Week 7: Indianapolis at Jacksonville

Although Sunday Night Football is really supposed to be the NFL’s showcase game now, you won’t get a better game than this one this week. Jacksonville has just the sort of squad that could end Indianapolis’s winning streak (at 10 games now, including last year’s playoffs). But the Colts have Peyton Manning, which often is enough.

It was only 10 months ago that Jacksonville utterly shredded the Colts’ run defense for 375 rushing yards in a 44-17 rout of the eventual Super Bowl champs. At that time, it appeared the Colts wouldn’t be able to stop the run well enough to win a championship. But times changed in the playoffs and Indy has started off this year respectably against the run, too. That’s an underrated reason why the Colts are 5-0 – it’s not just all offense by any means.

Now comes a big run-defense challenge for the Colts. Jacksonville scorched Houston for 244 rushing yards last week in the Jags’ fourth straight win. QB David Garrard is a threat to take off himself, but the 1-2 punch of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew does most of the damage.

Jones-Drew had 260 total yards last week against Houston as the Jaguars streaked to a 37-17 victory. Jacksonville is very healthy compared to most teams in the NFL and coach Jack Del Rio says this edition of the Jaguars ranks as the best team he’s coached. This is probably the biggest home game of Del Rio’s five-year tenure in Jacksonville. The Jaguars will try to possess the ball at least 35 minutes in this game, and to do that they need a lot of long drives and rushing first downs vs. the Colts.

The Colts, though, are running the ball very well, too. RBs Joseph Addai and Kenton Keith have each had nice starts, and Manning has only been sacked three times as the underrated Colts’ offensive line continues to keep players off its star.

If Indianapolis wins, it will join Green Bay (1929-31) and St. Louis (1999-2001) as the only teams to start at least 6-0 for three consecutive years. The Colts are also very healthy for this one – they are coming off a bye week – and that usually spells trouble for the opponent. Until proven otherwise, we’re going with Manning.

Indianapolis by 4