Manning still The Man

There's nothing like two game-winning drives for the price of one. Whether you love the Colts, like the Colts, tolerate the Colts or even despise the Colts (you Bears fans know who you are), you have to appreciate the clutch play of Peyton Manning and the offense down the stretch. Just incredible. It almost made up for the too-numerous to enumerate mistakes the Colts made all afternoon.

Here's how I saw it on a rare Sunday at home on the couch:

Passing game: The Colts' plan to focus on the run grounded Manning's air show early. But two plays stood out: Manning's fake scramble, step forward and pass to Marvin Harrison for a key late first-down and his falling back touchdown pass to Bryan Fletcher. Reggie Wayne was clutch playing through his personal grief, too. One of these days Harrison and Wayne might even score, don't you think?

Running game: I know it was the Jets, but both Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai looked strong, pushing in scores near the goal line that have been problematic for the Colts in recent years. Manning with a sneak? I didn't know the NFL allowed him to do that.

Pass defense: Not particularly strong, although Rocky Boiman's interception was the non-Manning clutch play of the day. The absence of Bob Sanders makes a huge difference. The pass rush started strong, with Robert Mathis' sack and forced fumble on Chad Pennington, but seemed a bit inconsistent.

Run defense: All problems seemed solved in the first quarter. Then the Colts had to play three more quarters and the Jets' no-name running backs started making names for themselves. The Colts' weak tackling at times defies logic.

Special teams: A disaster. They weren't ready for the surprise onside kick, they committed too many penalties and I'm fairly sure it's not a good thing when you're relying on Martin Gramatica to make a tackle on a kickoff return.

Coaching: Until the coaches fix the tackling and run-defense problems, they won't earn too much praise. But give credit to Tony Dungy for the way he has instilled in the Colts a determination not to panic under any circumstances. Most teams would have given up after seeing a terrific drive and lead ruined on a 103-yard kickoff return.

The bottom line remains that the Colts are unbeaten, they have two weeks (Tennessee this Sunday, then an open date) to work on their problems before taking on an improving Washington and heading into big road games at Denver and New England. It's a marathon not a sprint. Overall, the Colts are maintaining a great pace.