Indianapolis, we have a problem ... Well, a few problems

INDIANAPOLIS – It’s fourth-and-one for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and quarterback David Garrard drops back to pass.

Peyton Manning and the Colts just marched down the field and scored to put Indy up by one point, and as Garrard sits in the pocket, hae has just 29 seconds to put the Jags in field-goal range to try and eek out a win.

He looks to his right and throws a pass that falls 10 yards away from the closest Jacksonville receiver.

A few seconds later, a yellow flag drops onto the field.

Pass interference, say the officials.

Jags receiver Reggie Williams inadvertently ran into Colts linebacker Freddy Keiaho, and one official called a penalty.

“That was a bad call,” said Colts defensive tackle Raheem Brock after the game. “The refs drove us crazy all day. Sometimes it’s like that. Sometimes you’ve gotta play against the refs.”

Too bad the Colts had to play against the Jaguars, too.

A few seconds after the call, Jacksonville kicker Matt Scobee booted a 51-yard field goal, the go-ahead score in the Jaguars’ 23-21 win.

Say what you want about the officials – Indianapolis should never have been in that position.

Against a 0-2 team, the Colts gave up 236 rushing yards and possessed the ball for 3:59 in the second half. Before Manning’s late-game almost heroics, he completed one pass for one yard in the entire second half.

“I’m not going to get into blaming the officials for games,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said.

And he shouldn’t.

Now 1-2, the Colts are starting to run out of excuses. The once-injured tight end Dallas Clark and center Jeff Saturday were back for Sunday’s game, but receivers still dropped passes, Manning overthrew his targets and the run defense looked like Swiss cheese – all would be good things to work on in Indianapolis’ looming bye week.

“The free guy wasn’t making the tackle,” Keiaho said. “When you have that, they’re going to rush for a lot of yards.”

And the backfield tandem of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew did – each rushed for more than 100 yards.

In three games this year, the Colts are yet to have a running back rush for 100 yards or more in any game; the defense has allowed 100-yard rushers in all of them, and Manning has more interceptions (4) than touchdown passes (3).

Indianapolis might be a better team than Jacksonville, but on Sunday, the visitors played better. Bad call or no call, the Jaguars deserved to win.