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Printer friendlyColts appear on playoff path
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The Colts’ 10-6 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday – ugly as it was – all but assured Indianapolis a playoff berth. Maybe not mathematically, but it’s common sense.
The Colts (8-4), who lead the wild-card race in the AFC, conclude the regular season with games against Cincinnati and Detroit, which have one victory between them, plummeting Jacksonville (4-8 after Monday’s 30-17 loss to Houston) and an 11-1 Tennessee team that will likely rest its starters in the finale.
Weeks from now, a victory over the Browns, in a game that could have gone either way, may end up one of the most important of the season.
While there are many people decrying the Colts’ pitiful offensive performance, let’s chalk it up to a gutsy win and move on.
It’s not often that quarterback Peyton Manning plays that poorly. He had two interceptions and a fumble at the Browns’ goal line. To still get a victory is impressive, even if it came against a mess of a Cleveland team that has lost two starting quarterbacks in as many weeks and is 4-8.
“It’s a good feeling to have put together a five-game winning streak and have things in our own hands in terms of making the playoffs,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said, “but we will have to play better than that. We had some mistakes and turnovers on offense that we don’t normally have, and some things that could be a little sharper against their running game. It was kind of an unusual game.”
If there was a downside to winning at Cleveland Browns Stadium, it had nothing to do with a muddled performance. The Colts gained a season-low 215 yards and went without an offensive touchdown for the first time since 2003.
The downside was that the Colts lost linebacker Gary Brackett to an ankle injury, and defensive lineman Keyunta Dawson to a pulled hamstring.
For a team already riddled with injuries, namely to safety Bob Sanders (knee) and center Jeff Saturday (calf), one must wonder how many more the Colts can endure.
Sanders might play Sunday against the Bengals, but the secretiveness surrounding his injury makes it difficult to trust the team’s “official” information. Saturday, Dawson and Brackett will be out at least a week, which isn’t particularly good news.
Rookie Jamey Richard performed admirably in place of Saturday, keeping Cleveland defensive tackle Shaun Rogers from penetrating the middle, but Brackett is the leader of the defense, even if most of America couldn’t pick him out of a lineup. The Colts are already light on talent at linebacker and the absence of Brackett will allow even Cincinnati and Detroit to run the ball.
But all season, the Colts have proved doubters wrong. Who would have thought when this team was 3-4, that they’d be poised for a playoff run? A messy game against the Browns doesn’t disprove their credibility; it only shows that they can find a way to win when almost everything is off.
The Colts must play better down the stretch and that will become more difficult to do if the injuries keep piling up. A new leader on defense must emerge, at least until Brackett comes back, hopefully by the playoffs.
But I wouldn’t count on any more zero-touchdown performances from Manning, and I wouldn’t expect the offense to sputter so much in the future, so don’t count the Colts out, ugly as their win Sunday might have been.
Justin A. Cohn is a writer for The Journal Gazette and has been covering sports in Fort Wayne since 1997. He can be reached by e-mail jcohn@jg.net; phone, 461-8429; or fax 461-8648; or to discuss this column or others he has written recently, go to the "Sports" topic of "The Board" at www.journalgazette.net.