Say what you will about NCAA "student-athletes." Say they are on occasion not the most studious of students. Say they're using their college experience as a pro sports internship. Say they often enter school without any intention of exiting in the traditional cap-and-gown manner.

Just don't tell me they don't care about the schools they attend or their college teammates. For the second consecutive year, I went and stood outside a club Saturday night as Santana Moss rolled up to celebrate his birthday party, not in a party bus filled with Redskins teammates, but in a party bus filled with teammates from the U. (The Redskins teammates arrived separately.)

Last year, I asked Reggie Wayne whether these bonds were stronger than the bonds connecting, say, the Indianapolis Colts. "Yeah, for REAL for real, and you can say it again," he told me. "We've been through all the hard times, all the hardship, and you understand all the pain ... It's a brotherhood, brothers from another mother all across the board, and it's a bond."

It's just like your fantasy football league. If you're like me, you have a draft both with your current co-workers, the guys you sometimes meet at the copy machine, and with your college roommates, the fellows whose vomit you once lovingly wiped from their passed-out necks. It's just a different sort of connection, and NFL players feel it, too.
This year, as Edgerrin James and Andre Johnson and others pushed through the crowd outside a downtown D.C. club, I again asked why these Miami guys are still doing things together.

"We always do," Johnson told me. "It’s something I can’t describe, but you know, it’s a beautiful thing that we have."
Anyhow, amid the cleavage and flashing cameras, I was thinking football, so I asked James whether he still has something left in his tank.

"Of course I've still got it," he said with a laugh. "I was in a bad situation. Just look at my track record. I averaged 4.5 yards a game the last five, six games. Trust me, there's nothing wrong with me. It was a passing team. You're not gonna find a top two or three passing team with a top running game. Choose one or the other. Show me a team that's No. 1 passing and No. 1 running. You ain't got enough time."

James, of course, was released by the Arizona Cardinals, and has been linked with teams like the Saints. But with Biz Markie en route and the club beckoning, he didn't feel like discussing any possible destinations Saturday night.

"I'm trying to think about football next month," he said. "I'm just gonna take it easy and enjoy what I'm doing right now."

With his collegiate teammates, of course.

Good to hear Andre Johnson and Wayne plan to work with UM receivers this summer. ''That's my way of helping,'' Wayne said. ``This group is way more talented than the group of me, Santana Moss, Andre King and a young Andre Johnson. I like their speed and size.''


(miamiherald.com)

Of 88 players on the Indianapolis Colts’ roster, only wide receiver Reggie Wayne did not attend the first day of organized team activities Tuesday.

Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell didn’t see it as an issue.

Wayne, the Colts’ three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver who is entering his ninth NFL season, typically works out in the offseason at the University of Miami, and Caldwell — entering his first season as the team’s head coach — said Tuesday “that has not been unusual the last few years.”

“Those guys from the University of Miami love working out with one another, and he’s been doing that for quite some time,” Caldwell said shortly after the Colts’ first practice of the 2009 OTA session. “He comes back in great shape and certainly he has been around here long enough he knows the system.”

(indyfootballreport.com)

Point 1: Long before the Colts released wide receiver Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis was already Wayne's World.

Although Harrison was often and deservedly mentioned in the same breath with receivers of the caliber of Jerry Rice and Cris Carter during his career, Reggie Wayne has been Peyton Manning's favorite target over the past two seasons. And quite honestly, the Colts won't miss a beat without the 13-year veteran.

Drafted in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft, Wayne was targeted to be paired up with Harrison, Indy's undisputed No. 1 receiver. A fast, sure-handed physical receiver who tacks on extra yards after the catch, Wayne complemented Harrison's style that featured plenty of quick slants and smooth-striding deep routes.

After Wayne posted more receiving yards and nearly the number of catches that Harrison logged in 2004, he proved that he deserved "1b" status instead of being referenced as the team's No. 2 receiver. But the fact of the matter is that over the past five seasons, Wayne has been the Colts' most productive receiver, catching 432 passes for 6,230 yards and 42 scores versus Harrison's 343 catches for 4,508 yards and 45 touchdowns. During that stretch, Wayne didn't miss a single start while Harrison sat out 13 games.

Wayne is now the veteran who will lead a receiver corps that includes third-year receiver Anthony Gonzales as the No. 2 receiver. Second-year speedster Pierre Garcon, rookie Austin Collie—a focused and determined pass-catcher out of BYU—and third-year veteran Roy Hall should battle it out for the No. 3 spot during training camp. And the Colts will undoubtedly slide tight end Dallas Clark out into the slot frequently to take advantage of his ability to exploit the middle of the field.

The offense will benefit from the return of starting left guard Ryan Lilja, who missed the entire 2008 season due to injury. They'll also get a boost from the return of former Michigan running back Mike Hart and the addition of rookie running back Donald Brown, the nation's leading rusher in college football last year. So expect to see significant improvement from an Indianapolis rushing attack that finished 31st in the league last year, averaging just 79.6 rushing yards per game. 

With a more balanced offensive attack, Wayne could post another 100-yard-plus catches and 1,500 receiving yards like he did in 2007.

(michigan.scout.com)

Pick 14 Jim Kelly  |  QB, Bills, 1983
The Bills drafted him in the great QB class of '83 but had to wait until '86 to get him, since he took a detour to the USFL. But when Kelly arrived in Buffalo, he was the consummate leader, taking the Bills to four Super Bowls.

Pick 24 Ed Reed  |  S, Ravens, 2002
Reed is almost unanimously considered one of the best defensive backs of the decade. He has been selected to five Pro Bowls and twice led the league in interceptions. He was named the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year and holds the record for the longest interception return in NFL history (108 yards in 2008). Reed was the fourth defensive back chosen in '02.

Pick 26 Ray Lewis  |  LB, Ravens, 1996
He has been the centerpiece of one of the greatest defenses in NFL history and five times led the league in tackles. A 10-time Pro Bowler and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Lewis is known for his vocal leadership and his outstanding speed to the ball. Steelers' offensive lineman Alan Faneca would have been a good pick in this spot as well, but Lewis' astonishing resume of awards and decorations gives him the edge.

Pick 30 Reggie Wayne  |  WR, Colts, 2001
Since 2004, Reggie Wayne has become one of the most prolific and consistent receivers in the NFL, which is why he gets the slight nod over Titans' linebacker Keith Bullock. In the past five seasons, Wayne has logged over 75 receptions, 1,000 yards and five touchdowns five times while not missing a single game and being named to three Pro Bowls. Wayne played a pivotal role in the Colts' 2006 Super Bowl run and usurped Marvin Harrison as Peyton's No. 1 receiver when Harrison went down with an injury in 2007.

(cnnsi.com)

INDIANAPOLIS—Pro Bowl receiver Reggie Wayne has agreed to a restructured contract, which will give the Colts more room under this year's salary cap.

Wayne's agent, Joby Branion, confirmed the deal was completed but did not provide details about how much Indianapolis would save.

Players frequently restructure contracts by accepting bonuses after agreeing to lower their annual salaries. The bonuses are then prorated over the remaining length of the deal, in Wayne's case three years, to lower the team's salary cap number in the first year.

Wayne has been the Colts' primary receiver the past two seasons and is expected to play a more prominent role this year after Marvin Harrison, the franchise's career receiving leader, was released in February.

In 2007, Wayne had a career-high 104 receptions for a league-leading 1,510 yards and 10 touchdowns. Last season, Wayne caught 84 passes for 1,145 yards with six TDs.

He ranks third all-time on the Colts' career list for receptions (576), yards receiving (8,129) and touchdown receptions (53), trailing only Harrison and Hall of Famer Raymond Berry in each category. Only Harrison has more 100-yard games in franchise history than Wayne's 26, and Wayne has played in the last three Pro Bowls.

(denverpost.com)

Edgerrin James: 4th Pick 1999: James' 12,121 career rushing yards is best among active running backs and 11th all-time, 122 yards behind Marcus Allen at No. 10.

Ed Reed: 24th Pick  2002: In one of the more loaded picks, Reed wins by virtue of being one of the best ever to play safety. A testament of how widely respected he is, Reed was the only unanimous selection to the 2008 All-Pro team.

Jon Beason : 25th Pick 2007: One of the game's best young linebackers, Beason led the Panthers in tackles each of his first two seasons and earned All-Pro honors in 2008.

Reggie Wayne: 30th Pick 2001: Making a name for himself as Peyton Manning's No. 2 receiver early in his career, Wayne has now solidified himself as the Colts' No. 1. He has started every game since 2003 and has five straight 1,000-yard seasons.

(cnnsi.com)

Clinton Portis: 5 carries for 18 yards and 2 receptions for 18 yards

Reggie Wayne: 4 receptions for 45 yards

Andre Johnson: 2 receptions for 29 yards

Ray Lewis: 3 tackles

Jon Beason: 4 tackles

Jeff Feagles: 4 punts with a 48.5-yard average

Andre Johnson, Texans. Johnson led the league in receptions (115) and yards (1,575), but most importantly, he stayed healthy. Johnson had seven games with 10 or more receptions and eight games with 100 yards or more. Who will ever forget his 207-yard effort against the Titans in Week 15?

