The secret’s out

When Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy closed practice last week before his team’s AFC wild-card playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, it was as much a psychological ploy to throw off good friend Herman Edwards as it was to hide anything Dungy was changing in terms of strategy.

But there was at least one move Dungy didn’t want to expose: Rookie running back Joseph Addai making his first NFL start.

There will be no such deception as the Colts prepare for Saturday’s second-round playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T; Bank Stadium. Addai, picked toward the end of the first round after a solid career at Louisiana State, will be his team’s featured back against the league’s top defense.

That’s because of what Addai did against the Chiefs. On a day when Colts quarterback Peyton Manning threw three passes for interceptions and Chiefs running back Larry Johnson was held to 32 yards in 13 carries, Addai rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown in 25 carries in a 23-8 victory Saturday at the RCA Dome.

“Sometimes it’s good to be the underdog,” Addai said. “There’s not a lot of pressure on you. I think [Johnson] had a lot of pressure on him because everyone expected him to do so many things.

“There wasn’t a lot of pressure” on him and Dominic Rhodes, “so we just took advantage of what they gave us.”

Told by his coaches late in the week that he would start in place of Rhodes, Addai acknowledged that he needed to go on the field a couple of times long before the game began to calm down. On his first play from scrimmage, Addai ran for 10 yards, one of four runs of 10 yards or more.

“A lot of people, they have to get amped up and ready to play, but me I have to calm myself down,” said Addai, who rushed for 1,081 yards and seven touchdowns in 266 carries during the regular season while splitting time with Rhodes, a six-year veteran who rushed for 1,104 yards as a rookie.

Addai also began to understand what some of his teammates had been talking about all season, how the playoffs are much more intense.

“In the playoffs, there’s a fast pace,” said Addai, who was replaced by Rhodes late in the game after suffering from leg cramps. “They’re coming at you. Every play they’re hitting you. And I knew that, people have been telling me since training camp, so I was ready for it.”

Manning was not surprised by Addai’s coming-out performance in his first playoff game.

“That’s the way he’s been playing all year,” said Manning, who completed 30 of 39 passes for 268 yards and a touchdown. “He’s picked things up extremely fast. Playing in the SEC and playing at LSU prepared him for the NFL; he really adjusted quickly. He’s allowed us to run our offense -- he and Dominic both have allowed us to run the same plays and be as complex with our audibles and our system as we’ve been in the nine years that I’ve been here.”

Not only was the team’s running game a huge question mark going into the season after losing Edgerrin James through free agency to the Arizona Cardinals, but Addai didn’t have the stats and didn’t seem to have the star quality of other running backs in last year’s draft.

Knowing that the Colts were picking 30th and didn’t have a chance at USC’s Reggie Bush, team President Bill Polian and his scouts focused on Addai, Minnesota’s Laurence Maroney, Memphis’ DeAngelo Williams and UCLA’s Maurice Jones-Drew.

“That was one of the reasons Bill decided not to franchise Edgerrin,” Dungy said. “We knew it was going to be a good draft for running backs. We felt we were going to get one of those guys, and they would all bring something to the table.... Bill was a Joseph Addai guy.”

Dungy soon believed that the 5-foot-11, 214-pound Addai was the best fit because of what James had done for the Colts.

“Honestly, when you look at everything we do, Joseph was the most like Edgerrin of all those guys in his ability to pass block, run routes, his understanding of the passing game, playing in really a pro-style offense with Nick Saban, playing fullback, playing slot receiver,” said Dungy.

Addai’s successful playoff debut doesn’t guarantee anything for him this week, particularly against the Ravens.

“Each week is different, we don’t know what the situation might be,” Addai said. “You’re just really trying to go out and get positive yardage. If we do that, we’ll have games like [Kansas City].... We’ll take what they give us. If I keep doing what I’ve been doing, I’ll be all right.”