Indianapolis Colts CB Tim Jennings (Gail Burton/AP Photo)
They have been here before in recent seasons, the Indianapolis Colts have: a successful regular season, with a ton of momentum. Several times, that momentum has faded in the postseason.
It raises questions:
How do you peak in the postseason? Is it better to not win so often in the regular season, and somehow save themselves for the postseason?
Colts President Bill Polian on Monday offered an answer:
Such things aren't a concern to the Colts.
“Peaking is not an issue for us,” Polian said on his weekly radio show on Hank FM 97.1 in Indianapolis. “We want to play our best football 16 weeks a year and if we're fortunate enough to get into the postseason, we're going to try to play our best football then and we'll do everything we can to aim at that if and when we're lucky enough to get into the postsason.
“But you don't worry about peaking. You want to lay it out on the line every week in the National Football League. Because I guarantee you if you don't, you will come away with a loss. There's absolutely no question about that.”
Polian said the reason the Colts are 10-0 and have won 19 consecutive regular-season games dating to last season is a singular focus.
“As I said, it's a parallel universe,” Polian said. “The only way to win is to pay attention to nothing but the upcoming opponent. Nothing else. That's why a loss in the playoffs is so devastating to all of us because for the first time in seven months there's no next opponent to play for. There's no next opponent to prepare for. We focus week-to-week and week-to-week only. [Colts Head Coach] Jim Caldwell made this point [Monday] in our meeting.
“He said, 'Hey, I'm not worried about two weeks from now. I'm not worried about three weeks from now. I'm worried about this week and this week only,' and that's where our focus has to be.”
*Polian on Monday also discussed:
*The future of S Bob Sanders, on injured reserve with a knee injury: “First of all, his contract is not up for another three years, I believe. At least two – I think three. There's no way we would cut Bob Sanders unless he's completely incapable of playing and I don't think that that's the case. I think he'll be back better than ever as the saying goes next summer. I see no situation where we would cut him. Trade? There's an old saying, 'Don't ever trade anybody who can help you.' I think Bob Sanders can help us a lot (laughing), so it would have to be a blockbuster offer to even consider it. I don't see any chance that either thing could happen. I think Bob's back with us, as I say, better than ever and in a good frame of mind – whole and healthy and ready to go."
*Teams increasing their coverage on TE Dallas Clark: “You're going to see much more of the style of defense that New England played and Baltimore played Sunday, where they're in a situation where they try to double Dallas as much as they can and try to double Reggie [Wayne] as much as they can. That doesn't mean two players necessarily line up side by side on him, but they'll do an over and under. They'll do a side by side. They'll do it by taking away the routes they try to run. They'll do it by interfering with them down the field – the so-called illegal contact, trying to bump them off their routes – all of that kind of stuff. We're going to see that for the rest of the season because people recognize what a great receiver Dallas is. They recognize what a great receiver Reggie is and they're going to try to take them away, which is why Pierre [Garcon' got loose for the 66-yarder Sunday on the second series of the game. The answer is we're going to see those kinds of coverages."
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