By Julian Dickinson
Sat, Nov 19, 2005


The Indianapolis Colts are going old school.

For their road trip to Cincinnati this week, Indianapolis won’t be flying like they usually do. Instead, coach Tony Dungy decided to charter a bus for the 110-mile trip that will get the team into Cincinnati sometime Saturday afternoon.

Dungy said travel time will be about the same if they were to fly and it won’t change any of the Colts’ preparation, but the idea has Peyton Manning feeling like a kid again.

“I kind of like it,” Manning joked this week. “It really reminds me of high school. I kind of wanted us to leave on Sunday morning, dress in our uniforms here [at the team`s Indianapolis complex] and then get off the bus and play the game. It would have been great.”

It’s a good thing Manning’s feeling youthful because a lot of his teammates are in rough shape – particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Middle linebacker Rob Morris is still bothered by an inner-ear infection, but managed to do some “light work” in practice this week and safety Bob Sanders is sidelined with a knee injury.

Both players are listed as questionable.

Panthers first trip north

I’ve never seen a football do that.

When Chicago kicker Robbie Gould’s field goal attempt was carried off by 47 mph winds last weekend, I could have sworn God had a few bucks on the under. But that’s just how it goes sometimes at Chicago’s Soldier Field sometimes.

Thanks to the freak metrological conditions in the Windy City, even a 34-point total couldn’t force the Bears to play over the total in a home game for the first time since Week 2.

This time it’s the Panthers, traveling up from the temperate Carolina climate for their first outdoor game north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Conditions are expected to be chilly, but the winds won’t be nearly as strong as last week. Forecasters say Chicago shouldn’t see gusts any higher than 10 mph, however, you never know what could blow in from Lake Michigan.

“Our mindset has to be that we`re ready to deal with any type of conditions,`` Panthers coach John Fox said.

Keep your eye on that 34-point total.

Bills

We’ve all heard the old saying, “if you fall off the horse, get back on and ride,” but when that horse bucks you off into a stinking pile of manure, maybe you should find a new horse.

I’m talking to you, Mike Mularky.

Isn’t that exactly what J.P. Losman did to you in the first four weeks of this season? Isn’t your team still trying to dig out of the hole the young quarterback put them in by losing three of the first four weeks of the season?

Sure he threw a couple of touchdowns last week when he came in for an injured Kelly Holcomb last week, but all that proves is that he’s a better backup than a starter.

Mularky announced earlier this week that Losman will start for the Bills in San Diego this Sunday, even though Holcomb (3-2 as a starter) was medically cleared to play.

Hoards of bettors who didn’t want to look this gift horse in the mouth, jumped on the Chargers, driving the pointspread up to 11 points.

Broncos

The Mile High advantage is back. Unfortunately, pointspreads are reaching a similar altitude in Broncos home games.

This week, they’re hosting a banged-up, disrupted New York Jets team and it will take a blowout to cover the spread. The Broncos are favored by 13 and it could be up to two touchdowns by kickoff.

That’s the most points Denver has lain since the Broncos were defending Super Bowl champs back in 1998.

And although the Broncos have been playing well, covering in four straight games coming into today, they could have trouble breaking away against what Jake Plumber calls an underrated defense.

"Their defense has been playing really well, keeping them in the ballgame. They are creating a lot of turnovers," Plummer said. "If they are not the top defense, they are in the top two or three defenses that we will play this year. You can look at the score and look at all of that, but unless you actually watch the film and watch a couple weeks back, you just don’t get to see how well their defense does play."

But as good as the New York defense has been, the Jets are only 3-6 ATS this season.
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