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Tidbits from around the division this afternoon:

• Beyond owner Bud Adams’ final say when he wants it, the Titans will be a “GM-driven” team on personnel matters with Ruston Webster in the post, said Mike Reinfeldt, who’s now COO. (I was at the press conference.)
• Archie Manning shot down Rob Lowe’s Twitter “report” that Peyton Manning will retire. From Chris Mortensen: “Archie Manning laughed when he heard @RobLowe said Peyton will retire, "Noooo...he ain't retiring. I think he would've told me."
• Offensive line coach Pete Metzelaars and receivers coach Frank Reich have been let go by the Colts, says Phil Richards.
• The Colts did not have an interest in Jeff Fisher, Irsay tweeted.
• Matt Schaub has joined Twitter.

Reading the coverage ...

Houston Texans

Wade Phillips’ interview with the Buccaneers will take place in Houston on Friday at a time when he’d typically be home relaxing. So Gary Kubiak says people shouldn’t panic about it being some sort of distraction, says John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.

Phillips has to talk to Tampa Bay this week to have a chance based on the Bucs’ timetable, says McClain.

The Texans understand going into Baltimore as underdogs, Owen Daniels will play with an injured hand and John Harbaugh is about to coach his first home playoff game. McClain’s notebook.

Indianapolis Colts

Archie Manning says Peyton Manning remains committed to playing next season, says the AP.

Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star ranks the remaining teams in terms of how good the fans would be as visitors in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl.

The Colts’ season in review video isn't loaded with positive highlights. Here it is from the Indianapolis Star’s Phillip B. Wilson.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars’ firing of general counsel Paul Vance was not related to a dispute over language in the contract of assistant coaches, writes Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union.

Jacksonville’s assistant coaches are disputing the end date of their contracts, says Ganguli.

Mike Mularkey is set to interview for the Jaguars’ vacant head-coaching post today, says Ganguli.

Tennessee Titans

Matt Hasselbeck is finally tending to “Titan,” the chocolate lab puppy he got before the season. Third-stringer Rusty Smith took care of him during the season, and he’s from the same litter as a dog Jake Locker added to his family. All this and more in this interview (audio) from “The Midday 180” in Nashville, with which I am connected.

Holding on to tight end Craig Stevens will be a priority for the Titans, says Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean.

The disarray that comes with the sort of season the Indianapolis Colts are having is usually destructive.

But the timing of the 0-12 Colts, who could easily go winless, is excellent.

They have a two-game advantage with four games to play in what might be the second-best prize to the Lombardi Trophy this season: the No. 1 pick in the April draft and Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

In this Ultimate Scouting report, ESPN draft analysts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay compared pre-draft evaluations of Peyton Manning, John Elway and Matt Ryan with current evaluations of Luck.

We know it’s an imperfect science. But the 2011 Luck outscored 1998 Manning in five categories: arm strength, measurables, mobility, production and toughness. They tied in the other five: short accuracy, deep accuracy, release, pocket presence and intelligence.

From the start, I’ve said the Colts have to take Luck if they can. He’s a guy forecasted to have a career that could be comparable to Manning’s, and he’s 13 years younger and 14 NFL seasons healthier.

Luck’s career stacked on top of Manning’s could conceivably give the franchise 28 years or more of no real concerns at quarterback. I can only imagine what that sounds like to fans in Cleveland, Washington or Miami, where a fruitless search for just one quarterback who can play well for a couple of consecutive years goes on and on and on.

Still, I waver on what the Colts should do when the time to make a Manning decision arrives. It's a frustrating topic for someone with typically strong opinions. I've read and agreed with great stances on both sides.

Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star: “It makes no sense, none, to mortgage the team's long-term future and retard Andrew Luck's progress while gambling on Manning's health and longevity.”

Exactly.

Peter Keating, ESPN Insider: “The true once-in-a-generation opportunity they're facing is the chance to rebuild a great team overnight, not to draft Luck.”

Precisely.

