Indianapolis' high-powered offense meets Broncos' stingy defense

DENVER -- A blizzard covered the Mile High City during the week, so maybe it's not too early in the NFL season to start talking about really significant games.\nIndianapolis at Denver is about as colossal as an October game can get.\n"I love a game like this because it doesn't get any bigger," Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker said. "It reminds me of back in college with Florida State getting ready for Florida or Miami. It's a big game. It's going to be magnified. People are talking about it."\nDespite some flaws on one side or the other, the Colts (6-0) and Broncos (5-1) are so good at what they do they're harkening to the league's formative days of leather helmets and two-way players.\nThe Colts can become the first team to start 7-0 in consecutive seasons since the 1929-31 Green Bay Packers, who did it three straight years. No one else has done it twice.\nThe Broncos have already made history, becoming the stingiest team to start a season since the 1934 Detroit Lions shut out their first seven opponents.\nDenver has allowed just two oh-by-the-way touchdowns this season, both in the fourth quarter after they had built 17-0 leads on New England and Cleveland. They've held their last five opponents to single digits, a franchise best.\nBroncos quarterback Jake Plummer, the biggest beneficiary of Denver's stifling defense, which has taken some heat off his season-long poor play, said this one feels like a playoff game.\n"Any time you have an undefeated team coming to your place and we're 5-1, it's a big game," Plummer said. "(Winning it) sends a statement. It doesn't mean you're going to win the Super Bowl by any means, but it just sends a statement to everybody that you can beat the good ones, too."\nThe Colts average 28 points; the Broncos allow just seven a game.\n"We believe we can score on anybody, and I'm sure they like to believe they can stop anyone," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "Everybody's going to focus on that matchup, but special teams, our defense against their offense is going to be just as critical."\nWhat everyone really wants to see, however, is Indy's prolific offense going against Denver's dominant defense. Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark versus Al Wilson, Champ Bailey, Darrent Williams, John Lynch and Ian Gold.\n"They are just playing excellent fundamental defense right now," said Manning, who spends most of his waking hours dissecting defenses and has found few flaws to exploit in this one. "Their tackling is exceptional. That's one thing that just jumps out at you."\nIn many ways, the Broncos have the Colts to thank for their defensive dominance, the seeds of which were planted following the 2003 and '04 postseasons when Indianapolis spanked the Broncos by a combined 56-point margin.\nAfter Indy's 41-10 whipping following the 2003 seasons, the Broncos traded running back Clinton Portis to Washington for Bailey and signed Lynch in free agency.\nFollowing their 49-24 loss to the Colts in the playoffs the following year, the Broncos brought back Gold, their speedy linebacker who was on injured reserve for the first Indy debacle and in Tampa Bay for the second.\nThen they used their top three draft picks on cornerbacks Williams, Karl Paymah and Domonique Foxworth.\n"We play hard together, and everybody's accountable," Denver defensive coordinator Larry Coyer said. "And we've got some skill. You'd be stupid not to say that."\nThe Colts? Well, they're the same high-scoring bunch that's been tearing up the AFC for years.\n"They are the best at what they do," Coyer said.\nThat's pretty much what many are saying about Coyer's crew, too.