Colts

When Ravens fullback Vonta Leach was able to walk off the field Sunday after suffering an ankle injury minutes earlier, the offensive coaching staff breathed a collective sigh of relief. The Indianapolis Colts (11-5) are coming to town Sunday for a wild-card playoff game, and the Ravens know they have to run the ball to win. There are many story lines and sub plots in this game. Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano, with his leukemia in remission, is coming back to Baltimore where he used to be the defensive coordinator.

Every time I put out one of my mock drafts, readers tell me they think things would play out differently (chances are we'll both end up being wrong). Well, now you get a chance to play GM in my first-ever reader NFL mock draft. Here's how it works. I'll post a daily poll where you can vote to decide what the team that's on the clock should do with its pick. To keep it simple, I'll give you five options for each pick. If you think I missed somebody, let me know in the comments section.

- Colts coach Jim Caldwell knows choosing between % Adam Vinatieri and Matt Stover to kick a potential winning field goal in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday is like picking between a classic Lexus or Mercedes-Benz. Both may have plenty of tread on the tires, but they're clutch when it counts. "We've been blessed to have both," Caldwell said. "I saw a couple of weeks ago both were (nominated) on the all-decade team. … You can't get much better than that." Caldwell will give the keys to Stover, simply because he doesn't believe that Vinatieri is 100 percent recovered from knee surgery in mid-October, his third operation since last summer, including a hip procedure.

R egardless of which team won the Super Bowl on Sunday night, true football fans had to appreciate the game. It featured the No. 1-ranked team in each conference and two of the best offenses in the NFL. And it doesn't get much better than Peyton Manning versus Drew Brees, or was that Drew Brees against Peyton Manning? Either way, most fans went to bed entertained and satisfied. That hasn't always been the case when watching the Ravens play. We understand the tradition here in Baltimore, and how defense wins championships, and blah, blah, blah.

Washington 16, Green Bay 13 (OT) Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Graham Gano's 33-yard field goal with 8:14 left in overtime lifted the Washington Redskins to a 16-13 come-from-behind victory over Green Bay at FedEx Field. Donovan McNabb completed 26-of-49 throws for 357 yards and a touchdown with seven passes going to Santana Moss for 118 yards, as the Redskins (3-2) won their second straight. Aaron Rodgers went 27-of-46 for 293 yards and a score while Brandon Jackson carried 10 times for a career-high 115 yards for the Packers (3-2)

He was Baltimore's first football star, an oddly named quarterback on a motley Colts team that boasted his strong arm but little else. For three years, Yelberton Abraham (Y.A.) Tittle led the club, won fans' hearts and even got his face plastered on the wrappers of Koester's Bread. Then the Colts disbanded, in 1951, and Tittle was gone - first to the San Francisco 49ers and then to the New York Giants in a 17-year Hall of Fame career that was launched here. Though best known for his success elsewhere, Tittle, 84, still embraces his Baltimore roots.

Colin Cloherty doesn't recommend that anyone traveling to Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV follow the route he's taken. Despite getting cut by teams five times during his rookie season, the Colts' reserve tight end from Bethesda could be toasting a Super Bowl victory Sunday night. "It's been a crazy trip. I discovered you have to really stay on an even keel through the whole thing," Cloherty said this week. "It's been a great experience and I've loved every second of it." It's a long way in one year from All- Ivy League, even if he'd followed a direct course.

The black-and-white photo hangs unobtrusively on a back wall in Andy Nelson's barbeque joint in Cockeysville. But the picture, taken 53 years ago, captures a pivotal play in the Colts' second world championship, a 31-16 victory over the Giants at a packed Memorial Stadium in 1959. There is Frank Gifford, New York's Hall of Fame halfback, poised to catch a pass. And there is Nelson, the Colts' All Pro safety, swooping in with arms outstretched, ready to intercept. Steal it, Nelson did. The play broke the Giants' backs.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is causing more heartache for Baltimore fans these days than Bob Irsay. Allowing the four-time NFL Most Valuable Player to throw two touchdown passes in the final two minutes of the first half, the Ravens were once again undone by Manning in a 20-3 loss to the top-seeded Colts in an AFC divisional playoff game at Lucas Oil Stadium. The sixth-seeded Ravens (10-8) could never seize the momentum from him, failing to score a touchdown against Indianapolis for a third straight game and turning the ball over four times (two interceptions and lost fumbles by Ray Rice and Ed Reed)

Years ago, around town, any mention of the Pittsburgh Steelers would have been met with a shrug. Between 1958, when the Colts won their first NFL championship, and 1968, when they won their third, Baltimore played the Steelers just once. It was a game that Charlie Stukes won't forget. A tall and physical cornerback from Maryland State (now UMES), Stukes starred in a 41-7 rout of Pittsburgh in 1968, returning an interception 60 yards for a touchdown. The Colts swiped three passes that day and ran them all back for TDs. Stukes' steal, off Steelers quarterback Dick Shiner (Maryland)