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Josh Betts: Marvin Harrison a loner during games
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The sideline of a professional football game is controlled chaos. In the playoffs it is magnified.
When the Colts are on offense, I'm usually standing next to backup quarterback Jim Sorgi. We're both monitoring the chatter between Peyton Manning and the offensive coaches via earpieces. I'm also watching and charting each play we run while trying to pickup any signals, coverages, or anything else the defense is doing.
Extras
When the offense is on the sidelines, Peyton goes over the photographs of the looks the defense gave him on the previous series with our offensive staff. Usually he's got Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and the running backs sitting around him. Jim and I are observing as well. There's one player not around.
Marvin Harrison always sits by himself on the bench watching the game. He always does this and it is rare when he joins in the offensive pow-wow. It's not that Marvin doesn't want to spend time with the offense, he just prefers to watch by himself.
If he has something to say to Peyton, he'll meet him when they come off the field. It's a fascinating dynamic.
The energy on the sideline is at its apex when we're in a tight game and need a score. This past weekend when Adam Vinatieri was preparing to kick his fifth and final field goal everybody was riveted on the field.
Players were shouting encouragement and some guys were huddling on one knee.
The excitement this Sunday should be magnified when we host the Patriots. I can't wait to be a part of it. There is no greater advantage for us than to be playing at home in front of all our fans screaming inside the RCA Dome. I heard playing at Kansas City is the loudest, but I will have to see if myself because so far this year, no place we have played
has even compared to the noise level in the Dome.
Also, best of luck to my former strength and conditioning coach at Miami, Dan Dalrymple, and the New Orleans Saints as they prepare for their game this weekend.
