Bob Sanders

Demond "Bob" Sanders (born February 24, 1981 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American football safety for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. Sanders was drafted in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Iowa. Sanders was named AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 and is known for being the integral part of the Colts' postseason defense that led the team to a victory in Super Bowl XLI. Nicknamed "The Hitman" because of his hard hits and tackles. Another nickname that has stuck is "The Sandman" because of his last name.

Indianapolis Colts
Rookie season

As a rookie, Sanders played primarily as a backup safety and a special teams player. Though his season would be shortened by both foot and knee injuries, he had some good performances during the regular season; on November 14, he made 13 total tackles while returning a fumble recovery 37 yards for his first NFL touchdown against the Houston Texans during their week 10 matchup. He managed 9 tackles and a fumble recovery against the Kansas City Chiefs for week 8.


2005 Season

Sanders started the first 10 games of 2005 and earned a reputation as one of the NFL's top hitters at the position. He made 91 tackles on the year and was chosen to play in the 2006 Pro Bowl at Free Safety position for the AFC Team. He is the first Defensive Back to make the Pro Bowl for the Colts since moving to Indianapolis.


2006 Season

In the 2006 regular season, Sanders played only four games in the regular season due to a knee injury he suffered early. In those four games, he racked up 27 tackles. He was soon dubbed "The Hulk", due to his reckless and punishing hits on opposing players which prevented many of the big plays that the opposing teams might have otherwise made happen. The Colts had the worst rushing defense in the NFL statistically, allowing at least 100 yards rushing in every game. During the playoffs, however, Sanders continued his comeback from injury, and breathed new life into the defense.

The 2006 Colts in the playoffs, with Sanders, had the second best run defense with only 73.3 rushing yards allowed per game. Sanders went on to help the Colts, on the road, to their victory in Super Bowl XLI. Sanders made a pivotal play in the AFC title game against the Patriots. With the Patriots looking to clinch the game with a first down with under three minutes to play and holding a 34-31 lead, Sanders dove in front of Troy Brown and deflected the pass, forcing the Patriots to punt and giving Peyton Manning the chance to drive for the game winning touchdown. Sanders made a couple key plays in the game against the Chicago Bears, forcing a fumble from running back Cedric Benson early in the game and intercepting quarterback Rex Grossman early in the 4th quarter after cornerback Kelvin Hayden intercepted Grossman on the previous drive with both picks helping seal the 29-17 win.


2007 Season

For the 2007 NFL season Sanders was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 2. This was in part due to the 11 tackles and 2.5 sacks he recorded against division rival Tennessee Titans at Tennessee. He was largely responsible for shutting down Vince Young at the end of the game, clinching the victory for the Indianapolis Colts 22-20. Sanders ended the year with 96 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions and 6 pass deflections. With him in the lineup, the Colts again fielded one of the best pass defenses in the league while also leading a success run stopping defense.

Sanders was noted by coach Tony Dungy as a prototypical safety for his Tampa 2 defense and became known for his coming down into the box on run support as a big factor in the Colts' run defense. On December 28, 2007, Sanders was signed to a 5 year, $37.5 million contract with $20 million guaranteed. The contract makes him the highest paid safety in the history of the NFL.

On January 7, 2008, Sanders was named AP Defensive Player of the Year for the 2007 NFL season, the first Colt to earn the award and only the fourth safety in NFL history to win it. He earned 31 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. With Sanders in the lineup, the Colts became stingier and more physical as Sanders played closer to the line of scrimmage. Sanders received much of the credit for the turnaround in Indy's soft defense, which saw its yards per carry average cut from 5.3 in 2006 to 3.8 in 2007.


2008 Season

Sanders was expected to start the 2008 training camp on the PUP list, but general manager Bill Polian had stated that Sanders would come back in the middle of training camp. On August 24, Sanders made his 2008 debut, along with fellow injured teammate Dwight Freeney in the week 3 preseason matchup against the Buffalo Bills. On September 17th, 2008, the Colts announced Bob Sanders will be out for the next 4-6 weeks because of a high ankle sprain. The injury occurred in the Colts second game of the season against the Minnesota Vikings. Sanders would be replaced by second-year safety Melvin Bullitt.

Sanders made his return from the injury list, along with teammate Joseph Addai, for the week 9 matchup against the New England Patriots. After a five-game absence, Sanders had a solid performance and helped hold the Patriots off in the last seconds with the game-sealing interception with 4 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, his first interception of the season. During the postgame press conference, Tony Dungy stated that Sanders was "physically, very [very] close to 100%" coming off of the ankle injury.

Sanders again missed time for the season, sitting out of the week 11 game versus the Houston Texans, due to a knee injury apparently sustained the previous week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The knee injury would cause him to again miss time for the second consecutive week. Sander's knee injuries have come about by the cause of swelling, a condition that he has experienced since a serious injury to his knee sidelined him during his rookie season. Though Sanders had missed seven games through week 12 of the season and had yet to complete a 16-game regular season schedule for his career, his situation has been compared to Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott who managed to complete only 5 full seasons out of the 15 for his career due to his hard-hitting, reckless style of play while managing to be a premier defensive player of his era.

After missing the last two games of the regular season, Sanders total game appearances amounted to 6. In those 6 games, he collected 39 total tackles and one interception. Sanders played in the postseason but the Colts' season was cut short by the San Diego Chargers in their divisional playoff matchup, losing 23-17.