"When I saw him in the first workouts of the offseason program (this past offseason) and I saw how much he had grown up in terms of physical growth, I was astounded," Polian said Monday on his weekly radio show on Hank FM 97.1 in Indianapolis.
"It has turned out to be translatable to the game field. He's a man now, not a boy coming out of college, and he's able to make plays out there with both his strength and his speed. The graph is all up for him."
Garcon, after playing sparingly last season as a rookie, has emerged as one of the rising stars of the Colts' offense, starting the past two games and catching a crucial touchdown in each game. His 48-yard catch-and-run with a quick screen pass from QB Peyton Manning provided the game-winning points in a 27-23 victory over Miami on September 21.
Then, this past Sunday, Garcon again showed his deep speed, catching a 53-yard touchdown pass from Manning that broke open a 31-10 victory over Arizona.
"You would think most people would recognize that the speed that he ran at his workout is the correct speed," Polian said. "Somehow or another, those things tend to get lost in translation, I think. He is so big that he can fool you to a certain extent in that most people don't expect him to be that fast. He does run fast and most importantly he has a burst at the end of his route, which is rare among receivers and certainly rare among big receivers. "
"That burst, which is what (former Colts wide receiver) Marvin (Harrison) had, allows you to get big plays. Because as the ball is out there and the defensive back and you are step for step if you can just get that one and a half steps at the end of the route and have good enough hands to control the ball – which he does – then you're going to get a lot of big plays."
