Can the Colts do it?

[J.R.]

After beating the New England Patriots (in Foxborough!) last night by an impressive margin, the Indianapolis Colts are half way to a perfect season.

Here is their remaining schedule.
10 - vs. HOUSTON TEXANS - Win 31-17.
11 - @ Cincinnati Bengals - Win 45-37.
12 - vs. PITTSBURGH STEELERS (MNF) - Win 26-7.
13 - vs. TENNESSEE TITANS - Win 35-3.
14 - @ Jacksonville Jaguars - Win 26-18.
15 - vs. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
16 - @ Seattle Seahawks
17 - vs. ARIZONA CARDINALSThey only have three road games remaining. Judging by their upcoming opponents, it's definitely achievable.

Can the Colts become the first team since 1972 to have a perfect season? If not, who'll be the first to beat them?

At Cincinatti and at Jacksonville sticks out to me. Also the Pittsburgh game is on Monday Night Football and no doubt the Steelers will be quite the challenge.

[LiAmTrAnSdEmOn]

Yes, the Bengals do look like a tough game to me. They will be coming off a bye and at home, very tough. The Jags always seem to give the Colts some problems and at home they could also be good enough to win. And then as you mentioned the Steelers will be tough too.

But the one that I think will ruin the perfect season, if it gets that far, will be the Seahawks. They are playing pretty good right now and they will be at home. Towards the end of the season Dungy may decide to rest some of his guys since they will have homefield locked up if they are undefeated at that point. And the Seahawks may still be fighting for a bye week or homefield in the playoffs at that point.

[PDO]

They'll choke in Cincy. No such thing as a free win against Pittsburgh. The Chargers are a team that could scare them too, just because Peyton can't win you the game if LT has the ball.

This team is good, no doubt, but they've had a soft schedule for the most part. Beating NE this year isn't that big of a deal either.. 3 other teams had already done it, and even with their captain back they're still riddeled with injuries.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

The Chargers will beat them. LT runs all over them.

[MadDevil]

Looking at that schedule, I think at least 5 of those games are loseable for the Colts. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, San Diego, and Seattle are not going to be easy games for Indy, and I think they'll lose at least one, and maybe even two of those games.

I don't quite get why some people are so hyped that the Colts finally beat the Patriots in Foxboro. I mean, look at the Patriots roster this year compared to their roster the past couple of years. Even though the Pats have won 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls, they're just not the team they once were. The Colts were the better team going into the game, so they should have won it.

[KB in Kelowna]

Looking at that schedule, I think at least 5 of those games are loseable for the Colts. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, San Diego, and Seattle are not going to be easy games for Indy, and I think they'll lose at least one, and maybe even two of those games.

I don't quite get why some people are so hyped that the Colts finally beat the Patriots in Foxboro. I mean, look at the Patriots roster this year compared to their roster the past couple of years. Even though the Pats have won 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls, they're just not the team they once were. The Colts were the better team going into the game, so they should have won it.

Media Hype to create interest in a Monday Night Game? The perception that Peyton Manning and the Colts could not win the big one, that Brady Pat's are the "psychological hump" for Dungy and Co, ok I admit I watched the Dennis Quaid peice in the pregame intro.

[Mel]

I agree about New England. Like all great teams, they get gradually picked apart year after year. The assistant coaching staff gets chances to move on to bigger and better things as a result of their team's success. You see that every season like clockwork. The top assistants on the best teams getting offers.

Also top players leave for more money... etc.

What cracks me up is how the media up there says "what's wrong with the Patriots?"

ummm.. they lost a few games LOL. :)

[J.R.]

Four wins to go and they seem to be getting better with each victory. That game at Jacksonville is next and I'm sure will receive quite a bit of attention in the days leading up to the game. The last time the Colts and the Jaguars met, Indianapolis snuck away with a 10-3 win at the Indy Dome in week two.

[Iced Tea]

The Seattle Seahawks will beat the Colts on December 24th, and then Seattle will beat the Colts again in the Super Bowl. :D

Did anyone see the beating the Seahawks laid on the featherless Eagles? Seahawks all the way this season. woooooooo

[J.R.]

Okay, flash back to about week six of this NFL season when the Colts were 6-0 and the easy Super Bowl pick. They were no doubt the best team in football from start to finish in the regular season.

Now we come to today when their season ended to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that was suppose to be "demolished" at the fast track in Indianapolis. The Colts ended their season losing three of their last four games, with the only win against Arizona.

So can we chalk this failure up to yet another postseason choke by Indianapolis?

[PDO]

Well, I don't really think you can count the loss to Seattle as a loss; I mean.. Manning played what, 4 downs?

I think in the end, the Colts were shown to be rusty from not playing a meaningful game for a month. The idea that you can't turn "it" off or on was once again proven IMO.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

So can we chalk this failure up to yet another postseason choke by Indianapolis?

Yes.

Blueprint for beating the Colts? Learn to play a 34 defense:thumb:

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

Great article on Manning (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/13634626.htm)

INDIANAPOLIS - Peyton Manning looked like a lost child in the mall. Again. He wore a gray suit, open collar, no tie, and he looked so much younger than 29, and he tried to explain to the cameras and recorders and bright lights how he lost again.