Reggie Wayne, Colts. Wayne had a relatively quiet year, with 1,145 yards and six TDs. Wayne, however, has five straight 1,000-yard seasons to his credit, and he's averaged eight TDs in that span. Being Peyton Manning's favorite target has to count for something.

(sportingnews.com)

Reggie Wayne moved from split end to flanker for Thursday night's game against the Jaguars.
Playing on the right side of the formation, Wayne is right-handed Peyton Manning's first read. He caught seven balls for 108 yards and a touchdown in the win. It's unclear when Marvin Harrison (hamstring) will return, but Wayne could finish out the season at Harrison's usual position. It's also very possible that Wayne will also stay there in 2009 if Harrison is cut.

(rotoworld.com)

7 proCanes will be heading to Hawaii in February for the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl. They are: Clinton Portis, Jon Beason, Jeff Feagles, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Ray Lewis, and Ed Reed.

Wide receiver Reggie Wayne, the Colts’ first-round selection in the 2001 NFL Draft, long has been one of the NFL’s top players at his position, having played in the last two Pro Bowls and having made the game as a starter last season. An eight-year veteran from the University of Miami, he has had 1,000 yards receiving each of the last four seasons, and has set career-highs in receptions in each of his first seven seasons, helping the Colts to six consecutive playoff appearances, the last five AFC South titles, and a Super Bowl victory following the 2006 season. Wayne, who played collegiately at the University of Miami, not only is one of the Colts’ top players, he has developed in recent seasons into one of the Colts’ most popular players as well as one of their most durable. He has not missed a game since 2001, his rookie season, and until this season he had not missed a practice since that season. This season, he is again among the NFL leaders with 62 receptions for 870 yards and five touchdowns through 12 games. Wayne this week sat down and spoke with Colts.com about several topics, including his relationship with the fans, his durability and what the Colts have meant to his career.

Question: One thing that’s very noticeable to anyone who follows the team is you have developed a very close relationship with the fans over the years. How much has that come to mean to you?
Answer: It means a lot. We come here to play a game and that’s our job. That’s what we’re getting paid to do. But we’re also out there to put on a good show for the fans. Me personally, I feel like the fans are underrated. They’re out there screaming at the top of their lungs. They’re making it hard for the opposing teams to make their calls. That helps us. That’s kind of my way of thanking them, kind of getting them involved and letting them know I appreciate them.

Q: Have you seen that grow over the years? It seems it has . . .
A: It’s getting bigger. When I got here, it was already there with the Reggie Miller stuff, so it was already here as far as the first name, but it definitely has grown because now I get the Reggie chants at the away games, so that’s pretty cool. But once again, that’s just my way of showing my gratitude and appreciating it.

Q: You make it a point to go over to the corner when you score, or even before the games. It’s not something you take for granted. Some guys might give what you just said lip service, but it’s important to you . . .
A: There’s the one particular corner – whenever we run from the tunnel, everyone runs to the corner where our sideline is. The other corners, it seems like they’re always forgotten. I just go over there to get them involved and let them know, ‘Hey, you’re not forgotten. We’ve still got love for you over there, too.’ All of a sudden it has grown to whenever I’m out in the city or whatever, people will come up to me and say, ‘Hey, nice to meet you, I’m so and so and I’m in your corner. I’m in Reggie’s corner.’ It’s grown to be my corner, so I definitely have to go over there.

Q: You haven’t missed a game since – knock on wood – 2001, your rookie season. You’ve played in more consecutive games than any Colts player except quarterback Peyton Manning. How much pride do you take in that aspect of your game?
A: Knock on wood. That’s right. It crushed me this year just to miss my first practice. It really wasn’t brought to my attention, but then I went home and thought about and was like, ‘Man, that was my first practice I missed since my rookie year’ – seven years. I feel like practice is the hard part. If you’re able to go out there and practice every day and conquer that, Sundays – that’s the easy part, you know? Yeah, you’re out there and it’s tackle and it’s live, but Sundays are always the fun time. I feel if I’m not out there practicing, then I can’t do what I want to do in the game. I feel like I’m going to miss something. So, the time I did miss that first practice, I had people like (middle linebacker) Gary Brackett and a couple of other guys – it seemed like I had some extra energy, so they were telling me to relax. They were saying, ‘Be cool, man. It’s going to be all right. We need you out there on Sundays.’ I just feel like all the hard work is done through the week. All the preparation, that’s when everything is in the mixture. I love to practice. That’s when I feel like I get better. That comes with my work ethic and things of that nature. I just like to go out and help my teammates get good looks. I try to emulate the game in practice and I go out there and feel like, ‘OK, this is what I’m going to do,’ so if you don’t practice doing that, you have a visual, but you don’t have a set where you’ve actually done it. You don’t know how it’s going to look or how it’s going to work or whatever the case may be. So, I love practice.

Q: In that sense, how would you define this season? Because it has been a tougher season than you’re used to in terms of having to gut some things out . . .
A: It has been. If you look at it numbers-wise, everybody on this team’s numbers are down, but in a way, it is good. We have had to tough some things out and that shows the character of this team. You’re going to need those games to try to move on and try to conquer that goal and that’s to win the Super Bowl. If you think about it, if you think back to our Super Bowl year (in 2006), when we won, the whole time through the playoffs, there was nobody worried about numbers. Everybody was worried about doing their job, helping your buddy, doing whatever it takes. I wasn’t worried about balls. (Wide receiver) Marvin (Harrison) wasn’t worried about balls. (Tight end) Dallas (Clark) wasn’t worried about balls. There was nobody worried about anything. We just wanted to get our job done. I feel like that’s what we need to do now. We’re not where we normally would be, which is in first place in our division, so we don’t have room for error. Now, we have to get what we can. Whenever the opportunity comes, we have to conquer that moment. I think with these close games it’s going to push us and let us know what we’re capable of doing in tight situations, so in the long run, I think it will help us out.

Q: You’ve talked a lot over the years about how you’ve always improved that number. You’ve always gotten at least one more catch each season. That will be a tough thing to do this year, but you seem OK with that . . .
A: I am. I am. Going into the season, I knew with a healthy Marvin and a healthy Dallas and everybody in the equation healthy, those numbers were going to be tough. That’s fine. You have goals set, but for you to have a successful season doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have to conquer all of your goals. It’s strange, because normally I’m sitting pretty and everything, but who cares?

Q: Final question. You’re in your eighth season and obviously firmly established as not only one of the NFL’s top receivers, but as a core player on one of the most successful teams of this era. You’re forever linked with this franchise. Do you ever imagine what your career would have been like with another team? It’s been a very, very good fit for you here . . .
A: It’s kind of hard to picture that. I really don’t see myself anywhere else. Even when it was time for my contract – and you always kind of sit back at that time and you’re thinking, ‘Man, what if they don’t want me. Where do I see myself?’ I can’t see myself anywhere else. This is where I started. This is where I want to finish. You see people go out there, and they go to different teams, and it may be for different issues – money, or whatever the case may be. But the grass is not always greener. I can’t see that. Every time you see me and you think of football and the National Football League, I see me in blue and white. I see me as a Colt. I can’t picture me anywhere else.

(colts.com)

WESTFIELD, Ind. -- Reggie Wayne is so smooth, he appears to defy the laws of physics in a new TV commercial set to air Thanksgiving Day on the NFL Network.

The two-time Pro Bowl receiver for the Indianapolis Colts jogged over an in-ground pool on Tuesday in a promotion for the new Reebok Hex Ride running shoes. OK, so the surface was actually blue-painted wood built into the pool. Water will be added later as a special effect, but Wayne was pumped by the pitch premise.

"Not many people can say they walked on water. To be one of the selective few is always a great thing," he said. "But I don't think it's going to take much for me because I feel like I walk on water every day."

Not that this was any day at the beach. Temperatures for this back-yard production at a suburban residence were in the mid-30s. In between takes, Wayne wrapped himself in a Colts blanket.

Wayne's on-screen counterpart was New York actor Stephen Mailer, who plays a nerdy Reebok scientist, complete with the thick glasses, tape recorder and clipboard. The real-life New York Jets fan appears to test how Wayne does in the new running shoes.

Assistant Brian Banks stood in for Wayne on a rehearsal. Banks ran through some tires, then stepped through some spots on the pool. He was perfect.

"If you need a third down receiver, there he is," said director Ron Yassen.

"We need a first-down receiver," joked Wayne, the Colts' leading receiver this season with 56 catches for 790 yards.

When assistant director Rob Mackler hollered, "Action!" for the first real run, Wayne stumbled.

Mackler didn't need to yell "Cut!" because Wayne had already asked for a do-over. Members of New York's Roadside Entertainment crew exhaled in cold puffs of air, then focused again. And they weren't the only ones watching intently.

