Marvin Harrison will no doubt see double coverage Monday night. The Jaguars will roll their coverage toward him to not allow the big play. If Harrison is going to beat Jacksonville, it will have to be on short passes on which he will have to break some tackles.
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Salisbury |
If Harrison and Edgerrin James dominate Jacksonville, then the Jags will not have done a good job with their preparation and game plan.
When Harrison is double-teamed, tight end Ken Dilger becomes big weapon in the Colts offense -- and Peyton Manning will find him. Dilger should see a lot of single coverage against a linebacker. And I would take the tight end over a linebacker any day of the week. Manning will get his yardage, and the Jags don't want to let James and Harrison get out of control. But the Jags also like to play a lot of zone in Dom Capers' zone-blitzing scheme. And tight ends are huge factors against zone-blitzing teams.
Dilger can set up and curl inside and be a late outlet throw. A lot of times the Jaguars will blitz a linebacker and drop a defensive lineman into coverage. Dilger should be able to beat a defensive lineman and work the middle.
With Manning, Harrison and James in the Colts offense, you don't hear much about Dilger. He's not Jay Novacek because he doesn't catch like Novacek did. And although Novacek was a Pro Bowl player, think about the comparisons between today's Colts and the past Cowboy teams. Everybody always talked about Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin. Then they would say, "Oh, by the way, the tight end is pretty good."
The same thing can be said for Dilger. He is an underrated player who runs well and can get down the field. He should be a factor against the Jags, and I think the Colts will create a situation where he has to make a big catch.
Editor's note: The experts at Sportvision and ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury will provide an in-depth look at NFL teams' playbooks each Friday on ESPN.com. Sportvision will provide the animated play diagram, and Salisbury will detail how the play works and when you can expect to see it.
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ALSO SEE
Game Plans: Jaguars at Colts
Focal Point: Marvin Harrison vs. Jimmy Smith
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Week 4 injury report
Inside the Playbook: Jets at Bucs
Inside the Playbook: Redskins at Giants
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