Published: November 28, 2009 10:21 pm         

Colts focused on ‘one game at a time’

Indianapolis not paying attention to 10-0 record

Indianapolis — Don’t bother talking to the Indianapolis Colts — coaches or players — about the team’s 10-0 record.

The same goes for the Colts’ chances of annexing a sixth AFC South title if all goes right (an Indianapolis win over the Houston Texans and Jacksonville losing to San Francisco). Or, for that matter, an opportunity for Indianapolis to run the table and have a perfect regular-season.

You can ask. But the responses will all be pretty much the same — “One game at a time. That’s where our focus lies.”

That mantra has been drilled into the Colts’ psyche, first by former head coaches Jim Mora and Tony Dungy and now by current coach Jim Caldwell. Indianapolis’ veteran players then enforce the edict with the rookies and newcomers.

“Coach Dungy said it when he first got here. Coach Mora had done a great job in setting a tone with the players, what to expect and how to play the game from a focus standpoint,” Caldwell said recently.

“That was something that [Dungy] didn’t have to address when he got here. Tony was able to hit the ground running with a veteran team that already knew how to approach each game. That was very beneficial in what he was able to accomplish with this team in the years that he was here.”

One constant in the transition from Mora to Dungy in that regard was the high standards that were set by quarterback Peyton Manning. He sets the tone for the rest of the team. And they have responded to the message.

Even now, with an unblemished record, Manning easily deflects questions mindset when it comes to queries about the team’s 10-0 record.

“I guess we really haven’t taken much time to reflect on that. I think even our young guys realize how hard it is to win. They watch other teams win. They watch[ed] the Tennessee-Houston game [last Monday]. That game could have gone either way. Tennessee pulls away with it. They’ve seen how close our last two games are, and how we’ve had close wins. Were we fortunate to win? I don’t know. That’s up for opinion. But we ended up getting the win,” he said late last week.

“I think our guys, because of the kind of games we’ve had, have realized that it is tough to win in this league, and you never take winning for granted. It’s been a good start. I think our last four games, we’ve had to come back in the fourth quarter at some point in all four of them. So, that’s a lot of the way its been this season. That’s kind of the games that you anticipate having a lot of, especially when you get into late November and December.”

How about the possibility of clinching the division this week?

“I guess I’m just not ready at this point to start thinking about that. Obviously, here we are in whatever week we are in and it’s all about Houston. I don’t think anybody in the locker room is thinking about that. We’re just thinking about trying to beat Houston. We’ll deal with all the other stuff if and when it happens,” Manning responded.

Caldwell understands the responses. He embraces them. His haven’t been all that much different than his starting quarterbacks.

“There a sign hanging in our locker room. It’s hanging over the door when you exit to go out to the practice field in the back. It’s a quote from [Penn State coach] Joe Paterno that he used to always use and I’m certainly a big believer in. It says ‘Take care of the little things and the little things will take care of themselves.’ What I talk to the team about are the things that put us in the position to win,” he explained.

“I don’t talk about necessarily what’s going to happen after we win. We try not to get ahead of ourselves. We figure if we prepare like we’ve been preparing and focus in on getting better, and we prepare to win, those other things will take care of themselves. We’ll talk about those when it’s over with.”