Washington: The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints seek to stretch their unbeaten runs in the National Football League tomorrow against two teams on an upward swing.
The 7-0 Colts survived some iffy offence in an 18-14 victory over San Francisco last week.
Now quarterback Peyton Manning leads the Colts against Matt Schaub’s Houston Texans, who are trying to win their fourth straight.
Against the 49ers, the Colts settled for field goals on four visits to the red zone. Manning failed to connect on a touchdown pass for the first time since November of last year.
“I thought we weren’t quite as sharp as we have been at times,” Manning said. “There’s definitely some areas we can improve on.”
While they are unbeaten, Indianapolis have faced just one team with a winning record so far - Arizona in week three. After Houston they have New England, Baltimore and the Texans again looming.
“We are getting into the teeth of our schedule right now,” Manning said.
Houston beat Buffalo 31-10 last week for their third straight win, and the best start in club history.
“When you get to where your football team is pretty good, they’re all big,” Houston coach Gary Kubiak said of the significance of the contest. “It’s just nice that we’re to the point now where we should play in some big football games here in the second half and none bigger than the first one.” The Saints have matched their best start in history and look to go to 8-0 when they host Carolina at the Superdome. However, the Panthers own a seven-game winning streak over the Saints in New Orleans and they arrive in the Crescent City having won three of their last four games, including a victory over Arizona on Sunday.
Panthers quarterback and New Orleans native Jake Delhomme has thrown an NFL-worst 13 interceptions, but completed his first game without a turnover.
The Panthers are averaging 217.6 yards rushing in their last three contests, after failing to reach 100 in three of their first four. “I think we’ve run the ball pretty effectively over the last month,” coach John Fox said. “That’s not the area we’ve been concerned with.” Philadelphia host Dallas in a battle for the NFC East division lead - the 100th meeting between the bitter rivals. A loss at Philly to end the 2008 season saw Dallas miss out on a playoff berth.
“I think we all remember so much - I know I do and so many players on this team remember - how we left Philadelphia last year,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
“We just flat out got our tail whooped, man. No excuse or anything like that,” receiver Patrick Crayton told the Cowboys’ official Web site. “We went home and had to sulk and had to deal with that for the whole offseason.” Dallas appeared to still be feeling the effects early this season, opening 2-2.
Since their bye week they have notched two solid victories.
“Ever since their bye week, they’ve been playing well, too, so it’s going to be a challenge for us no matter what,” Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb predicted.
In other games, New England host division foes Miami, Chicago host Arizona, Cincinnati host Baltimore, Tampa Bay host Green Bay, Jacksonville host Kansas City, Atlanta host Washington, Seattle host Detroit, the New York Giants host San Diego and San Francisco host Tennessee, while on Monday Denver host the Super Bowl champion Steelers. - AFP
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