John and Jackie Lindgren's Westfield home had a deck filled with family and friends. Others watched from inside. Lindgren's pool was selected at random by Pools of Fun in Plainfield. The film crew basically set up in the home's basement activity room.

"The kids are so excited," John Lindgren said of their three children. "They've been telling all their buddies that Reggie was going to be in their back yard."

Mitch Lindgren, 12, couldn't get his buddies to believe it. He snapped pictures for proof.

"I told (school) I had a doctor's appointment," said Meghan, 14, a Carmel High School freshman. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

After three takes, Wayne was hitting his stride, but his baggy black shorts weren't cooperating.

"My trousers keep falling," he said, walking off the set to get a clothes pin alteration.

"Wardrobe malfunction," a witty crew member said.

After the fourth take, Wayne assured, "I'm getting better at it."

After seven takes, it was time for close-up shots. The shoot ran long, but Wayne stuck around.

"Reggie was stupendous," Yassen said. "He was a pleasure to work with. Some athletes, they can be tricky, but he did everything we asked. He's an All-Pro."

Wayne has filmed commercials before, but conceded he has a ways to go to catch up with the NFL leader in endorsements, the same guy responsible for getting the receiver the ball on game days.

"I ain't on Peyton Manning's status," Wayne said of his quarterback, who earned a reported $13 million in endorsements in 2007. "I guess you could say I'm building a foundation."

(indystar.com)

Reggie Wayne and Peta Gay Weir bought a home at 16850 Stratford Court in Southwest Ranches from Landmark Custom Ranches, Inc. for $4.1 million on July 25, 2007.

The house stands on a sprawling 102,294 square foot lot in the Landmark Ranch Estates.

Wayne is a receiver for the Super Bowl XLI champion Indianapolis Colts of the NFL. In 2007, the two-time Pro Bowl selection led the Colts and the league in receiving yardage with 1,510 yards. He also set a career high for receptions (104).

After starting for four years at the University of Miami, the Colts made him the 30th pick of the 2001 NFL Draft. After a solid 2005 season, Indianapolis signed him to a six-year contract worth $39.5 million. He followed that up with a 2006 campaign in which he caught 86 passes for 1,310 yards and nine touchdowns.

Through 2007, Wayne has a career total of 494 receptions, 6,984 receiving yards and 47 touchdowns.

He attended John Ehret High School in Marrero, La.

Home sales in Southwest Ranches dropped 39 percent in 2007 versus sales in 2006. The median sales price though went up from $850,000 to $900,000.

BlockShopper Metrics began tracking home sales in South Florida in 2001.

(southflorida.blockshopper.com)

PITTSBURGH -- Reggie Wayne was good Sunday at Heinz Field. He had six receptions, 114 yards and one touchdown in the Indianapolis Colts' 24-20 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He also was lucky.

On his 65-yard touchdown, Wayne adjusted when Peyton Manning's pass along the left sideline was underthrown and went through the hands of Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor. Wayne secured the deflection, spun away from safety Ryan Clark and sprinted to the end zone for the longest play allowed by Pittsburgh this season.

Wayne snatched another pass deflected by Taylor in the third quarter, that time gaining 16 yards.

"Those count, too, you know what I mean?'' Wayne said after posting his second 100-yard receiving game of the season and 25th of his career. "It's not giving up on a play and trying to be the man to make the play."

So, it's better to be lucky than good?

"I'd rather be both,'' Wayne said.

Tipped passes, according to Manning, are "cyclical.''

"They've been going the other way,'' he said, "so it was nice to have a couple of them bounce our way.''

(indystar.com)

Monday night's match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans is more than just an intense division rival. It's a must win game for Indy in order to keep pace within the AFC South division and their playoff picture in clear sight.

The Colts come into the game looking to rebound from the shellacking they took in Week 7 against Green Bay, losing to the Packers 34-14. Quarterback Peyton Manning had perhaps one of the worst games of his illustrious career with two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. Along with Manning struggling, the guy who seems to fuel the offense was a non-factor. That being wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

Wayne had two receptions for 24-yards in a losing effort and there needs to be a drastic change Monday night if the Colts are to have any chance of defeating the undefeated Titans.

Wayne is an integral part of the team's offense and must get more involved in the team's passing game early and often. This will be no easy task considering the Titans defense is ranked third overall.

That being said, the ranking could be a little misleading due to the fact that the Titans have yet to face a team with a balanced offense attack such as the Colts, especially when the team is on. Knowing that, you can expect the Colts offense to utilize Wayne's versatility to exploit the situation.

"He [Wayne] has the speed and the quickness to play in the slot and go across the middle," Manning said. "He's strong and physical and has zero fear as a receiver. Of course, he has the speed to get by guys on the outside and can get off versus bump-and-run coverage. It's just a credit to him being able to play both inside and outside."

The Colts like to rotate Wayne and Anthony Gonzalez, not to create match up problems in coverage, but to find ways to get the ball in the hands of their playmaking receiver Wayne.

"We just try to put him in good spots to try to get him the ball. That's the main reason, the quarterback said."

According to Manning, Gonzalez has been outside and Wayne inside pretty much the majority of the season.

Wayne is having a solid season thus far with 35 receptions for 492 yards and four touchdowns, but will need to have a Mr. October performance Monday night. Wayne has been held without a touchdown in the team's last three meetings. His effectiveness could determine the Colts outcome.

(middletownjournal.com)

INDIANAPOLIS - Enough people have gushed about Reggie Wayne's game-winning catch against the Houston Texans, he's willing to rank it No.1 in his career.

It'd be hard to find a more important one. If Wayne didn't catch it, the Colts would be 1-3 today and gasping for air in the AFC South race. At 2-2, they still have a climb to catch 5-0 Tennessee.

“That (catch) was just me working,” Wayne said Wednesday at the Colts practice complex. “My number was called and I had to try to find a way to make something happen. We made a nice little surge, so why not be the guy that gets the winning touchdown?”

Wayne's catch - a falling one-hander that required an officials' review - gave the Colts a 31-27 win over the Texans and completed a climb back from a 17-point deficit.

The Colts will try to build on that momentum when they play the Baltimore Ravens (2-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday in Lucas Oil Stadium.

Much has been made about the timing of the Colts' passing game, and the fact it hasn't looked as consistently sharp as usual. Part of that can be attributed to the high standards set by quarterback Peyton Manning and friends, and the fact Manning missed training camp.

But, with the game in the balance, Manning put the game-winning pass where only Wayne could reach it, and Wayne pulled out a catch that shows why he's a Pro Bowl receiver and in the argument for best receiver in the NFL.

Wayne was asked if he ranked his best catches and where Sunday's fell in the ranking.

“The way everybody's talking about it, it's kind of hard not to put it at the top,” Wayne said. “I do have some catches in my career that a lot of y'all haven't seen. I made some good catches in high school, but the way everybody's talking about it, it's pushing toward the top.”

Wayne sold the catch with his body language afterward as the official signaled touchdown, but he says he wasn't quite as sure as it looked.

“I was a little shaky, a little bit,” he said. “I knew I had the ball, but I wasn't sure about my feet. At the same time, it's never good to leave it in the referees' hands. I was praying like everybody else. Then, once I saw the replay, I knew it was good.”

Wayne said Colts receivers practice one-handed catches near the sideline or in the end zone every day in practice.

Colts coach Tony Dungy knew the catch looked familiar.

“I hate to say ‘routine,' but it's what we see a lot in practice,” Dungy said. “Our guys do that. They have very, very good concentration. Catching the ball, getting it secured with one hand and getting his feet down - it was a very, very athletic play, but it's one we see a lot.”

Reggie Wayne had seven receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown in the Colts' Week 5 victory.
Wayne made one of the best, and most important catches of the year when he snagged a Peyton Manning fade with one hand in the corner of the end zone. Manning found him a few more times with some on-the-money throws and should look his way a ton next week against the Ravens.

(rotoworld.com)

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)

Wide receiver Reggie Wayne continued to have an impressive camp, catching a series of short passes from quarterback Jim Sorgi in the morning practice.




(colts.com)

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The whispers finally should have been silenced last year.

In his mind, Reggie Wayne used the 2007 season to quiet any skeptics who thought his emergence in the Indianapolis Colts offense was due in large part because he was Marvin Harrison's sidekick.

Last season, Harrison, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and a future Hall of Famer, was not around for 11 games. Wayne was, and generated a career-best 104 receptions for a league-high 1,510 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"That was an opportunity for me to shut everybody the hell up because there was still people out there saying I'm in Marv's shadow and I'm just doing all this because of Marv," Wayne said Tuesday as he relaxed in a golf cart during a break in training camp at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. "That was my opportunity to slap them in the face.

"I still hear it. And that's cool because that motivates me. I'm driven to prove everybody wrong."

Year after year.

First it was the University of Florida, where his speed and potential as a deep threat were questioned despite a stellar prep career at New Orleans' John Ehret High School. Spurned by the Gators, he became a record-setter at Miami.

Then local fans wondered why the Colts would take another receiver in the first round of the 2001 draft when the team's defense needed help.

