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THE POLIAN CORNER
By staff - Colts.com
Question: An 18-15 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The Colts trailed by nine points at halftime and 15-0 late in the third quarter. Very little went right for a long time, then a whole lot went right after a very bizarre play. Wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez lateralled to wide receiver Reggie Wayne. You don’t always like to see that, but it gave the Colts a lift . . .
Answer: You almost never do, but in dire circumstances you do things you perhaps would not otherwise do. It turned out fine. Great credit to Reggie for hustling and for (tight end) Tom Santi for hustling and blowing up a defensive back on the play.
Q: How did rookie tight end Tom Santi do in his first extended action?
A: He struggled at times. Let’s face it. He only has had about three weeks of practice and he’s in there and he has to block (Jared) Allen in certain circumstances and he has to adjust to various calls. The next thing you know, he has Charlie (Johnson) next to him who hasn’t played the position at left tackle in the National Football League, so there were some mental errors. There were some technique things that have to be cleaned up, but by and large, I thought he did a terrific job. As Peyton said, ‘He gets open and he catches the ball.’ When he learns to run routes exactly the way Dallas (Clark) does and when he gets adapted to the techniques of blocking, he’s going to be a fine player. He did a good job as it was, but there’s a learning curve. No question about it. More credit to him for hanging in there and typical of this class of rookies their work ethic and their enthusiasm seems to stick out in my mind. Tom went down and really through a heck of a block on Gonzo’s lateral play. He really lit a defensive back up. Well, that’s a guy who’s out there hustling every time he is out there. That’s typical of this rookie class. They give you everything they have all the time. It doesn’t always look pretty, but they’re giving everything they have and it’s enough to get the job done in most cases.
