Victory over New England Patriots guarantees nothing, Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian says

Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning and New England
Patriots QB Tom Brady
Darron Cummings/AP Photo

A common theory is now that the Indianapolis Colts have beaten the New England Patriots, they are heavy favorites to finish with the AFC's best record.

Bill Polian said that theory is way premature.

Polian, speaking this week on his weekly radio show, said while the Colts' 35-34, come-from-behind victory over New England was “amazing” and memorable, “It's important to right at the outset put it in perspective.

“It's one game and one game only,” Polian, in his 12^th season as the Colts' president, said.

With the victory, the Colts moved three games ahead of not only New England, but Pittsburgh and Denver, too. Denver lost to Washington and Pittsburgh lost to Cincinnati, which leads the AFC North with the AFC's second-best record, 7-2.

REVIEWING BILL POLIAN'S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW

Bill Polian's weekly radio show | Part One | "If we run this way . . . we'll be perfectly fine"

Bill Polian's weekly radio show | Part Two | Defense executed when it mattered against Patriots

“Now, after the game is over, everyone is saying, 'Well, we [the Colts] now have a lock on this, that and the other thing,''' Polian said. “We have no lock on anything. We have seven more games to play. The next game against Baltimore [Sunday] is the most important one. It, too, is an AFC game. We just have to keep focused on that. Players need to listen to one voice, that of [Head Coach] Jim Caldwell.

“We don't need to be debating or talking or thinking about this permutation or that permutation in the playoff race, because there isn't a playoff race just yet and there won't be until Thanksgiving. It was a very entertaining game, but as I said last week, 'It's one game.' It's entertaining. It's exciting.

“People make it out to be much more than it is. It's fun for the fans and naturally fun for all of the viewers around America, but that's all it is. We have to put it behind us and move on.”

The Colts have made the playoffs each of the last seven years, winning the AFC South title from 2003-2007. Since 1999, they have won six division titles, had a first-round bye three times – 1999, 2005 and 2007 – and had home-field advantage once: 2005.

The Colts won their Super Bowl during that span in 2006, doing so as the No. 3 seed.

Polian on Monday also addressed:

*The play of the Patriots' offensive line Sunday. “First of all, let me say the Pats' offensive line is one of the best-coached offensive lines maybe in the history football. They do a magnificent, magnificent job both with scheme, which they did [Sunday] night, essentially doubling Dwight on virtually every play, and with execution. The rule is simply this: if your hands are inside of the shoulders you can pretty much do anything you want. It's when your hands get outside that the referees tend to look askance on it, but they're very liberal on holding. Having said that, there was very little of it [Sunday] night, because they're so well-coached and they execute so well and their scheme is so well-founded that they don't have to hold. They put themselves in a position where they don't have to commit penalties, so they were clean. I don't think we had one complaint on the officiating report that had to do with holding. They did a phenomenal job and they always do.”

*The play of Colts RB Chad Simpson Sunday. “He had a great day. He got a bang in the head, but he came right back and had some terrific runs. As [former Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints Head Coach] Mike Ditka said [Monday] morning on the radio – if you know Mike and you know how much he loves the running game this was the compliment of all compliments – he said, 'Oh, yeah, they got three guys who can run the ball.' I felt good about that and all Colts fans should. They did a great job.”

*The defensive adjustments of coordinator Larry Coyer at halftime. “I'd say it's probably 80 percent [Colts defensive coordinator] Larry Coyer and 20 percent execution. He does a great job of analyzing the opponent, then saying, 'OK, this particular coverage isn't working for us,' or this particular coverage doesn't deal with what they're doing to us as well as this particular one would.' Some of that is dictated by the front or by the number of people you have with injury. There was one point in the second quarter Sunday where Tim Jennings came out of the game and we had to play with regular people against four wides because we did not have a fourth corner who was ready to play in the game. Fortunately, Timmy came back, but under normal circumstances, Larry makes really good adjustments. He can figure out what people are trying to do to us and make the appropriate adjustments. He did that [Sunday night] and he has done it all season. That's particularly true in terms of timing and calling the blitzes. Once again [Sunday] night, we had some blitzes that really, really paid off and the timing was exactly right. That's more art than science and he has a lot of feel for that."

CALDWELL: "STILL A LOT OF WORK TO BE DONE" | HERE

COLTS, 35, PATRIOTS 34: GAME STORY. HERE

QUOTING THE COLTS: FOR MORE OF WHAT THEY WERE SAYING AFTER COLTS-PATRIOTS, CLICK HERE

PREVIEWING COLTS-PATRIOTS. HERE

SAVOR THE COLTS-PATRIOTS RIVALRY WHILE IT LASTS. HERE.

WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW ABOUT THE COLTS. SUBSCRIBE TO JOHN OEHSER'S EXAMINER STORIES BY CLICKING ABOVE

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN XIV (PART ONE): ON COLTS DE DWIGHT FREENEY AND THE WEEK'S KEY MATCHUP. HERE

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN XIV (PART TWO): ON COLTS TE DALLAS CLARK AND HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL. HERE.

PEYTON MANNING: PATRIOTS IN 2009 AS GOOD AS EVER. HERE.

COLTS 2009 MIDSEASON REPORT: PART ONE. HERE.

COLTS 2009 MIDSEASON REPORT: PART TWO. HERE.

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