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Some thoughts that came out of Andrew Luck's pro day Thursday at Stanford.

Luck
• He confirmed he’ll have a private session with Colts' officials at Stanford in early April, Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star reported. That explains why GM Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano didn’t feel they had to be there.
• Colts quarterback coach Clyde Christensen told Chappell the workout looked like Luck’s game film, steady and solid. He also talked about Luck vs., Robert Griffin III: "I don't think you go wrong either way. You go back and forth and keep looking for something that you can put a little red mark, that they can't do this or can't do that, that maybe there's something (wrong) character-wise. And you can't find one on either kid.”
• ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay said the session was “surgical,” and praised Luck’s consistent ball placement that gets receivers right where he wants them.
• Steve Young praised the athleticism and, especially, his feet. With Luck, the whole playbook will be open, “guard rail to guard rail.”
• Trent Dilfer said Luck’s ability to make “off-platform throws” is unique.
• RG3 had a great pro day too. Players are supposed to look great on their pro days. We’re entering the season where we will begin to hear a lot about why the conventional thinking that Luck is a better choice than Griffin is flawed. It makes for compelling TV and reading. But I like what Matt Williamson from Scouts Inc. is saying. He loves Griffin and he loves the Redskins' trade to the second slot in the draft. But he says the Baylor quarterback has reached his ceiling, and that ceiling is No. 2 in the draft.

Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star provides some good information from Andrew Luck's pro day here.

Most significantly, Chappell says that a day after they were part of the Colts contingent at Robert Griffin III’s pro day at Baylor, GM Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano were not in Palo Alto, Calif.

The team’s representatives were quarterback coach Clyde Christensen and area scout Matt Terpening.

I think it would be presumptuous to jump to any sort of conclusions about the top guys in Indy’s brain trust missing Luck’s workout.

As I wrote this morning, there is a sense among some scouts that the session was “a mere formality.”

The duo could have been trying to avoid the sort of attention that would have been on them watching a workout that’s open to the press when they can soon watch tape of it. As Luck’s presumed team, the Colts may have drawn a great deal of attention on the Stanford campus. They avoided Chappell, for one.

Grigson and Pagano may have felt they didn't need to see Luck throw live based on a report from their scouts or because they plan for him to throw during a visit to their facility that we don’t know about yet. Grigson may have seen Luck throw live multiple times last season. It’s unlikely Pagano did. I can’t imagine he wouldn’t see Luck throw at some point before the draft.

They could be trying to fuel the idea that RG3 is making a serious charge for the No. 1 pick in order to prompt a reaction from someone else, like the Redskins. They hold the No. 2 pick, though I don’t know what sort of reaction could help the Colts.

How did Luck look?

Mike Mayock of NFL Network had good things to say about Luck’s arm strength and performance in the wind.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The two quarterbacks who will presumably be the top two picks in the NFL draft spoke to a good share of 750 credentialed reporters at the combine Friday afternoon.

Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III didn’t take a drop, make a read or throw a pass. Nothing that transpired had anything to do with football.

Yet fandom's need for information and evaluation will dictate a comparison, and here’s what will fuel it: Griffin was off the cuff, glib and quippy; Luck was boilerplate, personable for sure, but not as entertaining.

And so, the buzz from the scouting community that had long held that Griffin is a very good NFL prospect but Luck is a great one will now be tempered. Media will be influenced by what it just saw and heard and the gap between the two will close through no football function at all.

Think I overstate? A year ago we raced back to our laptops to write about how Ryan Mallett was defiant and how Cam Newton needed a scripted opening statement, unimpressed with either. And at least for a time the national stories on each influenced the national perception -- unfairly and, to be honest, inaccurately.

Brace for the 2012 version of that, starting right now. Measure it. And know that scouts are largely scoffing when they see it.

A few more thoughts out of Luck’s media session:

• At one end of the media room, a club level concourse at Lucas Oil Stadium, the pillars are decorated with pictures of Peyton Manning. It’s made for great art -- Manning looming over John Elway or Colts general manager Ryan Grigson. But Luck didn’t speak from the shadow of the legendary quarterback he may replace. He was at the other end of the room -- where photos of Gary Brackett and Marvin Harrison are part of the backdrop.

• Luck spoke fondly of Manning as he answered a question about the potential for replacing him: “Peyton was my hero growing up, he was my football hero. Who I modeled myself after in high school and middle school. You never truly replace a guy like that and who knows what happens? Who knows what happens? So many different things can happen. I’m not thinking about it.”

• The questions about Manning are inevitable, he said. “I understand the questions have to be asked, it’s part of it. I understand the speculation. In my mind too, nothing’s happened yet. I haven’t been drafted by any team and what Peyton has is still going on with the Colts. It’s not uncomfortable, I understand the questions have to be asked."

• Luck knows Manning some. He’s been to the family’s passing camp the past two summers. He sought out Manning when he was deciding to return to Stanford for his senior year. He got a few texts from Manning during the season. Griffin had said he’d be happy to hold a clipboard as Manning’s apprentice and Luck echoed the sentiment.

• He praised Griffin as “a great quarterback, a great competitor, real easy to get along with” but said he wasn’t motivated to compete against him for the No. 1 draft position. “I think everybody wants to be No. 1 but not at the expense of another person, if that makes sense,” he said.

