INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Indianapolis cornerback Marlin Jackson smiles like a high school player ready to play his first varsity game.
It could be the excitement of the season opener or coach Jim Caldwell’s regular-season debut. It could be that Jackson is just eager to play in his first meaningful game since sustaining a season-ending knee injury last October. Or maybe, he just wants everyone to see what has changed in the Colts’ defense.
“You know in the past, I’ve thought I was going to go (blitz) maybe a couple of times,” he said. “But I’m confident I’ll go a number of times in Sunday’s game and throughout the season.”
Since Caldwell replaced coordinator Ron Meeks with Larry Coyer in February, the Colts have been promising a different style. Players have talked repeatedly, and eagerly, about more movement on the line and Coyer’s desire to use Indy’s speed in a more aggressive scheme.
ed primarily in standard vanilla formations and still struggled to get off the field.
All that changes Sunday against Jacksonville.
“It will be a little different,” defensive end Raheem Brock said. “We’re not just going to sit back and let you attack any more.”
Indy coaches are hoping the revision will improve a run defense that ranked among the bottom third in the NFL last season.
Few barometers could be better than the Jaguars.
Coach Jack Del Rio has embraced a power-running scheme, and against the Colts, it has worked.
Last year, the Jags rushed for an average of 170.5 yards in the two games. Late in 2006, Indy’s Super Bowl season, Jacksonville racked up a franchise-record 375 yards rushing.
Not surprisingly, Maurice Jones-Drew has been one of the biggest beneficiaries. Of his seven 100-yard games, three have come against the Colts, and his 6.3 yards per carry against Indy is the best he has against any team he’s played more than once.
This year, with Fred Taylor in New England, Jones-Drew is likely to get even more work – presuming there are no setbacks with his bruised right shin. Jones-Drew hasn’t talked about it this week, but Del Rio doesn’t believe it will keep the Jags’ feature back out.
“There’s really nothing to it, and there’s really nothing to add,” Del Rio said. “He’s excited to get started.”
, either.
Ex-Colts linebacker Mike Peterson is now an ex-Jag. Defensive end Paul Spicer was let go in the offseason, too. The Jags have their third defensive coordinator, Mel Tucker, in three years, and they have been working with a 3-4 front after slipping from a playoff team in 2007 to 5-11 last season.
“We’ll be more disruptive to the quarterback this year, that I can assure you,” Del Rio said. “To what level? I know what our aspirations are. We’re going to work at it, we’re going to commit to it and we’ll see. We get to prove what we’re capable of.”
Three-time MVP Peyton Manning, who needs one more win to tie John Unitas’ franchise record for career victories (118) and is a well-known film analyst, thinks Jacksonville hasn’t tipped off its changes.
“We’re familiar with them, but they’ve got a new defensive coordinator – in fact every team in the AFC South has a new coordinator – and we know that,” Manning said. “When you see them playing in the preseason, you realize they probably have some things they haven’t shown in preseason. So, in a lot of ways, there’s some unfamiliarity.”
The defenses aren’t the only questions heading into Sunday.
Will Jacksonville’s passing game get a boost from receiver Torry Holt? Will Manning feel as comfortable running an offense that no longer includes Marvin Harrison? How will Caldwell react to his first game as an NFL head coach?
Caldwell, who replaced the retired Tony Dungy in January, refuses to get caught up in the emotions of his coaching debut.
“I don’t reflect that much on the personal side of it,” he said. “Maybe when I’m done with this game, 20 or 30 years from now if I’m like (Joe) Paterno, I’ll do that then.”
But the Colts’ defense, which was ravaged by injuries in the preseason, is eager to get started.
Even if Bob Sanders, the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, can’t play and Jackson is limited to nickel package duty.
“It’s going to be different,” Jackson said, still smiling. “I think you’ll see us mixing it up a lot more and you’ll see some things people have not seen yet.”
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