In the aftermath of the Indianapolis Colts’ 38-34 AFC championship game victory over New England, Peyton Manning referred to his personal expectations entering the game.
“I just wanted to do my job and do my job well,” the quarterback said. “I didn’t think I needed to be super. I just needed to be good.”
Not too long ago, perhaps a month, definitely a year or so, Manning would have uttered such words only in a moment of self-deprecation or out-and-out deception. For much of his nine-year career, the Colts’ fortunes have risen and fallen on his play. “Good” has never been good enough. For Indianapolis to excel, the thinking went, Manning would have to be great.
So it is somewhat amusing that the Colts find themselves heading toward Super Bowl XLI with a quarterback who, for most of the postseason, has been more Trent Dilfer than Joe Montana.
To be sure, there were some traces of the good old days Sunday. Manning completed 27-of-47 passes for 349 yards, and Indianapolis found the rhythm necessary to overcome an 18-point deficit by going to an old staple, the no-huddle offense.
But previously that meant Manning going up to the line of scrimmage and doing his air-traffic controller number, wildly gesticulating as he changed plays, more often than not into something more suitable for his talented skill position players. However, against the Patriots, and throughout the postseason, Manning has been far more businesslike. There have been fewer gestures and audibles and a lot more handoffs.
“I said it over and over last week – he’s managing the football game as well as he ever has,” center Jeff Saturday said. “I can’t tell you how much good comes from that, from letting everybody do their jobs.”
To put it another way, how much would you have bet against the Colts reaching Miami if you knew that Manning would throw six interceptions versus two touchdowns in three playoff games?
The Chicago Bears, Indy’s opponents in South Florida in a little less than two weeks, are supposed to be the tough, grind-it-out team. But the Colts’ average of 35 rushes a game is only five off of the Bears’ playoff norm.
Even after New England took its sizable lead Sunday, Indianapolis didn’t just drop back and throw. Nineteen of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai’s combined 28 rushes came in the second half, which the Colts entered trailing 21-6.
“We knew we had to have some kind of running game,” Manning said. “It didn’t look good early, and trailing like we did, you can maybe get a little one-dimensional out there. … That’s something that in past playoff games, we haven’t done quite as well. But this year we’ve been committed to it and it’s certainly been more positive.”
That share-the-wealth philosophy has trickled down into every aspect of the Colts’ offense. Wide receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne both made the Pro Bowl, but in the playoffs, Manning has largely been just as content to throw to his tight ends and running backs.
Wayne has 15 receptions in three playoff games, Harrison 10, but the dynamic duo is averaging only 10.3 and 13.4 yards per catch, respectively, both under their regular-season averages. Meanwhile, tight end Dallas Clark has 17 postseason catches for a 16.5-yard average, while Addai has 12. Aaron Moorehead, Ben Utecht and Bryan Fletcher, the team’s second-, third- and fourth-string tight ends, have a combined 11 playoff receptions.
It was Fletcher, who had only 18 receptions all season, who made one of the biggest plays Sunday, a 32-yard fourth-quarter catch that set up Addai’s game-winning touchdown with 1:02 remaining.
That was Manning’s second-longest completion of the night, but as spectacular as the play was, the dissection of it was equally impressive. Manning, the cerebral quarterback who strives to know every weakness in an opponent, admitted that the brainpower behind the crucial play wasn’t his.
“It was Bryan’s call,” Manning said, adding that he was stumped to come up with a play to counteract New England playing a safety toward Harrison’s side.
“We needed a play to hit in the area they were leaving open, but I just couldn’t think of one,” Manning said. “Then Bryan came into the huddle with the idea to run that corner route. It’s scary to say that publicly, because who knows where his ego will go from here.”
Chances are Manning doesn’t have to worry. After years of almost stubbornly clinging to a style that was pretty but ultimately unsuccessful, the Colts have learned just how far a little ego sublimation can take you.
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
