When the Indianapolis Colts passed on Ricky Williams in last April's draft and chose Edgerrin James instead, most experts thought they took the running back who would give them the fewest contract problems.

	Edgerrin James has proven to be a perfect fit in the Colts' explosive offense.

No, they said, James is better suited to their system than Williams.

The skeptics are believers now.

On the same day that Williams ran for 179 yards for New Orleans, James demonstrated against Dallas why the Colts are about to become a force in the NFL, if they aren't already.

In the Colts' 34-24 victory over the Cowboys, James ran for 113 yards, caught seven passes for 92 more and earned so much respect from Deion Sanders that the Dallas cornerback allowed Marvin Harrison to blow by him for the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

"They had been running the ball successfully," Sanders said. "I was looking right into the backfield. The guy just ran past me. It's my fault. I'm not blaming anyone else."

Rarely is Deion so humble.

On the other hand, it was a bad day all around for Sanders -- he ran back a punt 76 yards and was tackled at the 2-yard line by the punter, Hunter Smith. This came after he said all he had to do to get by a punter was to look him in the eye.

But back to the Colts.

They are now 5-2, two wins better than they had last season, when they went 3-13.

One reason is a respectable defense instead of an awful one, primarily because they've added an impact pass rusher in Chad Bratzke. Bratzke had two sacks Sunday and seven for the season, including one that created a fumble to set up a score.

The other is the trio of Peyton Manning, James and Harrison, who are very much like three guys who came along for Dallas a decade ago.

Too soon?

Maybe. Injuries can put a stop to anything, the defense still has holes and the Colts play in the AFC East, easily the best division in football.

Want more reason for skepticism?

The schedule's not easy -- the Colts have Kansas City, New England and Washington at home and must go to Buffalo, Miami and back to the Meadowlands to play the Giants, who have the kind of defense that can cause trouble for young teams. And they still haven't proven they can win consistently on the road -- they blew a 28-0 lead and lost 31-28 in New England and beat the Jets at the Meadowlands only because Bill Parcells got too cute at the end of the game.

On the other hand, Bill Polian and Jim Mora have track records.

Mora gave the Saints their first (and only) playoff teams -- four of them.

Polian helped build the Bills that went to four Super Bowls and the Panthers who went to the NFC title game in their second year. To be fair, he also made some mistakes that helped the Panthers sink as fast as they had climbed.

But he's made few mistakes in Indianapolis.

He took Manning instead of Ryan Leaf, a pick that seems like a no-brainer now, but wasn't when everyone was praising Leaf's physical attributes in April 1998. And he shocked almost everyone by taking James over Williams.

But the decision looks great now.

Even the best, like Sanders, are now in James' camp.

"Throughout the game, he was laughing and joking with me," James said, smiling and shaking his head. "He was pointing at me and telling me that I had the moves and everything. He said I was playing well, and that's the type of thing you want a top-caliber player to say about you. That means a lot to me."

The way the Colts are playing, in a few years, they'll be the ones whose compliments young players will savor.