Looking Fishy

Undefeated after eight games, the Indianapolis Colts are halfway to perfection in the regular season. But you’d have to be a half-wit to think they’re looking that far ahead.

“Talk to us about 16-0 when we’re 15-0,” defensive tackle Corey Simon said this week after the Colts won at New England for the first time in eight tries.

Said Coach Tony Dungy of the perfection prattle: “I don’t think the hype’s going to die down until we lose.”

The only team in the modern NFL to run the table was the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who went 14-0 in the regular season before winning two playoff games and the Super Bowl.

Since, the teams that have come closest were the 1985 Chicago Bears, who won their first 12 games before losing at Miami, and the 1998 Denver Broncos, who won 13 straight before losing to the New York Giants at the Meadowlands.

Don Shula, coach of the ’72 Dolphins, has watched the Colts closely in recent weeks and says they have a chance to “really challenge what we’ve done.”

“The thing I marvel at is Peyton Manning at the line of scrimmage,” Shula said in a telephone interview. “He’s doing things that no other quarterback in the NFL has ever done. ... Winning at New England was big, and it just gave them the confidence that they can do it. A couple of those losses they had there before were close games that they should have won. Now, you’re looking at a team that’s got a lot of confidence.”

That said, the Colts do not have an easy path to an unblemished record. Five of their final eight opponents have winning records: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, San Diego and Seattle -- and they’ll play the Bengals, Jaguars and Seahawks on the road.

Should Indianapolis beat the visiting Houston Texans today, the Colts will become the 11th team in the modern era to start 9-0. On paper, the game is a laugher. The Texans are 1-7 and lost last month to the Colts, 38-20, in Houston. But the Colts are wary of a letdown after their huge victory Monday in Foxborough, their short week to prepare, and because the Texans played them close for a half before falling apart.

“I do a couple of radio shows and everybody wants to talk about Cincinnati and Pittsburgh,” Dungy said. “Anybody that plays division games, you always know the second game is tougher and adjustments are made.”

The Texans have gotten better as the season has progressed, especially in the first half of games. In the last three games, they have outscored opponents in the opening half, 31-27. Compare that with their first five games, when they were outscored in the first half, 80-19.

It’s unlikely, however, that the Colts will do a face-plant against the Texans, a team they have beaten seven consecutive times. But the following two weeks, against the Bengals and Steelers, will test their mettle.

As long as the Colts keep winning, the ’72 Dolphins will stay tuned.

“You can’t help but follow it,” Shula said. “But I think all of the things about us getting together and breaking out the champagne [when the last undefeated team loses] is overstated. We don’t get together every week and hope and pray the undefeated team gets beat.”

Shula said that rumor started because Dick Anderson and Nick Buoniconti, teammates from the legendary “No Name Defense,” lived across the street from each other and once, after the last undefeated team lost, opened a bottle of bubbly and toasted in the driveway.

Said Shula: “They were too cheap to invite the rest of us to the party.”