FanHouse Clint Session

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

I often chuckle at the amount of time people spend whining about how you can't accurately evaluate the draft immediately. We know that. We also don't know exactly who is going to do what in each season, but that doesn't stop us from giving preseason predictions or fantasy football advice. Sometimes you just have to have a little bit of intestinal fortitude and put yourself out there. The reader demand is there, so we'll provide the supply.

One of the few cases (along with teams like the Steelers and Patriots) where it's probably not a good idea to say anything bad, though, is when it comes to Bill Polian and the Colts.

I should have known I couldn't stay away for long before having to weigh in on another batch of controversial calls. The power of the Zebra Report lives on. Dwight Freeney discussed things with Michael Silver of Yahoo! -- or, not really discussed, more like vented -- as the two walked towards the Colts' team bus following the game.

"Those were the worst [expletive] calls I've seen in a long time," he said. "To have a game of that magnitude taken out of your hands, it's just disgusting. It's not like they made one [expletive] bad call – it's three calls, in overtime. On one the ball's 50 feet over [Chambers'] head. And they have the nerve to call defensive holding? When they can't even call one friggin' offensive holding the whole game? What's going on? They need to start investigating some other [expletive]."

I would make a tell me how you really feel, Dwight comment here, but he has every right to be upset considering the Colts went 12-4 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. I'd be a bit incensed, too.

Every Thursday we'll take a look at the battle at the line of scrimmage in one game. Check back every week for a new edition of Between The Lines.

We've heard all about the Colts' offensive injuries, and how losing center Jeff Saturday and tight end Dallas Clark has left Indianapolis struggling to get back to the dominance they showed two years ago.

All of that may be true, but as we saw on Sunday, the Colts have a much bigger problem. The run defense, which was always the team's biggest problem, but one that was finally fixed in 2006, has fallen apart again. The Jaguars rushed for 236 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry.

That's a whole lot of yards, but the 4.9 yards per carry is right in line with what the Colts have given up this season. It wasn't a case of outsmarting the Colts--there are high school offenses that are more complex than what the Jags did on Sunday, but the Colts had few answers. The Jags used a two-tight end, two-back formation with the lone wide receiver going in motion to eventually line up as an H-back just off the line. When the Jags bunched up in this formation, the Colts would bring 10 men up into the "box." It's a formation many teams use in goal line situations, but the Jaguars were happy to run it on first and 10. If Knute Rockne watched, he'd recognize what he was seeing.