What: Week 11
When: Sunday, Nov. 22, 1 p.m.
Where: M&T Bank Stadium
TV: WJZ-TV, Channel 13 (Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf)
Radio: WIYY-FM, 97.9 (Gerry Sandusky, Rob Burnett, Stan White)

ABOUT THE COLTS (9-0)

Indianapolis is the last unbeaten team in the AFC. It is the fifth time in the last seven years the Colts have won at least five straight games to start the season, including a 13-0 launch in 2005.

The Colts have been tested this year, getting narrow home wins against Jacksonville, San Francisco, Houston and New England. Those four victories were by a combined total of 10 points, and a road win at Miami came by just four points.

With 18 straight regular-season wins, the Colts can break a tie with the 2003-04 New England Patriots for the second-longest streak in history. The Patriots (06-08) hold the record with 21 consecutive wins.

The Colts have won an NFL-high 123 games since 1999 and have a league-best .750 win percentage since 2002. They are also 33-12 in November games since 1999, also tops in the league.

Indianapolis has been the NFL's most reliable playoff participant. It has made the postseason in nine of the last 10 years, including the last seven straight seasons. The Colts have also won six AFC South Division titles; a string of five straight was snapped by the Tennessee Titans last year.

Including a 2006 Divisional Round playoff win, the Colts are 7-2 with six straight wins against the team from the city they used to call home. After losing in their first two visits here, the Colts have won in their last three Charm City visits.

For both the Colts and Ravens, this is a "placement" game, one of only two that each team annually plays that is determined by where they finished in their respective divisions the previous year. If both teams finish in the same place in their divisions this year, they will meet in Indianapolis in 2010.

First-year head coach Jim Caldwell, the former Wake Forest head coach, took over after veteran coach Tony Dungy retired after last season.

Indianapolis is one of the league's youngest teams, with 37 of the team's current 53-man roster having played four or fewer years in the NFL.

The Colts' offense is ranked third overall, gaining 401.1 yards per game. They are tops in passing, 29th in rushing (86 yards per game) and sixth in scoring at 28 points per game, having been held under 20 points only twice in nine games. They are one of the best third-down teams in the league, having converted 57 of 114 chances (.50). The Colts have converted an NFL-best 47 percent of their third-down chances since 2002.

The Ravens can't afford to get off to a slow start against the Colts, a team that has outscored its opponents in the first half by a 140-78 margin. Not only that the Colts have scored 61 first-half points against the Ravens in their last two meetings.
Offensively, wideout Anthony Gonzalez (knee ligament sprain) and running back Donald Brown (shoulder) have been slowed by injuries.

Nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Peyton Manning (69.7 percent completions, league-high 20 TD, seven INT) has been sacked only eight times and is one of only five quarterbacks with a passer rating over 100 this season (AFC-best 104.2). He posted a 90 or better rating in six of his first seven regular-season meetings against the Ravens. Manning, who has directed 40 fourth-quarter career comebacks, might be having his best-ever season with a career-high eight, 300-yard games.

The Colts' offensive line is still anchored by 11-year center Jeff Saturday, but it has a pair of new faces in fourth-year left tackle Charles Johnson, who came off the bench in Super Bowl XLI and has allowed only one career sack, and former Arena2 League right guard Kyle DeVan, who played for the Boise Burn.

Running back Joseph Addai (440 yards) scored three touchdowns in the Colts' 2007 visit to Baltimore. He has six rushing scores this year.

Tight end Dallas Clark (64 catches, 12 yards per catch, three TDs) needs one catch to pass John Mackey for most tight-end receptions in Colts history. Wideout Reggie Wayne leads the NFL with 69 catches and is tied for the league high with eight touchdowns. He also has 18 third-down grabs. Rookie Austin Collie has 38 catches and four scores, and second-year man Pierre Garcon has 26 receptions and a 15-yard average.

Defensively, Indianapolis has the 13th-ranked defense in the league and has allowed only 14 touchdowns in nine games. They are 15th against the run and 16th against the pass, but the bend-but-doesn't-break unit has yielded the lowest scoring average in the league (15.8 points per game). They have allowed more than 20 points in a game only twice.

Defensive ends Dwight Freeney (9.5 sacks, third in the league) and Robert Mathis (8.5, fifth) have 16 of the team's 24 sacks. Mathis, who had three sacks against the Ravens last year, has three of the team's seven fumble recoveries; the team has a plus-7 turnover ratio in its favor. Freeney had a streak of nine straight games with a sack, one shy of the NFL record, stopped last week.

The Colts have 10 interceptions from eight different players, including three from safety Antoine Bethea, the team's leading tackler (79).

Indianapolis' secondary has been hit with season-ending injuries to cornerback Marlin Jackson and safety Bob Sanders, and temporary ailments to safety Aaron Francisco and cornerback Kelvin Hayden. Both Francisco and Hayden did not play last week against New England. Linebacker Tyjuan Hagler is also done for the year.

After kicker Adam Vinatieri injured his knee, the Colts acquired free-agent kicker and former Ravens standout Matt Stover, the last of the old Cleveland Browns to have continuously stayed in Baltimore. Stover promptly converted his first of six field-goal tries for the Colts, all between 22 and 40 yards. He has also converted an NFL-record 402 consecutive points-after touchdown going back to October 1996.

The Colts' return and coverage units are in the middle of the leaguewide pack. TJ Rushing is returning punts at a 5.9-yard pace and Chad Simpson is averaging 22.4 per kick runback.

Former West Virginia punter and seventh-round draft pick Pat McAfee has put 12 of 36 punts inside the coffin corner with just three touchbacks. He has 10 kickoff touchbacks, contributing to an opponents' average drive-start of the 23.3-yard line, the AFC's best.

Wide receivers coach Clyde Christensen was on the Maryland staff in 1992-93 and special teams coach Ray Rychleski held the same job at College Park from 2001-07.

Colts quarterbacks coach Frank Reich played at Maryland from 1981-84. Reich directed the largest-ever pro football comeback (32-point deficit, Buffalo over Houston, AFC wild-card game, 1991) and one of the biggest college comebacks (31-point deficit, Maryland over Miami, 1984).

PREDICTION

The Colts have been more consistent on offense and are used to getting out to big leads against the Ravens.

Colts 31
Ravens 23

Issue 143: November 2009 -- Updated Nov. 19, 2009