Manning keeps streaks alive
0 Comment December 19 Indianapolis Star
"Nothing has come easily for the Indianapolis Colts this season. Nothing came easily on a mild Thursday night at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. No running game. No Marvin Harrison. And until it mattered most, no defense.
So quarterback Peyton Manning hauled the bandwagon himself. He passed for 364 yards and three touchdowns and nickel back Keiwan Ratliff returned an interception 35 yards for the touchdown that beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-24 Thursday night.
A loud Colts locker room celebrated clinching the AFC's No. 5 playoff seed, becoming the first team in NFL history to win 11 or more games in six consecutive seasons and making Tony Dungy the first coach since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to take 10 successive teams to the playoffs.
"For a long time there it was in doubt," said Dungy, whose team trailed 24-14 entering the fourth quarter. "We didn't play our best football. We made mistakes and things (happened) that don't normally happen to us.
"Peyton Manning was unbelievable. He put a lot of it on his shoulders, kept us in there, made some things happen and then our defense made some plays."
It has been a long season. The Colts have come a long way.
Eight weeks ago, they were 3-4 and teetering on the brink of oblivion. Now they are 11-4, winners of eight straight, the NFL's hottest team and the wild card no one wants to face.
"We've got the playoffs underneath the Christmas tree," Colts owner Jim Irsay said outside the locker room. "That's really special to fight back from 3-4 and be in the playoffs for the seventh year in a row and to get it done the way we have."
The Colts are in the playoffs for a league-best ninth time in 10 years. Dungy's 10-year run includes 1999-2001 with Tampa Bay and all seven of his seasons with the Colts, 2002-08.
He had been tied with Dallas' Tom Landry (1975-83) with nine straight.
After closing the regular season with Tennessee on Dec. 28 at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts will open the playoffs with a visit to the fourth-seeded division winner on Jan. 3 or 4.
If the Titans (12-2) were to lose to Pittsburgh (11-3) on Sunday and to the Colts in their finale, both teams would finish 12-4, but Tennessee would win the AFC South on the basis of the third tiebreaker, winning percentage against common opponents.
Winning a 12th game for the sixth consecutive season figures to be difficult for the Colts. Dungy plans to rest injured players andstarters against Tennessee to have them as ready as possible for the playoffs. The Colts can move neither up nor down from the fifth seed.
Manning was a precision laser carving diamonds. He hit his first 17 passes for 219 yards, then threw one away when wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez was double-covered. His next two went to running back Dominic Rhodes, first for 8 yards, then for 10 and a touchdown.
The 17 straight completions tied a club record Manning shared with Bert Jones (1974). Coupled with comp
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