"At some point this afternoon, amid the can't-hear-myself-think din that Houston's Reliant Stadium promises to be, Peyton Manning will position himself as the triggerman in the Indianapolis Colts offense and Reggie Wayne will move out wide left, arms dangling at his side.

They'll be separated by 10 or 15 yards, but connected nonetheless. With verbal communication virtually impossible, Manning and Wayne will carry on.

It's a look, a nod. Maybe a hand signal. It's something, the same something Manning and Marvin Harrison cultivated and relied on for so many seasons.

"It's kind of hard to explain, it really is,'' Wayne said. "He'll give me a look and I'll know what's up. I'm knowing what he's thinking even before he relays the message to me.

"A lot of it just comes from practice, with experience.''

Manning will make his 193rd consecutive regular-season start this afternoon against the Texans. Only Minnesota's Brett Favre, at 286 and counting, has a longer streak among quarterbacks in NFL history."