and six pass deflections. With him in the lineup, the Colts again fielded one of the best pass defenses in the league while also leading a successful 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 five-year, $37.5 million contract with $20 million guaranteed. At the time, the contract made 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. 2008–11 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 17, 2008, the Colts announced Bob Sanders would 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 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