Controversy still raging, Jets-Colts II different story

INDIANAPOLIS -- This is the Indianapolis Colts story -- and the debate -- that won't go away. Maybe not ever, but at least not until early Sunday evening.

If Peyton Manning doubted that was true, he needed a few seconds Wednesday while meeting with the media in preparation for Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets to shed any uncertainty.

First question: Do you think you'll play the whole game?

Manning, an era-defining quarterback, is potentially a few weeks from a career-defining moment. He therefore is quite understandably in a serious mood this week. Still, for the briefest of moments, he smiled at the question.

"I do, yeah," he said, nodding.

Think there's no such thing as fate in the NFL playoffs? Think again.

The Colts beat the Ravens in the divisional round Saturday 20-3 with a dominant performance that had people for a change not talking about their decision to pull starters in a December loss to the Jets, a decision that perhaps prevented Indy from becoming the second team in NFL history to finish a regular season 16-0.

For a few hours, the talk around the Colts was not of history spurned, but instead again about the Colts being good -- really good, Super Bowl-favorite good.

The following afternoon, the Jets beat the San Diego Chargers.

That means it is the Jets who will play the Colts in the AFC Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday. And that means that a week around the Colts that might have featured talk about matchups, an improving defense and attainable history instead focused again upon a topic the Colts already have discussed much more than they might have liked:

Peyton Manning sat out the second half in the loss to Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets in Week 16. (US Presswire)

As in, what would have happened had the Colts not pulled Manning, wide receiver Reggie Wayne and tight end Dallas Clark in late December with a 15-10 lead with 5:36 remaining in the third quarter?

Would the Jets still have won?

Or would the Colts be 17-0? Would history be at hand?

Would the Jets even be in the playoffs?

"I don't know," Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne said. "Who knows? We will never know what the outcome of that game would be. One thing we do know is that we have this game here, and we are definitely playing a full game. So will they."

That has been a major theme around the Colts this week -- that there is little meaningful to be drawn from the December game, even if it seems the Jets have grown more brash and confident in the wake not only of that victory, but the three that ensued.

Jets coach Rex Ryan, as he has done throughout the season, has defined that brashness and confidence this week, not only saying that he would "shocked" if the Jets aren't playing in the Super Bowl, but saying correctly that there is no guarantee the Colts would have won in December had they not pulled Manning, Wayne and Clark.

Ryan added there's no guarantee the Colts would have won even if defensive end Dwight Freeney hadn't played sparingly and even if Colts defensive end Robert Mathis, cornerback Jerraud Powers, linebacker Clint Session, wide receiver Pierre Garcon and left tackle Charlie Johnson -- hadn't missed the game with injuries.

If the Colts are correct to draw more than a bit of confidence from having a full lineup as opposed to a shell of one, Freeney, too, said the events of that day -- and the many interpretations of them -- will mean little come Sunday.

"They kind of understand, I would think, that the game would have been a little bit different," Freeney said. "I'm not saying we would have won or anything like that, but what I'm saying to you is the game would have been a little bit different. It wouldn't have been 27 to whatever it was. But Week 16 was in Week 16. This is the AFC Championship Game.

"If they want to use whatever happened in Week 16 to motivate them, so be it. For us, it's the AFC Championship Game now. One more game until the Super Bowl, and they are in our way, so we have to try to get something done."

As for the brashness of Ryan and the Jets, Freeney said, "They have to do what they have to do. I would be surprised if he didn't say, 'I would be shocked if we didn't win.' The AFC Championship Game kind of speaks for itself. It doesn't add any more fuel to it. "It's kind of already what it is -- one more game until the Super Bowl."

Winning that one more game Sunday against a team the Colts seemed fated to play may not make the story go away. Even winning the Super Bowl might not accomplish the trick, but it would make listening to the debate over what might have been a whole lot easier.