Confidence is Key

The best part about being a Colts fan is that you never feel like we’re out of it. A Thursday night game always feels weird anyway, you have to put up with Chris Collingsworth on the NFL network, and you check in on The Office to see Dwight being brilliant. Last night there was a bit more in the air as the boys in blue traveled down to Jacksonville to battle the Fred Taylor-less Jaguars. Unfortunately for the defense that didn’t matter. Jacksonville’s line’s dominated the first have and had there way on both side of the ball. Although manning completed his first 17 passes he found himself fighting out of a two score deficit early in the third quarter. The running game was all but non-existent, but after a touchdown from Manning on the opening drive of the third quarter the Colts were once again in a position to make it a ball game. Adam Vinatieri’s 45-yard field goal tied the game at 24-all late in the fourth. It wasn’t the offense who put the Colts up (or even kept the Jaguar offense off the field late) but the defense came up huge late in the game. First, Keiwan Ratliff intercepted a pass from David Garrard and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown with about five to go. The Colts defense once again came through as Mathis and Freeney met at the quarterback which ended the game. The Colts know how to keep you interested though. The Jaguars drove the ball about 70 yards in about a minute. They were with in striking distance for their last 4 plays, and if Garrard doesn’t make a bad throw to the back of the endzone we were going to overtime. This is text book Colts football this year. The offense is clicking and if the defense could learn to stop the bleeding early a run late in the playoffs is not out of the question. This game locked their 7th straight playoff berth with the 5th seed in the AFC. Next there is a tough game in Tennessee which will mean more to the Titans than it will to the Colts. I think approaching that game in any other manner than to absolutely win it is a problem. Too often we see teams take weeks “off” by resting their starters and that lead to early dismissals from the hunt for the Superbowl. This is Dungy’s last playoff run, let’s hope he plays that way.

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