Dungy, Colts trying to figure out what's wrong with run defense

Tiki Barber and Brandon Jacobs overpowered the Indianapolis Colts run defense. Fred Taylor and Maurice Drew shredded it.\nThree games into the season, the Colts have struggled to stop any team this side of the grounded Houston Texans, but players and coaches aren't worried yet.\nSure, they all agree improvement is needed, but they don't think a major overhaul is needed.\n"No concerns," three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney said Wednesday. "It all goes to the game and who won the game. The bottom line is if they score 17 points, chances are they're not going to win."\nSuch an explanation may suffice now since the Colts are 3-0.\nClearly, though, coach Tony Dungy has a different perspective. Dungy typically does not elaborate publicly about errors, but over the past three weeks he has said the run defense has struggled primarily because of blown assignments and over-aggressiveness.\nAll Dungy wants them to do is stay in the right gaps and make sound tackles. Players have gotten the message.\n"We made our mistakes and I wish you all could see the film as closely as we do," defensive tackle Montae Reagor said. "It's not being on your side, being overanxious, overrunning the ball. There's nothing wrong with pursuing, but we had that happen a few times."\nThe Colts discount another explanation for their early-season woes -- the absence of run-stuffing defensive tackle Corey Simon, a former Pro Bowler.\nSimon, the biggest lineman on the Colts roster at 300 pounds, has not played this season because of a left knee injury. He had arthroscopic surgery last month and had hoped to be back the season-opener. So far it hasn't happened, and team president Bill Polian said on his weekly radio show Monday night that Simon was undergoing more tests.\nDungy isn't sure when Simon will return.\nBut Dungy doesn't believe that his revamped front four has suddenly become too small.\n"We're certainly not clicking on all cylinders," he said. "But our run defense has nothing to do with size at all. They (Jacksonville) blocked well and ran well, and it's really not even about the tackling. We've got to be in the right spots. The positive side of the equation is we've made plays when we needed to."\nWhether it's Simon's absence, the loss of two starters -- defensive tackle Larry Tripplett and linebacker David Thornton, or the fact that the defense played most of the pre-season without half its starters, the difference from last season has been noticeable.\nIn 2005, the Colts ranked 11th in overall defense, 16th against the run and allowed the second fewest points (247) in the NFL.\nThis season the Colts are ranked 22nd overall in defense, 28th against the run and have allowed nearly 20 points per game. The four teams below them in run defense are all winless.\nDungy has tried to alleviate worries with his usually calm demeanor.\n"I choose to look at it as we're still getting better," he said. "Against Jacksonville, it really wasn't very pretty for the first 30 minutes, but we played with more energy and urgency the second 30 minutes. It wasn't necessarily better, but we got away with a victory."\nFor a team that relies on the motto "no excuses, no explanations," finding answers has not been easy.\nThe Giants and Jaguars, both playoff teams last year, have relied on strong ground games to do much of their damage. New York piled up 186 yards rushing on 28 carries, while Jacksonville had 191 yards on 40 carries including 105 yards rushing in the first quarter Sunday.\nEven the Texans, who lost their top back Domanick Davis for the season because of a bone bruise that caused soreness in his knee, were successful against the Colts. Houston has relied on a backfield-by-committee this year, still had 108 yards on 23 carries against Indianapolis.\n"It's not being where we're supposed to be," linebacker Gary Brackett said. "A lot of times on a draw play, that happens."\nThe initial thought was that Indianapolis (3-0) was struggling primarily against power runners, like Jacobs who had 54 yards on eight carries and scored one TD in the Giants' season-opener.\nMore recently, shifty runners have given the Colts just as many problems. Drew finished with 103 yards Sunday, and Taylor had 74.\nThe good news may be that they face the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans, two teams that rank among the bottom fourth of the league in rushing this season, the next two weeks.\nThen again, the Colts aren't worried about numbers. They just want to get it right.\n"The goal every week is to get better," Reagor said. "Last week, made too many mistakes in the run game and missed too many mistakes. That can be corrected. It's nothing to panic about since we're only three games into the season"