Bill Polian is now the Colts’ vice chairman, and his son, Chris, is the team’s general manager. I’m presuming they survive this embarrassing year and are in line to make the decisions going forward.

As Bill recedes and Chris takes on more responsibility, Bill has talked of a renewed focus on his draft. His career has been built largely around teams with Hall of Fame quarterbacks: Jim Kelly in Buffalo and Manning in Indianapolis.

So my strong feeling is he’ll grab Luck. And, spoken or unspoken, I think he’d pass this message to Chris:

I built a legacy with a couple of fantastic quarterbacks, the hardest thing to find in professional football, perhaps in professional sports. Here’s yours. On this rock, you’ll build your team. (Don’t blow it.) Love, Dad.

So then, the question is not about Luck. It’s about Manning.

He’s coming off major neck surgery. He will have to show he’s recovered by early March for the Colts to consider paying him the $28 million bonus he’s due. He could push back the deadline.

All season, I’ve been inclined to think it’d be fine, even healthy, for the Colts to have a recovered Manning and a rookie Luck on the 2012 roster. Let Luck be an understudy under a great for a year, then sort things out.

But my thinking has changed. Having both is probably the worst of all the options, as Kravitz of the Star and Nate Dunlevy of 18to88.com have both written.

My feeling right now -- and I reserve the right to change it over the next three or four months -- aligns with that of Kravitz. He thinks the Colts have to look to the future and wonders why Manning would even want to come back, given the circumstances.

While the two quarterbacks could coexist for a season, even as Archie Manning says Luck is too good to sit, the financial implications of trading or cutting Manning in 2013 would be drastic and handcuff the team in a way it can’t willingly agree to.

The Colts have to decide whether they want to reload and try to win with Manning now, or start a rebuild that would surround Luck with lasting talent. They can’t go forward with both strategies without compromising one or the other.

Drafting Luck means your single best chance to help Manning win will be spent on a player who won’t help Manning win.

Keeping Manning means making patchwork moves intended to maintain the best, aging pieces of the current core -- a group that will be petering out or gone by 2014 or 2015, when Luck will likely be blossoming.

So …

The Colts can commission a statue of Manning outside Lucas Oil Stadium, a football palace unlikely to have been built without him.

They’ll surely struggle with the sentimentality involved in parting ways with such an iconic figure and they will face some gigantic fan backlash. But they’ll be best off if they massage the situation and tell him they’d like to help him land in a situation of his choosing to play out his career. Maybe he beats them to it and tells Bill Polian the day after the season ends that’s his wish.

Manning could return to Indianapolis wearing the helmet of the Broncos or Dolphins or Jets and it would sting, for sure. But it would hurt too, and last longer, if Luck went to the playoffs on a regular basis as a member of Browns or some other team he could lift to long-term prominence.

It’s an incredibly complicated, uncomfortable and delicate situation.

Polian and Manning are the two men most responsible for the Colts’ run of success: nine consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins and a playoff berth, three AFC championship games, two AFC titles and the Super Bowl XLIV crown.

The end of such a successful relationship is not often tidy.

It’s rarely Elway walking away after raising a second consecutive Lombardi trophy.

It’s rarely someone like Luck arriving, ready to grab the torch, either.

Archie Manning’s two recent radio appearances certainly qualify as the beginning of posturing to help position Peyton Manning in the best way possible.

What Dad Manning said makes perfect sense -- Andrew Luck isn’t the kind of quarterback who will need time to sit and marinate on an NFL bench. So the idea of Luck and Peyton Manning on the same team doesn’t make for a good quarterbacking environment or roster composition.

“Andrew Luck doesn’t look like the kind of quarterback who’s going to sit,” Archie Manning said on today’s Dan Patrick Show.

He’s right. And he spoke with a purpose.

The Mannings never say anything casually. Anything that could have a bearing on the public stance on something concerning one of them is calculated. Not in a nefarious way, just in a smart way.

Between these comments and Peyton Manning’s pushback on Bill Polian’s statement that he talked with the quarterback last summer during contract negotiations about drafting an eventual heir, things are getting more complicated.

