* *
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on walking off the field Monday night with a smile)
"It was a good win. I always smile pretty big after we win, especially when you win on the road in a tough environment. We enjoyed it on the plane ride and guys kind of rested up yesterday, and we're on to Houston [Texans] today."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on coming down from the emotional high)
"I think that will be somewhat of a challenge on Sunday. I think the bigger challenge is what you do today and Thursday. We all know in this league you can't just show up on Sunday or Monday and play well. I think the reason we have played well so far, especially last week, was because we had a good week of preparation. You can't just rest up all week, you have to go out there and work. That's the challenge today, but we have been able to answer that bell so far with the leadership we have."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if it's more of a physical preparation since the Colts just faced the Texans two games ago)
"It's always a challenge in the division situation when you play a team so close to back to back. There are always a couple wrinkles here and there, but there's not a lot of trickery to it. The challenge is to get rest physically and to gear yourself up mentally to go out and play a 60 minute game."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on some additions to their team that were injured for the first meeting)
"With DE-[Gary] Walker back and with LB-[Jason] Babin back, it gives them some more flexibility because those are two excellent players they have back. Second games the second time around are always tough no matter the situation home or away."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how the Colts will respond to having the target on their back)
"I think with some of the guys we have on this team, a guy like [DT] Corey Simon can help you. Especially on defense being used to having that target on his back, little bit of a bigger target, he's been around winning teams in the NFC so he knows what that's like, so he can help the defensive side with young player like [DB] Bob Sanders and [DB] Marlin Jackson. We're 8-0 with the idea of trying to go out this week and be 9-0."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on continuing to improve)
"I think that's a challenge for any NFL player, to try to get better every single season and work hard in the off-season, but that's what we talk about, is getting better during the week. If you get better during the week, you hope that transforms over to Sunday and allows you to go out there and beat teams. That's our goal during this week. We trying to have good practices and improve as a football team. Either you get better or you get worse, you don't stay the same. Our goal is to try to keep getting better."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how he has seen WR-Reggie Wayne develop)
"Kind of like all of you have. I think it's pretty obvious.