Reggie Wayne ready to accept mantle as Colts go-to receiver

INDIANAPOLIS — Poor, poor Blue.

He's the Indianapolis Colts' team mascot, and by necessity has something of a horse face, because, well, he represents a horse.

But that's not the reason why Blue's feelings possibly have been hurt by none other than Pro Bowl wide receiver Reggie Wayne, who proudly has four little stuffed animals on the top shelf of his locker stall for all to see.

They're not cute little colts. They're cute little kittens, and they go by the name of Sir Purr, who happens to be the mascot of the … Carolina Panthers.

"I have some friends from my hometown (of New Orleans) who gave them to me as a joke," Wayne says with a chuckle. "They live (in the Charlotte area) now and were telling me it was Carolina's year this year, and they sent them to me after the Carolina preseason game this year."

The Panthers prevailed 23-20. So why not just chuckle and then throw away the Sir Purrs?

"Because I use them as a reminder to myself that it's NOT their year, it's going to be OUR year," Wayne says. "Really, though, they give me a reminder that everybody in this league is working toward the same goal, and you can never, ever lose sight of that."

Wayne has quite been adept at not losing sight of goals since joining the Colts as a rookie out of Miami in 2001. His goal simply was to get better every season. And for the most part, he has done just that.

Consider the progression of his season-long receiving yardage through the years. Only once has he not improved.

There were the 345 yards as a rookie. Then 716 in '02, then 838 in '03, then 1,210 in '04, then 1,055 in '05, then 1,310 in '06 and finally an NFL-best 1,510 last season to go with a career-high 104 catches.

Not only that, but he's just the third player in league history to have increased his number of receptions in each of the first seven seasons of his career.

Says Colts coach Tony Dungy: "You see what happens with guys like Reggie Wayne that get better and better and better as they learn the system."

To a wide receiver counterpart for the Detroit Lions, Wayne's work is pretty darned impressive.

"Reggie Wayne, man, he's really come into his own," the Lions' Roy Williams says. "You've got to admire the way he got it done after Marvin (Harrison) went out last season."

Injuries forced Harrison, an eight-time Pro Bowler, to miss 11 games in '07. Wayne says he knew many observers had long tabbed his improvement simply a by-product of getting mostly single coverage as opposed to Harrison's double dose, and was pleased he was able to show otherwise last season.

Now that Harrison has returned, Wayne has a goal. He wants to do for Harrison what Harrison has done for him.

"I feel like my duty is to get that double coverage off of him, and whenever he gets doubled, I feel a responsibility to make the most of it," Wayne says. "If I do that, maybe he'll get the kind of chances that I've had for so long."

(usatoday.com)