Terrelle Pryor won't be trading one Horseshoe for another.

With all of the consternation that Peyton Manning’s neck injury has brought to Colts Country in the last couple of months, lots of silly rumors have emerged.   To wit, Brett Favre is coming to town;  Jeff Saturday will take a couple of steps back to the QB position; and Manning will come back to the team soon, but as a punter.    One unsavory idea that we can lay to rest is that the Colts are considering former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor as an insurance policy for Manning’s neck.   On Monday, Pryor was taken in the third round of the supplemental draft by  *drumroll*   the Oakland Raiders.     Al Davis saves the day again!

So, this is one Jim Irsay Tweet that has actually come to pass.     Any truth to the others?

It was much closer than anyone would have thought, but what game during the second half of this season hasn’t been like this?

Peyton Manning was without Marvin Harrison, and Joseph Addai couldn’t walk down a clear sidewalk last night. But Manning’s receiving corps showed up to play! Of course Reggie Wayne was making amazing catches while Anthony Gonzalez has emerged as one of the best rookies the league’s seen this year. And our defense made some blazing hits on the Raiders too…but that kind of stuff is old hat for Bob Sanders and Co., right? And how about big T.J. Rushing with the kickoff runback in the Q1, eh?

Now, not to strip LaMont Jordan or Dominic Rhodes of anything, but why on Earth did it take so long to put in Justin Fargas? I know those Cheifs, Broncos and Bolts fans probably know too well Fargas’ lethality, but the Colts only play the Raiders once every four years so I couldn’t care less about them until this game, but Fargas was impressive! But this brings up an interesting dilemma for the Raiders’ offseason that we should probably keep an eye on: With three quality RBs, who will the Raiders choose to keep? Jordan, Rhodes and Fargas are all great, but there’s only room for one superstar RB on each time (maybe two, if you ask Jacksonville or Minnesota). Anyway, I digress…

It was a quality win in Oakland and I hope our defense took some notes on just how easily our rush defense can be exploited. They plugged in the postseason last year; they can do it again!

Here are some stats of yesterday’s game:

Next up is Oakland… … …I don’t really have a preview except JaMarcus Russell, should the Raiders coach get smart and start him, is relatively unknown except for a few snaps last week so the mystery is enough to give caution. I’d hate for the Raiders to score more than 10 this game, honestly. This game will do a number of things for the Colts:

• It will be a W in the win column, which is always nice to see, pushing the Colts to 12-2;
• A win will separate the Colts from the still-dangerous No. 3 Pittsburgh Steelers;
• Should the Colts win and the Jaguars lose to the Steelers this week, the Colts will have clinched their 5th divisional title in 5 years;
• Should the Colts lose and the Jaguars win, the AFC South is back up in the air;
• But should the Colts win and the Jaguars win, the AFC South - with a Colts win in Houston just for good measure - falls back into the Colts hands!

So, the Houston Texans, who is actually a good team that looks bad because of which division they’re in, is going to be a tough game. You know…the complete opposite of the New England Patriots who look better than they really are because six games this year have come on a silver platter because of which division they’re in. This game will galvanize the Colts’ divisional dominance no matter what, but I think the actual division title will come on Dec. 30 when we face the Titans.

To close out the season it’s the Tennessee Titans, which might be the game where the starters sit out after the Q1 to rest for the postseason. It’s going to be a tough game and I’m thinking the offense will probably be held up pretty well but there’s no stopping this defense we have! Bob Sanders, not Peyton Manning, is the man who is going to lead our Indianapolis Colts to a 14-2 record!!!

And then the first round bye, second round win, AFC Championship victory over the Pats and a second consecutive SB win against the Packers (yeah, I’m calling the Packers over the Cowboys – what?)…DROPPING BOMBS, BABY!!!