Colts like initial contribution of DT Johnson

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky Phil Richard had an interesting item at the very bottomÂ*of the Indianapolis Star's Colts notebook today.

He said while defensive tackle Antonio Johnson had no stat line in the stat book from the Colts-Steelers game Sunday that the team's coaches credited Johnson with eight tackles.

That is such a discrepancy, I thought the stat book might have included a mistake. But I spoke with someone in the league's PR office Thursday afternoon and they checked on it, and there is no discrepancy.

It's silly the way tackles work in the NFL - it's such a fundamental element of the game, it seems like it should somehow be codified and universal. Instead it's open to interpretation. SoÂ*a stat crew that doesn't think Antonio Johnson worthy of a single tackle can then see a coaching staff breakdown award eight. Some coaching staffs are relatively loose with their criteria for a tackle, others are tougher.

Who's right? Who knows?

But it seems safe to say Johnson's coaches thought they got a nice contribution from him Johnson in his first game after he was signed off the Titans practice squad.

Tony Dungy said today he thought Johnson played somewhere around 25 snaps.

"He was in on a lot of running plays, in running situations," he said. "He did a good job for us for his first game... He does some things that we have missed [in] not having Ed (Johnson) and Quinn (Pit****). He gives us a big body who's an active guy, an athletic, big guy and we haven't had that. I think he has a chance to help us."



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Eh he looked unremarkable to me, regardless of whoever's stats are quoted. Not very quick/fast, which is something coveted in both the Titans and Colts schemes.