The Indianapolis Colts continue to make a mockery of the final two weeks of the season.
In theory, they pulled Peyton Manning last week midway through the third quarter to keep him healthy.
Yet Sunday, they put him on the field in snowy conditions for the specific purpose of setting meaningless milestones for his teammates.
The CBS announcing crew spoke throughout the first quarter that Manning seemed likely to leave after he made sure Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark reached 100 catches. It sounded like CBS was given a heads up from the team.
Sure enough, Wayne left the game immediately after his fifth catch gave him 100 for the year. On the next play, the Colts faced a third-and-four with Clark being one catch short of reaching 100.
Peyton Manning tossed the ball to Clark on a play that clearly had no chance for a first down. It lost seven yards. And Manning and Clark didn’t return to the game after that, for safety reasons that apparently didn’t exist until everyone had 100 catches.
It’s bad enough the Colts don’t try to win the game by pulling starters.
It’s a joke they still choose to pad individual stats over trying to continue a drive.
