MIAMI -- Two weeks ago, the Colts learned that Cinderella doesn't get invited to back-to-back balls. Second-year Cinderellas break their slipper and have to earn their invitations. And flatly, the team went through its first 13 games in cruise control.
|  | | Peyton Manning, left, runs into teammate Edgerrin James on a 4-yard TD run. |
"It seemed like there was not the sense of urgency," right tackle Adam Meadows admitted. "I wish I could put my finger on it, but last year, we snuck up on teams."
The urgency is back and so are the Colts. Almost given up for dead, the Colts, an AFC Super Bowl favorite, escaped from playoff elimination and took apart the Dolphins 20-13 on Sunday. Don't count them out. If the Dolphins lose in New Orleans or the Jets lose in Baltimore, the Colts can be the AFC's worst nightmare in the postseason if they win one more game.
Peyton Manning may get a second life in the playoffs. Take it from the Dolphins, that's your worst nightmare.
"He's always been this patient, and he just picked us apart," Dolphins middle linebacker Zach Thomas said. "He tried to pick us apart and make us lose our poise and patience. The Colts made us look stupid today."
The flaw in the NFL's fifth-ranked defense is that sometimes it is its worst enemy. Cornerbacks Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain play so close to wide receivers that they draw holding or interference penalties.
Defensive linemen tend to get encroachment calls. After the Dolphins' defense stopped Manning in an opening three-and-out possession, Madison killed the Dolphins by drawing a penalty for attempting to lure a Colts punt coverage player offsides.
Manning, sensing that the Dolphins would be a little out of sync, went for the jugular the only time Sunday. He isolated tight end Marcus Pollard on safety Brian Walker and hit him for a 50-yard touchdown pass.
"Peyton gave me a signal if we got a certain look, and that was what we were going to run," Pollard said.
After that, Manning tortured the Dolphins' defense. Mentally, Manning felt if he could hit one deep pass -- Pollard's catch certainly qualified -- then he could get safeties Walker and Brock Marion to stay in two-deep coverage, maybe playing a little deeper than normal. That would open up the middle for short passes and for halfback Edgerrin James to do his thing.
Sure, Manning knew that took away the best part of the Colts' offense. Their strength is working off the play-action pass. If the Dolphins' safeties were going to be too deep to care about play action, Manning would have to work a boring game plan.
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Peyton is such a smart quarterback, and he studies so much game film, he knows where he can go with the ball. That's why you can't blitz him. He reads things so quickly and he'll know he'll have man-to-man coverage for his receivers. I know he had me rattled in the first half. ” |
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— Zach Thomas, Dolphins linebacker |
"If they weren't reacting to play action, we felt we could run the ball and throw the ball underneath," Manning said. "That pass to Pollard
was big because it got their secondary thinking, 'How can we let that happen?' "
Call it death by slow torture. Manning completed 21 of 28 passes, but other than his 50-yarder to Pollard, his longest completion was for 16 yards. Even his incompletions were short. How strange it is for the game's best young quarterback to hit only three completions longer than 16 yards.
In baseball terms, he was a home-run hitter shortening up to bunt. His goal was to make the Dolphins charge from the infield and make mistakes.
"Peyton is such a smart quarterback, and he studies so much game film, he knows where he can go with the ball," Thomas said. "That's why you can't blitz him. He reads things so quickly and he'll know he'll have man-to-man coverage for his receivers. I know he had me rattled in the first half."
Still, there were times the Colts were a little out of sync. Because of a sellout crowd at Pro Player Stadium, Manning had his offense in a silent count. James fumbled in the open field once when he secured the ball poorly with only one hand. There was a false start and an illegal formation. At one point, an angry Manning came to the sidelines shouting at offensive coordinator Tom Moore, saying, "Dumb, Dumb."
"With a silent count, it's hard to jump offsides, but we did," Manning said. "My thinking was that we had to make everything a positive
play. We wanted no runs for nothing, no passes for nothing. If we could turn first-and-10s into second-and-ones, that's what we wanted to do."
In that respect, Manning performed flawlessly. Only once was James trapped for a loss, and that was only for a yard. He finished with 112 yards on 32 carries. Only once was Manning sacked in 29 dropbacks from center.
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Peyton Manning has now passed for 4,000 yards for the second straight season, becoming only the fifth different quarterback in NFL history to post consecutive 4,000-yard seasons. And with his production increasing in each season since his rookie year, Manning has a good chance next season to join Dan Marino and Dan Fouts as the only QBs with three straight 4,000-yard seasons
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Consec. seasons
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Dan Marino
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3 ('84-86)
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Dan Fouts
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3 ('79-81)
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Peyton Manning
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2 '(99-00)
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Brett Favre
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2 ('98-99)
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Warren Moon
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2 ('94-95)
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Warren Moon
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2 ('90-91)
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Three times, Manning ran the ball, once for a 4-yard touchdown and another time for 11 yards. After all, the Colts were facing playoff
elimination. He may run with the nimbleness of Bernie Kosar, but Manning, who was averaging 2.9 yards a carry going into the game, finished with 20 yards rushing.
"When Peyton runs, he's like a desperate runner," James said. "He's like running for his life, but he puts everything into it."
Manning's 4-yard TD run with 12:22 left in the second quarter opened a 14-0 lead and basically iced the game. If that wasn't enough, Manning ate up the first 8:36 of the second half with a 14-play, 66-yard field goal drive that put the Colts ahead 20-3.
"We're not the type of football team that can get down 17 points or whatever and have a good chance of battling back consistently," Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt said. "Early on in the game, I thought our players came out excited, maybe too excited as far as cranked up ready to play. Manning had a great night. We blitzed him at times, and he was making throws."
Though it may not show in the stats -- 64 plays for 327 yards are modest numbers -- Manning ripped the Dolphins' defense inside out. Possession time was 33 minutes to 27.
"Miami is not necessarily the team where you're going to break out and everything is going to be easy," Manning said. "Anytime your back is to the wall, you're going to play with a sense of urgency. Instead of complaining about it, we're going to try and keep winning games and that's we can control."
Last year, it was probably too easy for them to win 13 games when nobody expected it. This year, expectations were too high. They are trying to make the playoffs the hard way. If they get in, watch out. Manning is on a roll.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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ALSO SEE
Colts stave off elimination with win over Dolphins
Colts' defense steps up at right time
AthletesDirect: Peyton Manning's official Web site
AthletesDirect: Edgerrin James' official Web site
VIDEO
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