Told you it would be a dog fight. Rod Marinelli is a fine coach, and as we Colts fans saw his team has a lot of heart and fight. The Lions are a tough bunch, and even though they are still winless, they deserve respect for their fight. Some might think that silly, but whatever. I like watching people play hard.
This game was about one team that closes the deal and the other that can't seem to. After Detroit tied the game on a two point conversion following a Kevin Smith TD, the Colts got the ball in the 4th quarter and drove it 88 yards in 7 plays. The drive was capped by a Dominc Rhodes TD (his second of the day). The defense then got Detroit to punt, and the offense went on another long drive (11 plays, 67 yards, 4:42) to capped it with an Adam Vinatieri FG with 30-something seconds left in the game.
The odd element of this game is the Colts got ZERO sacks. Zero. The difference in this game was the Colts red zone efficiency. They were 4-5 in the red zone, with 4 TDs and a FG. Peyton Manning protected the ball, and Dallas Clark had one of his best games of the season (12 catches, 132 yards, 1 TD). And Dom Rhodes came to play today, with 2 TDs, 86 yards rushing, and 40 yards receiving. Despite Dom's solid play, the Colts are still struggling to run the ball; mightily. But hey, a win is a win, and there are no easy games.
Big props to SeanYuille and the Lions fans at Pride of Detroit. I really hope they win at least one of their last two. The Lions fight tough while many other teams have packed it in. For the Colts, this is now the seventh straight season with at least 10 wins. That is quite an achievement. Go Colts!
[UPDATE] This Wildcard Chart chart added from a story via shake n bake (which I combined with this post)-- bbs
| Place | Team | Record | Conf Rec |
| 1 | Colts | 10-4 | 8-2 |
| 2 | Ravens | 9-4 | 7-3 |
| 3 | Dolphins | 9-5 | 6-4 |
| 4 | Patriots | 8-5 | 5-5 |