Defense spotted; pass rush, too

The Colts' 17-16 win over the Bills was closer than expected for most, but that doesn't mean some good things didn't come out of the win. Most notably, the Colts' defense delivered its best performance of the season. Granted, the Bills aren't the Broncos on offense, but it was nice to see four -- count 'em, four -- sacks by the Colts. Indy remains a team, in every sense of the word.

Here's my quick overview of the Colts' win, en route to 9-0:

Passing game: Patience was the word of the day, as the Bills put double coverage on Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and dared the Colts to run the ball and rely on the short-passing game. Peyton Manning resisted the urge to force the ball deep, and Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai turned in their best combined performance. Not only did they run the ball well, they were effective catching it out of the backfield. Manning also had a couple passes to Wayne where he once again put the ball in the perfect locale where only Wayne could catch it.

Running game: Addai rushed for 78 yards and Rhodes 72 (a combined 27 carries for 150 yards), which any team any day would love to have. The offensive line churned out the yardage with excellent blocking, particularly in the final drive when the Colts held the ball for more than six minutes.

Pass defense: JP Losman wasn't much interested in passing (8 of 12, 83 yards), but Robert Mathis had two sacks, Anthony McFarland one and Dwight Freeney came up with his biggest (and first solo) sack of the season. He pushed the Bills just far enough to make the potential go-ahead field goal go wide right. It was good to see the Colts' pass-rushers in the backfield on a regular basis.

Run defense: They allowed only 111 yards, second-lowest of the season and particularly impressive considering the defense was without Gary Brackett, Bob Sanders and Montae Reagor. Rob Morris did a nice job filling in for Brackett.

Special teams: Something has to be done about the coverage game. It's terrible. On the flip side, Hunter Smith's punting was superb and Terrence Wilkins continues to add a nice burst on the return game.

Coaching: Give the Colts credit for tightening up the defense. Whether it's as tight as it needs to be will be determined the next two weeks -- at Dallas and at home against Philadelphia.

This team continues to have flaws, but it's still undefeated, which is no small accomplishment.