"I'm driven to prove everybody wrong," Wayne said. "It's personal."

Even after he made his first Pro Bowl appearance in 2006, many stuck to the notion he owed much of his success to Harrison's magnetic on-field presence that routinely drew extra defensive coverage.

"Hey, I'll take that," Wayne said. "I'm glad I've got a Hall of Famer on the other side. Helps me out."

But when Harrison suffered a left knee injury against Denver in last season's fourth game, the focus immediately shifted squarely to Wayne.

He embraced the challenge.

"I wanted to prove to everybody last year that I can be a top dog in this league," Wayne said.

The result was one of the best single seasons by a receiver in club history, arguably one that rivaled Harrison's league-record 143-catch output in 2002. That year, Harrison averaged 12 yards per catch and ranked second in the league with 14 receptions for at least 25 yards. Last season, Wayne averaged 14.5 yards per catch and led the league with 16 catches of at least 25 yards.

Coach Tony Dungy said the Colts have had "two No. 1 receivers" the past four or five seasons. His appreciation of Wayne is rooted in year-after-year progress and consistency. Wayne has been a 16-game starter each of the past five seasons and can become the first player in NFL history to increase his receptions total in eight straight seasons.

"He is one of those guys you don't worry about," Dungy said. "You kind of pencil in 85 to 90 catches and 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns. That's what we expect and that's what he's delivered."

For much of '07, Wayne delivered without Harrison, or any other established receiver support. When the Colts dropped a 23-21 decision at San Diego, Wayne had 10 receptions for 140 yards. Harrison was injured. So were tight end Dallas Clark and rookie receiver Anthony Gonzalez. Wayne's supporting cast included tight end Bryan Fletcher and receivers Craphonso Thorpe and Aaron Moorehead. None currently is on an active roster.

"It's a little like a guy that hit 25 home runs for five years and drove in 95 runs," team president Bill Polian said, "and then all of a sudden the guy that hits in front of him isn't there and he hits 40 home runs and drives in 125 runs.

"Is he any different (a) player? Not really. He's just getting more opportunity."

So, has Wayne not only silenced a group he sarcastically labels "my doubters," but also supplanted Harrison as the Colts' No. 1 receiver?
Wayne smiled, and laughed.

"I don't buy into that. Marv's still O.G. (Original Gangster), man. Marv's still the Don. Marv's a Hall of Famer. Check his stats. He's been there and done that. I'm trying to get where he's at."

(indystar.com)

Two-Time Pro Bowl Receiver Wayne Focused Again on Improving
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – This time, Reggie Wayne opted not to change a thing.

Wayne, the Colts’ eight-year veteran wide receiver, has improved statistically in each of his seven NFL seasons, and has done so with what he considers a simple – although not easy – formula.

Each offseason, he has worked harder than the last.

Sometimes, he said, that has meant altering his offseason workout schedule, starting earlier than the year before, or working longer. This past February, in Honolulu, Hawaii, for a second consecutive Pro Bowl appearance, he joked that perhaps the only way to improve on his first 100-plus reception season was awaken for offseason workouts a half hour earlier than normal.

Wayne reconsidered. With reason.

The past few off-seasons, Wayne has arisen at 5 a.m. for his workouts.

The idea of waking at 4:30 seemed a tad unnecessary, he said.

“I kind of stayed to the same regimen,” Wayne said this week during the first week of Colts 2008 Training Camp, which will continue through August 15 at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

“They say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I did the same thing, just did it harder. You just find ways to make it even more challenging for myself.
Wayne added with a smile, “It’s already a challenge getting up at five in the morning. That’s a start.”

As far as Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy sees it, Wayne needn’t change a thing.

Since Dungy’s arrival in 2002, Wayne never has missed a game, and has improved steadily each season, emerging as one of the NFL’s elite receivers.

“Probably the biggest thing about Reggie, the biggest compliment, is he is one of those guys you don’t worry about,” Dungy said. ‘You kind of pencil in 85-to-90 catches, 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns and you don’t even really think about it. Then you think about those numbers and realize that’s a lot to take for granted, but that’s what we expect and that’s what he has delivered.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we don’t even think about it too much.”

Whether or not Wayne has been taken for granted at times, what he also has been throughout his career his productive in strikingly steady and improving fashion.

Each season he has been in the NFL, Wayne – the Colts’ first-round selection in the 2001 NFL Draft – has set a goal to catch at least one more pass than he did the previous season.

So far, he has attained that goal.

After catching 27 passes in his rookie season, he caught 49 passes for 716 yards and four touchdowns in 2002. He followed that with 68 receptions for 838 yards and seven touchdowns in 2003 before recording his first 1,000-yard season in 2004, when he caught 77 passes for 1,210 yards and 12 touchdowns.

In 2005, he caught 83 passes for 1,055 yards and five touchdowns, then set career-highs in receptions and yards in 2006 with 86 receptions for 1,310 yards and nine touchdowns.

This past season, he surpassed his previous career-high by 18 receptions, catching 104 passes for 1,510 yards and 10 touchdowns despite the absence of eight-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Marvin Harrison.

“It’s the same,” Wayne said. “I’m still on the same track that I’m normally on. I try to get better each year. Now, it’s made everything harder. I’ve got to have a whole total different mind frame of going out there grinding, trying to get it and beat the numbers I had the previous year.

“One more doesn’t sound like much, but when you line up out there between the sidelines, it’s a lot harder than you think. One more can be the difference between the Super Bowl and an AFC Championship loss. It’s going to be a challenge, but if – knock on wood – I just keep healthy and playing football, I should be all right.”

Remaining healthy hasn’t been a huge issue for Wayne in his first seven NFL seasons. He hasn’t missed a game since his rookie season, 2001, and he is the only Colts player aside from quarterback Peyton Manning to start every game the last five seasons.

Driving him each season, in addition to division titles and Super Bowls, has been his personal goal of improvement. And while that might seem particularly daunting this season, Wayne said in fact it doesn’t seem too different.

“I do that every off-season; it’s just that this year is going to be even tougher,” Wayne said. “You’ve got a healthy (wide receiver) Marv(in) Harrison out there, so I’m not going to get as many balls as normal. There are no asterisks. I still have to go out there and do what I have to do to make it happen.

“Like I say, if I just stay healthy, who knows? Something may happen.”

And while Wayne said he is motivated by the same goals as before, he also said he is well aware he is no longer a young player by NFL standards. Late this week, he was asked if he could believe he was entering his eighth NFL season.

He laughed at the question.

“It feels like 18 years,” he said. “On my way here (to Terre Haute), normally, I’m getting it. I think I drove all the way up here at 55 miles per hour. But it’s the same. It’s the same thing. I’m blessed to have the same coaching staff and the same routine, so that’s always good. It’s nothing different.

“It’s the same thing, coming out here, knowing what to do, getting the rust off and hopefully, when you get about three or four practices under your belt you won’t have any problem.”

(colts.com)

Reggie Wayne was back in Indianapolis Saturday evening, and it wasn't to offer an in-depth assessment of the Indianapolis Colts.

That much was made clear as the two-time Pro Bowl receiver stood in a Conseco Fieldhouse corridor prior to the Amp Harris/Reggie Wayne Celebrity Basketball game that benefited Indiana Black Expo.

"C'mon now,'' he said, "don't be asking me about Peyton or Marv.''

Consider it a preemptive dismissal.

Rather than discuss quarterback Peyton Manning, who is expected to miss the first few weeks of training camp after having an infected bursa sac in his left knee removed last Monday, or wide receiver Marvin Harrison, who is coming back from an injury to his left knee and arthroscopic surgery to his right knee, Wayne was focused on the task at hand.

That was hoops.

"When I was a little younger, I could jump a lot higher, but I'm still pretty good,'' said Wayne, 29, who was joined in the event by Colts teammates Bob Sanders, a two-time Pro Bowl safety and the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and wide receiver Courtney Roby.

Wayne spent his offseason shuffling between Miami and New Orleans, but returned to Indy for the game. He'll stick around until Thursday when he heads to Terre Haute for the start of training camp.

"Vacation's over,'' said Wayne, who had a career-best 104 receptions and led the NFL with 1,510 yards last season. "Ain't nobody looking forward to camp because that means you're working for six months.

"But it all starts Thursday. You may not enjoy it all the time, but if you want to win, you've got to do it.''

Although he steadfastly refused to elaborate on Manning's recent surgery and how it might impact the development of the offense, Wayne conceded it's going to be strange for Manning not to be running the No. 1 offense when practice opens Friday morning. That responsibility will rest with backup Jim Sorgi until Manning is cleared to practice.

"He'll be out there,'' Wayne said of Manning. "He just won't be out there participating.

"Who knows? It might pick us up a little bit. This is a first for everybody. We don't know what to expect.''

(indystar.com)

3. Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis Colts. Wayne could make an argument for being the top receiver on this list. He adjusts well to coverage and can beat you deep or with strong route running underneath. Even with coverage rolled to him last season (with Marvin Harrison out with a knee injury), he still dominated.

