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October 28, 2009

Road warrior Colts ready to play at home

By Tom James

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts will be doing something unusual this week — playing a home game.

In fact, the Colts will be home for the next three weeks before heading east to face the Baltimore Ravens on Nov. 22. Four of Indianapolis’ first six games were played away from Lucas Oil Stadium.

“It’s always great to play at home for your fans. That in itself is a rare opportunity for us in the last couple months. It’s been almost four weeks since we’ve had this opportunity. We are looking forward to that. It certainly doesn’t make our preparation for a tough team any different,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said.

“At home it gives the opportunity to enjoy the comforts of where you live. You don’t have to travel and things of that nature. It does take a little bit of a load off of you. But the game is played on the field in between those white lines. Often times, that doesn’t give you that many advantages when you are at home. We are also mindful of the fact teams can come in here and win as well if we’re not prepared.”

That’s why Indianapolis doesn’t plan to overlook the San Francisco 49ers when they come to town on Sunday. Mike Singletary’s team is 3-3 but have played well so far this year.

“They do all of the little things and all the intangibles in terms of hustle, grit, fight, determination and desire. You can see all of that on film in every single phase of their operation. I certain would attribute the great majority of that to Mike and his personality,” Caldwell pointed out Wednesday.

“I see a defense that pressures you, that walks up on you and challenges you every single snap of the ball. If you look at the first two games, you get that sense for what they’ve done offensively. They spread it out a little bit. All in all, they want to be a tough, hard-nosed team with a great defense and good solid kicking game.”

Peyton Manning is smart enough to realize that the 49ers has a team that could offer up a lot of challenges for the Colts.

“It’ll be good to get back home. We play a tough team, though. It’s another unfamiliar opponent. We’ve had a few of them here recently. It’s a team that’s 3-3 and really could be 5-1,” the Indianapolis quarterback said Wednesday.

“They had the last minute play against Minnesota and almost won last weekend at Houston. The Atlanta game was the only one that wasn’t close. They have a very sound defensive scheme, good players, and it will be a good test for us.”

Just improving the team’s overall performance is one of the major goals this week.

“We want to get better every week. I think it’s important this week that we protect the ball and be able to stay on the field on third downs and protect the ball in the red zone and try to get touchdowns,” he said.

“Our defense will have a tough test. San Francisco has an excellent running game. Offensively, when we get the ball we need to be efficient.”

• Injury list — Wide receiver Reggie Wayne (strained groin) may be able to play Sunday while the status of running back Donald Brown (sprained left shoulder) and wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez (knee) remain up in the air.

“[Wayne] feels good. We hope that he will progress throughout the week and just increase his activity. We’ll see where he is come Friday,” Caldwell said.

“Donald [Brown] is going to have to nurse that shoulder a bit. The doctors are looking him closely. It just depends on how quickly he comes along. He’ll be a wait-and-see as well.”

Brown had hoped to see a little work on Wednesday, but the Colts medical staff intervened.

“As coaches, we love to hear that. [Practicing] would be wishful thinking for him,” Caldwell said.

During an interview Tuesday on the NFL Network, team president Bill Polian described Brown’s injury as a shoulder contusion. He said that he didn’t expect the Colts’ first-round draft choice to play against San Francsco this week.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, is expected to see limited work in practice this week. Neither Polian or Caldwell were confident that he would suit up against the 49ers.

“I would suspect we will get a little practice out of him this week. I’m not certain how much. That will depend on how he reacts when he steps on the field. He participated in walkthrough. We’ll see how he does later on in the week,” the Colts coach said.

“[The return of Wayne and Gonzalez] are separate issues. We would certainly like certain things to happen. We can’t accelerate the healing process. The doctors look at that and make a determination when he’s best suited to return. We go from there.”



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