By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

Thursday night football thus far has proved to be lackluster. Teams rustiness has been evident and on full display. Considering the Indianapolis Colts are coming off a strong game that had lots of physicality they might not be worried about the glory of an undefeated season. They’re banged up and based on the listed players on their injury report in need of some extended rest. It’s hurt them in the past with quick exits out of the playoffs but this time around it’s a must to find a way to rest their players.

Traditionally the Colts and Jaguars have played stellar games together. The Jaguars still have an outside shot at making the playoffs and will try to get out early on the Colts. Jacksonville has the factor back in Maurice Jones-Drew that has lit up the Colts since he has bore a Jaguar uniform. Overall total yards he has averaged nearly 200 yards a game versus the Colts in their last six match ups.

Playing this game on a Thursday has huge beneficial factors to it. If they can get a win they will have a full ten days of rest before another prime time game against the Patriots. Seemingly they can treat Friday-Tuesday almost like a mini bye week. If they can regroup and pull through they could give themselves a spark to finish the year strong and do their part in shaping their playoff hopes.

One player that surely won’t rest this week is Peyton Manning. He will ignore Jim Caldwell’s requests unless they get up big on the Jaguars. Manning’s seen the melt downs come playoff time countless times. Nothing is worse than having a near perfect regular season and then seeing that body of work be canceled off. The Colts went through a dangerous lull offensively this past week against the Broncos. Manning threw three interceptions in a span of ten passes while only completing one. That is exactly a stretch the Colts can ill afford to have once January comes around.

With his young group of receivers in Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon, and Anthony Gonzalez; Manning will use these last three games to work out game speed kinks and timing with his receivers. Gonzalez has missed the entire year but is expected to be ready to get in a game or two before the end of the regular season. Obviously in his place Pierre Garcon has stepped up and become a focal point for Manning and the Colts. He’ll need to continue to show growth just in case Gonzalez doesn’t become starter dependable for the playoffs.

If Maurice Jones Drew has been a Colt killer the last three seasons Reggie Wayne has been a Jaguar assassin. Spanning back to the 2006 season and over seven games against the Jaguars, Wayne has averaged 118 yards receiving. An incredible mark for one of the elite receivers in the game. Whatever the Jaguars have worked on the last three and a half years hasn’t worked. Expect Wayne to be the big contributor from a fantasy standpoint, and Pierre Garcon to get in the mix with a big play or two.

With Manning leading the league in yardage at 300 a game it’s almost a given to expect a solid proportion of fantasy statistics from Wayne, Clark, and Garcon. A huge concern for fantasy owners has to be in the Colts backfield. Donald Brown missed several games with his knee injury and has already been ruled out for Thursday’s game. Joseph Addai has knee issues himself and might have a reduced role or more of a time share with former Michigan star back Mike Hart.

If Manning is able to pick apart the worse pass rushing defense in the league early it could be a big sleeper night for Mike Hart. Once a team sees their beat and seasons likely done as what would happen here, than the second half could lead to a lot of poor tackling and huge chunks of yards for Mike Hart. From a Jaguars fantasy perspective the only other relevant player to insert besides MJD is possibly Torry Holt. When healthy Mike Sims-Walker was posting solid numbers but over the last month he has been battling a nagging calf injury and has fell off big time.

David Garrard is a must stay away from quarterback especially since it is playoff time in your leagues. Garrard’s been way too erratic and has the worst touchdown per games played ratio of any quarterback in the league.