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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Big Game Hunters

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After an up and down season, mostly up over the past seven contests, here is where it gets interesting for the Indianapolis Colts.

Winners of seven straight after a disappointing 3-4 start, the 10-4 Colts remain in control of their postseason fate with two games remaining. The team achieved a seventh consecutive season with at least 10 victories after surviving their week 15 contest over a still winless Detroit Lions team in a 31-21 showdown.

The victory placed the Colts a single victory away from securing a wild card berth.

But therein lies the rub.

For the Colts, these final contests of the regular season are against foes they know and that know them well. The Colts return to action in a short week this Thursday to face a Jacksonville Jaguars team with a mission to keep the Colts from getting the postseason nod on their watch.

Though the Jags have been eliminated from postseason contention, Head Coach Tony Dungy fully expects this weekā€™s contest to be a knock-down drag-out brawl.

ā€œItā€™s a team that beat us here,ā€ Dungy said. ā€œI know they would like to keep us out, so we have our work cut out for us.ā€

Should the Coltsā€™ winning streak be broken this Thursday, the teamā€™s regular season finale will be that much more important, and most likely tougher. The Colts return home in week 17 to face the AFC South Champion Tennessee Titans in a contest that may mean their season.

While the Colts are in unfamiliar territory as of recent years, struggling for playoff position this late in the season, the fact the team has returned to winning in a big way has restored a familiar swagger.

ā€œThey were writing us out with a 3-4 record, then we came back to win seven straight,ā€ said linebacker Clint Session, who has shouldered a larger load with Gary Brackett, Bob Sanders and other defensive starters out for the past several games. ā€œItā€™s hard to win seven games in the NFL, especially seven straight. We give a lot of credit to ourselves for that, but weā€™ve got a task at hand, weā€™re trying to go to that big show and anyone in our way, weā€™re trying to eliminate them.ā€

Added tight end Dallas Clark, who had his best performance of the season on Sunday, the Colts position is a credit to those inside the locker room that maintained the season was far from over despite the teamā€™s uncharacteristic start.

ā€œEveryone has stepped up and become more consistent and I think our last games have shown that,ā€ Clark said. ā€œThis is the time of year you want to start peaking and hitting full stride. I think weā€™ve learned a lot early in the year with injuries and losing games that we donā€™t normally lose or the way we were losing, I think weā€™ve improved a lot.ā€

For a team that has proven its competitive mettle this season, the road will only get tougher from here on out. And how the Colts close may very well determine whether that ultimate goal of a Super Bowl return is within their grasp.

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