30-year old TE Dallas Clark is having by far his best year in his NFL career.  Clark has caught 82 passes for 902 yards (11.0 avg) with 8 TD grabs.  He will be adding to career highs in both catches and yards receiving the remainder of this season.  He did catch 11 TD passes in 2007 so he has some work to do if he’s going to set a new career high there.  With Anthony Gonzalez missing the whole year and Marvin Harrison not around anymore the Colts needed someone to step up and Clark answered the call.

31-year old WR Reggie Wayne is showing no signs of slowing down and that’s great news for the Colts.  Wayne has played in 13 games for the Colts this season and he has caught 87 passes for 1,078 yards (12.4 avg) with 9 TD grabs.  He has now played in 138 games in his nine years with the Colts and he has caught 663 passes for 9,207 yards (13.9 avg) with 62 TD grabs.  If Wayne can play at least three or four more years at a high level he will no doubt be joining Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison in the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Head Coach Jim Caldwell will follow in Tony Dungy’s footsteps by allowing his dinged up players to get some rest over the next three weeks.  That means that the Colts might trip up and lose a game or two the rest of the year.  Peyton Manning will start all three of the games left but he might only play in the first half as the Colts really don’t have anything to play for except a 16-0 record.  That does not seem to be too important to them however as winning the Super Bowl is their goal.  The positive of resting the players is twofold for the Colts as they keep the team healthy and it gives some of the younger players the time needed to show what they can do.  It should be a interesting last three weeks against the Jaguars, Jets and Bills.

The Indianapolis Colts blew an early 21-0 lead against the Denver Broncos, but they held on for the win to stay undefeated.  It was the Colts 22nd straight regular season win, a new NFL record.  It was also their 114th win of the decade which is the most of any decade.  This all came despite Peyton Manning having his worst game of the season, with a season high 3 interceptions and a season low of 220 passing yards.  He started the day off great, leading the Colts to three touchdowns on their first four possessions.  Manning’s hot hand went very cold after that though, as balls were bouncing all over the place and he threw three interceptions before finding the endzone again late in the 4th quarter to seal the victory.  Peyton did get some solid support from his running backs, with Joseph Addai and Mike Hart combining for 95 yards on 25 carries.

The Colts defense played pretty well, except when it came to covering Broncos’ receiver Brandon Marshall.  Marshall killed the Colts for a record breaking 21 catches for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Marshall broke the single game reception mark previously held by Terrell Owens.  The Colts were able to pick off Broncos’ quarterback Kyle Orton once, but Marshall helped him finish with 2 touchdowns and 277 yards (2nd highest of his season).  The Colts defense did do a good job considering their offense turned the ball over three times.  With only the Jaguars, Jets, and Bills left on their schedule, the Colts look like they just might get that undefeated regular season.

The Indianapolis Colts (12-0) have clinched their division, but they are still one win away from clinching home-field advantage.  They will be looking for that win against the Denver Broncos (8-4) on Sunday.  Unlike the Colts, the Broncos have a great running game lead by Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter.  The Broncos use both running backs a lot, and the two combined for nearly 200 yards last week.  The Colts have been hold teams to 112 rushing yards per game, so if they can keep the Broncos around that average they will be in good shape.  Their quarterback Kyle Orton has proven he can win games in this league, but he still isn’t a very impressive quarterback.  If the Colts offense can build an early lead, it will force Orton to throw more which will likely lead to some turnovers.

Peyton Manning and the Colts’ offense will have a little bit of a challenge on their hands against this Broncos defense.  They can stop both the pass and the run.  They are holding teams to an impressive 180 passing yards per game, over 120 yards less than what the Colts average.  I think Manning and the passing game will be able to have the kind of success they have had all year, but Peyton needs to be careful and not throw any interceptions.  The running game is still not great, both Joseph Addai has been showing some good things lately so if the Colts can get anything out of the running game they should win with ease.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Indianapolis Colts 31, Denver Broncos 21