger defensive end tandem named to the Pro Bowl together three consecutive seasons, have combined for 66 sacks and 21 forced fumbles over the past three seasons.
This season, Freeney not only was named to the AFC Pro Bowl team as a starter, but he also made the PFW/PFWA All-AFC Team, received the Ed Block Courage Award and was named AFC Defensive Player-of-the-Week for a November 1 victory over Houston. Mathis was named an AFC Pro Bowl Team starter, was named to the PFW/PFWA All-AFC Team and was the AFC Player of the Month for September.
The season continued a recent trend of production from the duo.
Freeney, the Colts career sacks leader with 94.0, led the NFL with 16 sacks in 2004, and he also has 41 career forced fumbles. He has 22 multiple-sack games and seven multiple-forced fumble games. He not only has registered five career three-sack games, he and Mathis share the NFL record with eight consecutive games with a sack to start a season.
The Colts are 56-14 when he has a sack and 26-6 when he forces a fumble.
Mathis, for his part, ranks second in Colts history with 74.0 career sacks and 36 forced fumbles. He has 18 career multiple-sack games.
Since the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl began following the 1970 season, the only other defensive end tandem from the same team selected to more than one Pro Bowl together were Clyde Simmons and Reggie White of the Philadelphia Eagles (1991 and 1992 seasons).
"We've fought the battles and wars," Freeney said near the end of the 2010 season.
This past season, Mathis and Freeney combined for 21 sacks.
And as was the case in past seasons, their effectiveness was something on which the Colts depended late in games throughout the season. Their presence helped the Colts remain strong against the pass during a season in which not only the secondary, but much of the back seven missed significant time with injuries.
This past season, the duo also continued to take on the role of veteran leaders. While the Colts avoided the rash of injuries at end that were common around the rest of the team in 2010, long-time end Raheem Brock left for Seattle, leaving the Colts relatively young at the spot.
Keyunta Dawson, a fourth-year veteran who has played tackle and end in three seasons, played extensively as a backup in 2010, and was second among Colts ends with 27 tackles and five quarterback pressures.
Defensive tackle Eric Foster also played as a backup, and Jerry Hughes – a first-round selection in the 2010 NFL Draft – played in 12 of the last 14 games, finishing the season with six tackles and a quarterback pressure.
Colts Vice Chairman Bill Polian and Caldwell each said throughout the season Hughes made progress as a rookie.
"He's progressing well," Polian said of Hughes during the season. "He has learned what he has to do to be a success in the National Football League. He now has to take that and apply it on a daily basis and be able to do the things he needs to do both physically and mentally without thinking about it. . . . That is a transition, by the way, that every defensive lineman coming into the league makes. . . .
"There's no timetable for him. We knew when we drafted him there would be a learning curve, and a pretty steep one. He's making progress, and he works hard. He's extremely talented. . . . He's growing and getting better every day. That's what he needs to do."
