Extra week plays into hands of Colts, prep-sensation Manning

INDIANAPOLIS -- Peyton Manning figures it's a good thing there's a bye week before this year's Super Bowl.

As he sees it, the Indianapolis Colts need it. Very much.

Manning, the Colts' 10-time Pro Bowl quarterback and a player who took another confident, memorable step toward Canton four days ago, said it's not that he's still recovering mentally from last weekend. While he said the Colts' victory over the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game indeed was mentally draining, he said he recovered within a night's time.

Now, he says, the Colts have another problem:

The New Orleans Saints.

Because while the Jets were a familiar opponent for the Colts, the Saints are not, and to Manning, that means the coming days are all the more important.

"It is in some ways a benefit to have two weeks to prepare," said Manning this week as the AFC champion Colts (16-2) began preparing to play the NFC champion Saints (15-3) in Super Bowl XLIV.

"You have a lot of film to watch. One thing about playing the Jets last week was we had just played them [in late December]. In a sense we had already had some time to prepare for them. To get ready for a team like the Saints that shows you multiple looks, the extra time to prepare is a benefit."

That's what the week has been about for the Colts, AFC champions for a second time in four seasons:

Preparation, preparation, preparation.

That has meant more than just on the field, although that is a priority. The Colts spent the early part of the week planning, with an organizational meeting Tuesday to address logistics such as tickets, and accommodations and travel for players and family.

Peyton Manning: 'It is in some ways a benefit to have two weeks to prepare.' (Getty Images)

The idea for the week was simple: To get as much of the game plan installed this week as possible, leaving only what Colts coach Jim Caldwell called "polishing" remaining when the team arrives in Miami on Monday.

Preparation, preparation, preparation.

"Our week [this week] won't change, in terms of our practices," Caldwell said. "How we go about it won't change that much. Like many things, I really think the mental is to the physical, 10-1. So, I think it's a mindset and that more so than anything else, even how you describe things has an effect on your temperament, your intensity and your preparation.

"We also add a little emphasis in there as well and try to get them to understand how important this week is, in terms of preparation, because next week things get a little crazier. Once we're away from this environment, we don't have quite the focus and concentration that we'd like to have for an extended period of time. "We can have it in spurts, but here we have it for an extended period of time. We want to take advantage of it."

Caldwell added that the challenge of playing New Orleans -- the NFL's top-ranked offense and a defense that can play aggressively when it gets the lead -- makes concentrating through the inevitable distractions critical to success a week from Sunday.

"That's a difficult task," Caldwell said. "That's certainly one of our major concerns, but we do feel that we have a group that has shown that they do have the ability to focus, that they do have the ability to concentrate. So, we anticipate that we will have just minor interruptions in that regard."

But while the goal is to be as prepared as possible before leaving for Miami, Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne -- one of more than 20 players remaining from the Colts' Super Bowl XLI champions -- said the reality is that will be difficult. Not that the Colts can't install a game plan, but that it's not in Manning's nature to wrap preparations so early, distracting week or not.

While Manning values the extra time, Wayne -- tongue very much in cheek -- provided some insight into why the Colts are in the Super Bowl and why they have been one of the league's elite teams for nearly a decade when he said he's not so sure more time is good for everyone.

"An extra weekend is not good," Wayne said with a smile. "If we were going into this game saying we were going to get our game plan done this week and not add anything else after, [it] wouldn't be possible. I can guarantee you we'll come in on Sunday and we'll have an addition to our game plan. This is the way he [Manning] is; that's the way he works. Whenever he has extra time to think about something, to get more film in, the more that starts to work.

"You just have to be ready for it. It's been that way for nine years for me. It's never finalized, I guess you can say. There's always something that can be added, and you just have to be ready for it."

Preparation, preparation, preparation.