• While he’s heard some call him a once-in-a-generation quarterback, Luck said things can change and he needs to pay no attention to such talk: “The game can change so quick and you can get caught behind whatever that is.”

• His current efforts are focused on quickening everything up, making “rhythmic, perfect drops every time” and playing super clean.

• Elway visits Stanford roughly twice a year and Luck has visited with him on those occasions. The biggest lesson he took away was what Elway told him about the Broncos' Super Bowl failures early in his career: “They were thinking too big picture. So it was always, ‘focus on that next play. What are you going to do the first play of the game?’”

• Luck's aware of the success his college coach, Jim Harbaugh, had as quarterback of the Colts -- mentioning Harbaugh’s “Captain Comeback” nickname and acknowledging Harbaugh’s spot in the Colts’ ring of honor.

• His meetings Thursday night included a stop with the Colts. He spoke with Clyde Christensen, the team’s receivers coach who was offensive coordinator under the previous regime.

• He’s still got two classes to take to earn his degree from Stanford. He’ll return starting April 1 and graduate in June.

• The quarterback will not throw here, but said no outside force influenced that decision. It has been reported his camp asked the Colts and suggested he not throw. He will do everything else while he’s in Indy.

Peyton Manning has spoken of all the people disappearing from the Indianapolis Colts' headquarters.

As Chuck Pagano puts his coaching staff together, six more Colts could soon be former Colts. Offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen, assistant to the offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, tight ends coach Ricky Thomas, running backs coach David Walker, assistant offensive line coach Ron Prince and assistant strength and conditioning coach Richard Howell remain under contract, flapping in the breeze.

Most significant among them is Christensen, who really ranks as the one prominent remaining link to Manning.

Pagano is a defensive guy, and his decision on offensive coordinator will be gigantic considering that coach will be the central figure in the development of Andrew Luck, the quarterback the Colts will draft with the No. 1 overall pick barring some crazy development.

It’s hard to imagine Christensen would be that guy, and parting with the guy who’s been the Colts’ coordinator for the past two seasons would in many ways be the final piece of a transition. From 2002-07 Christensen was Indianapolis’ wide receivers coach and in 2008 he had an assistant head coach title added. Then he took over for Tom Moore in the sort of transition the Colts set up for with their older coaches under Tony Dungy and then Jim Caldwell.

Christensen is continuity for Manning, one last presence from the old guard, one remaining significant connection to the offense he’s been running his whole career.

Of the six remaining assistants, I suspect a few remain became of their contracts. Cooter was in his first year in his role in 2011, Walker was in his first year with the team and Prince was in his second.

With 10 seasons in Indianapolis, Christensen ranks second to only Howell among the remaining staff.

When Pagano makes a move at offensive coordinator, odds are he will cut the last significant tie to Manning’s offense.

Then the only move left to be made by the Colts pertaining to their new era will be with Manning himself.

The first reaction many Colts fans will have to the news that Chuck Pagano is the team’s new coach will undoubtedly be: “Who?”

But not knowing a guy doesn’t make him a bad choice.

Owner Jim Irsay tabbed a young personnel executive, Ryan Grigson, as his new general manager. Now the two have selected Pagano, who just finished his first season as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, as their coach.

He’s been with the Ravens since 2008, with stints in Cleveland and Oakland before that.

Pagano and Grigson now set about contributing to a decision on Peyton Manning, who seems likely to be released before a $28 million bonus is due March 8, and deciding on how to use the No. 1 pick in the April draft, which is likely to be used on Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

The two biggest questions I have for Pagano are about his schemes and his staff.

He’s not inheriting a defense with Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata and Ray Lewis, but that doesn’t mean he can’t set about shaping a unit that plays a far different style than the undersized-but-speedy Cover 2 the Colts have rolled out for years.

Will he want to transform the team into a 3-4 like the one he’s leaving, or will he look at the best players he will have, like Dwight Freeney, Antoine Bethea and Pat Angerer, and decide not to make a dramatic change? And on offense, will he want to go forward with the sort of smaller linemen, receiver-like tight end and three-wide sets popularized in the Manning era, or be a more balanced and more powerful offense?

As for his assistants, he’s surely made friends in his three NFL stops. He’ll have a chance to retain some Colts who have not been let go yet, like offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen, assistant offensive line coach Ron Prince, quarterback coach Jim Bob Cooter, tight ends coach Ricky Thomas, running backs coach David Walker, and assistant strength and conditioning coach Richard Howell. Grigson parted with Jim Caldwell and most of the staff, and I’d expect Pagano to finish that job.

He will need to do a lot of hiring, and the quality of the people he is able to attract will be a big factor in how successful the Colts can be.

An offensive coordinator who will have a big say in the scheme, and a giant hand in developing Luck, is going to be a huge piece in the new regime.

We’ll start trying to connect some dots from him to people he might try to bring in. One guy he knows is former Raiders coach Hue Jackson, who has yet to land a job and could be viewed as a creative offensive mind who can develop a young quarterback.

Clyde Christensen talked with the Indianapolis media Friday and I sifted through the piece of it the team shared.

A few things of note.

He was asked about helping Kerry Collins learn the whole playbook in three weeks.

“It would be impossible,” he said. “We have been working at a doctorate level around here because things have stayed so intact, scheme wise and quarterback wise. He is a veteran guy. You can’t throw up a concept that he hasn’t done some place, some time, somewhere. He understands football, so he understands those concepts. It is more the communication of it. It is more the protections. It is more of those things with him then it is him having to learn new things. He has seen it all, but it is just an awful short time so we will just kind of work to his pace, what he feels comfortable with.

According to Christensen, working both quarterbacks last week in the days that Manning practiced amounted to diluting the work for both quarterbacks.

“This week was a little bit easier just in the sense that we knew we needed to get Kerry ready to go and just adjust the best we can,” he said. “We have always had a thorough system. We have always done less and tried to do it better. So it helps when you try and do less. We are not overly [voluminous]. We know what we do so we just tweak it and everyone is going to have to kick in and help a little bit.”

Less is best seems to be a major theme, and it fits. People often think that what the Colts do is complicated. It’s not. Defenses always talk about how the Colts are straightforward on offense, they do specific stuff very precisely and well, over and over.

“Let’s error on starting smaller and you can always build up,” Christensen said in response to a question about Collins learning hand signals. “You can’t afford to go in there and it be a mess and not know what we are doing.”

One more item on the Colts’ offense…

I didn’t get to this earlier this week in the piece about Frank Reich and Tennessee’s Dave Ragone as quarterbacks-turned receivers coaches.

Jim Caldwell said this in our conversation about flipping Reich to wideouts and Ron Turner from receivers to quarterbacks:

“[Turner] has been a coordinator. It allows me to utilize Turner a little more. I like to keep him looking at things from a little broader scope.”

I couldn't decide if that was loaded with meaning or not. What do you think?

Ten questions worth pondering about the Colts without Peyton Manning:

1. Who’s under the most pressure?

The obvious answer is Kerry Collins, but if the expectations are unreasonable for the 39-year-old quarterback, that’s not on him. He can still be effective, but consistency is an issue and he tends to start games slowly. That’s a problem for the Colts, who are built to jump to leads and let defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis pursue quarterbacks who are trying to throw to catch up. Those successful two-minute drills that Manning has run at the end of a half or a game won't happen as often with Collins.

2. What will we learn about Colts head coach Jim Caldwell and offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen?

Jokes about Manning coaching the team tend to be over the top. But he certainly makes more pre-snap decisions on the field than any other quarterback in the league. Even if Collins winds up making some of those reads and determinations, Caldwell and Christensen must show they can plan effectively for him in a way they weren’t always responsible for with Manning at the controls.

3. Is the line ready to play better?

A lot of people not that familiar with how the Colts play look at the sack numbers (16 allowed in 2010) and judge Indianapolis to be one of the league’s best pass-protecting offensive lines. It’s not. The Colts spent their top two draft picks on offensive linemen Anthony Castonzo and Ben Ijalana. Castonzo is slated to start at left tackle, and left guard Joe Reitz has not played in an NFL regular-season game. Ryan Diem appears to be moving from right tackle to right guard as Jeff Linkenbach, undrafted last year, takes Diem’s long-time spot. Collectively, the group must offer Collins reliable protection and block more effectively for a running game that must do more.

4. How does Collins handle blitzes and pass pressure?

Teams typically paid for blitzing Manning, but defenses will certainly try to do more to get to Collins. He didn’t move well when he was younger, and it’s certainly not a big piece of his game now. He’s not afraid to throw it away and live for another day. And former Titans head coach Jeff Fisher, who coached Collins the past five years in Tennessee and game-planned against the Colts twice a year from 2002 through 2010, said Indianapolis will be equipped to counter extra blitz pressure with screens to Joseph Addai.

5. Who has a chance to shine?

Even if Manning were around, I expected the Colts to try to get the ball to rookie running back Delone Carter in short-yardage and goal-line situations. He’s different than fellow running backs Addai and Donald Brown and seems like a player who can find a tough yard even when things don’t get blocked as they should. That offensive line can get a lot of attention if it plays well. And Brody Eldridge, more of a blocking tight end, could see more time if the Colts feel like they must sacrifice three-wide sets for additional protection or run-game help.

6. Can the defense help more?

As we mentioned, it’s a team built to pass rush against an offense that must throw. The Colts have not been a good run-stopping team and the defense didn’t fare well at it in the preseason. Indianapolis is slated to face a bunch of top-level backs. We could see two veteran additions at end, Jamaal Anderson and Tyler Brayton, get chances to contribute on run downs and help keep Freeney and Mathis fresher to rush. Rookie tackle Drake Nevis can help too. Overall, the philosophy of limiting big plays and making teams move it a little at a time has worked well enough. It’s not like they can make a dramatic change in it now.

7. What about special teams?

It’s been a neglected area for much of the Manning era. The offense is good at driving the ball down the field and doesn’t often get a good return to set up field position. While Manning makes big dollars, so do the team’s other stars: Freeney, Mathis, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Gary Brackett and Antoine Bethea. Dedicating a lot of pay to that core means the team doesn’t have a lot of veteran backups, and veteran backups make up the backbone of good special teams units. This also is an area where things can’t really be changed because they are dictated by personnel.

8. What if Collins goes down?

Curtis Painter, a sixth-round draft pick from Purdue in 2009, is the third quarterback. The team is very defensive about him, but it’s an organization that works very hard to defend draft picks. But the fact is, in his limited regular-season action and in the preseason, Painter has been ineffective. If the Colts lost their backup quarterback and had to turn to Painter, they’d be in giant trouble. I can’t see Indianapolis going after another veteran now. David Garrard, released by the Jaguars this week, should find a job better than what the Colts might have to offer. I don’t see Indy being interested in him anyway.

9. Will the offense slow down?

As experienced and as wily as Collins may be, it’s difficult to imagine him being able to play at Manning’s pace, snapping the ball to catch defenses with too many men on the field or flapping his arms while changing, or pretending to change, what’s about to unfold. The Colts, however, benefit from locking defenses into personnel groupings. If Indy doesn’t huddle or take the time to substitute, the opponent can’t either. Whether they can, or want to try to, maintain that as an advantage remains to be seen. If they huddle more, they allow defenses to adjust more, too.

10. If the season is a total bomb, would they want Stanford QB Andrew Luck in the draft?

The deal Manning just signed is for five years. But if Indianapolis vice chairman Bill Polian had a chance at a guy who’s regarded as the best college quarterback to come out since, perhaps, Manning, I don’t see how the Colts wouldn’t take him and let him learn under Manning. But a four-year wait for Luck to play couldn’t happen either, and the Colts would have to craft a long-term plan.

Colts coach Jim Caldwell and his offensive coordinator, Clyde Christensen, are about to face a very complicated stretch.

Once Thursday night’s preseason finale at Cincinnati is in the books and the Colts are home, they’ve got to make plans or revise them for their quarterbacks in preparation for the Sept. 11 opener at Houston.

With Peyton Manning off the physically unable to perform list, the team said it has started him with limited, scripted work.

But isn’t all practice work scripted? There aren’t really such a thing as freelance practice periods. We don’t know when Manning will be turned loose for full practice where he might see something more unexpected. They likely won’t give us any indication until next Wednesday when they will have to say they he was out, limited or participated fully in practice.

The game plan will be shaped or refined early in the week. It’s got to be a lot different than it would be for Manning if Kerry Collins is going to start. So how do you draw that up?

How do the coach and coordinator then divide practice reps when Manning is used to taking them all?

If he's free to further test himself, Manning will need reps to maximize his chance to be ready. And Collins will need them as he’s still very much a newcomer and needs every play he can get surrounded by unfamiliar people.

The hope is the Colts will know if Manning can or can’t be in the lineup and can plan accordingly. But even if they do, things can change with a guy coming off an injury like Manning’s. They’ll have to be able to adjust as the week pans out.

This all could have been easier if Collins had been signed sooner. The Colts, though, maintained unreasonable faith in Curtis Painter and Manning’s rehab for too long, and added Collins too late.

Now they face a preparation period for their opener that could be awfully difficult.

When Chris Mortensen mentioned in SportsCenter draft preview shows that Mike Munchak had nearly lured Tom Moore to Tennessee as offensive coordinator, I figured the Colts would have let him go if he really wanted to.

It should have set off a bigger alarm bell.

Tuesday when I saw this mention that Moore has been invited to visit with the Jets to talk about red-zone scoring, I realized I’d missed something. It’s the second time he’s been identified as the Colts' "former offensive coordinator" instead of as their current senior assistant.

And what are the odds the Colts let Moore talk about a job with a division rival and let a conference foe approach him to talk strategy?

Zero.

Sure enough, Moore’s name is no longer on the team web site’s coaching roster and I've confirmed in a couple places that he’s no longer with the team. It's a change to the staff that officials have not yet been asked about.

It’s something I certainly should have asked Bill Polian about when I’ve had the chance.

It’s not uncommon for the Colts to make moves with no announcement and allow them to be discovered later -- something that’s taken too long for me to do. Perhaps Moore didn’t want any fanfare with his departure, it would fit with what I know of him. We do not know if it came against his wishes, if it was a mutual deal or if the team wanted him to stay and he chose to walk away.

Moore was instrumental in the creation and perfection of the Colts’ offense run by Peyton Manning. Last year, Clyde Christensen officially took over as offensive coordinator, with Moore reduced to offensive assistant. A reduction was significant, but it's nothing compared to a departure.

Mortensen’s report said Moore ultimately told Munchak he couldn’t make the commitment the Titans deserved.

That makes it sound as if the 72-year old coach no longer wants to live a full-time football life. More power to him if that's the case.

But remember, Howard Mudd made a declaration like that at the end of the 2009 season. And a little more than a year after he retired, he said yes to Andy Reid’s offer to join the Eagles’ staff for 2011.

As of now, at least for 2011, one of the NFL’s great offensive minds has taken a seat.

If there is a lockout -- when there is a lockout -- players are going to turn into coaches.

Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman has already talked about organizing Bucs workouts at Tampa high schools.

It’s a situation that will help the rich get richer. If you are a good team with quality leadership, you’ll be better organized and get more done and be more ready when games roll around. If you are not a good team and lack leadership, you’ll suffer and have trouble catching up, maybe even lose ground.

The sort of worst-to-first jumps we’ve grown accustomed to will be far more difficult to pull off if there are no OTAs and a shortened training camp, I believe.

So here is a look at how our four teams stand if they are reliant on player-leaders.

Indianapolis Colts

The venues will change, but Peyton Manning is the most coach-like player in the league. Indianapolis’ offense will have well-organized work. I suspect it won’t differ much from what the Colts would do regularly, outside of the missing coaches and changed venue. I envision Gary Bracket taking the lead on the other side of the ball.

Those two should have precise plans and suggestions in hand from Jim Caldwell, Clyde Christensen and Larry Coyer. It could be about as close to business as usual as any team pulls off.

Status: Excellent

Houston Texans

Offensively, Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson are steady offseason guys who should be able to rally the troops for work. The system is the same and Gary Kubiak can easily hand down instructions before things shut down.

Defensively, things will be different. The system is changing to Wade Phillips’ 3-4, and none of the defenders will know the coordinator well yet. DeMeco Ryans is coming off a serious Achilles injury, so while he may be an organizer, he won’t be a participant. Who is there to mentor the young corners?

Status: Just OK

Jacksonville Jaguars

The systems will stay in place, but Mel Tucker is taking over the defensive play calling from head coach Jack Del Rio. Aaron Kampman would be the top veteran leader on defense, but he’s rehabilitating a knee injury. Daryl Smith may be the best player, but does he have the personality to take charge? There is no clear point person on D.

David Garrard needs to show he can handle a situation like this. Coordinator Dirk Koetter can spell out a plan, but seeing will be believing when it comes to Garrard’s ability to follow through on it. Maurice Jones-Drew will certainly do what he can to chip in, but he may not be ready to do anything full speed after knee surgery.

Status: A bit of a mystery

Tennessee Titans

This is an awful scenario for the Titans. The quarterback is the obvious guy to lead the offense in such a time, and Tennessee doesn’t have one. (No offense, Rusty Smith, but you're not qualified to handle this yet.) Mike Munchak and his staff want to change things, but players organizing workouts together won’t ever have been through a practice run by this staff.

Who’s an offensive point person for new offensive coordinator Chris Palmer, who’s only got a couple weeks to get to know anyone? Ahmard Hall’s a candidate, but a fullback who’s not on the field full time only carries so much weight no matter how good of a leader he is. And he's not under contract for 2011.

The defense lacked leadership, and a guy like Jason Babin isn’t under contract. Again, who’s the point man for new coordinator Jerry Gray? Maybe Will Witherspoon?

Status: Potentially disastrous

Indianapolis receiver Reggie Wayne was fuming after the Colts' playoff loss to the Jets on Saturday night. One of the league’s most prolific receivers matched up with Darrelle Revis and caught one, 1-yard pass. That was the lone time Peyton Manning targeted Wayne.

"It's bull. It's bull, man," said Wayne, per Mike Chappell. "I give everything I've got no matter what. Every day, I give it everything. And . . . one ball, that's all..."

"I shouldn't have even suited up. I should have watched the game like everybody else. I was irrelevant."

You’d want to be upset over his role and the result. You’d like for Manning to have looked to him more. You’d like for offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen to have designed more things to get him looks. And, of course, Wayne is free to do better work against Revis, which prompts Manning to throw to him.

Said Colts coach Jim Caldwell on Sunday: “Reggie was expressing some disappointment obviously in not getting it more. But just in terms of how we do what we normally do, week-in and week-out, plays are called that we think are going to give us an opportunity to convert and gain yardage, and all our quarterback does is read through his progressions and does his normal thing. It’s just one of those games.”

Last year we went into the Colts' offseason wondering about Wayne’s role in Tracy Porter’s crucial pick-6 that sealed the Saints’ Super Bowl win. Manning shouldn’t have made that throw, but Wayne didn’t seem to run a crisp route or put up much resistance as Porter jumped it.

This year we go into the Colts’ offseason wondering if Wayne, who made a play for a contract extension last season but is signed through 2012, will carry a bad feeling about the end of the season, and if it will play a role in another contract protest.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Barring a scoreless overtime, the Colts' appearance at LP Field guarantees that one AFC South team will end a losing streak Thursday night.

As they brace for the first of two head-to-head matchups in the final month of the season, the Colts (6-6) and Titans (5-7) have combined to lose eight straight.

Somebody gets to leave the stadium tonight feeling a lot better. Here are five questions to consider before we see who that is.

1. Will Peyton Manning break out of his funk? He has 11 interceptions in his past three games. But the Titans have only three interceptions during their five consecutive losses. Look for corner Cortland Finnegan to draw the difficult Reggie Wayne assignment, but to have plenty of help as the Titans show themselves more willing to take chances with Pierre Garcon, Jacob Tamme and especially Blair White.

Rookie Alterraun Verner is the second starting corner and will face Manning for the first time, and second-year man Jason McCourty will work in the nickel. McCourty started last season in a loss to the Colts when the Titans gave up 309 passing yards and three passing touchdowns to Manning with only one pick.

Tennessee has been getting crushed in time of possession -- it hasn’t held the ball for 21 minutes in its past two losses. Manning will be content to take what’s given and string together long drives if he can.

2. Who’s playing in the Colts' secondary? The Colts' starting cornerbacks are out -- Jerraud Powers is finished for the season after surgery to repair a broken forearm and Kelvin Hayden is not recovered from a neck injury. That means Jacob Lacey and Justin Tryon are in line to work as the top two corners with rookie Cornelius Brown as the nickel.

The Titans have hardly been slinging it. They haven’t scored an offensive touchdown since Nov. 21. But Kerry Collins will have receiver Kenny Britt back after a four-game layoff with a hamstring injury and surely Tennessee will finally throw a jump ball to Randy Moss, right?

A drop-off at corner can mean extra strain on safeties Antoine Bethea and Aaron Francisco. Unless, of course, defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis are regularly able to hurry Collins and shorten the clock for all the guys in coverage.

3. How many catches will Tamme have? While the tight end has been productive, he’s not Dallas Clark. But the Titans' defense has given up significant yardage to tight ends far less talented than Clark this season.

I don’t know that anything has changed for the Titans' linebackers, who are most responsible for those issues, and I look for the Colts to be primed to attack the soft underbelly of the Tennessee defense until Stephen Tulloch or Will Witherspoon or Gerald McRath prove things are any different.

Heck, watch the banged-up Brody Eldridge make a couple of key catches.

4. How much will Indy even try to run it? The Colts would like to show some semblance of balance and some effective runs would help keep the play-action believable -- though everyone seems to bite on it even when they can’t run. It will be interesting to see how coach Jim Caldwell and offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen deploy Donald Brown, Javarris James and Dominic Rhodes.

“They won’t run on us if we play Titans’ defense, to tell you the truth,” defensive tackle Jovan Haye said. “If we have somewhat of a repeat performance from Sunday, then they will. They utilize it in their offense, but they’re not a big run team. If we play like we did [surrendering 258 rushing yards in the loss to Jacksonville], they’ll run the ball.”

5. Can Chris Johnson get something going? He wants more carries and the Titans are desperate to get him going to help elongate drives, keep the defense off the field and alter the time of possession trend. But last year the Colts didn’t allow him a carry longer than 11 yards in two games while holding him to a 4.1-yard average.

Titans fullback Ahmard Hall said tackle Fili Moala, in his first year starting, and rookie linebacker Pat Angerer have been very effective run-stopping pieces on top of what the Colts had previously.

The Titans need to show a willingness to throw deep to Britt and Moss to keep the Colts honest and buy a bit of extra space and time for Johnson.

“He is an outstanding back with outstanding numbers,” Caldwell said. “I think what happens just like anything else, people get spoiled. He is a talented guy and I think he has been performing well. We have to get ready to handle him because he is a heck of a back.”

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Devin McCourty had just intercepted a pass intended for Pierre Garcon. The Colts were down 14 points in the third quarter. Peyton Manning was understandably unhappy.

He wore that Manning grimace and repeated that Manning head shake as he walked to the sideline, settling near offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen. Hands on hips the two talked, side by side, facing the Patriots' offense on the field. Soon the pictures arrived, and the dissection started.

Manning and the Colts rebounded in a big way from there at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The quarterback found Blair White for two touchdowns in a span of 3 minutes, 11 seconds and Indianapolis was improbably back in it, with the ball and a chance to win or tie at the end.

But when it came time for that score, the Colts couldn’t find it. Manning’s deep ball up the right side for Garcon wasn’t deep enough. James Sanders went up and grabbed New England’s third interception, sealing a 31-28 win.

Manning’s perturbed meter was well beyond grimace or head shake level after the game.

“If you’re asking if I’m stewing about it right now, the answer would be yes,” Manning said not long after it was over, and not long before he sat in front of his locker in his suit, head down, angry.

His Colts have lost four games or fewer eight times in his 13 seasons, including the last seven. Now they’re 6-4 with six more left to play.

A team built on meticulousness was simply too imprecise on the road against a top team to pull it off, just like two weeks ago in Philadelphia when a field goal could have won it but Manning threw a late pick.

If the 14th head-to-head game of the Manning-Tom Brady era is played this postseason, it will almost certainly be played in frigid Foxborough, not inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

“They’ve won numerous Super Bowls,” wide receiver Reggie Wayne said. “We’re trying to win numerous. Me personally, I kind of feel like we’re kind of chasing them a little bit. And to catch them you’ve got to beat them. Each time we play them it’s always tough. We almost got it done. But that’s the way it goes. Hopefully we do what we’ve got to do and we see them later.”

The play that ended the Colts’ hopes was a first-and-10 from the New England 24-yard line that started with 37 seconds on the clock and Indy still holding two timeouts.

Manning said he looked to Garcon because he was one-on-one with McCourty in press coverage. But rushing linebacker Jermaine Cunningham closed on Manning and if he didn’t graze or bump him he at least affected his throwing motion. There wasn’t enough on the ball to beat Sanders.

“It was a bad throw, I certainly didn’t get everything on it that I wanted,” Manning said. “… I’m just sick about not extending the game, there’s just no excuse not to extend the game there, give [Adam] Vinatieri a chance at a field goal. We were going for the win, we had some time, we had some timeouts and felt like we had a good play called.

“It was just a poor throw and it’s just really, really sickening.”

The Colts allowed New England six third-down conversions in six first-half chances. Through three quarters, they allowed 5.2 yards a carry while gaining only 1.3 yards a carry themselves. And they failed to do anything to offset Manning’s three interceptions with no takeaways.

Tyjuan Hagler had the best chance, but an errant Brady pass around the New England 40-yard line with about 2:32 left bounced right off the nickel linebacker.

The Colts are built to play from ahead, which allows two of their best defenders, Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, to rush a passer trying to forge a comeback. But against the Eagles and Patriots the Colts have played from behind.

Manning with possession and time at the end of the game is still typically a pretty good formula. But it hasn't been working.

“Usually that’s one of our strong suits, we’re able to move the ball,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. “I think you saw it in the previous drives. But we just didn’t finish it like we typically do.”

Manning said the Patriots managed to disguise things and confuse him, creating the two earlier interceptions. He absolved Garcon on plays where it seemed there was miscommunication and the receiver might have gone to the wrong spot.

“New England was really mixing them up, moving around,” Manning said. “So I had a couple misreads on the coverages.”

Tied with Jacksonville at 6-4 atop the AFC South, the Colts are actually down a tiebreaker to the Jaguars because of a loss in Jacksonville on Oct. 3.

Six other AFC teams have a record as good as or better than the Colts, who play host to San Diego next Sunday night. They’ve lost four of their past five games against the Chargers.

Before the team boarded their bus and headed for the airport, cornerback Kelvin Hayden mentioned how Tennessee and Houston had lost too.

The Colts, 10 games into the season, monitoring the results of the rest of the division? Given their record this decade, it seems unnatural. For those who’ve endured heartbreak by Manning’s hands, it’s surely enjoyable.

“We have high expectations,” safety Antoine Bethea said. “So four losses before Thanksgiving is awkward. But if you look at it, we’re still first in the AFC South. If we win, if we take care of what we need to take care of, we get to the playoffs, and once you’re in the playoffs it’s a new season.”

Late Monday afternoon, we’ll see the obligatory shot of Peyton Manning walking into Lucas Oil Stadium in a sharp suit. For many big-time players, it’s the standard pre-uniform uniform.

In the case of Manning and the Colts, it’s fittingly symbolic.

Some teams may match Indianapolis’ business-like approach. I don’t know that anyone surpasses it.

Serious has produced a lot of success in the Manning era. Preparation and semi-stoic personalities are staple elements of the team’s culture.

Colts president Bill Polian is a serious guy. Head coach Jim Caldwell is a serious guy. Manning is a serious guy. Their humor tends to be understated or deadpanned. Manning’s known for telegenic sarcasm, not whoopee cushions and hand buzzers.

A good organization takes on the personality of people in those positions, and most of the Colts follow the lead of the team’s power trinity.

I’m not around the team daily, but I’ve spent a good bit of time with the Colts since 2008. Big personalities are a big part of the NFL. But even the Colts’ bubbliest guys -- Gary Brackett, Jeff Saturday, Pat McAfee -- often strive to be reserved. (I bet McAfee shows a lot less personality than he used to when he returns from a one-game suspension for an alcohol-related arrest.)

Players in Indianapolis sometimes try to be uninteresting and bland. It’s safer. It takes less time. It can’t become a distraction.

Given all that serious and calm, I sometimes wonder where having fun ranks in the team’s pyramid of success. It’s something I’ve pondered since training camp and something I think can be looked at, like chemistry, as a chicken-and-egg question.

Do you need success to have fun? Do you need to have fun to have success?

Caldwell gave me a nice chunk of time on the subject during training camp.

“I think success breeds fun,” said Caldwell, whose team meets the Houston Texans in an AFC South showdown on Monday night (ESPN, 8:30 ET). “Guys have to believe in what you’re doing, they have to be able to in execute it, and that’s hard work. It’s discipline, it’s fortitude, it’s toughness. All of those things -- there is no easy way to get that done.

“I really do believe the fun comes after. And you can enjoy it. These guys enjoy it and have passion for what we do. Passion, enthusiasm -- those are high on the list. That’s different than fun. And I think fun comes after winning. That’s my take on it.”

Weekly preparations can be monotonous. There are moments in an NFL day and times in an NFL week that laughter can help pass time better than anything. I am sure the Colts, like other teams, have plenty of those times.

But you won’t come across stories of the Colts dressing up rookies in Halloween costumes for a flight or of a position group deciding to all grow mustaches or mullets. You won’t find two of their top players doing a reality show on Versus or a star with a weekly fantasy football radio show.

Stuff like that just isn’t part of the way the Colts operate, and their fun comes in different, less visible, ways.

“I think when you think of the Colts, you think of the mellow-type guys who take everything business-like and serious,” second-year cornerback Jerraud Powers said. “But we’ve got a lot of jokes going on on this team. We’ve got a lot of different personalities. You see Dan Muir and Eric Foster and them in pregame warm-ups trying to see who can dance the best. You’ve got Peyton in the funny commercials and all that. They bring that type of excitement to the team.

“We have fun, we cut up and play around. But when it’s time for football, that’s what it is: It’s football.”

And while Caldwell might go into great detail about work and discipline, fortitude and toughness, he does talk fun too.

“When Coach Caldwell has a meeting, it’s ‘We’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that, we’ve got to do this.’ But he always ends with ‘let’s have fun and win,’ ” Powers said. “People take it to heart … I think we have fun, just in our own way. You might not see a guy going out of the ordinary, trying to get attention. But we have fun out there.”

And laughs and smiles and jokes are hardly the only measure of whether football players are having fun.

Seeing a smart plan work is fun. Executing with a precision that frustrates an opponent is fun. Carrying a coaching tip into a game and seeing it work against an opponent is fun. (Cashing large paychecks must be fun, too.)

Clyde Christensen, a Tony Dungy disciple who is now Caldwell’s offensive coordinator, said he looks at the whole job and setting as fun.

“I just give them the same bullet points that I have with my life, you know?" Christensen said. "What a great privilege to make your living in football. I’m going to enjoy it, I’m going to enjoy every day, I’m going to enjoy practice, I’m going to enjoy the guys.

“Now I have found ... winning is really fun. But I’m going to enjoy it either way. I love doing it, I love coaching, I love teaching, I love being around these guys, I like the relationships; I enjoy all that’s part of it. It is an awful lot of fun to win a football game. It’s an awful good feeling to head into that locker room with the guys you did that with.”

Things differ from guy to guy. Christensen cited injured tight end Dallas Clark as a fun-all-the-time type. Caldwell knows he comes across differently, and freely admits he doesn’t relax much until his work is done. There might be a few weeks during the offseason when he really asks if he’s finished.

Everything else qualifies as prep time.

“Our guys enjoy playing. Just watch our guys when they take the field -- there is a lot of enthusiasm, they have a great time,” he said. “But I also believe this: the fun is in winning. In our preparation to do so, we have a good time.”

ANDERSON, Ind. -- Sometimes, when working to build a post, the entry is accelerated and breaks into pieces.

Since arriving at Colts camp, I’ve been asking questions about Clyde Christensen, who’s in his ninth season with the team but his first as offensive coordinator.

It’s a job he’s held once before in the NFL, and his offense in 2001 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was not very good. (Here’s an interview he did leading into that season.) On Wednesday I asked head coach Jim Caldwell about Christensen in his new position and about that Tampa Bay experience. His answer prompted me to look back at those Bucs and to write now even though I expect to talk to Christensen on Friday.

The Bucs were 30th in rushing with an injured Warrick Dunn, 15th in passing, 26th in total offense and 15th in scoring.

After 12 games, Christensen told the St. Petersburg Times: "It has to begin with me. That's my job. To get them coordinated. I have no problem with the criticism. The bottom line is the performance, and we should be better than we are.

"If I was giving myself a grade, I'd say about a C. Dead average. That's disappointing, because being average is not satisfactory."

Then after Philadelphia routed the Bucs 31-9 in the wild-card round, Tampa Bay receiver Keyshawn Johnson said: "A lot of guys on this team have a lot of bark, but no bite. Guys have to just shut up and play."

Per Caldwell’s request, I checked the stats, and here’s what I think he was driving at: A year after Tony Dungy and his staff were fired and Jon Gruden took over, the Bucs won the Super Bowl.

But that championship offense, in a league with one more franchise, was 27th in rushing (three spots better than Christensen’s), 15th in passing (same), 24th in total offense (two spots better) and 18th in scoring (three spots worse.)

Gruden was regarded as an offensive genius at that point, but his offense had a lot of the same weak spots as Christensen’s did.

While Caldwell indicated he thinks Christensen got a bad rap in Tampa Bay, the Colts coach also mentioned how a lot of coaches who were perceived to be not great in their first go-around rebounded to fare much better in a second chance.

He pointed to his own poor win-loss record as coach at Wake Forest, mentioned the difference in Dennis Green from college to the NFL and nodded in agreement when I mentioned Bill Belichick as another example.

“You ought to check the stats and see what exactly we were trying to get done and what we got done,” he said of Christensen’s year as coordinator with the Bucs, when Caldwell was quarterbacks coach on the same Dungy staff. “A lot of people make assumptions and have preconceived notions about things.

“But he’s a very good football coach, he’s a very capable guy, he’s an excellent leader and I think you’ll see he’ll do a great job.”

In Indy, Tom Moore is still around as senior offensive assistant and Peyton Manning is still determining what exactly to do on a play as he assesses things after breaking the huddle. We aren’t going to see a discernable difference because Christensen is now officially at the helm. He’s put in good years with the team, earned Caldwell’s trust and loyalty as well as this promotion. He’s obviously inheriting a great offense.

Still, it’s reasonable to look at that stint in Tampa Bay and wonder how it will go.

“He’s in his position because he’s capable,” Caldwell said. “He’s a very good, very strong offensive mind. He knows our system extremely well. He’s been working in it for a number of years now, had played a major role in it, oftentimes behind the scenes. ... [He’s worked on] our red zone, we’ve been very effective in that particular area, and our third-down packages as well.”

Stay tuned for more on him, and hopefully from him, later this week.