4. Andre Johnson, Houston Texans. He is defined by size, speed, and a great set of hands. He needs to stay healthy, but based on pure talent and his physical tools, he deserves to be ranked this high.

(sportingews.com)

Meanwhile, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma reached out to freshmen Arthur Brown and Sean Spence, offering his cellphone number and mentoring (Panthers linebacker Jon Beason did, too). Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork reached out to Marcus Forston. Aldarius Johnson said he cultivated a friendship with Andre Johnson and has spoken with Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss.

UM alumni take losing so hard that Beason was ''in tears'' during games last year. Vilma said last winter that what troubled him in recent years is ``guys not improving year to year. You can't say it's all the talent.''

But after working out with Canes players at 7 a.m. this summer and watching several (such as Allen Bailey) improve this spring, Vilma -- like others -- is encouraged: ``You see everyone wanting to improve.''

(miamiherald.com)

I've been doing full-season tape reviews for five years now, and the one fact that stands out more than any other is that player performance does not take place in a vacuum. The level of competition a player faces seems, more times than not, to largely determine the level of production that player achieves.

I first reviewed this in an article in Scientific Football 2005 when I saw that 26 of Peyton Manning's 53 regular-season and postseason touchdown passes that year came against either subpar coverage personnel or no coverage at all.

I decided to take that concept one step further in Scientific Football 2008 by looking at wide receiver performance versus varying levels of competition. I did this by segmenting cornerbacks into three color categories -- red (the most difficult matchups), yellow (average matchups) and green (the most favorable matchups).

I used the 2007 yards per attempt average of each cornerback to determine his color rating, with red being a YPA of less than 7 yards, yellow being between 7 and 9 yards, and green being more than 9 yards. Cornerbacks who didn't have enough passes thrown in their direction to qualify were placed in a separate "non-qualifier" category. I also tracked receiver performance when facing a cornerback and when facing a non-cornerback (i.e., a safety, a linebacker, no coverage, etc.).

This study produced a large amount of very interesting numbers, but for the sake of brevity, I have culled out the top 10 nuggets of information. They are:

1. Randy Moss can be slowed by red- and yellow-rated cornerbacks. I know it sounds crazy to say anything negative about someone who scored 23 touchdowns for the Patriots this past season, but consider this: In the 95 passes Moss had thrown to him while he was being covered by a red- or yellow-rated cornerback, he gained only 541 yards. That equals 5.7 yards per attempt, a terribly low total. Because 62 of those passes came against yellow-rated corners, Moss' YPA actually was less than those cornerbacks' standard YPA in 2007.

2. The Colts' Reggie Wayne is the best wide receiver in the NFL. Moss and Terrell Owens generally are said to hold this spot, but Wayne beats those two in one of the most important indicators of quality among wide receivers: the ability to beat any cornerback. Take a look at the totals of each of these three when facing cornerbacks last season:

Player ---------Att---Yards---YPA ----TD---INT ---Success %
Reggie Wayne---99---1,158---11.7-----9----3--------74.7
Terrell Owens----95---759-----8.0------9----7--------54.7
Randy Moss-----127---924-----7.3-----15----4-------63.8

Wayne easily topped the others in every sub-segment in this metric except in touchdowns, and he equaled Owens in that one. Wayne has spent his entire career playing in the shadow of Marvin Harrison, even though he has put up numbers just as good as Harrison's in most years. In 2007, when Harrison was out for most of the season and Wayne finally got the Colts' spotlight to himself, he still couldn't avoid the shadow on a leaguewide level, even though he once again posted top-of-the-line totals.

(espn.com)

22. Reggie Wayne, WR, Indianapolis Colts: When Marvin Harrison was out last season, Wayne emerged as the team's go-to receiver. The guess here is that is that it stays that way. He's a true star now.

23. Ed Reed, S, Baltimore Ravens: He is the prototype modern safety: rangy and can still tackle. He is what safeties like Roy Williams wish they could be.

26. Andre Johnson, WR, Houston Texans: Injuries limited him last season, but Johnson is one of the best when he's on the field. The Texans were a different team without him last season.

41. Vince Wilfork, DT, New England Patriots: He was the best front-seven player on the Pats defense last season. He's a load in the middle. Moving him off the ball is tough for any center.

44. Kellen Winslow, TE, Cleveland Browns: He has emerged as one of the rising stars for a rising team. His ability to stretch the defense is vital to the Cleveland offense.

50. Devin Hester, KR, Chicago Bears: I don't normally put return men on these lists, but this guy has earned it. It will be interesting to see how long he can maintain it.

(cbs.sportsline.com)

Reggie Wayne reflection keeps evolving.

Once as the best complimentary telephonist to Marvin Harrison, Wayne has carved out his own rightful state among the NFL’s best.

His total has increased in each of seven NFL seasons, and Wayne is set for the hardest part - refining those all over again in 2008 after a career-best year in which he caught 104 passes and produced a league-high 1,510 unloading.

It’s a challenge that Wayne, as predictable, .

“It’s definitely standard to be exacting,” he said Saturday as the Colts held their following day of binding mini-camp. “I feel like I must be able to do that, that I have a duty to be able to take advantage of it.”

Wayne emerged last season as Peyton Manning’s chosen target when Harrison went down with a left knee damage.

At times, he was Manning’s only reliable option.

Harrison missed 11 regular-season games, key-round flow pick Anthony Gonzalez was hobbled by injuries throughout the season and Manning even lost tricky end Dallas Clark for one game in November.

That’s when Wayne excelled.

Forced to play against a petitions of coverages to slow him down, an occasion usually taken for Harrison - the Colts’ career groundbreaker in every single main receiving classification, Wayne unremitting catching passes and turned into full-fledged believers.

“It was shutting up the ,” Wayne said. “They were always talking on the order of could I do it, could I do it. They always said it was because Marvin was there, which is true. But I was still able to do it when he wasn’t there.”

Still, Wayne knows it be enhanced for Indianapolis to work in tandem.

The eight-time Pro Bowler is two bad knees, and finds himself part of an inquiry into an purported firing incident in his of Philadelphia. Harrison has been interviewed by police but has not been exciting with any illegality.

Agent Tom Condon Harrison was concerned, and Colts officials have declined to comment exactly until they receive more credible report.

The Colts better disquiet is construction sure Harrison is healthy. He had surgery on his in shape knee following Indy’s playoff loss to San Diego and has been rehabilitating an swollen capsule in his left knee, the wrong that kept him out a career-high 11 games last year.

Coach Tony Dungy said Harrison is in town for camp but is not running out this week because of his treatment. Mini-camp ends Sunday.

“We’ll see where it (the search goes). I’m not indeed up on all the ,” Dungy said Saturday. “The doctors are adage he (Harrison) should be fine. Last season, he had a skillful opening day and was on the way to having the type of year we count on from Marvin. So we ruminate he’ll be OK.”

Wayne, who may be the closest to Harrison, said he’s not concerned of the order of the recce, only Harrison’s vigor.

And he can’t to get him back. In fact, Harrison can’t wait to get back on the field.

“You can tell it’s undeniably sad him not consciousness out there,” Wayne said. “That’s where I got a lot of my practice help from, because he never takes plays off so when Peyton’s out there, I don’t take off. We feed off each other and I’d much satisfactorily have him out there because the more we’re laid-back, the in good health off we’ll be.”

But getting Harrison back also could power Wayne’s stats.

Of course, that’s not how Wayne sees it. In an era where many receivers are regularly defendant of spirit selfish, Wayne points out that with the two Pro Bowl , the Colts won a Super Bowl. With Harrison at less than full force they were in the local round of the .

“I like it that way because that way they can’t key on me,” Wayne said.

Besides, Wayne has by this time established , put up the colorful numbers and won a Super Bowl ring.

All he truthfully wants now is some more locket, and that’s what Dungy likes to hear.

“He’s gotten restored every year since we got here, manufacture . He made a ton of big plays for us last year,” Dungy said. “That’s in fact not a complete lot unusual than what he did from the aforementioned three years, and that’s what we’d like to see over this year.”

(daymlb.com)

INDIANAPOLIS - Reggie Wayne stands among those who want Marvin Harrison back to full health, making stunning catches rather than dealing with surgeries and suspicions.

Wayne had his best year as an Indianapolis Colt, in terms of numbers, in 2007, when Harrison missed most of the season.

But the ending was unsatisfying.

“We feed off each other; I would much rather have him out there healthy,” Wayne said during the Colts three-day mini-camp, which ended Sunday. “As an example: He was healthy, I was healthy and we went to the Super Bowl. Our offense was - what do they say? - potent. As close as he can be to 100 percent, the better I'll be.”

Wayne makes it a point to try to drive his production up each season, a goal that turns tougher as he gets better. He set career bests in 2007 in catches (104) and yards (1,510) and had his second-best touchdown total (10, two short of 12 in Peyton Manning's record-setting 2004 season).

Driving him are his critics, real or perceived.

