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Haystack · 11-26-2007, 11:39 AM

http://colts.com/sub.cfm?page=articl...2-376373a299f7

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INDIANAPOLIS – The Colts have played in several big, big games this season.

None has been more important than the one this Sunday.

That was probably going to be true no matter what happened this past Sunday, but the result of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ game against the Buffalo Bills guaranteed it. The Jaguars beat the Buffalo Bills, 36-14, in Jacksonville, Fla., pulling away in the fourth quarter.

That means when the Colts play the Jaguars in the RCA Dome Sunday at 1 p.m., they will need a victory to avoid entering the final month of the regular season in a first-place tie in the AFC South.

The Colts (9-2), who beat the Atlanta Falcons, 31-13, on Thanksgiving Night, took a game and a half lead in the division with the victory.

The Jaguars trimmed it back to one game with Sunday’s victory and set up a game Sunday with major postseason implications.

If the Colts – who have won the last four AFC South titles – win, they will take a two-game lead in the division with four games remaining and hold a significant tiebreaker advantage because of a head-to-head sweep. The Colts won in Jacksonville, 29-7, on October 22.

If the Jaguars – the division runners-up in 2004 and 2005 – win, they will move into a first-place tie, with the Colts still holding a tiebreaker advantage because of a better division record. The Jaguars are 2-2 in the South this season; the Colts are 3-0.

The Colts swept all three South teams on the road in September and October.

Sunday’s game will be the first time since 2003 the Colts have played a division game in December with the lead or a share of the AFC South at stake. They won the division in 2004, 2005 and 2006, holding sole possession of the lead throughout December each time.

The last time the Colts played an AFC South game with the division lead at stake was December 7, 2003. The Colts and Tennessee Titans, each 9-3, played in Nashville, Tenn., with Indianapolis winning, 29-27.

The Colts, who clinched their first AFC South title three weeks later, have led or shared the division lead in 90 of a possible 97 weeks since the division’s 2002 inception.