The Colts and Broncos have this snug thing going where they are not quite family, not particularly strong friends, but somehow keep connecting.
For the Broncos, it has been a fatal attraction.
Not only have the Broncos ended each of the past two regular seasons by playing the Colts, they also ended both seasons losing to the Colts in the playoffs. These teams since the 2001 season have met six times. That is more than any NFL nondivision matchup.
Toss in a preseason game in 2003, and that is seven meetings.
Add their preseason encounter here Saturday night and that makes eight.
“I don’t know what it was like before I got here,” said Tony Dungy, entering his fourth season as Colts head coach. “But that’s a lot.”
A lot for the Broncos, particularly, to digest.
In those seven games, Denver is 2-5.
In the regular-season finales of the past two years, Denver won by 14 points and 19 points. In the playoff games, Denver lost by 31 points and 25 points. The crushing facet for Denver was allowing 41 points in the first playoff loss and then 49 in the second.
That shook the Broncos at their roots.
The bushel of Browns defensive linemen and Denver’s attempt to boost its line? All of those defensive backs drafted last April? Stockpiling running backs in hopes of kicking the running game in gear?
All of it, in part, can be attributed to the Colts.
Their horseshoe prints are all over it.
Often preseason games are mere practice, but Colts-Broncos offers more.
These teams have had their spats on the field, and last season the one off it spun out of control. John Lynch hit Colts tight end Dallas Clark with what the league called an illegal blow, fined Lynch and warned him they would be watching the following week in the playoff game between the teams.
The Broncos accused the Colts of pulling a power play in an attempt to get the league to suspend Lynch for the playoff game.
The Colts accused the Broncos of foul play.
It got nasty for the Broncos well before kickoff and nastier in the game. Colts up 14-0 after one quarter. Colts up 35-3 at halftime. You know the rest.
“Early in the playoff games we have stopped their running game enough and gotten up a couple of scores that made them different games,” Dungy said. “People look at this series and may think we’ve run away with it because of the playoff games, but I don’t look at it like that. They have a fine offensive group, a running style that gives most teams problems and speed and quickness on defense. Whenever we play the Broncos, we know that there is a chance that we will see them again, soon, in a competitive situation.”
Even though it is preseason, that is what the Broncos will get from the Colts this weekend.
Dungy will play his starters into the third quarter.
That means the new Denver line will learn if it can get to Peyton Manning. The youth in the secondary gets a crack at Marvin Harrison. The offense will discern if it can have early success to keep the game in check.
The Broncos are chasing the Colts and the Colts are chasing the Patriots. Just like the Colts have booted the Broncos from the playoffs the past two seasons, the Patriots have done the same to the Colts.
The Broncos will tell you they are chasing the champion Patriots foremost, just like every other NFL team. But first things first. The Broncos need this matchup against the Colts to get even closer, to gain a better feel, size ’em up in their hopes of eventually bringing ’em down. The Eagles lost nine straight games to the Giants before turning things around in 2001. The Rams dropped 17 consecutive games to the 49ers before ending that embarrassment in 1999. The Raiders lost 12 of 13 games to the Chiefs until 1999 and then won five straight in the series.
Familiarity sometimes breeds a streak – and then a reversal.
This is the first regular season since 2001 that the Colts and Broncos will not meet. But if the Broncos make it to the playoffs, odds are the Colts will be there. And you know in the playoffs these teams will find each other.
“It’s not like we’re playing Atlanta or some team that you know you won’t see again unless it’s in the Super Bowl,” Dungy said. “We want to get out there Saturday and play well and establish some things and know we could see this team down the road.”
History indicates it probably will be at a wide fork, with one team moving on and the other shut down. The Colts provide a firm mental and physical test for the Broncos.
Most fatal attractions do.
Staff writer Thomas George can be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