“There was always talk about, ‘Could I do it?' ” Wayne said. “A lot of times I would hear I'm good because of Marvin, which I am because he's helped me get better. But at the same time, I know what I can do, and I was able to prove it last year.”

Wayne, 29, enters his eighth season in the NFL, and he's added the role of elder statesman and role model to his resume. He's now the one who'll have to mentor the younger receivers, such as Anthony Gonzalez and Roy Hall. With Wayne's outgoing, vocal personality, he's better suited for the task in many ways than Harrison.

He credits Harrison with teaching him the finer points of pro football work ethic, including never missing a repetition during practice unless sidelined by injury.

“When I got here, I looked at Marv and he was taking every rep,” Wayne said. “I said, if that's what I have to do to be great, I'm going to take every snap, too. So whenever Peyton's out there, I'm out there. Hopefully, (Harrison) can come back. I think he'll be back and ready to go and I'm looking forward to it.”

Wayne said he has not talked to Harrison about the shooting in Philadelphia that remains unresolved. Police questioned Harrison and it has been reported that Harrison's gun was used in an incident in which a man was injured by a bullet, and a broken window from the same incident injured a child. Harrison assured Colts officials he was not involved in the incident.

Harrison attended the Colts mini-camp, the Colts said, but did not participate because of offseason knee surgery. Several other Colts, including Dwight Freeney, Bob Sanders, Gary Brackett and Ryan Lilja, did not participate for health reasons.

“Knowing Marv for eight years, I can tell you he's definitely hurting not being able to be out there,” Wayne said. “The only thing I've talked to Marv about is his health. That's the only thing that concerns me. I just want him to be healthy.”

Wayne, meanwhile, is the picture of perfect health.

Between now and training camp in July, he'll be staying in shape and figuring out how to raise his receiving standards once again.

(news-sentinel.com)

Reggie Wayne – WR – University of Miami 2001 Draft / 1st Round / Indianapolis Colts

Coming out of the “U” in 2001, Reggie Wayne was part of a resurgence for Miami football that would lead to an onslaught of former Hurricanes being drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. Between the 2001 and 2004 NFL drafts there would be 20 Miami Hurricanes selected in the first round, which is an astonishing number for any one school. Wayne, who would finish his four years as the school’s leader in career receptions (176), would join former Canes Lamar Thomas and Michael Irvin as one of only three players to ever record more than 20 receiving touchdowns in school history.

Wayne’s rookie season with the Colts was a big transition for him as he would not make much of an impact recording only 27 receptions for 345 yards. Playing opposite of Marvin Harrison obviously wasn’t helpful in his adjustment to the NFL, but he worked hard to gain the trust of QB Peyton Manning and to date has 494 receptions for 6,984 receiving yards and 47 touchdowns for his career, which is good for second place amongst his draft class. Graduating from Miami a year before they beat Nebraska in the BCS National Championship game Wayne made up for it by being a key contributor to the Colts’ Super Bowl XLI championship team. The two time Pro Bowler caught a 53 yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to help the Colts beat the Chicago Bears.

The 2001 draft was an interesting one at the wide receiver position. Six players, including Wayne, were drafted in the first round. Three players are currently out of the league and of the three still playing only Wayne is still with the team that drafted him. This draft class is headlined by bust David Terrell (Michigan, 1st, 8th overall) who had so much promise coming out of college. Terrell is joined by Rod Gardner (Clemson, 1st, 15th overall) and Freddie Mitchell (UCLA, 1st, 25th overall) as players that couldn’t live up to their draft position.
The sweet spot for the 2001 draft with respect to the receiving position is between the 30th overall selection (Wayne) and the 74th overall selection. Between these 44 selections the NFL careers of Wayne, Chad Johnson (Oregon State, 2nd, 36th overall), Chris Chambers (Wisconsin, 2nd, 52nd overall) and Steve Smith (Utah, 3rd, 74th overall) would begin. Another notable alumni from this draft class is Ocho Cinco’s college teammate, TJ Houshmandzadeh (Oregon State, 7th, 204th), who like Johnson went to the Bengals – only 168 picks later.

Judging by his on field production, Wayne is clearly the most accomplished receiver in his draft class. While he may trail Chad Johnson in certain receiving statistics, he has not been the primary receiver during his career with the Colts. Additionally, Wayne further showcased his talent by stepping in admirably into the #1 receiver role due to Harrison’s injury struggles in 2007.

(draftnuggets.com)

4. Andre Johnson
Houston Texans
Johnson is big (6-3, 219), physical, runs solid routes and makes plays. In terms of physical tools, he is every bit as good as the three guys in front of him. He may have been overlooked in the past because of poor quarterback play (see David Carr 2003-06) but should improve as he works more with Matt Schaub. Johnson's numbers last season (60 catches, 851 yards) would have been more impressive if he had not missed seven games with an injury.

5. Reggie Wayne
Indianapolis Colts
The only real knock on Wayne is that he has always been 1B to Marvin Harrison, who was 1A. That's no longer the case as he is Peyton Manning's top option now. Wayne has sneaky speed, which can catch a corner off guard. He has a great feel for Indianapolis' system and the ability to find holes in a defense.

33. Santana Moss
Washington Redskins
Moss is small (5-10, 200), but few players in the league can rival his deep speed. He gets pushed around too much, can wear down and has trouble staying healthy. Also, he was tied for third in the league with 10 drops last season, according to Stats LLC. However, with new coach Jim Zorn expected to throw more often than the Redskins did in the past, Moss could have a resurgence. It is clear he will never be a top red zone option or a No. 1 wideout who can consistently handle double-teams, but Moss can be a difference-maker as a complementary option. Zorn will get the ball in his hands.

51. Roscoe Parrish
Buffalo Bills
Parrish has been a versatile player for the Bills. He is a No. 3 receiver who is best in the slot and using his quickness and run-after-catch ability in space. His biggest contribution, however, may come on special teams handling punts and kickoffs.

Click here to see the rest of the list...

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) -- Receiver Reggie Wayne could have come to training camp bragging about his first Pro Bowl trip or flashing that brand new Super Bowl ring.

Instead, he showed up ready to hunt.

Wayne, now in his seventh season with the Indianapolis Colts, even dressed the part, wearing a camouflage outfit and mask to symbolize the increased expectations he has for 2007.

"I could be 10 times better," he said. "There's always something in there that gets you to work on your game, and I'm always looking for a glitch that I can improve on."

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Reggie Wayne came to training camp Sunday ready to hunt down another Super Bowl title.

Wearing camouflage gear from head to toe and dropping his mask barely long enough to answer a few questions, the Colts’ Pro Bowl receiver had a message for his teammates: Don’t settle for being the NFL’s target.

"They’re coming after us, so you’ve got to get ready, get after them and be prepared," he explained. "It comes with the territory."

In years past, Wayne’s stylish entrances have been more about comic relief.

He once rode to camp with Edgerrin James in a taxicab, joined James’ bus caravan of school children another year, and last July arrived at camp wearing James’ new Arizona Cardinals jersey to honor the Colts’ career rushing leader who left as a free agent.

Click on the pictures to enlarge the article and read. Enjoy!

They're invisible to the naked eye, but Reggie Wayne insists flecks of iron oxide fall off his body as he runs routes and snares passes from Peyton Manning.

That would be rust, which has accumulated over the months since the Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl victory over the Chicago Bears.

"You come in kind of rusty, so you want to bang some of the rust off,'' Wayne said during a break between Saturday's two minicamp workouts. "It's just polishing up, starting to get that engine running.''

Wayne is coming off the best season of his career: 86 receptions, 1,310 yards, nine touchdowns. It earned him his first Pro Bowl selection. The task at hand is getting better.

"Got to,'' Wayne said. "Always got to get better.''

A death in the family prompted Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne to cancel his two-day stint as host of the "Best Damn Sports Show Period," a Fox Sports spokesman said.

Wayne was supposed to host the sports entertainment show Tuesday and Wednesday nights but changed his plans at the last minute, the spokesman said.

It was not known who died in Wayne's family. A Colts spokesman said the team was unaware of the situation.

The 2007 Pro Bowl star was scheduled to appear Tuesday with teammates Dwight Freeney and Bob Sanders. The show spokesman said it was not known if Wayne would reschedule to host at another time.

(indystar.com)

A handful of Indianapolis Colts completed an NFL double Saturday at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Six days after leading the Colts to a victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, quarterback Peyton Manning, wide receiver Reggie Wayne and three of their teammates were part of the AFC's 31-28 triumph over the NFC in the 37th Pro Bowl. The AFC won for the fifth time in seven years and took a 19-18 lead in the series when San Diego place-kicker Nate Kaeding drilled a 21-yard field goal as time expired.

Manning, the Most Valuable Player in the Super Bowl and appearing in his seventh Pro Bowl, completed 5-of-12 passes for 67 yards while directing the first two series. Wayne, in his first Pro Bowl, led the AFC with six receptions and 137 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown from Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer. Palmer was named the game's Most Outstanding Player after completing 8-of-17 passes for 190 yards and touchdowns to Wayne and Bengals teammate Chad Johnson (42 yards).

MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. -- The most important play in Super Bowl XLI on Sunday night, the biggest moment of Reggie Wayne's life, was almost too easy to believe.

With the Indianapolis Colts trailing 7-0 and facing a third-and-10 from their 47-yard line against the Chicago Bears, Wayne broke into the clear deep downfield with no defenders in sight, and quarterback Peyton Manning connected for a 53-yard touchdown.

The Bears' coverage broke down -- cornerback Charles Tillman allowed Wayne to run past him, and no safeties came over to pick him up. The play swung the early momentum away from Chicago, and the Colts eventually won 29-17.

MIAMI – For the time being anyway, Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne is a big fan of Bears rookie return specialist Devin Hester. Hester set an NFL record this season with six returns (three punts, one missed field goal and two kickoffs) going for touchdowns.

Wayne and Hester played football at the University of Miami, which plays a large part in his level of admiration.

“He’s from the ‘U,’ so I don’t expect anything else. He was doing that in college. All you have to do is give a guy confidence to return one in the NFL and once you do it one time, you’re always going to do it,” the Colts receiver said. “Whenever you come from the University of Miami, I don’t expect you to do anything but make plays.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Reggie Wayne stares blankly into his locker.

He is visiting with his brother again. It happens a lot these days, since that cold September night when he first heard he had lost Rashad in a traffic accident.

The Indianapolis receiver stares at the photo held in place by a Colts horseshoe, the one of Rashad looking confident in dark glasses, posing next to his dilapidated teal Ford Mustang. Sometimes, it makes Wayne laugh to remember his brother's fascination with those jalopies.

Not today, though. Today he is lost in prayer as he stares at the picture, the one he decided would always be with him, since the day he and his oldest brother cleaned out Rashad's apartment in New Orleans.

"Every morning, every time before I go to bed, at halftime, I talk to him," Wayne says later.

MIAMI - All week long, Reggie Wayne has met the Super Bowl media with open arms while teammates such as Marvin Harrison have squirmed under the spotlight.

Wayne, a former University of Miami standout, will answer just about any question that comes his way.

However, there is one topic he wishes would be off-limits - the death of his brother Rashad.

The Colts wide receiver has tried his best to deflect questions about his older brother, who died at 32 when the delivery truck he was driving smashed into a highway guardrail in Louisiana last Sept. 24.

Overheard at Colts Media Day:

This week the Bears are practicing at UM and the Colts are using the Dolphins’ facility in Davie.

Colts wideout Reggie Wayne, a former UM star, is a little jealous.

“Yeah, that hurt me a little bit,” he said Tuesday. “I wish I could have gone back and got my old locker. That’d probably give me a little extra enthusiasm in practice.”

(palmbeachpost.com)

INDIANAPOLIS — In the aftermath of his older brother's death Sept. 24, Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne knew there was one person close to him who truly would understand his emotional turmoil.

Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy was just nine months removed from his son James' suicide.

"Obviously, he experienced a lot that I experienced," said Wayne last week as the Colts prepared for the Super Bowl.

"You are at a situation in your life when you are at the lowest point and just to hear from somebody that has actually been through it, it helps you out a lot," Wayne said. "Coach Dungy is a strong man, a strong soul, so he knows exactly what's going on. Just him giving me some advice was huge for me."

INDIANAPOLIS ?The reaction began modestly enough.

Last week's Heat-Pacers basketball game was heading into the fourth quarter at Conseco Fieldhouse when the in-house cameras caught Reggie Wayne sitting courtside.

A few cheers went up, and then, as the public-address announcer informed the crowd it was indeed in the presence of the Colts' Pro Bowl receiver, the volume started to build.

Wayne gave a small wave. More cheers and chants of "Re-ggie," the way they used to salute former Pacers great Reggie Miller.

The football star broke out laughing, embarrassed by the attention. Louder cheers. Another wave.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -First stop for Reggie Wayne is the Super Bowl. Next week it's the Pro Bowl with four of his Indianapolis Colts teammates.

If only his older brother, Rashad, could share these moments with him.

``A lot of my success today has come through him. I think about him all the time,'' Wayne said.

Last Sept. 24, Rashad Wayne's delivery truck hit a guardrail near New Orleans, where he lived. The 32-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

At the RCA Dome, under a din of noise, hidden beneath the swirl and electricity of the AFC Championship Game, Wayne took a quiet moment to himself.

He was talking to his brother, Rashad.

They were close as kids, Reggie tagging along with Rashad, who was everything Reggie wanted to be.

That's the way it is with older brothers. You revere them and envy them. You copy them, and hope and wait for words of approval that mean so much more from them. You dream of being like them but most of all, you love them.

Rashad, 32, was killed in a traffic accident Sept. 24.

There are two pictures on the wall of Reggie Wayne's locker at the Indianapolis Colts' practice facility.

There's one inside a horseshoe-shaped frame. It's a photo of Rashad, his 32-year-old brother, who died in September when a delivery truck he was driving crashed into a highway guardrail in Kenner, La.

There's another picture. Rashad's prized Mustang. One of a number of his brother's "hoopties" -- that is, tricked-out rides.

"He had so many (pictures), me and my brother were cleaning out his apartment, I just reached in there and the first one I grabbed, that was going to be the one," Wayne said Thursday as the Colts prepared for Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears in Miami. "I have a whole other shrine at my house. So many pictures of him, IDs, stuff like that.''

INDIANAPOLIS // As they walked off the field at M&T Bank Stadium in last year's season opener, Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle and Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne greeted each other with the respect that carried over from their college days at rival schools.

Rolle, who played at Florida State, had seen Wayne, who played at Miami, come into his own while still in the shadow of Colts star Marvin Harrison.

"The crazy part is he has gotten much better. Last year when we played them, I told him that after the game," Rolle said earlier this week. "He's turned into a great all-around receiver. Every year he just gets better and better."

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- There is a lot of love for Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne in the Baltimore Ravens' locker room.

Safety Ed Reed, like Wayne, is from Louisiana and played at the University of Miami. Cornerback Samari Rolle, who is from Miami Beach and played at Florida State, persuaded his secondary to cast Pro Bowl votes for Wayne the past two years. Wayne, in his sixth NFL season, was selected to the all-star event for the first time last month.

Reed, who considers Wayne "a brother way past football" and works out with him in the offseason, took a shot at Colts record-setting receiver Marvin Harrison in assessing why it has taken his buddy this long to get a Pro Bowl nod.

"Reggie, on any other team in the league, would be that guy," Reed said. "And he's really the guy over there, it's just that under the circumstances, with records and stats mattering to certain people, he don't get the looks."

By unofficial count, Peyton Manning threw 150 passes to Harrison and 137 to Wayne in the regular season. Harrison led the Colts with 95 catches for 1,366 yards and 12 scores. Wayne caught 86 passes for 1,310 yards and nine scores. Wayne's catch total has increased in each of his NFL seasons.
Rolle, who will cover Wayne on Saturday, saw him twice a season while with Indianapolis' AFC South rival Tennessee from 2001 to 2004 and again in a Ravens home loss to begin the 2005 season.

"He has been overshadowed for too long," Rolle said. "Last year, we voted for him and were surprised he didn't get in. I'm just happy for him that he's getting his credit. We voted for him again this year."

(indystar.com)

Wide receiver Reggie Wayne has been named this year’s Colts recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award.

The award is an annual recognition for courageous play by an individual. Wayne is one of 32 NFL players cited for the award. The players of each member club nominate an individual annually and those chosen are honored at a banquet.

The 29th annual Ed Block Courage Award dinner is scheduled during March in Baltimore, Md. Proceeds from the affair benefit the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation in Baltimore.

The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation’s goal is to establish homes for abused children in each NFL city. Indianapolis established an Ed Block Courage home (Children’s Bureau) in October 2000. The home is part of a national support network for abused children. Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Carolina, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, New York (Giants), Oakland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Seattle have already established homes.

(tribstar.com)

Reggie Wayne was driving to an autograph signing in Carmel when his cellular phone rang. The call was from the Indianapolis Colts' Westside complex.

He had made the Pro Bowl for the first time.

Before that could sink in, a buddy from Arizona text-messaged him. Former teammate Edgerrin James typed, "Did you get in?"
"Then my phone started going haywire," the receiver said.

The autograph signing took more than two hours. He met with fans and scribbled his signature with the No. 87 on helmets, jerseys, posters, cards, programs. He didn't have time to return any calls.

INDIANAPOLIS - Reggie Wayne may always get overlooked playing next to Marvin Harrison. At least now, he knows he's part of the Pro Bowl club.

Wayne, Harrison and two-time MVP Peyton Manning were among five Indianapolis Colts named to the AFC squad Tuesday, four fewer than conference-leading San Diego and two fewer than the NFC's best team, Chicago. The Bears and Chargers are both 12-2.

The Colts thought Wayne had Pro Bowl-worthy stats each of the last two years, though he was bypassed in the voting by coaches, players and fans.

This time, they were pleasantly surprised.

