Written by Stephen Holder at Indy Star.com
As I clean out my notebook and clear my head, here are some notes and observations on the Indianapolis Colts as they turn their attention to Monday’s road game against the New York Jets.
>> Can the Colts ‘run the table’?
The Colts have won enough games and caught enough breaks to keep them in the AFC playoff race.
But merely being in the race was never the goal of this, or any, Colts season. To actually reach the playoffs, simply staying in the race will no longer be sufficient. Treading water doesn’t get you to the postseason.
So, here’s the bottom line: The Colts are going to have to play their way in.
No matter what the unpredictable Houston Texans do the rest of the way, and regardless of whether you take the Tennessee Titans seriously, the Colts can’t back their way into this postseason. The likelihood is they’re going to have win most, if not all, of their remaining five games to win their division and claim the accompanying automatic postseason berth. The Colts are one game behind the Texans in the AFC South but likely need to finish with a better record than Houston to avoid unfavorable tiebreaker scenarios. And they’re two games out in the wild-card race, so qualifying that way doesn’t appear viable.
Now, the enormity of the Colts’ challenge is beginning to sink in.
“We understand that we have to run the table, point blank,” tight end Dwayne Allen said. “In order to have a realistic chance, we have to run the table. You can either be intimidated by that or get excited. Because that means that the coaching staff, the coordinators, the players are going to give it everything we absolutely have to win a football game. And that’s exciting football.”
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