Colts, not Chiefs, have the necessary running game

Year in and year out, the NFL playoffs are such compelling theater because the games seldom go to script. We should know by now to expect the unexpected, and to brace for surprise in every 12-team bracket. The Chiefs at Colts wild-card playoff opener at Indianapolis on Saturday was merely the latest case in point.

All week long, the pre-game angle of choice was to ponder how in the world would the Colts' historically bad and 32nd-ranked run defense slow down Kansas City's Larry Johnson-led power running game? Conventional wisdom decreed that it was a disaster waiting to happen for Indianapolis. The proverbial worst-case scenario for the beleaguered Colts defense.

So naturally, it was the Colts' seldom-talked about running game that handed out the real punishment in Indy's 23-8 win at the RCA Dome, and the Chiefs' vaunted running game that went painfully MIA. Why exactly were we so worried about the Colts' run defense again? And can Indy (13-4) possibly match this defensive performance next week at No. 2-seeded Baltimore in the AFC's divisional round?

Here are the down right unbelievable numbers that Saturday yielded:

• Indianapolis out-rushed Kansas City 188-44.

• The Colts collected 13 rushing first downs to the Chiefs' two.

• Indy's average rush was 4.7 yards on 40 carries. Kansas City ran 17 times for a paltry 2.6 per carry.

• The celebrated Johnson, who averaged almost 112 yards per game this season, was held to 32 yards on 13 carries (the 2.5 average well below his 4.3 season average), with a long gain of six.

• Colts rookie rusher Joseph Addai wound up the player of the game, with 122 yards on 25 carries, and 26 more on seven receptions. His 6-yard third-quarter touchdown scamper providing the game's most important points.

With Peyton Manning having an uncharacteristically mistake-prone game, throwing three interceptions (all in K.C. territory) and just one touchdown, it was up to the Colts run game and run defense to save the day. And they did. In the most convincing fashion.

But as pivotal as the Colts running game was -- and let's not overlook Dominic Rhodes' contribution of 68 yards on 13 carries, with two catches for 24 yards -- the story of this game was Indy's complete shutdown of Johnson and the Chiefs on the ground.

Keep in mind a few hard, cold facts. The Colts averaged 173 yards rushing allowed per game this season, the NFL's most in 19 years. Just four weeks ago Sunday, Indy was gouged for 375 yards rushing in the Jags' 44-17 win at Jacksonville. The Colts also were the first NFL team in 22 years to surrender 100 yards rushing or more in all 16 games. But somehow K.C. didn't even break 50. Raise your hand if you had that plot twist nailed.