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Terre Haute News, Terre Haute, Indiana- TribStar.com - Colts begin title defense with same mentality

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TERRE HAUTE — Do championship teams have the same make-up the year after it has won its title? It’s a question asked by every defending champion.

All say they do, most think they do, but no one on the Indianapolis Colts is better suited to know whether its bluster or whether status quo is being maintained better than guard Rick DeMulling.

DeMulling was not with the Colts in 2006, but he was an important part of the build-up to the Colts’ Super Bowl XLI championship.

DeMulling began his NFL career with the Colts in 2001 and was the starting left guard for the Colts from 2002-2004 before he left to sign a free agent deal with the Detroit Lions prior to the 2005 season. The Colts’ current run of five consecutive playoff appearances began when DeMulling became a starter.

With nearly every major contributor and coach from DeMulling’s first stint with the Colts still on the team, the seventh-year pro from Idaho is uniquely qualified to compare and contrast the pre- and post-championship Colts.

“Everything is the same mentally for us. The work is the same and if it’s works once, it should work again. They haven’t changed it much,” DeMulling said.

“This team has had a workingman’s mentality — you go out there and do it right, and if you don’t you won’t be here. That didn’t change.”

DeMulling credited the Colts’ veteran base — Peyton Manning, Jeff Saturday, Josh Thomas, Gary Brackett, among others — for leading the way in maintaining work ethic continuity.

“They let you know there’s a certain way of getting things done … there’s no exception to it,” DeMulling said.

The base principles of veteran offensive line coach Howard Mudd haven’t changed from 2004 and Mudd’s approach to blocking is a refreshing return to familiarity for DeMulling after trying to adjust to the complex offensive schemes used by Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

“Mike Martz is a brilliant man and he has so many things going on it was hard for me personally to kind of focus on one thing. [With the Colts], you focus on one thing and do it well,” DeMulling noted. “There’s a few blocking differences [from 2004], there’s little things to get used to, but the techniques are all the same and that’s the big thing. It’s just little twitches, nothing too big.”

The one aspect of the offense that has changed since DeMulling left is the feature back. From 2001-04, DeMulling blocked for Edgerrin James — who was one of the NFL’s elite running backs of the period, rushing for 5,964 yards during DeMulling’s first Colts stint. The feature back is now Joseph Addai, who gained 1,081 yards in his 2005 rookie season.

DeMulling noted that blocking for a new back can require a different approach by the entire line.

“Sometimes guys need to know exactly where the hole is. Other guys are good at reading where the hole is going to be. There are times where you down block for someone where you might zone block for someone else,” DeMulling explained. “Some plays you had to down block for Edgerrin, but he was great at finding the back door. Joseph, from what I can tell, likes everyone to gang block where everyone goes in one direction, he can find the hole, and hit it.”

DeMulling, who is comfortable in his role as back-up to incumbent Ryan Lilja, lauded the chemistry the Colts’ offensive line currently enjoys and believes it’s an important part of any line’s success.

“I’d love to be a starter, but we have a solid line right now that has great chemistry, so I’m not going to expect [to start]. I can add depth and play as much as possible and [play] if something happens,” said DeMulling, who started 12 of the 27 games he played in his Lions career.

So far the return engagement with the Colts has been a happy one for DeMulling. He wishes he could have seen through the championship run that he helped ignite in 2001, but he doesn’t dwell on it.

“It would have been great to have been part of [Super Bowl XLI], but [leaving the Colts] was just something that had to happen. I would have stayed here if I could have, it just didn’t work out that way, it’s the nature of the business,” DeMulling said. “Coming back was like putting on a comfortable shoe. [The Lions] were great guys, but I didn’t mesh with them. Something just didn’t click. I’ve fallen back into routine here and I’m much more comfortable.

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