Colts' Harrison ready to join elite 1,000-catch club

INDIANAPOLIS -- Marvin Harrison's mission statement has not changed: The next play matters more than the last one and the next cut carries more weight than some gaudy numbers.\nIn Harrison's world, it's just business.\n"I don't think you need to raise a lot of chaos," he said. "If you're doing your job on the 10th floor of a building downtown, you don't want to do that stuff, so why do it here?"\nHarrison's old-school approach, where personal accomplishments take a back seat to winning and professionalism, have helped him string together 11 remarkable NFL seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and put him on the brink of joining the NFL's exclusive 1,000-catch club.\nHe needs five catches at Jacksonville to join Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Cris Carter as the only four members.\nIt would be easy for Harrison to point out some of his other milestones like the single-season record for receptions (143) that he shattered in 2002, being part of the most productive quarterback-receiver tandem ever or the fact he's nearing 1,000 at a faster rate than anyone else.\nBut why bother when the seven-time Pro Bowler's numbers speak for themselves.\n"It's something that stands out, a tremendous amount," Harrison said, acknowledging this mark means more. "I remember when Tim Brown and Cris Carter caught theirs. It's something you don't come into your career thinking about. But it is something special."\nSome suggest that if Harrison had not been paired with two-time MVP Peyton Manning early in his career or given the advantage of playing in a wide-open offense, he might never have achieved so much so fast.\nThe truth is, if Syracuse Universityhad not offered him a football scholarship, Harrison might not have even pursued an NFL career.\nDallas coach Bill Parcells recently recounted a story Harrison told him prior to the 1996 draft in which Harrison said he anticipated being a college basketball player in his native Philadelphia after playing only one year of high school football.\nParcells, then with the New England Patriots, said he was so impressed by Harrison's ability to adapt he nearly took him in the first round.\n"He told me he thought he would be a Big Five basketball player," Parcells said. "But Syracuse offered him and he went on from there. So I've always looked with admiration on how he's developed into one of the very, very best receivers in football, and I think it takes a special kind of person to do that."\nWhile most receivers are branded as either deep threats or possession receivers, Harrison has proven he's a complete receiver -- as dangerous on long patters as he is over the middle, toe-tapping or making one-handed diving grabs.\nPerhaps most impressive is that at 34, Harrison shows no signs of slowing down.\nHe caught seven passes for a season-high 172 yards last week at Tennessee, pushing his season totals to 68 catches, 993 yards and six touchdowns. He's now on pace for his eighth consecutive season with at least 80 catches and 1,000 yards.\nYes, Harrison acknowledges that continuity over the past nine years has helped, but it's his work ethic that impresses teammates most.\nHe rarely takes plays off, even in practice. In a league that relies increasingly on technology, Harrison uses his precious hours refining moves rather than watching film or worrying about who covers him.\n"I remember one game where we came out in a certain formation because we wanted to see how they would defend it," Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said. "After the first series, Peyton came over and was asking, 'Who has you? Who has you?' Marvin didn't know because he makes all his adjustments on the play."\nTeammates believe Harrison's skills became more dangerous when he discovered the ability to make every route look the same. Then there are the uncanny hands that have produced more memorable moments in practice than in games.\n"You see that at practice all the time, whenever the ball is in his vicinity," cornerback Nick Harper said after Harrison's diving TD catch at New England. "The way he's able to set up a corner, you just don't get that from everybody."\nBut Harrison offers a simpler explanation for success: Work.\nHe ranks sixth on the NFL's career list for yards receiving (13,324), third in touchdowns receiving (116) -- and he's not about to stop pushing himself.