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Break on through More aiming for first playoff win after five agonizing defeats
Updated: Friday December 29, 2000 11:09 PM
MIAMI (AP) -- Jim Mora is 65 but looks younger, surprising given his history in the NFL playoffs. At 0-5, Mora has the kind of postseason record that puts wrinkles on a coach's face. He'll try again for win No. 1 Saturday when his Indianapolis Colts play the Miami Dolphins in an AFC wild-card game. "I don't put any extra pressure on myself because I've never been able to win a playoff game," said Mora, the league's oldest head coach. "We've tried hard to win those games. We came up short. We'll try hard this week." Mora went 0-for-New Orleans, losing all four playoff games in 11 years as head coach of the Saints. Last season his Colts were widely considered the AFC favorites but were eliminated at home by eventual conference champion Tennessee, 19-16. "It was a motivating factor in the offseason, finishing on a sour note," quarterback Peyton Manning said. This year the Colts are seeded last in the AFC playoffs, but they may be the hottest team in the balanced postseason field. To earn a playoff berth, Indy (10-6) had to win its final three games, beating Buffalo, Miami and Minnesota.
"We might be playing better than we played last year at the end of the season," Mora said. "Once you get here anything can happen. Everybody is 0-0. I think it's wide open. It's a pretty even bunch of teams, and who knows what will happen." The Colts have played better in December than the Dolphins (11-5), who slipped into their traditional late-season slump. Miami needed a fourth-quarter rally to beat New England in the final game and win the AFC East for the first time since 1994. While Mora seeks a personal playoff breakthrough, head coach Dave Wannstedt and his Dolphins must resist the temptation to be satisfied with a season that already has exceeded expectations. Following the retirement of Jimmy Johnson and Dan Marino, the Dolphins were picked by many to finish last in the division. "I know there are people who wondered whether I could do the job here," Wannstedt said this week in his weekly column for Dolphin Digest. "My first reaction would be to tell those people, `Well, I showed you.' But that's not the type of person I am. I would never say that to those people, even though deep down I feel that way." While the Dolphins have surprised the league, they've failed to captivate their fans. Some 7,500 tickets remained unsold Friday, which means a playoff game in Miami will be blacked out for the first time in 17 years. The last NFL playoff telecast to be blacked out was Green Bay at Detroit seven years ago. Empty seats would be a shame, because the Colts' offense against the Dolphins' defense is always a compelling matchup. With Manning and Edgerrin James, the Colts are the first team to have the NFL leaders in both passing and rushing yardage since the Washington Redskins (Sammy Baugh and Cliff Battles) in 1937. The Dolphins counter with four Pro Bowl defenders. In the most recent meeting just two weeks ago, James ran for 112 yards, Manning riddled the Dolphins with short passes and Indy won 20-13. "Peyton is very patient, poised and smart," linebacker Zach Thomas said. "We need pass pressure to rattle him a little, because in the last game he picked us apart. He's the best in the business." Still, Miami is never easy for Indy. In the past two years their games have been decided by 3, 3, 3 and 7 points, with the visiting team winning each time. "It's going to come down to a couple of plays, I would guess -- a break here or a bounce of the ball there," Mora said. And in the playoffs, Mora is due for a break.
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