The Colts And The Playoffs

Well, they halfway lucked into it and halfway played into it.

The Indianapolis Colts, my hometown team, will play the New York Jets Saturday night in the first round of the NFL's playoffs to see who goes to the Super Bowl.

They backed into the playoffs when the Jacksonville Jaguars, their biggest divisional rival, lost 34-17 to the Houston Texans. They played into it by defeating the Tennessee Titans 23-20 on an Adam Vinatieri field goal with no time left on the game clock.

I'm a little surprised that the Colts made the playoffs. They had suffered a boatload of injuries during the season; 17 players were on the injured reserve list.

And back on December 5, they stood 6-6 after a 38-35 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

But they won four straight, including a 34-24 victory over the Jaguars. It was needed because the Jaguars beat them 31-28 earlier in the season. They also had two wins over the Titans.

As for Saturday night's game, I won't be surprised if the Jets win. They have the better team this season. Also, the Colts won -- as well as lost -- a lot of close games this year.

But I also won't be surprised if the Colts win it. Peyton Manning can pull something or anything out of his pocket to make sure of a victory.

But if they do win, they must go to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers on Jan. 15.

At the least, the Colts made it into the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants both had 10-6 records -- the same as the Colts, by the way -- but won't be in the playoffs because the Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West title -- with a 7-9 record. And division winners, no matter how bad they are, get into the playoffs.