"I really didn't think he would make it, not that he didn't deserve it," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "But it's a tough perception to overcome, that your No. 2 receiver is better than 28 other receivers in the league."

If Reggie Wayne doesn’t make the Pro Bowl this season, it won’t be because of a lack of big plays.
And it won’t be because he didn’t perform in high-profile games.

Wayne, the Colts’ sixth-year wide receiver, has been a 1,000-yard receiver each of the last two seasons and in 2004, he caught 12 touchdown passes. But each year, he largely has been overlooked in post-season awards, and despite being one of the league’s top receivers, he has not made the Pro Bowl.

But this season, Wayne has consistently been among the AFC’s leaders in yardage and receptions, and on Sunday night – in the Colts’ nationally-televised victory over the Eagles – he made what may have been the most spectacular catch of his career.

Midway through the first quarter, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning – who has said each of the past two seasons he believed Wayne should make the Pro Bowl – threw deep to Wayne down the left sideline.

Wayne caught the ball with his left hand and stayed in bounds, dragging his foot on a play that was unsuccessfully challenged by Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid.

In the second half, Wayne’s 11-yard touchdown pass from Manning gave the Colts a 31-7 lead.

(colts.com)

Reggie Wayne might be a Pro Bowl receiver in any other offense. At Indianapolis, however, he has long been the overlooked man.

With a record-setting quarterback and another record-setting receiver drawing the primary focus of defenses, Wayne has crafted his skills and his temperament to fit the Colts needs. Rather than whine or lobby, he's learned how to get open, produce big numbers and score.

If others notice Marvin Harrison before they notice him, it doesn't bother Wayne.

"I'm the silent assassin," he said. "Really, I don't need all that because I learned from one of the best in Marvin."

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Reggie Wayne might be a Pro Bowl receiver in any other offence. At Indianapolis, however, he has long been the overlooked man.

With a record-setting quarterback and another record-setting receiver drawing the primary focus of defences, Wayne has crafted his skills and his temperament to fit the Colts needs. Rather than whine or lobby, he's learned how to get open, produce big numbers and score.

If others notice Marvin Harrison before they notice him, it doesn't bother Wayne.

"I'm the silent assassin," he said. "Really, I don't need all that because I learned from one of the best myself in Marvin."

It defied conventional thinking, but then again, that goes away when it comes to the Indianapolis Colts offense. And that might actually be one of the secrets of its success.

When Colts general manager Bill Polian made receiver Reggie Wayne the top priority in free-agency last spring, signing him to a six-year $39.5 million contract, it meant that star runner Edgerrin James would leave via free-agency. That wasn't conventional thinking, and it led to plenty of questions and loads of second-guessing.

How can a receiver be more important than a guy who had rushed for 1,500 yards in two successive seasons?

DENVER – Reggie Wayne’s description of the latest Indianapolis Colts win seems, on face value, hard to buy.

“It was another day in the office,” Wayne said. “Nothing special.”

Wayne, wearing a stylish cream-colored suit with three touchdown catches and a two-point conversion in his back pocket, kept a straight face. He wasn’t joking. And here’s the kicker, if we’re honest about it: He’s partially right.

The Colts’ 34-31 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday at Invesco Field was, in many ways, just another day at the office.

Newest nickname for the Broncos' defense: the Crash-and-Burned Unit.

The Broncos, who had allowed two touchdowns in their first six games, allowed three Sunday afternoon at Invesco Field at Mile High. Hey, stuff happens when you play the Indianapolis Colts.

The Colts walked off the field with a 34-31 victory that stamped them as the team to beat in the American Conference. Indianapolis is the first team since the 1929-31 Green Bay Packers to open back-to-back seasons with seven consecutive wins.

DENVER -- A Denver defense that had yielded 44 points to its first six opponents gave up 34 Sunday. A Denver defense that hadn't given up a touchdown in 14 quarters at Invesco Field at Mile High gave up three during the second half Sunday.

Reggie Wayne scored all of them. He was in his element.

"It's like a playoff atmosphere," Wayne bubbled after the Indianapolis Colts' 34-31 victory over the Denver Broncos. "You know it's going to be a hostile crowd. You've gotta love playing here, the 75,000 go to cheering and the stadium goes to shaking and it gives you goose bumps.

"Those are the times you want to step up and make plays. My number was called today."

College: Miami.

Experience: Sixth year with Colts; first-round draft pick in 2001, 30th overall selection.

Money man: Signed six-year, $39 million contract in March that included a $12.5 million signing bonus.

The skinny: He's "the other" Colts receiver, Marvin Harrison's sidekick. . . . In '05, became first player other than Harrison to lead the team in receptions (83, one more than Harrison) since '98 (Marshall Faulk). . . . Has increased his receptions total every season -- 27 as a rookie, followed by 49, 68, 77 and 83. . . . Second to Harrison after six games this season with 28 receptions for 504 yards and two TDs. . . . Has had at least three receptions in all six games, has eclipsed the 100-yard mark twice and is averaging a career-best 18.0 yards per catch. . . . Might have the best hands on the team and arguably is the team's best after-the-catch receiver.

Reggie on Reggie: "I'm a silent assassin. That's what I do. I'm just out there playing my game. Nothing extra. Nothing special. Just whenever the ball's thrown to me, catch it and try to get as many yards as I possibly can. I just want to be consistent with it. That's my whole thing."

(indystar.com)

On a warm, sunny Tuesday morning, a contingent of teammates past and present gathered to support Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne and his family in the mourning of his older brother, Rashad Anthony Wayne.

Wayne's second family came to the small, beige brick Morning Star Baptist Church in Marrero, just off the West Bank Expressway, in a show of unity for one of their own.

The Colts brought a small group of people, including quarterback Peyton Manning, Coach Tony Dungy and President Bill Polian. Wayne's former teammates -- Arizona Cardinals running back Edgerrin James and Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed of Destrehan, who played with him at the University of Miami -- also showed, as did a group of his former high school teammates from nearby John Ehret.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Coach Tony Dungy said the Indianapolis Colts plan to send a small group to Tuesday's funeral of wide receiver Reggie Wayne's brother.

Among those expected to attend are quarterback Peyton Manning, Wayne's fellow receivers, Dungy and a few others.

Dungy said other players might make their own arrangements to attend the funeral in Louisiana.

INDIANAPOLIS — Wide receiver Reggie Wayne will be in the starting lineup when the Indianapolis Colts play the New York Jets today at the Meadowlands, but several other key players will be sitting out.

Wayne returned to practice Thursday after missing workouts Monday and Wednesday in order to tend to family matters in Louisiana concerning the death of his older brother Rashad. Reggie Wayne took part in the Colts' final three workouts of the week, including Saturday's walkthough session.
(tribstar.com)

NDIANAPOLIS - Receiver Reggie Wayne rejoined the Indianapolis Colts for practice Thursday and is expected to play Sunday against the New York Jets. Wayne flew to Louisiana on Sunday night after learning his 32-year-old brother, Rashad, was killed in a traffic accident.

Although Reggie Wayne did not speak with reporters on Thursday, coach Tony Dungy said he anticipated the 27-year-old receiver would play this week as the Colts (3-0) try to remain unbeaten.

"That's what we're planning, so I would think so," Dungy said after practice. "But it is good to see him back."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts receiver Reggie Wayne is expected to return to Indianapolis on Thursday and could be available to play Sunday against the New York Jets.

Wayne left town Sunday night after finding out his older brother, Rashad, was killed in a traffic accident that day in Kenner, La. Reggie Wayne has been in Louisiana all week to help the family make funeral arrangements.

"The last conversation I had with him, he said he'd be back in Indianapolis sometime tomorrow," coach Tony Dungy said Wednesday. "Right now, I think he will play."

An important AFC South win over Jacksonville and a pending road test with the New York Jets were secondary to the Indianapolis Colts on Monday.

Instead the team's focus was on rallying around wide receiver Reggie Wayne, whose older brother was killed in a traffic accident Sunday morning near Kenner, La. Rashad Wayne, 32, suffered a severe head injury and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The team made arrangements Sunday evening for Reggie Wayne and his mother to return to their home in New Orleans. Funeral arrangements haven't been announced and it's uncertain when Wayne will return to the team.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis' victory celebration turned somber Monday.

The usually boisterous locker room noise was replaced by emotional, thoughtful reflection as Colts players offered support to their grieving receiver, Reggie Wayne.

Wayne's older brother, Rashad, was killed in an automobile accident Sunday -- something Colts players didn't learn until well after Sunday's game ended. After hearing the news, Wayne flew back to his home state of Louisiana so he could help the family make funeral arrangements.

KENNER, La. -- The brother of Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne was killed Sunday when the delivery truck he was driving crashed into a highway guardrail.

Rashad Wayne was pronounced dead at the scene, said James Gallagher, a spokesman for the Kenner Police Department.

Reggie Wayne wants to get better. Every season.
To Wayne, a wide receiver for the Colts, that may mean getting one more reception, one more yard, or one more touchdown than the season before.