My opinions on what the Colts will do and should do are evolving, and I’m sorting through them for another post soon.

Reading the coverage ...

Houston Texans

The Texans looked to bolster the roster, adding quarterback Jeff Garcia and punter Matt Turk, says Jeffrey Martin of the Houston Chronicle.

With their run game and defense, the Texans are built to excel at crunch time, says John McClain of the Chronicle.

Indianapolis Colts

Archie Manning doesn’t believe the Colts having both Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck on the roster would make sense, says Mike Chappell.

Tuesday’s roster moves included putting rookie defensive tackle Drake Nevis on injured reserve, says Phillip B. Wilson.

The Colts’ magic number for clinching the No. 1 pick is three, says Phil Richards.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Shahid Khan is one step closer to owning the Jaguars, reports Vito Stellino of the Times-Union.

Mark Woods of the T-U chronicles his night as a water boy for the Jaguars.

The NFL rushing title wouldn’t mean much to Maurice Jones-Drew says Tania Ganguli.

The Jaguars should not take another quarterback in the draft, says Adam Stites of Big Cat Country.

Tennessee Titans

Chris Johnson is running like the back we’ve seen in the past and has more than 40 percent of his yards for the season in the last two games, says David Climer of The Tennessean.

The Titans got approval for LP Field improvements that will be in place for the 2012 season, says Michael Cass of The Tennessean.

Even the most optimistic timetable puts Peyton Manning's recovery from cervical fusion neck surgery at two months. And I’m thinking a two-month recovery doesn’t mean fit to get hit by Mario Williams in two months.

ESPN's resident physical therapist, Stephania Bell, says she thinks it'll be a minimum of three months before he can play.

For years Manning’s been classified as the most indispensable player in the NFL and perhaps all of team sports. I think it’s likely true, but we’re about to find out just how much of a difference there is between a guy who may be the greatest of all time and an old quarterback who’s been good in spurts but who’s been best at lasting a long time.

No offense intended at all to Kerry Collins.

It’s news that certainly prompts me to change my preseason pick of the Colts to win the division.

Houston’s the favorite now. And if the Texans can’t take the division and get into the playoffs, surely it will mark the end of coach Gary Kubiak’s tenure. It also means better chances for Jacksonville and Tennessee.

Archie Manning said this to Chris Mortensen about Peyton Manning’s state of mind after Thursday’s surgery:

"I think he's OK, probably because there's a little finality to this deal in terms of playing," the elder Manning told Mortensen. "He's been on the clock since May. He didn't make it. Obviously, it's a big letdown, but he can relax a little bit compared to the intensity of everything he has done trying to rehab."

One other thought as I begin to reflect on the news that Manning could now land on IR. (They've let people linger hurt without making the IR move for months at times, I could see them waiting on Manning for a while.)

Because this has happened doesn’t mean the Colts’ approach to the backup quarterback spot has been wrong. I’ve said their Plan B in these circumstances was insufficient, and, at the very least, they should have brought in Collins at the start of camp. But for 13 years before that, I have no issue.

Philosophically, they’ve invested little in the spot since drafting Manning first overall in 1998, and it’ll cost them zero with regard to wins and losses. If they go 0-16 this year, which they won’t, you can say in 14 years they didn’t pay the No. 2 quarterback much attention and they lost one season as a result. I’d sign up for that. I can’t think of a team that wouldn’t.

We need to be wary of over-parsing things here.

Peyton Manning has plenty of time to heal up after recent neck surgery.

Archie Manning offered this update Monday at Jim Kelly’s charity golf tournament:

"It's just been 10 days. He's not where he wants to be. It's just something that came up and had to be done, so hopefully it'll work out."

“He’s not where he wants to be.”

Does that means he’s not on the schedule he’d hoped? Or that he’s not ahead of schedule as he’d hoped?

We don’t and can’t know based on what Archie Manning said here. I think it's over-reaching to read that as some sort of bad report. (It's also a bit refreshing that we didn't get the "everything is fantastic" spin.)

