The Colts finally found their anchor

For most of last year the Indianapolis Colts offensive line was a sieve. Their quarterback was sacked in all but two of the first 15 games last season. Lets be real, Andrew Luck probably would’ve been sacked in games too, if not for his own impressive, underrated elusiveness.

But an interesting thing happened in their last five contests, including three playoff games. The Colts didn’t give up any sacks in three of those games, and they only gave up one in each of the other two games.

So how did that happen?

I will not point to the fact that those were the only five games Khaled Holmes started last season as the primary reason for the turnaround. I will say he helped bring some stability to that unit. It was a pretty remarkable turnaround for Holmes, considering that he had only seen action in six games prior to his first start in Week 16 of last season.

The Colts selected Holmes in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He got off to a slow start primarily due to injuries. Holmes hurt his ankle and wasn’t active until the last three games of his rookie season. He was slated to start heading into training camp last season, but he hurt an ankle in the preseason opener and wasn’t heard from again until Week 13.

Ironically enough, it was injuries to the two -- yes two -- centers ahead of him on the depth chart that thrust him into the starting lineup against the Dallas Cowboys for the Colts’ penultimate regular season game. It wasn’t exactly a fairy tale ending either since the Colts got demolished, 42-7, on the road in that game.

Then again, it wasn’t an ending anyway.

It was a new beginning for Holmes, an opportunity to reset his career. He got handled a little in the first round of the playoffs by Cincinnati Bengals nose tackle Domata Peko, but he showed enough in his five starts overall that the Colts should feel comfortable with him as their starting center. After all, Peko is a fucking load. He exposed the fact that Holmes probably needs to get in the weight room. Those are things Holmes was probably going to do this offseason anyway.

I judge centers on more than just the physical part of their game. They’re the quarterback of the offensive line and if they fuck up, your real quarterback is gonna feel it. I thought he did a damn good job of directing traffic while he was in there. Maybe he just did a good job of faking it, since there’s no way to know for sure if his line calls were correct, but he must have done something right for the sack numbers to go down so precipitously.

Physically, other than that Bengals game, he was pretty good as well. Five games isn’t a ton of reps, but Holmes should be a lot more confident now that he’s had some positive game reps. That should boost his level of play.

One thing is clear: the offensive line performed better with Holmes in there than it did when he wasn’t. His best days are still ahead of him, and I expect Holmes to start this season and be outstanding as the Colts’ center.