Playoff Mag 7

Oehser’s insights into big issues this week

7. Healthy at last. The postseason is at hand, and all signs are the Colts are as healthy as they have been perhaps all season. The team issued its standard, half-the-players-on-the-team injury report Wednesday, but while it was nearly as lengthy as it was much of the last half of the season, no player missed practice that day. More importantly, no player is expected to miss the AFC Divisional Playoff game against Baltimore Saturday. If that seems unusual, and if it seems it has been a long time since anyone wrote anything like that about the Colts, it’s because it is unusual – as in, it hasn’t happened this season. The Colts began the season with S Bob Sanders inactive and in every game they had at least one serious injury question. Now, although Sanders, CB Marlin Jackson, WR Anthony Gonzalez and LB Tyjuan Hagler are on injured reserve – and although their absence certainly doesn’t help – the Colts are as healthy as they have been all season. Say what you will about the late-season strategy, but whatever your side of the argument, the fact is this is what the Colts wanted all season: a healthy team that has had a chance to taper for the postseason. It doesn’t guarantee postseason success, but their chances for the only three-game winning streak that matters seem greater than they did a month ago from a health standpoint.