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INDIANAPOLIS –
When healthy …
I am sick of hearing that caveat.
As in, “When healthy, the Indianapolis Colts are still Super Bowl contenders.”
The Colts aren’t going to be totally healthy this season, and until Marvin Harrison actually makes an appearance in the locker room, no one should automatically assume we’ll see him on the field again.
So the national media should stop harping on the health report because it infers the Colts can only win
when healthy
.
A 28-25 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday sent a resounding message to the talking heads who believed the power structure had changed in the AFC.
New England and Pittsburgh remain trendy picks, which is strange since the Steelers have lost three times and, upon recent review, Indianapolis won the last Super Bowl.
But the so-called experts seemed to have readjusted their expectations of the Colts (10-2) in the face of their medical status.
The Colts did some readjusting of their own. They focused on winning efficiently instead of winning pretty. They swallowed their pride and scrapped their usual methods, even though it meant they’d play some ugly games, because they knew the long run was more important than vanity.
That’s why the ball was going to unheard-of running back Luke Lawton when a huge touchdown was needed against the Jaguars, why defensive end Robert Mathis was taken out of his comfort zone and put on the right side, why the Colts rarely sent the ball into an unsafe zone.
Quarterback Peyton Manning has accepted there won’t be as many 300-yard games this season and that he may not make the Pro Bowl. With the exception of one head-scratching bad play in which he threw an interception in the end zone, he was breathtakingly good for a player missing his favorite receiver (Harrison) and his right tackle (Ryan Diem), with a rookie (Tony Ugoh) just back from injury on the offensive line.
“You’ve got to be realistic. You certainly have high expectations and never accept practicing mediocrity in practice or whatever,” said Manning, who completed 20 of 29 passes for 288 yards with four touchdowns Sunday.
“You always expect 100 percent effort or execution. But there’s no question, when you don’t have all your starting players, it’s not going to look like what it usually looks like, so you possibly adjust your expectations a little bit so you don’t drive yourself crazy.”
The victory, which gave the Colts a two-game cushion in the AFC South over Jacksonville (8-4), eases matters. Pittsburgh could still claim the No. 2 seed in the AFC, but it plays at New England this week.
“This game gives us a chance to be a little more conservative with a lot of people, if we need to be,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said.
Dungy sounded more optimistic than many of his players on whether Harrison will return from his knee injury, though.
In the meantime, the Colts will continue to look to unheralded players like wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, offensive tackle Charlie Johnson, linebacker Tyjuan Hagler and Lawton.
Players like that may not be fodder for evening highlights, but they’ve proven they can be efficient enough to beat top-tier teams.
Indianapolis converted on 10 of 13 third-down plays Sunday – and that’s the way the new-look Colts may have to play down the stretch, healthy or not.
