There’s still plenty of football left to play this season, which makes it a bit premature to start thinking about any potential playoff matchups.
It’s hard not to notice, though, that the current AFC playoff picture includes the Broncos as a division leader and the Colts as a Wild Card team. That could mean a matchup in the playoffs between Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, the guy who replaced him in Indianapolis this season.
That’s not the only intriguing thing about that matchup. Manning would also be taking the field against some defensive players who have spent their careers benefitting from his presence instead of having to try to come up with ways to stop Manning from shredding them on their way to victory. Linebacker Dwight Freeney is one of those players and he admitted this week to thinking about the possibility of putting a hit on the guy he was required to avoid in practice for the last 10 years.
“Peyton obviously (was) the staple of Indianapolis and this organization for years. I went after him in practice year in and year out and never got a chance to hit him. So, yeah, I would love to hit him,” Freeney said in an interview with Dave Dameshek of NFL.com “If you think about it, that’ll be strange, but I’ll be excited.”
If the Colts are going to make it to a playoff showdown with the Broncos (or anybody else), it would help if Freeney started hitting a few more people now. He’s got one sack and four tackles in five games this season.