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Saturday, January 10, 2004

Colts already daring to think Super Bowl



By Steve Herman
The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - Thoughts of the Super Bowl already are creeping into the Indianapolis Colts locker room.

Coming off their first playoff victory in eight years, the Colts not only think they can reach the NFL title game, but also that they can win it.

"Sure, it's mentioned all the time," defensive end Chad Bratzke said. "It's not something that's voodoo. That's what you play for. You play to get there."

Indianapolis (13-4) is at Kansas City (13-3) in a divisional playoff Sunday. The winner advances to the AFC championship the next week against either New England or Tennessee, the last step before the Super Bowl on Feb. 1.

Colts coach Tony Dungy is confident, too. But he takes nothing for granted.

"Don't belittle the opportunity," he said of his team's sense of urgency. "We're one of the last eight teams playing. We have a chance to get where we want to go. We've got to take advantage of it."

The last time the Colts went past the first round was in 1995, when they beat San Diego and Kansas City before losing in the AFC championship game at Pittsburgh, where an incomplete pass on the game's final play cost them a trip to the Super Bowl. Since then, they lost in the first round four times before last week's 41-10 rout of Denver.

Now the championship is within their grasp.

"That's one thing we talked about when we started this year," running back Edgerrin James said.

"My first year, everything was real easy and you think it's going to happen every year. The second year kind of opened my eyes, when you had to wait on other people to lose before you get into the playoffs. Now you understand.

"We have to make use of our opportunity and do what we've got to do."

The Chiefs led the NFL in scoring and were second in total offense this season. The Colts tied for second in scoring and were third in offense, first in passing with co-MVP Peyton Manning.

It's on defense, where both teams have been vulnerable, where Sunday's game might be decided.

After last week, the Colts seem ready.

"Nothing scares us. We just want to dominate everybody we go against," defensive end Raheem Brock said. "We're not afraid of anybody. Coaches have a great game plan, just like we did against Denver, and we've just got to go out and take care of business."

Brock said the Colts - especially the defense - are "on a mission."

"We're not out here just to win one game. We want to go to the Super Bowl, we want to win the Super Bowl. Everybody's stepping it up another notch," he said.

Even Dungy admitted anything less would be a disappointment.

"A successful season is when you play as well as you can play and go as far as you can go. For us now, I think we're as good as any team that's still playing, so for us a success would be to win it all," Dungy said.




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