Halo

By Guerry Smith - Something is missing in all the talk about the Indianapolis Colts as an unstoppable juggernaut these past two weeks.

Namely, it’s a dose of reality.

Peyton Manning deserves all of the accolades he is getting as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, but the numbers for the Indianapolis offense this year do not match the mind-numbing hyperbole.

The Colts finished seventh in the NFL in scoring. That’s right, seventh.

New Orleans (510), Minnesota (470), Green Bay (461), San Diego (454), Philadelphia (429) and New England (427) all scored more points than Indianapolis (416).

The Colts finished ninth in the NFL in yards, behind three non-playoff teams in Houston, Pittsburgh and the New York Giants.

Manning was second in the NFL in passing yards, but breaking in new receivers, he hardly was a combo platter of Dan Marino, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady at their prolific best. His touchdown (33) to interception (16) ratio was worse than all but two quarterbacks among the top 10 in passing yards. His average yards per attempt (7.9) was better than only New England’s Tom Brady on the same list.

Manning is a winner, playing his absolute best when it matters most at the end of the fourth quarter, but statistically, he was nowhere close to having his best year.

The Indy-offense-as-invincible storyline stems from the condition I call onegame-itis. Football is the only major American sport where teams play only once a week, so the last game leaves a dramatic impression. With seven days (and in this case, 14) to discuss and dissect the previous outcome, analysts forget everything that happened earlier.

Manning and the offense played better than they have all year after falling behind 17-6 to the New York Jets in the first half of the AFC Championship Game. The Colts rolled up 461 yards and 30 points, shredding the NFL’s No. 1 defense and wiping the conceited look off of Jets coach Rex Ryan’s face.

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