The Seventh in an Off-Season Position-by-Position Series on the Colts
INDIANAPOLIS – He spoke of improvement, and also of redemption.
By the end of the 2010 NFL regular season, Fili Moala had very much achieved both – and in so doing, he may have set the tone for the future of the Colts' defensive tackle position.
Moala, a second-round selection by the Colts in the 2009 NFL Draft, started 16 games this past regular season, improving drastically from his rookie season and playing well enough that Colts Vice Chairman Bill Polian shortly after the season called him "our best defensive tackle."
"The arrow is nothing but up for him," Polian said.
That was a drastic change from the previous season.
Moala, after being selected with the No. 56 overall selection in the 2009 NFL Draft, played sparingly as a rookie, and said late in the season the move from the University of Southern California to professional football was a more difficult transition than he expected.
He spoke of that often during training camp and the regular season, during which time he said he expected significant improvement in 2010.
The season brought just that.
Not only did Moala start all 16 games, he finished the season with 26 tackles, including 20 solo, providing penetration and movement inside. He not only helped the Colts' defensive front remain one of the NFL's most-effective pass-rushing units, he helped the defense improve drastically against the run late in the season.
"Fili Moala exceeded our expectations," Polian said. "I know a lot of people were on him. A lot of pundits were saying he was a failed draft choice last year.
"Well, that is not the case, as he proved this year."
Said Moala, "I never once doubted myself….It was always disappointment and I thought I could do better, but never once did I ever think I didn't belong.
"You kind of get a feel for what everyone's thinking, that I was a waste or whatever it may have been. I never once thought that. Those are outside people looking in."
Moala's improvement came during a season in which the Colts improved against the run, particularly late in the season.
In allowing 108 or more yards rushing in 10 of the first 12 games of the season, the Colts allowed 217 yards rushing in a 38-35 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Game 12. That was the Colts' third consecutive loss, a span during which Indianapolis allowed 171.3 yards a game rushing.
The Colts then played three of the NFL's top running backs in a season-closing four-game stretch that included two games against the Tennessee Titans and three-time Pro Bowl running back Chris Johnson, a 2,000-yard rusher in 2009.
Johnson rushed for 111 yards in Game 14, but the Colts held him to 39 yards on 20 carries in a Week 17 Colts victory that helped clinch a seventh AFC South title in eight seasons. The Colts also held Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew – a Pro Bowl selection the last two seasons – to 46 yards on 15 carries in Week 15.
Darren McFadden, who rushed for 1,157 yards this past season, rushed for 45 yards on 11 carries for Oakland in a Week 16 Colts victory.
The Colts finished 25th in the NFL against the run, allowing 127.0 yards per game, but allowed 79.8 yards per game over the last four games.
"It's about every guy on every play on every snap," Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney said. "I think we . . . played great run-stop defense for three quarters and a half for the majority of the year, and then we will have one run here or one run there that all of a sudden our average goes skyrocketing."
Aside from Moala, the Colts also got solid, consistent play at the tackle position from a group of young veterans who have formed the core of the position the last two seasons.
Dan Muir, a starter throughout much of 2009, started 14 games this past season, and Antonio Johnson – after starting much of the 2009 season – played 12 games as a reserve before starting the final two games of the season when Muir was out.
Eric Foster, who has played a key role as a reserve and a starter in three Colts seasons, played 16 games as a reserve, registering 33 tackles and 3.5 sacks with four quarterback pressures. Muir led Colts defensive tackles with 38 tackles and two pressures and Johnson had 26 tackles, half a sack and three pressures.
And if the development of Moala were the critical story at the position, and if the development surprised some observers, it came as little surprise to the Colts, Polian said.
It was, Polian said, a process that took time.
But Polian said at the same time said it was a normal process and one the Colts expected from Moala all along.
"He's just going to get better and better," Polian said. "Like most rookie defensive linemen, the adjustment to the National Football League is a gigantic adjustment. (Former Buffalo Bills defensive end) Bruce Smith took three years to develop into a Hall of Famer.
"Fili's done a tremendous job and the sky is the limit, really, for him, I think."
