Colts

Whatever happens Sunday in Baltimore, it's been an amazing football season to countenance. Whatever happens, even a Ravens' blowout, this has been the most fun, inspiring, unlikely season anybody around here can remember. Remember when the season started and Colts players wore T-shirts reminding them how they were power-ranked 32nd by several publications? They've built the monster, done it two, three years ahead of when anybody had a right to believe it might be done. And they've done it with a couple of holdover veterans and a bunch of rookies who don't seem to know they're not supposed to be here.

For obvious reasons, the Ravens will be totally psyched to join Ray Lewis on his "last ride" when they take the field at M&T Bank Stadium in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday. The Indianapolis Colts also will show up with hearts afire for head coach Chuck Pagano, whose battle against leukemia has been the inspirational story of the season. If that isn't enough human interest for you, new Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell will be calling plays against the team he led to the Super Bowl three years ago and - since we never get tired of this - local fans will burn for a little more revenge against the franchise that deserted Baltimore nearly three decades ago. This matchup is so fraught with emotional subplots, it might be a good time to bring in a team of head doctors to figure out just how much all these mind games will impact the action on the field and the chances of either team advancing to the next round of the playoffs.

The Indianapolis Colts' reversal from a 2-14 record in 2011 to an 11-5 mark this season could largely be traced to Andrew Luck, who established several NFL rookie records this season. But to his teammates, Luck is still a 23-year-old first-year player who isn't too old to understand his role on a team filled with veterans. "I think there are times when, yeah, you don't feel like a rookie, I guess," Luck said. "But there are still times when you feel like a rookie when you carry Dwight Freeney's jersey in after practice.

The visiting locker room at Gillette Stadium following last year's AFC championship game was eerily silent when a sharply attired Chuck Pagano walked briskly toward the door, rolling a suitcase behind him. He stopped only briefly, embracing linebacker Jarret Johnson as the two whispered a few words. Neither man would be a Raven for much longer, but the reminiscing would have to wait. The hurt of being seconds away from beating the New England Patriots and going to the Super Bowl was still too raw, and Pagano had someplace to be. The following day, the Ravens' first-year defensive coordinator was due in Indianapolis to interview for the Colts' head coaching job. To the surprise of no one, he was hired.

For most of the callow Colts, the history of the Colts' move from Baltimore to Indianapolis might as well be as distant and foreign as the publication of the Magna Carta and the War of 1812. “I wasn't even born then," Dwayne Allen said of the 1984 move of the franchise. He's 22 years old. Born in 1990. “I wasn't even a thought. " That's true for most of this team. And the older guys? They were kids when the move happened. They were trying to figure out multiplication tables when those Mayflower trucks left in the dead of night.

Every week, I hope to bring you a quick Q&A with someone who covers the Ravens' opponent that week. This week, I chatted with reporter Mike Chappell, who covers the Indianapolis Colts for The Indianapolis Star. MV: Chuck Pagano was well-liked in his time here, and fans quickly fell in love with his energy and one-liners during his one year as defensive coordinator. It is encouraging to see him return to the sideline after getting treatment with leukemia. What was the coaching dynamic like when Bruce Arians was the interim head coach, and how has it been in the past week or so with Pagano back with the team?

Much has been made about the Ravens welcoming back former defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano when he leads the Indianapolis Colts into M&T Bank Stadium for Sunday's AFC wild-card playoff game. It's a similar scenario for for Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell, who will face the Colts for the first time since the organization fired him in January after he coached them to a 2-14 season. Caldwell said Thursday that he still has fond memories and strong relationships with members of the franchise where he had spent the previous 10 years before being hired as the Ravens' quarterbacks coach in February.

No one would confuse Andrew Luck with the Washington Redskins' Robert Griffin III, the Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton or the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson - three quarterbacks who finished the regular season at the top of the NFL at their position in rushing. But that doesn't mean that the Indianapolis Colts rookie can't take off when he wants to or has to. Luck ranks second in the AFC and eighth in the league in rushing, compiling 255 yards. His five rushing touchdowns put him in a third-place tie with the San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick behind Newton (eight)

Kevin Cowherd Ravens 21, Colts 14 The jacked-up Ravens will run Ray Rice into the ground against the NFL's 29th-ranked rushing defense and stave off Ray Lewis' retirement for at least another week. Look for the stadium to practically levitate when No. 52 comes through the tunnel and does his goofy dance. Edward Lee Ravens 24, Colts 17 The Chuck Pagano story may be the most inspiring one of the 2012 season, but no amount of emotion will overcome the tidal wave of support awaiting Ray Lewis when he steps onto the field at M&T Bank Stadium for perhaps the last time in his illustrious 17-year career.

Don't misunderstand. Barry Krauss loved Baltimore - from the crabcakes to the Inner Harbor to the rich provenance of the NFL team that picked him sixth overall in the 1979 draft. But five years later, the Colts' move to Indianapolis proved a godsend for the players, said Krauss, a tough linebacker who played 10 seasons with a horseshoe on his helmet. "It wasn't fair to Baltimore fans, to lose the franchise, with all that great history," he said. "But the relationship between the team and the community was so broken, so sad. It was tough, playing before 35,000" at Memorial Stadium.