Archie Manning also said “Unfortunately, Peyton just had a little surgery, so he's down right now.”

Down as in down and out of action? Or down as in unhappy? Or both?

We need to be wary of over-parsing things here.

I don’t think we know any more about the state of Peyton Manning than we did before his father commented.

Reading the coverage...

Houston Texans

The Texans sights are set on defense, says John McClain.

With Wade Phillips chiming in, the Texans are already better, says Richard Justice.

McClain has the Texans taking Aldon Smith.

Indianapolis Colts

Rick Reilly sat down with Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning.

The higher the Colts have drafted in the first round, the better Bill Polian has fared, says Mike Chappell. He’s determined to be patient with his picks.

What happens after the draft?

Here’s the whole Austin Collie story from Tim Layden that we posted about this week.

Has Manning’s search for an edge even encompassed tanking baseline concussion tests?

Jacksonville Jaguars

Everything but 32 draft picks is up in the air, says Tania Ganguli.

If you really like a guy, take him, says John Oehser.

Tennessee Titans

The big expectation is the Titans will take Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley at No. 8, says Jim Wyatt.

Ruston Webster’s got an important voice, says Wyatt.

The big question is when the run on quarterbacks starts, says Wyatt.

Reading the coverage …

Houston Texans

The Texans have an unorthodox, dynamic back in Arian Foster, says Jeffrey Martin.

The Texans stuck with their practice routine from last Thursday, says Dale Robertson.

Anna-Megan Raley’s piece on the challenges posed by Redskins’ defense.

Both sides have plenty of inside info.

You need to see this old picture of Jacob y Jones.

Indianapolis Colts

Dwight Freeney is sick of all the Manning attention, says Mike Chappell.

Before Peyton and Eli, Archie Manning was a big-time quarterback too, says Phil Richards.

Richards recalls the first Manning Bowl.

The Giants are eager to bring pressure, says Tim Smith.

Eighteen things to watch for, from Nate Dunlevy.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Vito Stellino and Tania Ganguli preview the Jaguars' trip to San Diego. (Video.)

A back strain landed David Garrard on the injury report, says Stellino.

The Chargers were unplugged in their opener, says Ganguli.

Ernest Wilford never even cleaned out his locker, says Ganguli.

Vic Ketchman recalls trips to San Diego.

Tennessee Titans

Jeff Fisher always gets fired up for the Steelers, says John Glennon.

Lavelle Hawkins insists he’s still ready to play, say Jim Wyatt and Glennon.

Chris Johnson could hit a Steel Curtain, says Alan Robinson.

Vince Young’s ready for his first time against the Steelers, says David Boclair.

Cortland Finnegan wants to be more like Hines Ward, says Terry McCormick.

MIAMI -- Hey kids, listen up.

Peyton Manning had some valuable advice Tuesday, and I wanted to pass it along: Always have a favorite player.

“My dad was my favorite player always. He retired back in ’84. I was eight years old. Dan Marino was just coming into the NFL. I think it is important to always have a favorite player at all times -- a current player. I went from Archie Manning to Dan Marino. Once Dan retired Eli was just starting to play college ball so Eli Manning became my favorite player."“So I have always had good favorite players, but Dan, I always loved the way he competed, loved the way he commanded the offense and he has been so supportive of me since he has retired. I asked a lot of questions of him. As an older quarterback you still have to have guys you can ask questions of. Nobody will ever throw the ball like Dan Marino. I truly consider him a friend and I value his friendship.”

INDIANAPOLIS -- Peyton Manning’s post game press conference Sunday night was filled with good stuff, and I wanted to revisit a couple pieces and also share some numbers.

Sneaky: Trailing 7-3 in the second quarter, the Colts got to the 1-yard line. After Austin Collie came up short on second down, they hurried to set up Manning for a sneak attempt that took forever for a quick play and was stuffed.

Manning felt like officials stood over the ball too long, allowing the Jets to substitute when the rule is the defense substitutes at its own peril if the offense doesn’t make any changes.

