Colts already looking to next season

KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- Peyton Manning is still answering questions about his perceived inability to win the big one.\nEdgerrin James is talking about the possibility of playing elsewhere.\nAnd several of their teammates in Hawaii for Sunday's Pro Bowl say they can't wait until next year, an often-used refrain with this bunch.\nThe Colts were the NFL's glamour team for most of the 2005 season. That is, until their first playoff game, that is -- a 21-18 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Steelers.\n"I am over it, but it still bothers me," Colts center Jeff Saturday admitted Wednesday. "You've got to let it go, give Pittsburgh a lot of credit for what they did. We hope to do it next year."\nSpeaking of next year, the Colts have already been installed as 4-1 favorites to win the Super Bowl by one oddsmaker.\n"Really, no thoughts," said offensive tackle Tarik Glenn after an audible groan. "I'm here to enjoy this game. Thank God I was able to play in the Pro Bowl and let some of that anger out."\nThe Colts won their first 13 games of the season, sending shivers through the 1972 Miami Dolphins -- the only unbeaten team in NFL history.\nThen came a 26-17 loss to San Diego on Dec. 18, ending the Colts' quest for a perfect season but allowing them to begin postseason preparations four weeks before their first playoff game since they already had home-field advantage.\nMany thought that would make the difference, since the speedy Colts got to play at home and indoors after losing playoff games in cold environments like New England in recent years.\nBut then came tragedy. Four days after the loss to San Diego, Colts coach Tony Dungy's 18-year-old son, James, was found dead of an apparent suicide.\n"There's nothing to prepare you for what he and his family went through," Manning said. "That's where you separate football and life."\nThere's no way to know if that had any impact on the team, which rested most of its regulars in the last two regular-season games and then had a week off before falling behind quickly and being eliminated from the Super Bowl chase by the underdog Steelers.\nA lot of attention was focused on one comment Manning made after the playoff loss -- that there were protection problems on the line.\nHe was sacked five times by the Steelers.