No Bye Week Blues For Colts

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The Colts bye week brings change, new faces in new place.

Defensive tackle Ed Johnson is gone, with players such as Eric Foster and rookie Fili Moala getting their chance to step in.

Moala, the team's second round pick feels he's finally ready for the opportunity. "I just had to fine-tune some things, had to critique my stance. A whole bunch of things. Coach Teerlinck's been working on with me, so I feel ready to go, I feel confident, I feel focused," said Moala, who has yet to dress for a regular season game.

Meanwhile, 20-year veteran kicker Matt Stover, who says he can still drill 52-yarders, is ready for his new opportunity. "It's just and awesome feeling to go in there and kick in such a great environment, so many games I played in the old stadium, now in the new stadium. Great tradition here with this organization as you know being in Baltimore, I know all about it, so being here's just awesome," said Stover, who was hoping to get an opportunity this year.

This is certainly not your typical bye week, but despite the big roster changes, this team is feeling pretty good about itself.

"We've won five games, doesn't guarantee anything, and so it's important for us to come back after the bye and not have any letdown, hopefully get better over these next two weeks of practice and be a better team coming off the bye," said Peyton Manning, who pronounced himself fit, and injury-free after a hit on the knee in Tennessee.

Dwight Freeney added,"History shows there's been teams that had 4-1, 5-0 records that didn't even make the playoffs..I'm not saying we're one of those teams, we've never been one of those teams reason being we take it game by game.""

The Colts have been here before..5-0 at the bye week in 06 and 07, 7-0 in '05.

"This is nothing new for us. We've been in situations we've been 13-0, 7-0, 9-0, so this is a step in the right direction. We know what to do, we just gotta figure out a way to finish and stay on top," said wideout Reggie Wayne.