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Or is it, I wish I were a Colts fan?

Anyway, if loyalty to a hometown team weren’t the overriding factor, Peyton Manning would be the favorite player of more fans than just about anyone else in the league. (Others in contention: Tom Brady, LaDainian Tomlinson and Chad Johnson. Yes, Chad Johnson.)

Manning knows what he’s doing out there. He’s THE guy. Reading defenses, calling his own plays at the line, getting in his O-linemen’s faces when they screw up because he just wants to win the f’ing game. That’s it.

A quick look at the progression of his numbers this season proves just how much this guy wants to win. Early in the season, he wasn’t delivering the 300-yard, 4-TD performances as regularly as he did last year. Manning even went two-straight games — against Jacksonville week two and Cleveland week three — without recording a single touchdown throw.

But the Colts won.

And now, heading into tonight’s match-up with Pittsburgh, Manning had tossed three TDs in each of his last three games, 18 in his last seven.

And the Colts keep winning.

Screw the stats. Manning doesn’t care if he’s handing the ball off to Edgerrin James 30 times a game or chucking it 40; just put more points on the board than the guys on the other side of the field. That’s all that matters.

Remember when Shaun Alexander, one yard shy of his first league rushing title, threw a tantrum last year because Mike Holmgren chose to throw at the goaline late in the game? If Manning sat one TD away from Marino last year on the final play of the regular season, Colts on the goaline needing to score to win, he’d call Edge’s number without hesitation if the defense gave him the run.

He knows he can throw 50 touchdowns every year if he wanted to, but he also knows he wouldn’t win as many games doing it. That’s gotta be the kind of guy you root for.

Whether you’re a Colts fan or, as in my unfortunate case, a Browns fan.

If I were a fan of the Houston Texans, I would have burned their stadium to the ground yesterday, after they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the inept St. Louis Rams. They were up, what, 24-3? I understand the idea behind playing not to lose, as opposed to playing to win. But for the Texans to give up a lead like that, they must have been executing the ultimate prevent defense, one that prevents their opponents from punting. How embarrassing. Season ticket holders, revolt.

Coming off an embarrassing Turkey Day loss to the Falcons, the Detroit Lions canned head coach Steve Mariucci Monday, naming defensive coordinator and former Bears HC Dick Jauron as the interim head coach.

So did Mooch deserve to get fired? Well, the Lions were 15-28 under Mariucci, including 4-7 this season, which doesn’t exactly help you establish job security. Of course, if I’m pointing fingers, I’m looking for president Matt Millen, who put together a team that’s gone an NFL-worst 20-55 since 2001. Unexplicably, Millen was given a five-year extension before this season.

Pro Bowl cornerback Dre Bly, in an interview on the NFL Network, pointed his finger at someone else, though:

“They should have fired guys on this team a long time ago… I feel like there is one guy in particular who I felt like is the cause of this whole thing. That’s just how it is.”

Who?

“It’s not hard to figure out. The quarterback (Joey Harrington) here has been bad. He hasn’t gotten the job done since I got here. Y’all just see Sundays, but I’ve been a part of this every day for three years… practices. You see how the guys practice and the practices have been bad… I really don’t believe coach would have gotten fired if Jeff (Garcia) didn’t get hurt.”

Things have been ugly in Detroit for a long time, yet somehow, they just got even uglier.

Former Cowboys WR Michael Irvin was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in Plano, TX.

Irvin, an ESPN analyst and semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told The Associated Press late Sunday that the drug pipe found in his car belonged to a friend of 17 years who left a Houston rehab center and came to Irvin’s house in Carrollton for Thanksgiving. Irvin wouldn’t reveal his friend’s name.

Irvin said he put the pipe in his car because he didn’t want it in his house where his children might find it. He said he planned to drive somewhere the next day, like a grocery trash bin, and throw the pipe away but forgot.

The article doesn’t say what kind of pipe Irvin had in his car, but the former wideout has had a history of using cocaine. If his story is true, one wonders how he could “forget” to throw the pipe away. If I were in his position, I would have immediately taken the pipe down to the nearest 7-11 and thrown it in the Dumpster out back. That’s assuming, of course, that I was still inviting my crack addict friends over for Thanksgiving.