INDIANAPOLIS —
The game — Indianapolis Colts (2-13, 1-3 AFC South) at Jacksonville Jaguars (4-11, 2-3 AFC South), EverBank Field (Grass), Jacksonville, FL, 1 p.m. (EST).

Coverage ­ CBS Sports (Spero Dedes, Steve Beuerlein); Colts Radio Network (Bob Lamey, Will Wolford, Kevin Lee); Sirius NFL Radio Channel 113 (Colts), Channel 112 (Jaguars); XM NFL Radio Channel Channel 233 (Jaguars).

The coaches — Colts: Jim Caldwell (26-21, 3rd year); Jaguars: Mel Tucker (1-3, 1st year). Jim Caldwell has a 3-2 career coaching record against the Jaguars. Tucker is Jacksonville¹s interim head coach and has never faced Indianapolis in his current role.

The series — 22nd regular-season meeting. Colts lead series, 15-6. The Jaguars have posted wins in two of the last three matchups. Indianapolis, though, has won four of the past six and six of the past 10 meetings. The Colts have a 7-3 record against Jacksonville in road games. Six of the last eight games have been decided by a touchdown or less. Seven of the last eight meetings have been decided by 10 points or less. Eight of the last eight matchups have been decided by 14 points or less. Jaguars PK Josh Scobee has provided the margin of victory for Jacksonville in three of the series meetings (53 yards with 0:38 left on 10/24/04; 51 yards with 0:04 left on 9/21/08; and 59 yards with 0:05 left on 10/3/10).

Noting it ­ QB Dan Orlovsky has completed 34-of-58 passes for 326 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions over the past two weeks in wins over Tennessee and Houston. Orlovsky has a 95 passer rating in fourth quarter as a Colts starter in 2011ŠRB Joseph Addai had two rushing touchdowns in his last meeting at JacksonvilleŠWR Reggie Wayne needs 113 receiving yards to reach 1,000 for the eighth consecutive season. Wayne has 887 receiving yards this seasonŠWayne has caught two touchdown passes in his last two games, wins over AFC South rivals Tennessee and HoustonŠWR Austin Collie has hauled in four touchdown receptions in his past four meetings with the JaguarsŠDE Robert Mathis has registered three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in his last two gamesŠMathis needs 1.5 sacks to reach 10 for the fifth time in his NFL career.

Did you know? ­ With Minnesota winning last Saturday against Washington, it’s down to Indy and the Rams as to who will get the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL draft. But draft positioning is the farthest thing from the mind of the Colts.

Did you know 2? ­ The Colts have never been swept by an AFC South opponent since the division came into existence in 2002. The Titans and Texans fell the last two weeks and Jacksonville is up next.

 

Did you know 3? ­ WR Pierre Garcon needs 75 receiving yards to reach 1,000 for the first time in his NFL career. Garcon has six touchdown receptions this year, which ties his single-season best (2010).

Did you know 4? ­ DE Dwight Freeney has recorded nine career sacks against Jacksonville. DE Robert Mathis is aiming for his third straight game with a sack against the Jaguars.

Stat of the week ­ Reggie Wayne has 1,599 receiving yards against the Jaguars, the most against any opponent.

The game plan –  Finish. That’s the goal heading into the Jacksonville game on Sunday.

Finish with a sweep of AFC South teams after knocking off Tennessee and Houston the last two weeks. Finish on offense when you’re in the red zone.

Find a way to punch the ball into the end zone. And finish on defense. Finish the turnaround that started in the second half of the loss to Baltimore.

Simply put, the Colts must be able to have a sustained running game while taking advantage of passing situations. Defensively, Indianapolis has to be able to slow down the Jaguars running game. And they must find a way to force mistakes by a rookie quarterback.

Key matchups –  Colts WR Reggie Wayne vs. the Jaguars secondary. Wayne usually plays well against Jacksonville and he has played well over the last two weeks in wins over the Titans and Texans. Depending on how his offseason contract negotiations go, Sunday’s game with the Jaguars could very well be Wayne’s last in an Indianapolis uniform.

Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert vs. the Colts’ pass rush. Indianapolis didn’t do a bad overall job against Gabbert earlier in the season, although there were some crucial breakdowns in the second half of that game that allowed the rookie signal caller to break free of the pocket and make some plays downfield. That can’t happen on Sunday.

Colts run defense vs. Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew. Jones-Drew is considered to be the best running back that Indianapolis’ defense faces on a regular basis. He has been tough for the Colts to stop completely. They’ve slowed him down some on occasion, but Indianapolis — who came very close to drafting Jones-Drew in 2006 and teaming him with RB Joseph Addai — has yet to completely shut him down.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the healthiest teams in the league over the first 10 weeks of the season.

