Rating: (0 votes - average)

The Indianapolis Colts are good and lucky — as in lucky to have Peyton Manning as quarterback.


The Colts and the New Orleans both won Sunday to boost their perfect records to 10-0, but the Saints have been by far the more dominant team.

The Colts are 4-0 in games decided by 3 of fewer points and 7-0 in games decided by 7 or fewer points after a 17-15 victory in Baltimore on Sunday. Indianapolis has won its last 4 games by a combined 10 points.

There is little doubt that Manning is the by far the main reason the Colts are undefeated. He had his 41st career game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime Sunday, tying Brett Favre for the most among active QBs.

New Orleans QB Drew Brees is throwing less than Manning of late because his Saints have a stronger running game than the Colts. New Orleans had 36 running plays and 29 passes in Sunday's 38-7 road romp over Tampa Bay. Brees has thrown for "only" 223 and 187 yards in his last two games and has five 300-yard passing games this season. Manning has eight 300-yard passing games this season and had 299 yards Sunday.
The Saints have the first 10-game winning streak in franchise history and are the first NFC team to start 10-0 since the 1990 New York Giants.


Here are the six remaining games for the Colts and Saints in their quest for the second 16-0 regular season in NFL history:

COLTS — at Houston, TENNESSEE, DENVER, at Jacksonville, NEW YORK JETS, at Buffalo.


SAINTS — NEW ENGLAND (Monday Night Football Nov. 30), at Washington, at Atlanta, DALLAS, TAMPA BAY, at Carolina.
The Saints are more likely to finish 16-0 because they're a better all-around team than Indianapolis. But the Colts have Manning. I'd never count him out.


Perry Fewell's debut as interim coach of the Buffalo Bills was encouraging but wound up as another loss. He chose the right quarterback (Ryan Fitzpatrick over Trent Edwards) and opened up the passing game, but Jacksonville managed to rally to win 18-15. History says the result was predictable. Fewell is Buffalo's fourth head coach to take over during a season:

Here's how the previous three fared:


1976 — Jim Ringo was 0-9 after replacing Lou Saban (2-3).


1985 — Hank Bullough was 2-10 after replacing Kay Stephenson (0-2).

1986 — Marv Levy was 2-5 after replacing Hank Bullough (2-7).


According to research by Rich Gosselin (The Dallas Morning News), Dick Jauron-to-Fewell was the 71st in-season coaching change in pro football since the AFL began in 1960. Only one new coach rallied his team to a playoff berth — Wally Lemm of the Houston Oilers in 1961. The Oilers were 1-3-1 when owner Bud Adams sacked coach Lou Rymkus. The Oilers proceeded to win 10 games in a row, including a 10-3 victory over San Diego in the AFL championship game. The other 70 replacement coaches are a combined 159-354-4 (.310) — including Fewell's loss Sunday.


<LI itxtvisited="1">New England hasn't lost consecutive games since November 2006. ... The Patriots are 12-3 in their last 15 games against the New York Jets. ... Tom Brady (New England) has five straight 300-yard passing games. ... The Patriots and Jets have played 101 times: 50-50-1 record for each team. ... Former Bills linebacker London Fletcher had 13 tackles in Washington's 7-6 loss to Dallas.<LI itxtvisited="1">

<LI itxtvisited="1">Entering Week 11, there were 303 fourth-down attempts in the NFL and 146 were successful (48.2 percent). That pace would result in 538 fourth-down plays this season, the most since the 16-game schedule began in 1978. Cheers to the NFL coaches who have become more daring this season. ... Entering tonight's Tennessee at Houston game, NFL teams are 16-15 after bye weeks this season. ... Dallas rallied to beat Washington 7-6 but the offense has been very bad for the last two games. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is supposed to be head coach Wade Phillips' successor, but Phillips' defensive unit is looking better than Garrett's offensive unit. ... Tony Romo (Dallas) is 34-15 in his 49 NFL starts.<LI itxtvisited="1">

<LI itxtvisited="1">Tampa Bay is 1-13 in its last 14 regular-season games. ... Green Bay (6-4) on Sunday matched last season's win total. ... Cincinnati is 0-10 lifetime at Oakland. ... Cleveland had 4 offensive TDs in Sunday's 38-37 loss in Detroit. The Browns had 5 offensive TDs in their previous 15 games combined. Brady Quinn in defeat looked like a genuine NFL QB for a change (21 of 33 for 304 yards, with 4 TDs passes and 0 INTs). But remember, Detroit's opponents entered Sunday with a 107.8 passer rating.<LI itxtvisited="1">

The Redskins were fortunate to select Texas defensive end Brian Orapko No. 13 overall in the 2009 draft, after the Buffalo Bills passed on Orapko at No. 11 in favor of Penn State defensive end Aaron Maybin. Orapko leads all rookies with 7 sacks — all in his last 8 games.

New Orleans Saints better team, but Indianapolis Colts have Manning | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle