Colts continue perfect start as Philly bow out

WHILE the Indianapolis Colts took another step towards perfection, the defending NFC champions Philadelphia Eagles hit the end of their road to the NFL playoffs on Sunday.

The Colts became the fourth team in NFL history to go 13-0, beating Jacksonville 26-18. Next, they’ll face San Diego and will be trying to become only the second team to win its first 14 games. The other? The 1972 Dolphins, whose 17-0 record is the only perfect mark in league history.

Not that Indy are thinking about it.

“We definitely want to win,” coach Tony Dungy said. “We’re going to play to win and go from there. We’re going to keep our mantra: one game at a time. We’re going to do everything we can to beat San Diego and we’re not going to look ahead.”

The Eagles (5-8) haven’t got the play-offs to look ahead to. After four straight trips to the NFC title game, and a Super Bowl berth last February, Philadelphia was eliminated from contention with a 26-23 overtime loss to the New York Giants.

Decimated by injuries and discord, Philadelphia became the fifth consecutive team to miss the play-offs after losing the Super Bowl the previous season. Six of the 10 players that went to the Pro Bowl last year were lost to injuries, free agency or suspension, including Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook and the banished Terrell Owens.

“It’s tough when you don’t have that cohesiveness and it’s hard to jell,” safety Sheldon Brown said. “But I’m proud of the guys. They fought, but as I know, we expect to win here and that’s the bottom line.”