Sunday, September 19 Colts have some horsepower By Mark Cannizzaro Special to ESPN.com

The Indianapolis Colts' record during the last two seasons is a combined 6-26. Consecutive 3-13 seasons, regardless of what kind of new talent has been infused, don't generally instill confidence for a quick turnaround.

Yet there were the Colts in their 1999 season opener last Sunday crushing the perennial playoff-contending Buffalo Bills 31-14.

	The Colts' Chad Bratzke collected three sacks of Doug Flutie in the opener.

While quarterback Peyton Manning, the No. 1 overall draft pick last year, and running back Edgerrin James, this year's first-round pick, were impressive, the biggest change in Indy came on defense. A laughingstock in 1998 when they ranked 29th overall, the Colts opened the Bills' eyes with their new defense.

The Indianapolis defense set the tone early and then clinched the game in the fourth quarter.

Sample Buffalo's first play from scrimmage: Colts cornerback Tyrone Poole delivered a crunching blow to Buffalo veteran running back Thurman Thomas, sending Thomas to the sideline not just for the game, but for six weeks with a bruised liver and kidneys.

Now check out one of the final key plays of the game: Colts dime back Tony Blevins picked off Bills quarterback Doug Flutie and made a 74-yard interception return for a touchdown to seal the Indianapolis' victory with 3:20 remaining.

This wasn't a bad start for a franchise that spent most of last season blowing leads instead of protecting them.

"Man, I can't even tell you how nice that is," said Colts coach Jim Mora, whose specialty is defense. "You can't win and you can't be a good football team unless you can play defense."

Much of what you need to know about the Colts is this: Until they traded him to St. Louis this offseason, the Colts were led offensively by Marshall Faulk, who has been among the most productive backs in the game. Yet the team still lost.

	Peyton Manning Quarterback Indianapolis Colts Profile
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS COMP ATT YDS TD INT RAT 21 33 284 2 2 85.9

So this offseason, the Colts added former Giants defensive end Chad Bratzke, who had 11 sacks in 1998, strong safety Chad Cota, who had 96 tackles and four interceptions for New Orleans in 1998, Super Bowl veteran linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who had 92 tackles for the Falcons in 1998, and defensive end Shawn King, who was injured in '98 but has a lot potential.

Against the Bills, the defensive additions immediately began to pay dividends. Bratzke, for example, sacked the elusive Flutie three times.

"If it was anyone other than Flutie, he would have probably had more than that," Manning said.

The Bills' running game, which ranked No. 3 in the NFL's a year ago, produced only 23 yards on 11 carries, not counting Flutie's 24 yards on four scrambles. A year ago, the Colts allowed opponents an average of 160.4 yards per game on the ground.

Despite their turnaround, the Colts have been careful about reading too much into last week's victory, and they have been talking up this Sunday's opponent, the Patriots (1-0), as if New England was the defending champion.

"It's only the first game, but (last week) was indicative of how this football team is going to be," Bennett predicted.

"We certainly got off to a good start," Manning added. "But it's one game, and we realize that a lot of teams start off with a big win and never ...

"The whole key is consistency. That's what we want to establish as a team. But in the first game, you saw a different team with a different attitude."

There was a lot of speculation that Manning wouldn't be happy losing Faulk, who'd become a security blanket of sorts for him. But James, right now, looks like the best pick of the draft.

"He is a threat on every play," Manning said of the former University of Miami running back. "That's what you want in your running back. That is what Terrell Davis is to Denver and what Jamal Anderson is to Atlanta. You want a guy that the defense has to account for on every single play. We feel like we have that in Edgerrin."

Young receiver Marvin Harrison, who had 121 yards receiving and two TD catches against Buffalo, is becoming one of the best targets in the league.

Despite those offensive weapons, however, the Colts' success will boil down to the improvements on defense.

If everything pieces together the way general manager Bill Polian and Mora envision it, there's little reason the Colts can't make a run at a wild-card berth. They probably don't have enough horses (pun intended) to win the AFC East, but because the teams in the division are so close in talent, they'll all beat each other up and whomever is left standing will play in January.

"(Making the playoffs) was our goal before the season," Manning said. "Our main goal was to be competitive and make the playoffs, which I think is realistic. There's no question our division is the best in football. The team that wins our division I think is going to be the favorite to win the Super Bowl, no question about it."

Bratzke, who was a big part of the Giants' defensive success last year, credited new Colts defensive coordinator Vic Fangio for turning things around.

"It's an attacking-style defense," he said. "It's not sit on your heels and wait to see what happens and read everything. It's go make something happen. That's my mentality. That's really all I know. We're still young as a unit. It's a new philosophy, a new coordinator, so we're still growing with the system."

It takes one to know one
After last week's offensive debacle, the Browns will start No. 1 overall pick Tim Couch at quarterback Sunday against the Titans. Entering his NFL baptism, Couch got some support from a guy who knows all about the growing pains of rookie QBs.

Manning, like Couch a former top overall pick, called Couch before last week's game to wish him luck for the season.

"I told him it's not all going to happen for him in his first start," Manning said. "There are going to be some bumps and bruises and some tough times. You just have to hang in there, keep working and try to learn. Just learn, learn, learn and be mentally tough.

"There's no question that Tim is a talented quarterback, but this is kind of a test year for him, and I think he'll respond well."

Meanwhile in New York, Atwater and Victor Green combine as perhaps the league's hardest-hitting safety tandem.

Everyone's after the king
The lopsided loss to the Dolphins in Monday night's season opener seems to have knocked quite a bit of the invincible edge off of the Broncos.

"Other teams feel like since John (Elway) left, they have a chance to beat us now, and they're tired of seeing us be the victors," Broncos defensive tackle Mike Lodish said. "I think this team needs to learn that people aren't just going to come in here and lay down because we're the Broncos. In fact, it's going to be just the opposite. They're going to want to try to dismantle us because they're tired of seeing the crown on our heads."

Broncos left defenseless
With defensive coordinator Greg Robinson directing the Broncos, Denver did not play a single game in the last three years when it was held without a sack, interception or fumble recovery. On Monday night against Miami, however, the Denver defense was shut out.

"To win football games, the defense has to go out and make plays," Broncos linebacker Bill Romanowski said. "We didn't get that done. We didn't cause fumbles. We didn't come up with interceptions. That's what you need to do on defense to win games. Defensively, we've got to get better."

Scrambling for safety
One of the first things the Broncos did in the offseason was decide that veteran safety Steve Atwater, one of the best players in franchise history, wasn't worth the $2.5 million salary Denver was due to pay him in 1999. So, the Broncos cut Atwater, who signed with the Jets.

One of the reasons the Broncos believed Atwater was expendable was they planned to use youngster George Coghill at safety.

In Week 1, however, Coghill suffered a second-degree medial collateral knee sprain. He is out indefinitely, leaving the Broncos thin at safety.

Life after Vinny
Despite the loss of quarterback Vinny Testaverde for the season with an Achilles tendon injury, some people aren't counting out the Jets in the AFC race:

Check out these two quotes from this week:

Buffalo coach Wade Phillips: "The Jets are still the team to beat in the AFC East."

Jets coach Bill Parcells during his Wednesday press conference: "Why does it feel like a ... damn funeral in here today? I guarantee you this isn't a funeral."

Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post writes a weekly AFC notebook for ESPN.com that appears each Thursday.