Quarterback Peyton Manning led the Indianapolis Colts out of the tunnel and onto the field for pregame warm-ups on Saturday and the Seattle fans broke out in boos, lending a welcome air of normalcy to what had been a nightmarish few days for the Colts, the NFL frontrunners.
"It's a road game so that's what you kind of expect," wide receiver Troy Walters said. "It kind of got us focused, like we've got to get ready to go."
The temperature was a comfortable 14?C, but the Colts could have been forgiven for feeling numb. They were trying to rebound from their first defeat of the season and come to grips with a terrible personal loss.
PHOTO: AFP
The game against the Seahawks, the leaders of the National Football Conference, had been billed as a possible preview of Super Bowl XL. Not since 1977, when the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys met in a regular-season finale, had the top teams from each conference squared off this close to the playoffs.
The game had two Pro Bowl quarterbacks in Manning and Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck; two Pro Bowl running backs in the Colts' Edgerrin James and the Seahawks' Shaun Alexander; and two teams with a combined 25 victories coming into the day. But there was one person missing and his absence changed the tenor of the game.
The Colts, with the quarterbacks coach, Jim Caldwell, filling Dungy's headset, carried on as best they could, but they could not keep up with the Seahawks, who won, 28-13.
"Not having coach Dungy on the sideline was definitely different," said Walters, who caught a 6-yard pass late in the fourth quarter for the Colts' lone touchdown. "Coach Caldwell did a great job, though. But it was kind of surreal, everything that's gone on the last few days."
Hasselbeck completed 17 of 21 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. Alexander ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns and caught one of Hasselbeck's scoring passes as the Seahawks secured home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs and established a franchise record for victories. Alexander's three touchdowns brought his season total to 27, tying the NFL record set by Kansas City's Priest Holmes in 2003.
Manning played the first two series and drove the Colts inside the Seahawks' 20 each time. The Colts are the league's most prolific offense, averaging 29.2 points, but on this day the offense coughed and sputtered.
On their first possession, the Colts held the ball for more than seven minutes and had a first-and-goal at the 5, but they had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Mike Vanderjagt.
To beat the streaking Seahawks (13-2), who have won 11 consecutive games, a sharp focus is usually required, and the Colts (13-2) were unable to sustain one. They had a lapse in concentration on their first kickoff and Josh Scobey scampered 46 yards, to the Colts' 46. Five plays later, Alexander scored on a 2-yard run.
On a third-and-4 at the Seattle 13 on the Colts' second drive, Manning threw a pinpoint pass to Reggie Wayne, who had a step on his defender and a clear line to the end zone, but the ball slipped through Wayne's fingers.
Vanderjagt trotted on to try a 31-yard field goal. He had converted 16 consecutive field goals and had missed only one all season. But his attempt was blocked by Seahawks safety Michael Boulware.
Hasselbeck drove the Seahawks 83 yards in 11 plays, capping the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jerramy Stevens to extend Seattle's lead to 14-3 with 11 minutes 52 seconds left in the second quarter.
Vanderjagt added a 32-yard field goal in the final minute of the half after Jim Sorgi, Manning's backup, drove the Colts 45 yards in nine plays. Sorgi was playing because the Colts, having clinched home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, could afford to rest their star players, including James, who was done after rushing for 41 yards on 13 carries in the first half.
On the Seattle sideline, receiver Joe Jurevicius could relate to what the Dungys and the Colts were going through. He played for the Buccaneers during their run to the 2003 Super Bowl title as his newborn son lay in intensive care with a genetic disorder. The child died 10 weeks after the Super Bowl.
"I can say that I know what coach Dungy is going through," Jurevicius said. "That's no easy thing."
The outcome was more consequential for the Seahawks, but to frame the game as unimportant to the Colts would be wrong.
Meaningless games are like inconsequential days. There are none. If there is any insight to be gleaned from James Dungy's death, it is that next week is a gift, not a guarantee.
The Colts only had to look at the "JD" emblem on the back of their helmets to be reminded of how quickly a magical season can disappear.
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