Reggie Wayne stated yesterday that he had a dream and it was of Dallas Clark holding the MVP of the Super Bowl trophy. It really makes sense that Reggie Wayne would think that. After all, Dallas Clark has caught 17 passes for 281 yards (16.5 avg) in the Colts first three post season games. That is amazing when you consider that Reggie Wayne & Marvin Harrison have only caught 25 passes for 289 yards (11.6 avg) with 1 TD catch combined in those same three games. You would have to think that Clark will still be getting single coverage against either a nickel back or a safety and this is a mis-match that the Colts should definately try to take advantage of Sunday. Because, if the Colts give special attention to Clark, Manning will have no problem throwing to one of his main guys. I think Reggie Wayne might be onto something here.

Will Peyton Manning get the monkey off his back in the Super Bowl? He already outplayed Tom Brady in the playoffs and that is probably much harder than beating a Rex Grossman led team. But, his injured thumb could be a big factor because those kind of problems usually take at least a month to heal. Also, he only has a QB Rating of 66.8 in the playoffs and the Bears have a very good defense. Will Manning separate himself from Dan Marino and win the big one in Miami? We’ll find out in 6 days.

The selection of Joseph Addai turned out just the way the Colts envisioned it would, but, the selection of Antoine Bethea in the 7th round turned out to be an awesome pick. In between, the Colts drafted 4 players that didn’t do much. Here’s the breakdown:

In the first round the Colts got their running back of the future, and that future started this season. Joseph Addai played in all 16 games and carried the ball 226 times for 1,081 yards (4.8 ypc) with 7 TD runs. He also caught 40 passes for 325 yards (8.1 avg) with 1 TD catch. He was a great pick for the Colts.

2nd round pick Tim Jennings was relegated to special teams as he played in 11 game and only made 7 tackles. He better get his act together soon.

3rd round pick Freddie Keiaho looks like he could help the Colts out in the future. The middle linebacker played in 14 games and made 19 tackles and forced two fumbles.

5th round pick OT Michael Toudoze didn’t play a single down this season.

6th round pick OT Charlie Johnson played in all 16 games and made only one start. He has a future as a backup for the Colts.

7th round pick Antoine Bethea was a homerun for the Colts. He played in 14 games and made 90 tackles, had an interception and defensed 4 passes. He will be a starter for the Colts for a long time.

7th round pick CB/KR T.J. Rushing had his season cut short by injury, but he has big-time potential as a return man. He played in 6 games and only made 2 tackles. He returned 2 kickoffs for 67 yards and two punts for 14 yards.

Things were looking bad at halftime for the Colts as they were trailing 21-6. But a different team came out of the locker room in the second half as they outscored the Patriots 32-13 to win the game. This was a strange game as center Jeff Saturday and DT Dan Klecko each scored TDs for the Colts in this football game.Â

Peyton Manning had a great football game as he completed 27 of 47 passes for 349 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 interception. He also carried the football 2 times for 0 yards and a TD. Dominic Rhodes had a solid game running the ball as he carried it 14 times for 69 yards (4.9 ypc), but he lost a fumble in the endzone that was recovered by center Jeff Saturday for a TD. Rhodes also caught 4 passes for 38 yards. Rookie Joseph Addai also had a good game running the ball with 14 carries for 56 yards (4.0 ypc) with a TD run. TE Dallas Clark had another great game with 6 big catches for 137 yards. Reggie Wayne had a solid game with 5 grabs for 68 yards. Marvin Harrison had another rough game as he only caught 4 passes for 41 yards. He also dropped alot of passes that hit him in the hands. DT Dan Klecko caught 1 pass and it was for a 1-yard TD.

The defense didn’t play too well for the Colts. The Colts allowed the Patriots to carry the football 24 times for 93 yards (3.9 ypc). The Patriots also completed 21 of 34 passes for 226 net yards passing. But, Marlin Jackson sealed the Colts Super Bowl bid when he picked off Tom Brady with under 30 seconds left in the game.

The Colts are glad they have two weeks before their next game because they left everything they had on the field today and it paid off with an all expense paid trip to Miami to take on the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270121011

New England with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick is 12-1 in the post-season. But those kinds of runs have to somewhere come to end, and the Colts have a legitimate shot to do that. Peyton Manning has thrown five picks in his two playoff games, but I don’t expect he’ll have three so-so games in a row. On the other hand, I just sense something physically wrong with Tom Brady.

A lot of people don’t realize the full impact of having Bob Sanders in the lineup. He is perhaps the best in the business, and since his return the Colts have improved steadily in the run defense department to where they have been as good as they have to be in the post-season. They have the ability to slow down the Maroney-Dillon tandem and with the injuries in the Pats’ secondary, Manning has a chance to have a very strong day.

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Many were worried when Edgerrin James bolted to Arizona for the money, but the Colts wound up coming out of it smelling like a rose as rookie Joseph Addai and veteran Dominic Rhodes outplayed James this season. Joseph Addai had a great rookie season as he played in all 16 games and carried the football 226 times for 1,081 yards (4.8 ypc) with 7 TD runs. He also caught 40 passes for 325 yards (8.1 avg) with 1 TD grab.

Dominic Rhodes started all 16 games for the Colts and carried the ball 187 times for 641 yards (3.4 ypc) with 5 TD runs. He also caught 36 passes for 251 yards (7.0 avg). For his career, Rhodes has played in 71 games (27 starts) and he carried the football 550 times for 2,274 yards (4.1 ypc) with 19 TD runs. He also caught 90 passes for 649 yards (7.2 avg) with 1 TD catch.

The Colts have played the Patriots two times in the playoffs. They lost both of those games by a combined score of 44-17! Peyton Manning has been horrible against the Patriots in those games. He has completed 50 of 89 passes (56.2%) for 475 yards with 1 TD pass and 5 interceptions. Hopefully Dungy and Manning can come up with something to combat the Patriots defense.

Marvin Harrison also needs to step up. He has only caught 8 passes for 63 yards (7.9 avg) in the two playoff games against the Patriots. He also only has one hundred yard receiving game in 12 career playoff games. In the playoffs, Harrison has caught 51 passes for 735 yards (14.4 avg) with only 2 TD grabs.

If these guys don’t step up, the Colts won’t have much of a chance on Sunday.

Wouldn’t that be a sweet way to send the Patriots home? Vinatieri played 10 season for the Patriots after being signed as an undrafted free agent. In his 10 seasons in New England he hit 81.9% of his FG attempts and he scored 1,156 points for them. He also is probably the best clutch kicker of all time. He’s 8 for 8 in the post season for the Colts and he’s never missed a FG in the RCA Dome…..so if he gets a chance at the end of the game, the Patriots are going home.

The Colts will likely need Peyton Manning to play a big game on Sunday to beat the Patriots and I wonder out loud if he has it in him? He has never played well against the Patriots when all the chips are down so he will be questioned until he has a big game when it counts in the post season. He has only thrown 1 TD pass and he’s been intercepted 5 times in the playoffs for a QB Rating of 58.3, and that will not be good enough no matter how well the rest of the team plays to beat the Patriots! So the burden is on him…will he step up or look like a deer in headlights against the Patriots, again?