Scouting Report
5 - Indianapolis Colts
A long season figures to get even longer if new
boss Bill Polian doesn't get his money's
worth
out of a couple of 26-year-old
cornerbacks
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While Manning learns the ropes, the pressure is on pricey pickups Poole (38) and Burris to keep opponents in check.
(Peter Read Miller)
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Question:
which
position did the Colts spend
$40 million on during the off-season to solve problems in an
area that new club president Bill Polian considers vital to
the team's
success?
Answer:
Cornerback.
That's right. We said cornerback, not quarterback. While
rookie signal-caller Peyton Manning was the big off-season
pickup, signing a six-year deal that will likely be worth a
minimum of $38 million, Polian bought himself security at a
spot he
considers, along with an outside pass rusher, the toughest position
to fill on a defense. In mid-February, on the second day of
free agency, Polian picked up the phone and did a sales job
on Jeff Burris, late of the Bills, and persuaded him to
sign a five-year,
$20 million deal before Burris had the opportunity to make a
single recruiting trip. Then, as training camp dawned,
Polian ponied up a
second-round 1999
draft choice to the Panthers for cornerback Tyrone Poole,
who had been on the trading block since March; Polian
followed with a stunner, tearing up Poole's contract and
rewarding him with a five-year, $20 million
deal.
Two corners. Zero Pro Bowls between
them. Dallas pays one of the best cornerback tandems in the
game, Deion Sanders and Kevin Smith, an average of
$6.893 million a year. Indianapolis will pay its
starting corners—assuming Poole beats out incumbent Carlton
Gray—an average of
$8 million over the next five years. "When I got here, I
saw a defense without much at cornerback in the way of
coverage ability," says Polian, who, having had successful runs with the Bills
and the Panthers, is with his third team in five years.
"And
we're in a division with Yatil Green [Dolphins], Keyshawn
Johnson [Jets], Terry Glenn [Patriots] and Andre Reed
[Bills]. We needed two cover corners, and we went out and
got
them."
Both new cornerbacks are 26 and former first-round draft
selections. Burris, quick enough at
6'0" and 204 pounds, was a logical buy. But Poole? He's
5'8". He gives up seven inches to Johnson, six inches to
Green. Polian, however, insists Poole can play bigger than
he is. "Carolina got down on him because they're
infatuated with
big," says Polian. "I feel the game is more speed than big.
Time will tell
if I'm
right."
In training camp Burris and Poole have taken their share of
razzing. "On one of my first days in the
cafeteria," Burris says, "one of the guys said to
me, 'The executive suite is to your right,
Governor.'" Burris and Poole will have to play like big-timers
for Indianapolis to have a chance to see .500. While
Manning struggles to get acclimated, the defense and
special teams are going to have to keep the Colts in games.
"In practice, we talk about
creating opportunities for the offense all the time," says
Burris. "We want to be impact players." Adds free
safety Jason Belser, "We recognize the defense is
going to have to win a few games for this team to get where
we want to
be."
| Schedule |
| Sept. | 6 | MIAMI |
| 13 | at New England |
| 20 | at N.Y. Jets |
| 27 | NEW ORLEANS |
| Oct. | 4 | SAN DIEGO |
| 11 | BUFFALO |
| 18 | at San Francisco |
| 25 | OPEN DATE |
| Nov. | 1 | NEW ENGLAND |
| 8 | at Miami |
| 15 | N.Y. JETS |
| 22 | at Buffalo |
| 29 | at Baltimore |
| Dec. | 6 | at Atlanta |
| 13 | CINCINNATI |
| 20 | at Seattle |
| 27 | CAROLINA |
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But even an optimist like Polian sees the holes. There's
not an impact linebacker. The best of the bunch is outside
backer Quentin Coryatt. Big things were expected of Coryatt
when he was taken with the second pick of the '92 draft.
Plagued by injuries
throughout his career, however, he has accumulated just
8 1/2 sacks in his first six seasons. Last season's leading
sacker, defensive end Dan Footman (with
10 1/2) has
19 1/2 career sacks in 66 games. "Our defense is not nearly
good enough," Polian says with a sigh, thinking back
to his days with the talent-rich Bills. "We don't have
a Bruce Smith or a Cornelius Bennett. We don't even have a
Shane Conlan. But Rome
wasn't
built in a
day."
Supervising the on-field reconstruction is a 63-year-old
reclamation project. When last we saw Jim Mora in the NFL,
as the Saints' coach in mid-1996, he was blowing a gasket
in a profanity-laced diatribe directed at his team after a
loss to Carolina.
"Losing it like I did bothers the hell out of me, and it'll
bother me for the rest of my life," says Mora, who won
93 games in 10-plus seasons in New Orleans. "But I'm a
different coach now. I've got a fresh outlook. And I'm
working with a great guy in
Bill Polian, a football purist who knows what it takes to
win."
In Indianapolis, the first thing it will take to win is
patience. The second is a handful of front-seven players,
but Polian won't be able to mine those until after this
season. Watch out for this team in 1999, when Manning has a
year under his belt and
the defense has more depth. Until then, Burris and Poole
are going to feel as much pressure as any pair of
cornerbacks in the
league. —Peter King
By the Numbers | Inside Slant | Lineup
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