Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning: Now's not yet the time to talk playoff scenarios

Indianapolis Colts WR Reggie Wayne (Rob Carr/AP Photo)

QB Peyton Manning isn't thinking about the Indianapolis Colts' playoff possibilities.

Now, he said, isn't the time. Not yet.

The Colts, one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL along with New Orleans, can extend the NFL's longest active postseason streak Sunday. If they beat the Houston Texans and Jacksonville loses to San Francisco, the Colts will not only make the postseason for the eighth consecutive season, they will clinch a sixth AFC South title in seven seasons.

But Manning said that's not the focus around the Colts.

“I truly think we have taken it one week at a time,” Manning said Wednesday afternoon as the Colts (10-0) prepared to play the Texans (5-5) in an AFC South game at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, Sunday at 1 p.m. “One thing that [first-year Colts Head] Coach [Jim] Caldwell doesn’t do, he doesn’t post where we are in the division. He doesn’t really give us the weekly update. He just talks about this game and says ‘Let’s count them up at the end.’

“I think the team has taken on that approach and is just truly worried about the next game in front of us every single week.”

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The Colts, who also lead the AFC by three games over San Diego (7-3), New England (7-3) and Cincinnati (7-3), won five consecutive South titles from 2003-2007, making the postseason as a wild card in 2002 and 2008.

“What I talk to them about are the things that put is in position to win,” Caldwell said. “I don't talk necessarily about what's going to happen after we win. We try not to get ahead of ourselves. We figure if we prepare like we've been preparing, if we focus in on getting better and if we prepare to win, those other things will take care of themselves – we'll talk about those when the season's over.”

Said Manning, "I really haven't thought about that and we haven't talked about that [postseason scenarios]. Coach Caldwell doesn't really address that with us. He gives us the Houston scouting report just like he did Baltimore last week and New England the week before. That's really all we prepare for, is going down there and trying to beat Houston. That's kind of been our approach all season. I think it's been a good one. We'll figure the rest of it out when the season's over.”

The Colts' matchup Sunday will be their fourth division game of the season, and their second matchup with the Texans this month. The Colts beat the Texans, 20-17, at Lucas Oil Stadium on November 8, and Manning said the quick turnaround between games is “really unique.”

“You prepare for what you've seen on film, but you also have a little preparation for the unexpected, for something new,” said Manning, who has thrown for 4,177 yards and 34 touchdowns with six interceptions in 15 games against Houston. “There's always, a lot of times, a change in a team's game plan the second time around. They could give you something totally different that you hadn't seen before. You have to be prepared to adjust to that. At the same time, some of the things that worked for them the first time you probably expect to see some of those things again. Some of the things that worked for us the first time, we could still try to do those things and the things we didn't do well, try to do them better.”

The Colts, who have won a franchise-record 19 consecutive regular-season games, not only are two victories shy of tying the NFL record for consecutive regular-season victories, they are 10-0 for the second time in five seasons.

“I guess we really haven’t taken much time to reflect on that,” Manning said. “I think even our young guys realize how hard it is to win. . . . They’ve seen how close our last two games are, and how we’ve had close wins. Were we fortunate to win? I don’t know. That’s up for opinion. But we ended up getting the win. I think our guys, because of the kind of games we’ve had, have realized that it is tough to win in this league, and you never take winning for granted."

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