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Colts march on despite losing Harrison

Colts march on despite losing Harrison

By Dan Ralph

There aren’t many offences in the NFL that can lose their leading receiver and still not skip a beat.

Then again, there aren’t many offences in the NFL like that of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Colts lost Harrison to a knee injury Sunday in the first half of their 38-20 win over the Denver Broncos, which improved Indianapolis’s record to 4-0. Harrison was hurt while blocking on a running play and left the contest having registered just one reception for eight yards.

If the injury is serious enough for Harrison to miss Sunday’s game versus Tampa Bay (or longer), his loss would certainly be a big one for the Colts. The six-foot, 185-pound receiver has been one of the NFL’s best for the last decade. The former Syracuse star came into this season with 1,038 career catches for 13,920 yards and 123 touchdowns.

He amassed 100 or more receptions for four straight years (‘99 to 2002), including an amazing total of 143 catches in 2002.

And heading into Sunday's game, Harrison had 16 catches for 229 yards and a touchdown.

However, if there’s a team that could cope with the loss of a receiver of Harrison's quality, it’s the Colts.

The most important player on Indianapolis’s offence, of course, is quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning was a workmanlike 20-of-27 passing for 193 yards but also threw three touchdown passes and scored another himself as the Colts not only won their 12th straight September game but improved to 18-2 in the month under coach Tony Dungy.

What’s more, the Colts have won 22 of their last 23 home games.

If there was an All-World designation in the NFL, Manning would have it. He’s the best quarterback in the NFL today and holds league records for most TD passes in a season (49, in 2004) and most consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons (six) and most 4,000-yard passing seasons in a career (seven, and counting).

Twice Manning has been named the NFL’s MVP (2003-’04) and he's a seven-time Pro Bowl pick. And last year, he was named the MVP of the Colts’ Super Bowl victory over Chicago. He has started every game of his NFL career (145), the longest streak by a quarterback starting his career.

And then there’s the Colts’ receiving corps.

While there’s no denying Harrison’s greatness, the Colts also have a stellar receiver in Reggie Wayne. On most other teams, Wayne would be the No. 1 pass catcher, but he settles for being 1A in Indianapolis.

The former Miami Hurricane has accumulated 1,000 or more receiving yards and 26 touchdowns the last three years. He’s coming off a stellar 2006 campaign that saw him register 86 catches for 1,310 yards and nine touchdowns, which was good enough to capture his first Pro Bowl selection.

Wayne had five catches for 38 yards versus Denver, but his touchdown grab was the 40th of his career with the Colts, which made him the 40th player in club history to reach that plateau.

And who could forget Wayne’s 53-yard TD catch in the first quarter of the Colts’ Super Bowl victory over the Bears?

There’s also the always dependable tight end Dallas Clark, who had a team-high six catches against Denver for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Not bad for a player who coming into the game had 13 catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns.

What’s more, the Colts improved to 13-3 when Clark grabs a touchdown pass.

And let’s not forget about rookie Anthony Gonzalez. The Colts are so deep at receiver that they can afford to bring their 2007 first-round draft pick out of Ohio State very, very slowly. He had just one catch for 19 yards against Denver and came into the contest with five receptions for 88 yards but there are high hopes in Indy for six-foot, 193-pound former Buckeye.

Not to be lost in the shuffle, though, is sophomore running back Joseph Addai. The former LSU Tiger rushed for 136 yards and a TD against Denver, the fifth straight game he has scored in. Addai left the game in the fourth quarter to a bruised shoulder, but the injury certainly didn’t look serious as Addai could be seen smiling on the sidelines shortly afterwards.

However, should Addai be unable to go, former CFL star Kenton Keith showed Sunday he’s a more than capable backup. Keith, a former 1,000-yard rusher with the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders, ran for 80 yards on 10 carries against Denver once Addai was forced out.

But it was Addai who got things going early for the Colts, touching the ball on 13 of the club’s first 17 offensive plays, including a touchdown run of 14 yards. Through four games this season, Addai has run for 406 yards on 84 carries with five touchdowns.

And there’s no denying Addai’s athletic ability.

Last week against Houston, Addai looked more like an acrobat than a running back when he soared high into the air to score on a four-yard TD run in the Colts’ 30-24 victory over the Texans.

The five-foot-11, 214-pound Addai is quickly showing he‘s certainly not a one-year wonder, coming off a rookie campaign that saw him rush for 1,068 yards.

So, even if Harrison (and Addai, for that matter) are unable to play Sunday, Colts fans need not worry about the state of the club‘s high-powered offence. It’s certainly in good hands.