Colts’ Sanders once again proves his value

By Anthony Bialy  |   Tuesday, September 18, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

Indianapolis Colts
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Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders is the most valuable player in the NFL. That's different than the best player in the league, who also happens to be a Colt, one by the name of Peyton Manning. But Sanders is the one who either keeps his team in shootouts or prevents opponents from shooting out to begin with, ensuring the all-galaxy quarterback's work isn't wasted.

It was more of the same Sunday, as Sanders did his best to ensure a pesky foe didn't lug the defending champs down to .500.

There is no player who sees the game better than Sanders. His remarkable vision allows him to scan the field more proficiently than those watching from overhead, including television viewers, broadcasters, and, I'd wager, some coaches in the box. Sanders' ability to diagnose living x's and o's from ground level is why he's particularly fierce in run support, sniffing out a rusher's ultimate direction and speeding to the spot to ensure the play is stopped around the line of scrimmage rather than deep downfield where less visionary safeties lie passively in wait.

The first Colts-Titans tilt of the year featured Sanders doing more of his usual. He had 11 total tackles during Week 2's game, seven of them solo, and rung up 2.5 sacks while he was at it, too. Most importantly, he brought his best game on one of those rare days when the offense was often playing with low octane in the tank.

Sanders' value was most evident during Tennessee's final series of the contest, one in which he basically willed his opponents to fail. Vince Young was in the process of scaring the Colts, threatening to drive his team downfield and overcome the surprisingly tiny two-point deficit. With his unique range of abilities, it's something he's done and will continue to do to many teams, and it seems that he especially relishes doing so against the ostensibly superior divisional rivals. But while Sanders was unable to stop Tennessee from beating the spread, he certainly wasn't going to allow the Titans to win outright.

With 1:37 left, Sanders sacked Young on Tennessee's first play, setting the team back 5 yards when it was desperately attempting to slip its way forward into field goal territory. And who else but Sanders would have been there to swallow up Young and force him to toss away the ball on the Titans' last, desperate play of the day, the famous-for-the-week highlight of the lineman lateral? He bookended the final Tennessee series with marvelous plays, first by sacking the quarterback on the important initial play and finally by quashing its hopes for a wildly desperate final stab at sustaining the drive.

The safety's play sealed a victory Sunday, in much the same way he was the sole biggest factor in putting rings on the fingers of Colts. Everyone knows about the amazing awesomeness of Indy's offense as well as some of the notable standouts on defense like Dwight Freeney and even guys like Robert Mathis, but this team doesn't reach fifth gear without Sanders.

He changes games on his lonesome, bringing his team to a higher plateau, and the below-middling level at which the defense frequently competes when he is hurt is proof that no one is more crucial to his team in this league than Sanders. It also means that, once again this Christmas, Colts fans should be good and ask Santa for Sanders to be healthy come January.

This squad is again stacked enough to win the conference without him, but multiple playoff wins won't come unless Sanders is able to get on the field and play like he did when he stopped the Titans.
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