"It's football," he said softly. "I know those words have different meanings."
For Manning, that mystical phrase "It's football" is the only explanation for the painful losses that tail him like private eyes. Sunday's loss - a 21-18 second-round playoff loss to Pittsburgh - was probably the most painful loss of them all. Manning and the Indianapolis Colts were granted reprieve after reprieve. They were given gift after gift. This was supposed to be their charmed season, the season they started by winning 13 in a row.

They lost anyway. A receiver moved before the snap. Manning got sacked. A field goal missed. The details change, but it's always the same sad song. The Colts always lose the big games with Peyton Manning at quarterback.
"I'm disappointed," he said. "And I can't give you more of an explanation than that."

Manning has been the most spectacular quarterback of his time. The numbers blow you away. He has thrown for more than 33,000 yards before his 30th birthday - more than anyone. He has thrown 244 touchdown passes, three more than touchdown king Dan Marino had at his age. Manning's team wins. No quarterback, not even New England's Tom Brady, has had as good a record the last four seasons.

More than anything, he is professional sports' good guy. He loads supplies to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, he's an NFL Man of the Year finalist, he asks a supermarket stock boy for his autograph in the commercial. He's the whole package, great player, great person, the man you want your son to be, the perfect storm . . .

Except . . .

"I cannot argue with the truth," Manning said.

The truth is, Peyton Manning has played in five huge NFL games - those would be second week of the playoffs or later. His teams have lost four of them (the lone victory - as you already knew - happened in Kansas City). While Manning plays with the freedom of Charlie Parker during the regular season, dark clouds descend over him in the big games. His last two huge playoff games against New England tell a story. In the first, he threw four interceptions. In the second, he put up fair numbers, but his team scored just three points. Different styles. Same result.

Sunday was supposed to be different. This was to be Manning's breakthrough. His kryptonite - New England and coach Bill Belichick - had been knocked out of the playoffs by Denver. This game was in Indianapolis. Pittsburgh was the sixth seed out of six playoff teams; heck, the Steelers needed a last-game comeback victory over Detroit just to make the playoffs. The red carpet was out for Peyton Manning.

And Manning tripped on a seam. His final numbers look good enough - 22 completions, 38 attempts, 290 yards, no interceptions - but numbers deceive. Manning was brutal the first three quarters. He missed open receivers, he danced nervously in the pocket, he seemed confused. That's the big reason why Pittsburgh opened a 21-3 lead.

Plus, Manning did throw a critical interception with about 5 minutes left in the game. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu stepped in front of a Manning pass and caught the ball. Polamalu made a complete roll on the ground with the ball in his hands. Polamalu and the ball were together longer than Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney. Only after he got up to run did the ball squirt out of his hands, a clear fumble. Polamalu fell on the ball. The defense ran off the field. That should have put the game away.

The referee bizarrely overturned the interception. Referee Pete Morelli's explanation has to be printed in full so you can fully appreciate it: "(Polamalu) never had possession with his leg up off the ground doing an act common to the game of football."

I think I speak for most of America when I say "Whah?" Does anyone have a Morelli-to-English dictionary handy? Anyway, that was Peyton Manning's first gift.

His second gift came in the final 2 minutes, with the Colts down three. Manning was sacked twice, the second sack coming on fourth down. Again, that should have put the game away. But then Pittsburgh's legend, Jerome Bettis, fumbled the ball at the goal line, giving Manning and the Colts yet another chance.

This time, Manning did complete a couple of passes, and he moved the Colts to within reasonable field-goal range. He could do no more, though, and Indianapolis' kicker Mike Vanderjagt did not come close to making the 46-yard field goal. There were no more miracles left. The Steelers won. The Colts lost. Manning lost again.

When it ended, Manning was devastated again. He choked up when talking about the feelings he had as he watched Vanderjagt's field goal sail wide right. He tried openly not to blame Vanderjagt or anyone else - at one point, when asked about his lack of protection, he offered a rather lame "I'm trying to be a good teammate" line - but you could see his frustration. He had to see that missed kick as a symbol of his football life. Manning lost only five games in Isidore Newman High in New Orleans, but three of those losses came in the state playoffs. He did not win a state championship.

He lost only five games at Tennessee, but famously three of those losses were to Florida, and the Volunteers did not win the national championship until after he left.

And as he watched the Vanderjagt kick fail, Manning knew that this would be another loss, maybe the worst of them all. And he had to wonder what's missing.

"It's not a lack of effort," Manning said. "I've never stepped on a field more prepared . . . I studied these guys for two weeks. . . . I've never accepted losing . . . We spent so much time studying and preparing. . . . It will take time to make peace with the football gods. . . . It's hard to swallow."
And then he said the words that follow him everywhere.
"All I know to do is keep trying," he said. "I get tired of saying that."

I don't hate many people sports, but Manning has always rubbed me the wrong way. So seeing he continue to fail in the big games always brings a smile to my face.

[Max Power]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say no =]

Close and good game... thought they were going to pull it off