Jim Irsay confident in Colts' chances

— -- INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts owner Jim Irsay, making a rare media appearance Tuesday, believes his team is closer to winning a Super Bowl today than it was at this time last year.

"I definitely feel that," Irsay at the team's facility. "The expectation is again that we haven't played our best game, and that we have to play it [Sunday at Denver] ... I like the fact that we've already won a playoff game and we're on a roll. [Former Colts coach] Tony Dungy always said that the first one's the hardest to get. Coming out of the [Cincinnati] game healthy with the confidence of a 16-point win, that goes a long way."

The Colts beat the Bengals 26-10 last weekend and will go up against a familiar face in Denver in the divisional round matchup against the Broncos. Indianapolis has to find a way to slow down quarterback Peyton Manning and the Broncos' offense, which finished second in the NFL in scoring this season. Manning spent the first 14 years of his career with the Colts where he led them to the playoffs 11 times and two Super Bowl appearances, winning one of them, before Indianapolis released him in 2012.

Manning, who missed the 2011 season because of a neck injury, has shown no signs of slowing down, as the Broncos are in the playoffs for the third straight season with him at quarterback. Denver lost to the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl last season.

"Peyton is still playing at such a high level," Irsay said. "I thought that he would. It was, again, great that he was able to go to a team and get surrounded with great players like they've surrounded him with."

The transition from Manning has gone pretty smooth for the Colts. Quarterback Andrew Luck, who they selected with the No. 1 pick in 2012, has led Indianapolis to three straight 11-win seasons, three straight playoff appearances and back-to-back undefeated seasons in the AFC South. Luck led the NFL in touchdown passes with 40 and was third in passing yards with 4,761 this season.

"To me, it's been tremendous that my vision at the time was it would work out this way, that Peyton would be able to go somewhere, continue his greatness, continue his career," Irsay said. "We would be able to go forward with Andrew. Again, having the type of success we've had so soon I think was a surprise to me.

"To be in the playoffs three straight years, win 33 games over three years, to have already won two playoff games, that's something that you don't take for granted. This is really exciting, obviously, to have this context, but again, both teams want to advance. Our goal is to win the game."

Irsay even compared Luck to former Broncos quarterback great and current executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway.

"[Luck's] magic, when you watched him in college, when the play breaks down, in that half a second, he does things that are so innate and so unusual; that's when the magic happens," Irsay said. "He just decides in a split second, and he has the athletic and the physical skills to do that with his arm strength, with his feet. So really the sky is the limit. You hate to bring up comparisons with John being there running their program and stuff, but John was that way of course at Denver."