Herm Edwards Gets Defensive

Maybe Herm Edwards doesn't like to watch the Super Bowl, but he sure likes to talk about it. Edwards wrote a guest commentary in the Kansas City Star entitled: "The Colts Are Here Because of Defense." As always, Edwards got directly to the point:

Defenses win games. I keep telling people that, and they don't believe me.

When you look at the playoffs, that's what won it for these guys, is their defense. Both teams have played good defense in the playoffs. Both of them had shootout games, too. Lovie (Smith) and those guys had a shootout game against Seattle, and Tony had a shootout game against New England. But in the other games against us and Baltimore, they played good defense.

Edwards then goes on to, for all practical purposes, write a Colts love-fest. I know Edwards is close friends with Tony Dungy, but his commentary was basically an early Valentine's Day love note to the Colts' defense.

Edwards probably shouldn't quit his day job anytime soon, either. He concludes his commentary by saying:

Peyton is playing better. It was just a matter of time because he's that kind of quarterback. To me, a key for both teams is special teams because they both have good return guys. And then how (Rex) Grossman plays against those guys. If he doesn't turn the ball over, they'll be in the game. If he turns the ball over, that's not good.

Not exactly Pulitzer material there.On a more pertinent note, one certainly has to wonder about the motivation behind Edwards' column. He didn't have to do it, and the introduction states that he was reluctant to do it based on his friendship with Dungy. So why did he do it? It looks like this to me-- Edwards has taken a lot of heat this offseason for his offensive philosophies and plans. So by emphasizing that the Colts, a notable offensive team, got to the Super Bowl through defense, Edwards is basically screaming, "My plan will work!"

Of course, we've seen that sometimes a great offense can win without a great defense, or that a great defense can win without a great offense. But we live in a short-attention-span society, so what happened most recently becomes most relevant to our actions of tomorrow. Herm Edwards' plan may or may not work, but he sure is intent on convincing us that it will.