“We didn’t substitute and for some reason the referee stood over the ball,” Manning said. “Why he stood over the ball and allowed them to get set, I’d like to get the explanation on that. That allowed them to get set. That was a shame.”

Jim Caldwell said the explanation he received was that officials were not waiting on the Jets. Officials who raced in to spot Collie from the play before needed time to back out and clear, and that’s why there was a delay, Caldwell was told.

Grind: Manning is conscious of overusing words. He said several times how he grinded in preparation for the Jets and how the game was a 60-minute grind.

“That’s kind of my word for the day,” he said. “I’m trying not to say ‘obviously.’ That’s been a habit of mine. So I’m saying grind.”

Pumping Wayne: Manning was sure to mention the importance of Reggie Wayne in every question he fielded that touched on the big games by Pierre Garcon and Collie.

He also didn’t like the idea of people suggesting the Colts feared or stayed away from Darrelle Revis. Clearly there were better matchups elsewhere to take advantage of. But Manning indicated he connected on a handful of solid plays against Revis too.

Yes, Manning had a passer rating of 139.9 on plays to Garcon and Collie. But he was at 104.2 to everybody else, and that’s outstanding too.

Chilly Archie: Asked about the possibility of cryogenically freezing Archie Manning for the purpose of producing more quarterbacks, Peyton Manning said: “I think he’s done.”

Onward to ESPN Stats & Information fine observations about Manning in the win:

Big rushes and big drops: When New York brought six or more rushers and Manning took a full seven-step drop, he was eight for 10 with a 16-yard average, a TD and a 152.1 passer rating.

First 28: The Colts started the game with balanced attack on offense. Twelve of their first 28 plays were rushes (42.9 percent). After Joseph Addai fumbled on the 28th play from scrimmage, the Colts changed their play-calling drastically and ran on just five of the next 28 plays (17.9 percent). Manning played much better when he got in a rhythm and didn't have to worry about the run game.

On the first 28 plays he was eight for 14 with a 90.8 passer rating, two sacks and the Colts produced six points.

On the next 28 plays, he was 17 for 23 with three touchdowns, a 142.4 passer rating and the Colts produced 21 points.

Run defense: Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene of the Jets averaged 4.9 yards against base defenses in playoff wins over Cincinnati and San Diego. Against the Colts base defense, that number was just 3.1

The Colts booked their ticket back to Miami for another Super Bowl, says Phil Richards.

Even by Peyton Manning’s lofty standards, that was a masterpiece, opines Bob Kravitz.

It was more comeback magic for Manning, says Nancy Gay.

Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie had a lot to talk about, says Phil Richards.

Gay’s take on the young receivers.

And Charles Robinson looks at Garcon and Collie, too.

Key guys went down for the Jets, hindering their chances, says Curt Cavin.

Archie Manning will root against his Saints in the Super Bowl, says Mike Chappell.

Rick Gosselin on a son going against his father’s team.

Kravitz’s report card.

The Colts outrushed the vaunted Jets run game, writes Chappell.

Matt Stover turns 42 on Wednesday and will be the oldest player ever to appear in a Super bowl, says Chappell.

The Colts didn’t celebrate much as they turned their focus to the Super Bowl, says John Oehser.

“This is another incredibly big step in the competing with history,” Jim Irsay said to Oehser.

Clark Judge thinks the Colts have been vindicated.

Manning and the Colts have created a standard of perfection, writes Damon Hack.

Manning did well to work around Revis Island, says Gregg Doyel.

Key Super Bowl questions from John Clayton.

The Tony Dungy/Jim Caldwell demeanor is a winner, says Kevin Blackistone.

The Colts were resilient, says Jarrett Bell.

Garcon had an eye-opening game, says Tom James.

Manning’s mission drives the Colts, says Vic Carucci.

It was a precision performance, says Mike Wise.

A picture you should see, courtesy of Stampede Blue.

The Colts did it all their way, says Larry Hawley.

The view from New York.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Three things to know about the Super Bowl matchup between the Saints and Colts.

