Published: January 11, 2006 11:40 pm         

Rested Manning ready to face Steel Curtain

INDIANAPOLIS — Peyton Manning has a rested right arm. That could spell trouble for the Pittsburgh Steelers heading into Sunday’s AFC Divisional playoff game at the RCA Dome.

Since the Indianapolis Colts rested many of its starters over the final two weeks of the regular season, plus last week’s first-round bye, the Colts quarterback should be well-rested to face what is expected to be a fired-up Steelers defense looking to atone for its performance in a 26-7 loss earlier in the season.

Manning has certainly looked fresh in practice the last two weeks, displaying a live arm and zipping the ball to a growing list of potential receivers.

“My arm feels good. I treat it almost like a pitcher, counting the number of throws I make in practice and in games,” he said Wednesday. “I try to keep my arm in good shape so it can be fresh and live in the months of December and January. People talk about ‘How are you going to be ready to play when you haven’t played?’ Well, we don’t have a choice. It’s our job to be ready to play. I believe that we will be.”

Colts Coach Tony Dungy liked what he saw of Manning during team workouts during the bye and doesn’t expect it to be much difference once the team gets into a game-week mode.

“That’s what we hoped and that was one of the reasons for resting some of our guys, to take a break from the routine of being up every single week. I think the rest did help him and I think it helped some other guys. He was pretty sharp last week,” Dungy said earlier this week.

That fact that Manning has been so sharp in practice should counter some fears that the Colts’ offense may have lost some of its timing and precision.

“It is not going to be a problem because we have been practicing together every single day of the season,” the Colts quarterback said. “To me, when you are out there in the playoff games and are executing a third-and-five, that’s when all your off-season work is supposed to kick in.

“The first week on April, [wide receiver] Marvin Harrison and I are out there on that [practice] field. When you do that, you are simulating a playoff game in January and doing the types of things that prepare you for what we’re going to face this weekend.”

Dungy thinks the Colts will be fine this week.

“You always look for that in practice like how you go about things. If the ball is not on the ground very much, that’s obviously a good thing. If were hitting our gaps properly and we don’t have to have a lot of repeats, then that’s good,” he explained.

“I know our tempo will be good. I thought last Wednesday and Thursday might have been the two best practices that we’ve had in a long time. We were 14 minutes ahead of schedule on last Thursday’s practice. We didn’t have any repeats and very good tempo, so I think we’ll be sharp that way.”



No intimidation — Dungy is hopeful that there isn’t a repeat of the pregame chatter between Steelers players, most notably outside linebacker Joey Porter, and Indianapolis players.

Porter, who has been involved in several incidents during warm-ups the past couple of seasons, had to be restrained and led to the sidelines by a game official and a member of the Pittsburgh coaching staff prior to the first meeting between the two teams this year. He was ejected prior to last year’s game at Cleveland after getting into a pre-game altercation with Browns running back William Green.

“Well, I don’t think there will be any intimidation, but obviously there is going to be high energy and high emotion,” the Colts coach said.

“We were disappointed in ourselves. That was one of the things we did poorly in the first game. We didn’t keep our emotions in check, so we’re going to have to have that energy and feed off the energy in the building but play smart and under control, and hopefully we learned from the first game.”



Simon, Diem, Freeney back — Defensive stalwarts Corey Simon (foot) and Dwight Freeney (foot/hamstring), along with offensive tackle Ryan Diem (knee) went through Wednesday’s practice will no apparent problems. All three are expected to be in the Colts’ starting lineup Sunday.

Also going through a full workout were wide receivers Marvin Harrison (hand) and Brandon Stokley (knee), tight end Bryan Fletcher (groin), safeties Bob Sanders (back) and Dexter Reid (ankle), defensive tackles Montae Reagor (knee) and Darrell Reid (shoulder), defensive ends Josh Thomas (shoulder) and Robert Mathis (foot), outside linebacker Cato June (knee/ankle/sports hernia), and quarterback Jim Sorgi (thumb).

Tight end Ben Utecht, meanwhile, missed practice after developing flu-like symptoms and cornerback Kelvin Hayden left practice early with a sprained ankle. Utecht and Hayden should both be able to play against the Steelers.



Morgan out, Harrison doubtful for Pittsburgh — Steelers wide receiver-kick returner Quincy Morgan has been placed on injured reserve after suffering a broken tibia in last week’s wild-card win over Cincinnati.

Outside linebacker James Harrison (ankle) is listed as doubtful. Running back Jerome Bettis (hamstring), outside linebacker Clark Haggans (toe), defensive end Travis Kirschke (groin), outside linebacker Joey Porter (hand), quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (thumb) and defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen (knee) should play.

n Don’t sell to the Steelers — Indianapolis officials are urging season ticket holders who can’t be at Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff game with Pittsburgh to sell their tickets to another Colts fan.

The team doesn’t want a reoccurrence of what happened when Indianapolis played host to Tennessee in a 1999 post-season meeting. Many Colts fans ended up selling their tickets to Titans fans, making for a somewhat embarrassing site of the RCA Dome very nearly turning into a home game for the visiting team.