Fresh Indianapolis Colts Break Streaks, Beat Ravens

NFL News - January 17th, 2010 - Written by John

There were concerns that the Indianapolis Colts wouldn't look so fresh in their divisional round game in the NFL Playoffs. They hadn't won a playoff game since winning the Super Bowl, and Peyton Manning had never won a game after a first-round bye. So would the team that showed up on Saturday night be the one that started the year 14-0, or the one with a recent history of sputtering in the postseason?

The answer was a little of both.

Manning was roughed up on several occasions, but he managed to put together four scoring drives, and that was more than enough to beat the Baltimore Ravens.

Indianapolis' defense forced four turnovers, and held Joe Flacco to only 189 yards passing en route to a 20-3 win.

"I don't think it matters if you've had a bye or you're playing home or away," Manning said, talking on Indianapolis' previous 0-3 record after a bye. "This myth that you can't win after a bye week, I haven't believed in it."

Now, the Colts advance to their third conference championship since 2003, and will either play the New York Jets or San Diego Chargers next weekend.

Either way, there will be plenty of story lines because their decision to save their starters for the postseason paved the way for the Jets to make the playoffs, and the Chargers have eliminated Indianapolis from the last two postseasons.

"Whoever it is, we know it's going to be a challenge and we have to step it up another notch," head coach Jim Caldwell told ESPN.

From the look of things, though, it may not matter. The Colts are undefeated this year in games that Manning and Co. finish.

"There's no question how the guys used the off week," Manning said. "We kind of called it preparation week. I thought we had good preparation coming into this game, thought we came out sharp and kind of set the tempo from the get-go."

Baltimore only sniffed the lead once when it raced 87 yards down the field for a field goal to tie it at three. But the Ravens only had the ball for four minutes in the entire first half, and got 10 fewer first downs overall.

Ed Reed told reporters that he was pondering retirement, and is 50-50 on the matter. It could have been a good game for him to end on because he intercepted Manning twice within five plays. But the first one was taken right back when Pierre Garcon stripped him on the return, and the second was negated on a pass interference penalty.

The Colts didn't fire up the scoreboard, but they didn't really have to. Austin Collie's 10-yard score in the back corner of the end zone was the game-winner in the second quarter just as the two-minute warning struck.

After a Baltimore three-and-out, Manning struck again, squeezing in one more touchdown before the half. He only needed 1:23 to do it, taking the Colts 64 yards ending in a three-yard toss to Reggie Wayne.