1. Two Big Dogs, no big underdog. Looking for Cinderella? The Colts were 14-0 this year and are led by four-time MVP Peyton Manning. Because of their history, the Saints will likely be cast in the underdog role, but Indianapolis isn’t going to buy it. Like Indianapolis, New Orleans came into the playoffs as a No. 1 seed and won two home games to qualify for the Super Bowl.

But the Saints, known as lovable losers for so long, are the fresh story. A city, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, gets a huge boost from the team’s first trip to the title game. Might the Saints be in position to be overwhelmed by the experience while the Colts, who won the game just four years ago, benefit from the experience?

2. Hey kids, do you like the passing game? The Colts (second in NFL) and Saints (fourth) live by the pass. They’re centered on top-flight quarterbacks. That will make for a lot of prognostications about an aerial assault and a big shootout in Miami.

Trouble is, it’s pigeonholing either club to suggest it’s all about Peyton Manning or Drew Brees.

The Saints are a balanced offense, with a run game that was sixth in the league keyed by Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas. The Colts have a stingy scoring defense that’s allowed only 18.2 points a game and limited opponents in the regular season to seven passing plays of 30 yards or more.

Turnovers, always a key, are a New Orleans forte. The Saints were third in the NFL with a plus-11 differential, while Indy was plus-two.

3. Manning against the team of his youth. Manning is from New Orleans, where his dad, Archie, starred for the Saints. Cooper Manning, Peyton’s older brother, admitted Sunday it’d be awkward for him and some of the family, but they looked forward to sorting through it all.

The Colts are 5-5 all time against New Orleans. Manning lost his first two games to his hometown team, but has won the last two by scores of 55-21 in 2003 and 41-10 in 2007.

The Colts are also 2-1 all-time in Super Bowls in Miami, where they’ve played all three times they’ve advanced. Baltimore lost Super Bowl III to the Jets and won Super Bowl V over Dallas in south Florida. The Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago in Miami in Super Bowl XLI.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A couple hours after the Indianapolis Colts scored a critical touchdown on the sort of precise drive that matches them against both a defense and the first-half clock, Cooper Manning held court in earshot of his brother.

Asked about Peyton Manning’s ability to mount the sort of march that deflates an opponent and stops short of setting off a ceremony marking the game’s official momentum change, Cooper Manning shrugged and talked louder.

“The last two minutes?” Cooper Manning said, turning so his voice would carry far enough to be overheard by his target. “One time when he was playing basketball, he was a sophomore, and we had less than two minutes, like 1:08. And the other team is counting, 'Eight, seven, six' but it was a minute eight. Peyton threw it the length of the court and hit the top of the shot clock, and so they got the ball.

“So inside two minutes, I’ve always felt he panics.”

That set off a good round of laughs in the Colts' locker room, where a 30-17 win over the New York Jets and the AFC Championship was in hand. With those things, a trip to south Florida for Super Bowl XLIV had been secured.

Manning’s poise when the clock ticks loudest has improved exponentially since that day he played for Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans against Rapides.

This season he’s engineered drives at the end of the first half that produced 77 points -- as many as Buffalo, Cleveland or St. Louis, scored in any quarter all season.

Sunday, when the Colts offense got the ball at its own 20-yard line with 2:11 on the clock and a timeout to go, a jam-packed Lucas Oil Stadium and a full press box expected production.

Manning overthrew Dallas Clark, then threaded three passes to Austin Collie get what he wanted:

• Eighteen yards to the rookie from BYU on the left sideline.
• An unbelievable pass to Collie that crept just over the tight coverage of Jets cornerback Drew Coleman for 46 yards.
• A 16-yard ball that only a leaping Collie could catch near the back of the end zone.

Boom, boom, boom and what felt like a big 11-point New York lead was transformed into what seemed like a flimsy four-point advantage.

Everyone asked about it afterward called the end of the first-half drive huge.

“They had a lead and it’s not looking good and of course they have the ball going into the second half and you try to get some kind of rhythm there,” Manning said. “A lot of times after a timeout versus these guys, you feel like they might be dialing up some sort of blitz.

