Who Are You Guys, and What Have You Done With Our Colts Defense?

How do you figure that the Colts, known forever as a team that's more artful than hurtful, a team that relies more on finesse than raw brute physicality, would come into the toughest playoff environment imaginable and slug the big, bad Ravens right in the mouth? All they did Saturday was come into the most hostile road environment imaginable -- "We saw a lot of middle fingers on the bus ride over,'' Manning said -- and beat the Ravens at their own vicious game.

For years now, we in Indianapolis have wondered "which Colts defensive unit will show up at this game?" We've been through so many line-ups that I've given up on trying to remember who plays what position...though the Freeney-Mathis tangent is easy. All year long, there seemed to have only been one defense, the bad one. The one that needed the Manning offense to get us to a win. No one was more shocked at the Colts being able to stop the Chiefs last week than Colts fans! I can tell you we were all hopeful, but many of us were pretty doubting that this game would also go to the Colts "D." The Indy Star's Bob Kravitz (quoted above and one of the country's best football sportswriters) says the defense is in a special "zone."
This WTHR article also emphasizes the Colts defense, but later gives the earned high kudos to Adam Vinatieri...

Vinatieri won two Super Bowls with late field goals and scored 117 points in the postseason for New England. He was signed by Indianapolis as a free agent to replace Mike Vanderjagt, who missed a 46-yard field goal with 17 seconds left last season in the Colts' 21-18 playoff loss to Pittsburgh.

This Baltimore Sun article shows how the whole town is just stunned.

The loss proved even more stunning because of the haphazard play of McNair, who had helped transform the Ravens from an underachieving team to one of the league's best. The former NFL Most Valuable Player struggled mightily, throwing two interceptions (including a critical one in the red zone) and fumbling on his final play.

The Baltimore Sun offers this slideshow, but the voice over is so negative you can practically hear the hawkers hitting the sidewalk...