people (read: fans and talking heads) are writing off one of the most dangerous teams the football world has ever seen: the 2009 Indianapolis Colts. i don't know why... for the life of me, i can't figure it out. so what do i do? dare them to tell me why they won't take home the trophy in Miami one more again.

what makes the Colts so scary good? well, self, i'm glad you asked.

defensive tackle -Moala, E. Johnson, A. Johnson, Taylor. all 300+ lb guys. Big Ed Johnson was dominant in his rookie year with the Colts, he was excused from the team last year after getting caught with marijuana. after Coach Dungy's retirement, new coach Caldwell quickly resigned him. Antonio Johnson came from Tennessee. Titans coach Fisher tried his damndest to keep Mookie, offering to match what Indy was going to pay him but #99 wanted to play, something he wouldn't do very much with the DT rotation the Titans had. he came in midway through the season and was coming on pretty well. with a full offseason to train with the Colts instead of the Titans, he'll be somebody to reckon with. Moala and Taylor both played at big-time colleges (USC and Michigan, respectively), so they both know how to play. whether that translates to the NFL remains to be seen, but inside the organization the defensive tackle position is said to be one of the strengths of the team where it has been weakness before. this will open up the rest of the defense to play Colts football. Clint Session has moved from strong side lineback back to weak, his natural position. you'll be seeing a lot of him. get used to the name. Marlin Jackson is also back from injury as well as Bob Sanders. The Hit Squad is full force again... the secondary will be as good as it was in 2007 (not that it sucked last year, being the #6 pass defense in the league).
the most significant change to the defense, though, was losing Ron Meeks and bringing in Larry Coyer at defensive coordinator. Coyer previously coached in Tampa, so he knows the Cover 2 defense and he's nowhere near as vanilla as Meeks was. this squad has the talent and coaching now to be a top 5 defense. our DEs can pressure the quarterback without the need of blitzing. our DTs can anchor themselves during run plays to keep offensive linemen being able to get to linebackers and breaking RBs for big gains and they can push the pocket on pass plays. our linebackers can do what they were brought in to do, and Session/Brackett/Wheeler are all very good at what they do (provided they don't have o-linemen in their face). our secondary as a group, Kelvin Hayden/Antoine Bethea/Bob Sanders/Marlin Jackson, is argueably the best in the league.

on offense, we still have P-Money at quarterback. i have no need to explain why he's the best in the game.
our offensive line is embarrassed about their play last year, particularly the running game. Jeff Saturday is 100% again and Ryan Lilja returns to the team after being sidelined most of last year with an injury. those guys feel like they have something to prove... that last year was a fluke. they'll be playing with a chip on their shoulder and they will be one of the best groups again.
the RB position is the strongest group besides QB. Joseph Addai + Mike Hart (who broke every major school record at Michigan in his 4 years there. back from season ending injury) + Donald Brown (lead the NCAA in rushing yards last year) = one of the most dynamic backfields in the NFL. each can catch the ball in the passing game, each is fairly adept at picking blitzes (Ja is the best in the league right now, with Edge not having a team), and each has a different running style that very much compliments the others.
Marvin Harrison was let go this offseason, and as much as i hate it (the guy was the definition of greatness) it could actually be a good thing for our offense. the last two years, we've pretty much been without him. in 2007, he had the injury and last year he was barely there. defenses didn't respect him as much anymore and he gave them no reason to. Reggie Wayne has been carrying the #1 receiver role here for some time already, so don't expect him to faulter now. Anthony Gonzalez is ahead of the curve of WRs in Indy. coming into his third season, he's already better than Reggie was at this point. he can get YAC, something the Colts haven't had in a while. both Reggie and Gonzo can play at all three primary receiver positions (split left, split right, slot) and be effective. in the passing game, Dallas Clark is as big a mismatch as there is. too fast for linebackers, too big for DBs... and he's Peyton's favorite target after Reggie Wayne.

the back-ups at all positions (except quarterback) got significant playing time last season with all the injuries Indianapolis had, so in back-up roles this year they have the experience necessary to be next man up.

couple all this with the head coaching change and you've got a very dangerous team.
"but you lost Tony Dungy."
yeah... we did, and Dungy's a HoFamer without question. but Caldwell has been in Indy as long as Dungy has. he's a Dungy guy and brings the same attitude that Tony had. he also brings something of his own: unpredictability. during the offseason, he and his new staff have been adding wrinkles to our scheme, both on offense and defense. he also brought in an actual Special Teams coach. Moore and Mudd, two of the best at their position (OC and o-line coach), retired because of muddied pension plans... but Colts GM Bill Polian has said they'll definitely be back as consultants, which means they'll be doing what they've done the last 12 years only with the title of Consultant rather than Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach.

so you tell me... if not Indianapolis, then who?