No starters on injured reserve. Only a few backups out for the year. It one was one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal season.

It all changed Monday. The Jaguars placed cornerback Rashean Mathis, guard Eben Britton and backup linebacker/special teams standout Kyle Bosworth on injured reserve because of injuries.

Mathis tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Sunday’s 17-3 win at Indianapolis and will have season-ending surgery. Britton, who missed the last four games, developed an infection following back surgery in training camp. Bosworth broke his left hand against the Colts.

“It’s life in the NFL,” coach Jack Del Rio said Monday. “It’s a tough business. It was nice to get a win. Tough for a couple guys to get news that they’re going to go on IR, but as a football team we’re going forward doing the best we can.”

Losing Mathis is the biggest setback for the Jaguars (3-6), and it could mean he has played his last game in Jacksonville. Born and raised in Jacksonville, Mathis is in the final year of his contract. It’s unclear whether the team will give the 31-year-old defender who has missed games in four of the last five seasons a new deal.

Mathis was playing arguably his best football, with 12 passes defended and an interception this season. He injured his knee while planting to cover Colts receiver Pierre Garcon.

“It’s unfortunate,” Del Rio said. “He’s a good football player. He’s having a good year for us and so obviously, as we do, we move on as a team.”

Mathis has started 125 games — every one he’s played since being drafted in the second round in 2003 — made the Pro Bowl in 2006 and was the leader of the team’s revamped secondary. Without him, Will Middleton will move into a starting role.

“That’s a huge loss,” defensive end Jeremy Mincey said. “That’s a veteran voice we need out there. We’ve got guys that have to step in and pick up where he left off and grow up, hopefully do the same thing he did.”

Despite Mathis’ injury, Jacksonville won for the second time in three games and kept alive slim hopes of winning the AFC South. The Jaguars dominated the Colts, scoring points on one of Curtis Painter’s two interceptions and turning backup Dan Orlovsky’s fumble into a late touchdown that sealed the game.

But injury news kept the Jaguars from celebrating.

Mathis had X-rays in Indianapolis and tests Monday revealed the severity of the knee injury.

“With us being a young defense, a lot of players look up to him for guidance, just for the type of ability that he has,” cornerback Drew Coleman said. “When we come to the sidelines, we discuss things and it’s kind of like he has the last say on how we do certain things during certain plays. …

“The confidence is there within our group that we’ll pick it up and replace him. In this league, you’re always one play away from being a starter. Now that that opportunity is there, we’ll step up and fill that role. We won’t miss a beat, but we’ll miss his leadership. We’ll miss looking up to him for guidance. We’ll truly miss him, but we have young guys who are ready to take advantage of this opportunity.”

The Jaguars expect to work out several cornerbacks Tuesday.

The team also signed second-year tight end Fendi Onobun off Washington’s practice squad and added tight end Colin Cloherty to the practice squad. The team also waived rookie tight end Schuylar Oordt from the practice squad.

The moves left Jacksonville with two open roster spots, which could be used to replace Britton and Bosworth.

Bosworth was one of the team’s top special teams tacklers.

Britton missed the entire preseason and the opener because of a herniated disk in his back. He started three games, but his back tightened up the morning of the Oct. 16 game at Pittsburgh and he hasn’t played since.

“The complications he’s having, they’re not structural, but it’s going to require some time and so he’s not going to be available for us,” Del Rio said. “So another unfortunate situation with him being a good football player and a guy that we were hoping to get back. But he’s not going to be able to make it and so he’ll go on IR as well.”

A home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars is usually akin to a bye week for the Indianapolis Colts. Although players and coaches would never admit as much, the Colts and their double-digit wins have been in a completely different league from the Jags for years, and Indianapolis fans are quick to mark a “W” next to the annual game here at Lucas Oil Stadium. This season, though, our entire football world has been twisted by Peyton Manning’s(notes) neck woes , and the November 13 match-up between the two teams saw the Colts still scratching for their first win of the fall. Although I think the Jags are about the worst team the Colts have played this year, Indy still couldn’t get the job done, falling by a score of 17-3 . I really wonder at this point if my home team can squeak out even one victory before the calendar flips to a new year.

These two moribund clubs played through a fairly pedestrian first half and came out tied at three points each, courtesy of a couple of field goals. Although the Colts made a lot of mistakes in the second half, the Jags are just not a very good team, either, and couldn’t really pull away. When Indianapolis got the ball with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter, head coach Jim Caldwell put the ball in the hands of backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky(notes) to try and overcome the moderate 10-3 deficit that Colts faced. Orlovsky has been called upon late in each of the last couple of games, a clear indication that starter Curtis Painter(notes) does not garner much confidence from his coach.

