Professor

Terre Haute News, Terre Haute, Indiana- TribStar.com - Colts sticking with two-back ground attack

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts had plenty of success with their two-pronged running attack en route to the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship last February. So much so that Colts coach Tony Dungy is intent on keeping the system in place despite the free-agency loss of Dominic Rhodes to the Oakland Raiders.

Yes, 2006 first-round draft pick Joseph Addai is back and will continue in his role as the team’s first-team runner. But the question still remains as to just who will fill the sizable gap created by Rhodes’ departure.

Will it be second-year pro DeDe Dorsey, who spent most of the 2006 season splitting time as the Colts’ third-string running back and on special-teams duty after he was picked up off the Cincinnati Bengals’ practice squad at the end of training camp last summer.

Or could it possibly be former Canadian Football League standout Kenton Keith, who is the oldest of the running backs (26) but is in his first year with Indianapolis. He has spent the last four seasons playing with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he rushed for 3,811 yards and 21 touchdowns in 54 career games.

A pair of undrafted rookies — Clifton Dawson, who played collegiately at Harvard, and Chris Morgan from Indiana University-Pennsylvania — are also in the mix and may have a shot of earning a spot on the roster this fall. Veteran James Mungro, who missed all of the 2006 season with a knee injury, is a restricted free agent but remains unsigned. He could be brought back at a later date.

For the time being, though, the battle is expected to come down primarily to either Dorsey, who gained valuable experience a year ago in learning the Colts’ intricate offensive system, and Keith.

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Professor

The Official Website of the Indianapolis Colts

INDIANAPOLIS – Bob Sanders didn’t practice with the Colts this past weekend.

It wasn’t by choice. The veteran safety, the player who played a huge part in the Colts’ Super Bowl season, is rehabilitating from off-season shoulder surgery.

Still, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a factor at the Colts’ 2007 mini-camp, which ended on Sunday afternoon at the team’s practice facility.

The 2005 Pro Bowl selection was there in a new role.

A leadership role.

It’s a role he said he likes, partly because when he looks at the players he will be leading – the defensive backs in the Colts’ 2007 draft class – Sanders said he very much likes what he sees.

“I think they’re doing well,” Sanders said on Sunday, the final day of the Colts’ three-day, five-practice mini-camp.

“Since I’ve been here, this is probably the best group I’ve seen come in, as far as DBs. They’re running it. They’re putting it on the field.

“I think we’ll have a good, solid bunch next year.”

Sanders, whose return last season was a major reason for the team’s postseason defensive resurgence, will enter his fourth NFL season next season. And although he said he doesn’t yet know if he will be ready when training camp opens in late July, he said he very much expects to return fully healthy – and at a higher level than last year – next season.

He also said he’ll return as a leader.

That’s a role he said he’s ready for, and that he’ll embrace, even if it does seem a bit strange to be embracing it so soon.

And Sanders said even if he didn’t want it, he wouldn’t have much choice.

He recently turned 26. He has played three NFL seasons.

And he is the most experienced player in the Colts’ secondary.

“It’s crazy,” Sanders said. “I’ve thought about that. I’m like, ‘Just a couple of years ago, I was the youngest guy. Now, I’m the oldest.’

“I have to make sure I do my role and lead these guys in the right direction.”

Sanders said he feels comfortable in a leadership role and he said there is one primary reason for that – his play on the field.

His goal for the 2007 season? He said it’s to make sure he’s on the field more often.

Sanders, the Colts’ second-round selection in the 2004 NFL Draft, has missed 24 of 48 regular-season games in his three seasons. He missed 10 games with injuries as a rookie,
and last season, missed 12 more with a knee injury sustained early in the season.

The one season in which he has played more than half of the season was 2005, his Pro Bowl season.

“That’s my goal,” Sanders said. “My No. 1 goal is to make sure I stay healthy, and just focus on getting better as an all-around football player and not allow this past year to affect the way I play.”

Sanders returned last season for the playoffs, and when he did, the Colts’ defense improved drastically. After finishing the regular-season ranked 32nd in the NFL in rushing with 173.0 yards per game allowed, Indianapolis allowed more than 100 yards rushing just once in the postseason – during their 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

Since that Super Bowl victory, the team has lost several defensive starters to free agency. One player was linebacker Cato June, and two others were the team’s starting cornerbacks, Nick Harper and Jason David.

This past weekend, Marlin Jackson and Kelvin Hayden – first- and second-round selections in the 2005 NFL Draft, respectively – worked at cornerback, with 2006 second-round selection Tim Jennings working as the third corner. Antoine Bethea, who started 14 games as a rookie last season, is expected to start alongside Sanders next season.

That’s a young group, and a group that has turned over dramatically in recent seasons. But that’s not uncommon in the NFL, and Sanders said it’s not something that should hurt Indianapolis defensively.

“That’s what we’ve done,” Sanders said. “We have had guys in and out. You get starters hurt every year. The younger guys have to be ready to step in and pick up the slack. I think it won’t be a problem at all.

“These younger guys are good coming in. They were great college players, and so far, they’ve done an excellent job.”

And if Sanders’ role expands this season, and becomes one in which he is more responsible for leading those around him, it’s a role for which he figures he’s ready, and one that he must fill.

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