Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian: Matchup with New England Patriots Sunday "One of 16"

Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning (Tom Strattman/AP Photo)

The Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots will play a prime-time, nationally televised game Sunday night. No surprise. They have played on national television in November each of the last four seasons, the year before that playing on national television in the season opener and the year before that playing on Thanksgiving weekend. It will, as Colts President Bill Polian said Monday night be megahyped, megacovered and megadiscussed this week.

What's it's not, Polian said, is overly important.

At least not to the degree many will believe.

Reviewing Bill Polian’s Weekly radio show:

Part 1: Bob Sanders likely to return. Here

Part 2: “We are always going to want the football” Here

Part 4: Jerraud Powers Rookie of the Year? Here

"It's important to remember there are 16 games in an NFL season," Polian said Monday evening on his weekly radio show, which typically airs on 97.1 Hank FM in Indianapolis. "This game is going to be hyped beyond all recognition. This is the War of the World III, The Greatest Rivalry in Football – all of that stuff. Remember two things: last week's game [a victory over Houston at Lucas Oil Stadium] was more important because it was a division game. . . .Your first objective is to win the division. . . .

"Power ratings are not important. Rankings are not important. We're not in the BCS. Nobody votes for who gets in the playoffs. The computer doesn't vote. Experts don't vote. Record is what determines what you get in the playoffs.. . . This is nowhere near as important as last week's game was and nowhere near as important as the upcoming games will be although it will be portrayed as such and I don't really care about that. What's important for our players and our coaches is to recognize that we're playing a good opponent. It's one of 16. There are plenty more to go. We have eight in the bank and those eight will pay dividends as we come down the stretch.

"The only opponent we should care about is next week's opponent, but the outcome is one of 16. In the long run, out first objective is to win our division and we took a big step in that direction Sunday."

Polian on Monday also discussed:

* Sunday's 20-17 victory over Houston: “This was a battle of two heavyweights. It ended the way it should have – in our favor, Thank Goodness – but you knew it was going to go 60 minutes. That's the way these games are.”

* The Colts' efficiency recently in the red zone: "One of the disappointing things Sunday, and one of the things we need to improve upon, is our execution in the red zone. We have to do a much better job of protecting. We have to do a much better job of run-blocking. We have to do a much better job in the red zone. Had we been able to take advantage of the strategic advantage that we created for ourselves by going up-tempo and by a turnover created by the defense and field position created by the special teams, we would have perhaps made it a little bit different game. That didn't happen and we got into a grinder and came out on top. There are plenty of things we can improve upon.”

* More on red-zone efficiency: "It's principally execution and some of it is tactics. Lots of people are playing us pass first in the red zone, which is why the draw play worked for the touchdown Sunday. And then part of it is execution. We have to block better. We have to be able to be in the right formation and still have the ability to throw the ball and run the ball when necessary when people give it to you. When we do that, we have to execute it. So, it's a function of two things – No. 1, the way people have been playing us; and No. 2, our ability to execute when we get in those kinds of situations has not been the best. We have to get better at it. It's just a question of get the right block, make sure you execute the right technique, be in a position where you run the right route, all of those kinds of things. That's the critical part of it. We'll just keep working on it and we'll get better at it.”

* RB Larry Johnson, released Monday by Kansas City: “I wouldn't think that Larry Johnson would be high on our list at the moment. We expect that [running back] Donald [Brown] will be back in the not-to-distant future, so I think that's probably the way we would go.”

* Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell's successful first-half challenge: “The first thing that has to happen is you have to get the replay on television, because we are a captive of the television replay producer. If he doesn't put it up until after a commercial or in a situation where there is a long delay you would not get it. Once the coaches in the booth make a decision as to what they think ought to be done, they get it down to Jim instantaneously. What happened Sunday was Houston elected to run the clock down to the two-minute warning and in so doing, the producer was able to get a replay up. Because I'm not sure they recognized that it was a controversial play right off the bat. We did. Even in our own booth, we were saying, 'Give us a replay here,' because there's some question as to whether or not that was incomplete or whether it was a fumble or whether he was out of bounds. Once the replay came up, it was quite clear if you knew the rule that it was worth a challenge. Of course, Jim then told the referee that and the referee said, 'Well, if Houston wants to run the clock down go ahead and you can challenge at the two-minute warning.' You can challenge as long as it's outside two minutes. Inside two minutes, it's a booth review and it would have been up to the replay official in the booth to determine whether or not he felt it was reviewable. I suspect they would have. The ruling was correct. The officials on the field made the correct ruling. Kudos to Jim for challenging it. . . . I think they handled the clock correctly. We elected to let the clock run down, then at the two-minute warning make the challenge. Jim didn't not challenge until we hit the two-minute warning. At that point, we went ahead and challenged. They overruled. We got the ball on the 20 and were in good shape there. I think they handled the clock correctly. I didn't notice anything that was of any consequence there."

RECENT COLTS NEWS

* S Bob Sanders placed on injured reserve. Here.

* LB Tyjuan Hagler on IR. Here.

*** CATCH UP WITH ALL THINGS COLTS ON INDY FOOTBALL REPORT. HERE

*** COFFEE WITH THE COLTS: NEXT DAY LOOK AT COLTS-TEXANS. HERE

*** TEXANS-COLTS GAME STORY. HERE (INCLUDES PHOTO GALLERY)

*** QUOTING THE COLTS. WHAT THEY WERE SAYING AFTER HOUSTON. HERE

*** IFR EDITOR JOHN OEHSER ON COLTS DE DWIGHT FREENEY: HERE

MAGNIFICENT SEVENS: WEEKLY COLTS THOUGHTS . . .

Magnificent Seven I: Seven training camp thoughts and observations

Magnificent Seven II: On the Colts' defensive tackle position and WR Reggie Wayne

Magnificent Seven III: On the Colts' running backs and offensive line