In this game, as in all of the others, the signal caller on the field as time wound down made little difference, as Orlovsky’s lost fumble on third down eventually led to Jacksonville’s final score and another drubbing for the Colts. As has been the story all year long, it wasn’t just poor quarterback play that cost Indianapolis this game, although three QB turnovers and 128 passing yards were pitiful. The Colts’ already gassed defense was on the field way too long, thanks in part to a running game that generated only 84 yards, and the offense got little help from a return game that averaged a shade under three yards per run-back.

So now the Colts enter their bye week at 0-10 and then face the Carolina Panthers after Thanksgiving. Chances are that the holiday feeding frenzy will do little to fix an Indianapolis team that is so fundamentally broken. The good news, I suppose, is that the Colts are tightening their grip on that number one overall draft pick for 2012.

Adam Hughes was raised, and still lives, in rural Indiana. He has been a Colts fans since the team arrived in Indianapolis on a snowy morning in 1984. The Blue and White eventually replaced the Chicago Bears as his #1 team, and Super Bowl XLI was a dream come true.

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Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 114 yards and a
touchdown, leading the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 17-3 victory over the still-
winless Indianapolis Colts.

Blaine Gabbert threw for 118 yards with a score for the Jaguars (3-6), who won
on the road for the first time in five games this season.

The Colts (0-10), meanwhile, have been unable to win anywhere. The are 0-5 at
home and 0-5 on the road heading into their bye week. Indianapolis is winless
after 10 games for the first time since the 1997 team also lost its first 10
on the way to a 3-13 record.

That was pre-Peyton Manning. With the four-time MVP and Super Bowl champion
sidelined by a neck injury, the Colts hardly resemble an NFL team.

Curtis Painter was lifted in the fourth quarter after throwing his second
interception of the game and Dan Orlovsky turned the ball over on his second
throw, leading to Jacksonville’s game-sealing touchdown.

“Obviously, the turnovers were the big factor today. We can’t have those,”
Painter said.

The Colts totaled just 212 yards of offense. Painter completed 13-of-19 passes
for 94 yards and Orlovsky finished 7-of-10 for 67.

Jacksonville snapped a 3-3 tie and reached the end zone first with an 86-yard
march that ate up more than 9 1/2 minutes of the third quarter. A 17-yard pass
from Gabbert to Deji Karim converted 3rd-and-9 early in the series and a
penalty against Indianapolis’ Tyler Brayton negated a third-down sack that
would have forced a punt.

Instead, the Jaguars were given a fresh set of downs and Gabbert took
advantage by hitting Jarrett Dillard with an 11-yard pass for the score to
make it 10-3 with just 1:49 left in the third.

The Jaguars appeared to come up with a turnover on the next series when
William Middleton picked off Painter. However, during the timeout on the
change of possession, the Colts challenged that Jacksonville had 12 men on the
field and the correct reversal allowed Indianapolis to keep the ball. But not
for long, as Painter was intercepted three plays later by Paul Posluszny at
the Jacksonville 21.

Indianapolis got the ball back at its own 13 with just under six minutes
remaining and Orlovsky under center in place of Painter. It didn’t help.

Orlovsky’s arm was hit on his second pass attempt and the ball fluttered into
the waiting arms of Jacksonville lineman Tyson Alualu. The play was ruled a
fumble, setting up Jones-Drew’s three-yard touchdown run to seal the contest.

Jones-Drew carried 25 times and added three catches for 23 yards. Gabbert
completed 14-of-21 passes with an interception and hit nine different
receivers.

“It’s nice to get a win in the division on the road to start the second half
of the season,” Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio said.

The game’s first two possessions ended in interceptions. Painter was picked
off by Drew Coleman, giving the Jaguars a first down at the Indianapolis 18,
but Jerraud Powers returned the favor with an interception of Gabbert inside
the 10.

After a series of punts, Josh Scobee connected from 44 yards away to put the
Jaguars on the board late in the first quarter. The Colts responded in the
first minute of the second period with a 42-yard kick from Adam Vinatieri on
the ensuing series.

The Jaguars had a chance to move in front just before the intermission, as a
19-yard pass from Gabbert to Dillard set up Scobee for a 45-yard try, but he
missed wide right and the teams went to the break knotted at 3-3.

Game Notes

Donald Brown led the Colts with 53 yards on 14 carries and caught four passes
for 12 yards…The Jaguars managed only 251 yards of offense…Jacksonville
cornerback Rashean Mathis left the contest in the second quarter with an
apparent knee injury…The Jaguars improved to 8-9 after a bye.

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