“It’s highly unusual to be able to get that done away from home against a good football team,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. “We got a little sloppy there and let some drives get away.”The Colts won their ninth consecutive prime-time game to maintain a share of first place in the AFC South with Houston at 4-2 going into their bye week. Jacksonville and Tennessee are a half-game back pending the outcome of their meeting tonight.
And there was a curious bit of play-calling near the end of the game that nearly spelled Indy’s doom. The Colts got the ball with a three-point lead, first-and-10 at the 20 with 2:42 remaining. Maybe a run, maybe two runs, kill some clock and force Washington to use its timeouts? Not really. The Colts threw three times. Three incompletions. Time of drive: 16 seconds.
But . . .
They had Peyton Manning, who threw for more than 300 yards for the 63rd time, second-most behind Brett Favre (72). After a week when the highly respected Ron Jaworski publicly wondered if Father Time was catching up to Manning, No. 18 turned back the clock. Don’t look now, but he’s on a pace to eclipse Marino’s mark for passing yards in a season.
I totally disagree. Had Indy run the ball, Washington would have had the same amount of time, and just a timeout or two fewer. The D still would have had to make a stand. It had no impact on the game.
“It was nice,” Angerer said. “It pretty much goes to Clint. He took the guy I was supposed to hug up on, so I was able to run free.”
The Colts (4-2) have a bye week, which means time for Brackett to heal.
But should Angerer be needed to start Nov. 1 on a Monday night at home against Houston, the rookie assures he will be ready.
“There’s definitely room to improve,” he said.
“Any time you can come in and run the ball like that on the road, you’ve got a better chance of winning,” center Jeff Saturday said.
Quarterback Peyton Manning has emphasized the need for the Colts to stick with their No. 28-ranked running attack, even when it is struggling.
“It just let’s (defenses) know we’re going to do it,” he said. “It keeps the threat there. It just keeps that good balance we’re looking for.”
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
