Colts rested, ready for Denver playoff rematch

INDIANAPOLIS -- With a record 49 touchdown passes, 4,557 yards and only 10 interceptions, the annals of football history will record Peyton Manning's 2004 season as one of the greatest. Manning just hopes that's not all he is remembered for this year.\n"(The Super Bowl) is what we play for. That's what coach (Tony) Dungy has talked about from the get-go, what our goals are," Manning said. "Once you are in (the playoffs), it is anybody's ball game. All we can ask for is an opportunity."\nThat opportunity begins Sunday. The Colts, winners of the AFC South, play host to the Wild Card Denver Broncos at 1 p.m. in the RCA Dome, taking on a team Indianapolis knows well.\nSunday's game will be the third time Indianapolis (12-4) has squared off against Denver (10-6) since a 17-31 loss last season. Since that loss, Indianapolis beat the Broncos in last year's Wild Card playoff round and lost to them last week, giving Denver a place in the playoffs and the Colts an immediate chance for revenge. \nDefensive back Mike Doss said that experience might help, but there's no telling what sort of game plan the Broncos will use. \n"This will be our fourth time playing these guys in a little more than a year, so we've got to feel comfortable saying we know these guys and know what personnel they have," Doss said. "But as far as schemes, they could change up their whole game plan and come out with something different on Sunday."\nManning downplayed the significance of a rematch.\n"It doesn't matter whether we played them last week, whether we played them the first week of the season or if we hadn't played them at all," he said. "It is a different atmosphere this week. Both teams will be ready."\nBroncos quarterback Jake Plummer threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another last week, directing his team to a 33-14 win over the Colts. While the Broncos were playing for a playoff spot, the Colts had nothing to gain and rested many of their starters for much of the game, including Manning and running back Edgerrin James. Colts quarterback Jim Sorgi directed the offensive, throwing a pair of touchdowns.\nStopping Plummer will be one of the Colts' top priorities, defensive end Dwight Freeney said.\n"He's kind of a crafty type of mobile (quarterback), kind of like a Brett Favre kind of mobile," Freeney said. "He's not the fastest guy out there, but he kind of finds the holes to run in."\nDoss said the team needs to protect against Plummer's bootlegs, which allow receivers the time to find room for big catches. \n"It makes the play go longer," he said. "The average play goes three or four seconds. (If) the quarterback can scramble out there and guys get five or six seconds, eventually someone is going to find an open area."\nEven with last week's loss, history is on the Colts' side. Last year, when the two teams faced off in the first week of the playoffs, Indianapolis crushed Denver 41-10. \nEven though the Colts lost last week, Dungy said that won't set the tone for the playoffs. \n"We got some young guys some playing time and they're going to be better for it down the road," he said. "The last game we lost, we won eight straight after that. So hopefully that trend continues."\n-- Contact staff writer Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.