“So we went to a max protection and took a shot. And No. 30 [Coleman] really had pretty good coverage. I thought he might have mistimed his jump. That play down the field to Collie before the touchdown is the play that I think really got us going . . . from that point on we really had a good bead on things.”

Said Colts linebacker Clint Session: “When you’re going in at the half and you’re being smothered, that gives you a little more confidence to know that you’re not that far away. And we took it and ran with it.”

The Jets acknowledged that the final couple minutes of the first half stung after playing as well as they did in the first 28.

“You think about 17-6, we thought we were in a good position at that point,” Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said. “But it wasn't good enough [Sunday]. They got the drive right before half, and after that it was downhill from there.”

When you've come back as often as the Colts have, you apparently get kind of used to it.

Collie had his first 100-yard game thanks largely to that drive, and said they were simply plays the team regularly practices in two-minute drills.

Peyton Manning said things don’t change that much for Indianapolis’ offense, because playing fast is what the Colts try to do all the time.

“We’re an up-tempo team but obviously the two-minute drill makes you go fast because you are playing against the clock,” he said. “It’s not a complete change of philosophy for us. We do practice it a lot. I think guys are really comfortable with it.

“Certainly in that drive we felt a sense of urgency, we had to get something going. Because they had the lead and they had some momentum and I thought that was just a huge answer to get that drive.”

The game around it was also characteristic of the Colts in many ways.

They knew over 60 minutes they’d have sufficient time to show their full arsenal and the resiliency that’s been such a big part of a season in which they’ve won every time they’ve put forth full effort with their top people.

But the win likely would have been a lot more difficult if they started the third quarter down two scores.

Out of sight of both Peyton and Cooper, their father Archie Manning also talked after the game. He said a coaching staff that trusts the offense and an offense that believes in itself are keys in such situations.

Also, while most people presume such situations are more difficult, sometimes they actually might be easier.

“Things are a little looser," he said. “The Jets don’t play prevent [defense], but sometimes that’s your best time to execute. You just go do it.”

Peyton Manning said he’s mentally drained after a tough week of grinding to prepare for the Jets.

It wasn’t fatigue, however, that prompted a half-hearted lift of the Lamar Hunt Trophy when it was passed to him on the stage near midfield prior to his interview with Jim Nantz. He didn’t raise it above his sternum, then held it low and eagerly unloaded it as soon as he could.

Kind of like that shot in that basketball game back in 1992.

As Cooper Manning’s younger brother left the interview podium, I asked him if he could confirm or deny the story of a time when a ticking clock was an enemy instead of an ally.

“I don’t know if he told it the right way,” Peyton Manning said, looking back over his shoulder as he exited the room. “But there is some truth to it.”

INDIANAPOLIS -- The mission isn’t a Super Bowl appearance, it’s a Super Bowl win.

Still, with two weeks before the league’s season-ending spectacle, the Colts are lifting the AFC championship trophy and should be taking a great deal of pride in it. Set aside your feelings if you were bitter about how they decided to play Weeks 16 and 17. They are 16-0 this season when they’ve tried to win.

Despite a shaky first half where the Jets seized some control, the methodical, precise and passionate Colts recovered and rolled -- 30-17 in the AFC Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium.

With a 377-yard passing game, Peyton Manning became the league’s all-time leader in 300-yard playoff games, with seven. Kurt Warner and Joe Montana each have six.

The Jets hit two big home run plays, an 80-yard Mark Sanchez-to-Braylon Edwards touchdown and a 45-yard Brad Smith-to-Jerricho Cotchery Wildcat play that set up another seven points.

But the Colts were able to withstand the atypical big plays surrendered and answer with plenty of their own.

The mighty Jets defense gave up 100-yard games to receivers Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie, and the mighty Jets running game pieced together 86 yards, 15 less than their hosts who have a rep for not being able to run it at all.

Now we wait to see what storyline the Colts get for the Super Bowl: Manning versus Brett Favre, with a second Super Bowl title added to one of their legacies, or Manning against his hometown Saints, the team his dad starred for.