Published: November 30, 2009 05:37 pm         

Colts have bigger plans than AFC South title

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts reacted to the news that they had won a sixth AFC South championship in much the same manner as they play their games.

Controlled excitement.

The Colts took care of business on their end by registering yet another fourth-quarter rally en route to a 35-27 road victory over the Houston Texans, improving to 11-0 overall and 4-0 in the division. But it also took a win by San Francisco over Jacksonville in a game that didn’t start on the west coast until after the Indianapolis-Texans matchup was concluded.

In fact, Colts players and coaches didn’t find out the outcome of the 49ers-Jaguars game until they were in the final stages of their flight back to Indianapolis. It was then that they got the news they had become the first team in the league to clinch a spot in the upcoming playoffs.

Now that the first two goals on their training camp checklist have been accomplished, it’s time to concentrate on finishing the year strong by trying to lock up home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

One thing is certain, though. With a home game against a hot Tennessee Titans team coming up this week and upcoming games with Denver, Jacksonville, the New York Jets and Buffalo, the road to home-field advantage certainly doesn’t get any easier.

After getting off to an 0-6 record to begin the season, the Titans have now strung together a five-game winning streak behind quarterback Vince Young and running back Chris Johnson. But concern about Tennessee was put on hold as the Colts briefly celebrated another AFC South crown.

“We were actually in flight when we got word of the final score of the game. So we had a chance to announce it on the airplane and have a chance to go through kind of a brief celebration. It was fun,” coach Jim Caldwell recalled.

“Our team is an unusual bunch. It’s not like you’d see them jump up and down. They still know that we have a lot of work to do. Let me put it this way. There was not unmitigated pleasure on the plane. But nevertheless, they enjoyed themselves. They understand its quite an accomplishment [to clinch a division title] in the 11th week [of the regular season]. But we still have a few more things to get done.”

• To play or to sit? — It’s still a ways off yet, but the questions have already started as to whether the Colts will begin to sit players if the team can lay claim to home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. And it won’t really matter if an undefeated season is at stake or not.

In past years, former Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy opted to rest his starters late the season in an attempt to have them healthy for the postseason. While Caldwell has yet to say what he plans to do, there’s a pretty good chance that he’ll follow in his predecessor’s footsteps.

“No. 1, I’ll address that when we get there. That’s kind of how I like to approach it. But obviously we have to make considerations and we’ll do that. We’ll assess our team at that point in time and then make a determination at what suits us best. How can we best get ourselves in position to do extremely well in the postseason? Once we get there, we’ll assess that situation,” the Colts coach said.

He added that while he’s been contemplating his options, he’s just not ready to talk about any decision that may come up later.

“I’ve certainly thought about it. There aren’t too many things that I’m not going to at least look at. We’ve been through it enough times around here where we’ve given it really strong consideration. There’s been extensive dialogue. There’s been extensive thought put into it,” Caldwell said.

“It’s not like we haven’t thought about it. It’s not like we don’t have some idea what we may do. But I don’t like the hypotheticals. I don’t like spending money before I get it. So I’m going to wait and see where we are and then we’ll try to assess it from there. We take everybody in the core of authority into consideration. But also we take all of the facts into consideration as well.

“We’ll talk to our medical staff. They’ll give us an idea what’s best in terms of handling different individuals. We’ll talk to each and every assistant coach. We’ll certainly hear from [team president Bill Polian’s] standpoint, and [general manager] Chris [Polian] and [director of player personnel] Tommy [Telesco] and those guys. They’re here on a day-to-day basis. They have an opportunity to watch and to evaluate everything when we make those kind of decisions. But, ultimately, it’s my decision. That’s the way it goes. We’re going to consider every single variable that we possibly can.”

That includes the potential for an undefeated regular season.

“It’s not that important. It really isn’t because you’ve seen a lot of great records during the regular season. In this league, there’s one ultimate goal and that’s to win it all. The regular season really doesn’t matter,” the Colts coach said.

“It matters that you get into the playoffs and have an opportunity to win it all. And once you get there, you’ve got to do something with that opportunity. Going undefeated in the regular season has never been a high priority.”

• Freeney, Hayden might be back this week — Defensive end Dwight Freeney (abdomen) and cornerback Kelvin Hayden (knee) might be able to return to practice later this week.

Freeney missed last week’s workouts and did not make the trip to Houston over the weekend. Hayden, meanwhile, has been recovering from a sprained right knee that he suffered in a home game with San Francisco on Nov. 1.

“That’s a possibility [that they both may be able to practice this week],” Caldwell said. “I would not be able to tell you exactly. Kelvin did some work prior to the [Houston] game and looked good and feels good. [He] did some work last week. There’s a possibility.

“I think Dwight’s coming along. But until they have an opportunity to kind of through the next couple of days, I will not be certain.”