I was with the sports pundictocracy who deemed this week a “classic trap game.” We had Buffalo at home sandwiched between big road victories at Denver and New England and big games at Dallas and at home against Philadelphia.

But I part ways with the talking heads who say the Colts actually were unprepared. Or that this game proves they’re due to lose any week, now. Yes, the score was 17-16. But Manning took four knees at the Buffalo 10 to end the game. The only Buffalo touchdown came at the end of the first half, on the return of Ben Utecht’s fumble deep in Buffalo territory. Those two plays alone turn a 17-16 game into 31-6.

I guess my point is that the game was never really in doubt. Total offense wasn’t close — 384-162. First downs? 26-10. Hell, we even outrushed them, which never happens. This game was close because of a few fluke plays, some sub-par special teams play, and two dumb fumbles.

That’s not to say this team isn’t flawed. Our run defense is still a nightmare. I just don’t think yesterday’s game is indicative of much of anything.

The remaining schedule is pretty favorable. The December 10 game at Jacksonville is the one that worries me most on paper, though Philly and Dallas won’t be easy. That said, I think the biggest barrier to 16-0 will be Tony Dungy pulling the starters once we’ve locked up home field advantage.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 13th, 2006 at 10:25 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.