Great Scott!

If not for the fact that he was busy knocking New England linebacker Tedy Bruschi on his butt on the most pivotal play of the pulsating AFC Championship game, Jake Scott would have had the best seat in the house to watch Joseph Addai score the clinching touchdown.

Still, Scott’s view of the play that propelled Indianapolis to a 38-34 win and a date with Chicago in Super Bowl XLI on Sunday was pretty sweet.

“I made a pretty good block and (center) Jeff Saturday made an unbelievable block on Vince Wilfork and (left guard) Ryan Lilja had a good block on the back side,” said Scott, the Colts’ starting right guard by way of the University of Idaho, Lewiston High and Sacajawea Junior High, where he was first introduced to football.

Scott helps anchor the line on one of the NFL’s most productive offenses. He’s in his third season with the Colts, who have been on the verge of making the Super Bowl for years before finally breaking through last week.

“I think this team made it because we play a little better as a team,” Scott said. “We’ve been more composed in big games. Even when things weren’t going our way (against New England), everyone kept a level head and did what we’re supposed to do.”

The best part of winning the AFC championship? For Scott, it was holding the trophy in the locker room, “something I’ve watched on TV my whole life.” The victory also purged the can’t-win-the-big-one label from quarterback Peyton Manning’s and coach Tony Dungy’s resumes.

“It shows that you can be a classy guy and win, and that’s a great thing for the game of football,” Scott said of Dungy. “It’s big time for (Manning). He’s obviously one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.”

Still, the Colts called three straight running plays for Addai after driving to the Patriots’ 11-yard line. The first two netted 8 yards before Addai cruised through a huge opening for the TD.

The sequence reflects a shift in Indianapolis’ strategy, former Vandals and Pro Bowl offensive lineman Mark Schlereth said.

“The biggest thing that has changed is this is an offense that has really become a much more powerful running offense and Jake’s a big part of that,” said Schlereth, who is in Miami as part of ESPN’s coverage team. “In the past, third-and-3 was always a passing down. I can tell a lot about a team and what they think their identity is by what they do on third-and-2 or third-and-3. Now third-and-3 is a legitimate running down for them and it’s something that has made them so much better offensively.”

Scott is an ideal fit in Indianapolis’ system because he’s smart and athletic. The brains come into play when Manning is going through his calisthenics at the line where he’s changing the play or often sending mixed signals to the defense. Case in point: Manning’s QB sneak for a touchdown in the title game.

“They weren’t organized and ready,” Scott said. “We didn’t huddle and he used the code word for sneak and we snapped the ball. Peyton did a great job there.”

Scott’s athleticism meshes with the Colts’ zone-blocking scheme, which relies on technique as much as brawn. He credits past coaches for teaching him the intricacies of line play, dating back to Nick Menegas and Steve McCaskey at Lewiston High. At Idaho, he was a redshirt in coach Chris Tormey’s last season and then played for Tom Cable, whose background was as an offensive line coach, and ex-line coach Tim Drevno, who is now at Stanford.

“I felt like I was way ahead of the curve compared to other rookies,” Scott said. “I felt I knew more and understood the game more.”

That’s because he did, according to Menegas. Scott was 165 pounds as an eighth-grader.

By high school, he was 215 pounds and Menegas could see that Scott was going to be a good one. Problem was, few others did.

“It was difficult to get anybody to look at him because of his weight,” Menegas said. “And I understand the reasons coaches don’t recruit a 215-pound senior. It boiled down to two options – either a small-school standout or push yourself to a level where I knew he could play at. He chose to walk-on at Idaho. I basically assured the coaches at Idaho he would be a player down the road, and by the time he was a junior I told them he’d be the best player on the team.”

That’s essentially how it played out. Scott finally began adding weight at Idaho, but was still considered undersized when the 2004 NFL draft rolled around. At the time, Scouts Inc. described Scott this way: “Terrific technique, plays with excellent leverage, sets quickly in pass protection, very good agility. Tall, but must add significant bulk. Isn’t close to being NFL-ready because he is very weak.”

Weak linemen generally don’t start nine games as a rookie and then become a full-time starter the last two seasons.

“He’s a legend up there at Idaho. His work ethic is legendary,” Menegas said. “When he comes home (in the off-season), he trains with us in our men’s athletic performance class.”

Scott, who is listed at 295 pounds, has gained a bunch of friends since the Colts advanced to the Super Bowl. He is allotted 15 tickets and they’re going to immediate family and several former Vandals teammates, including Zach Gerstner, Seann Mumford, Chad Kodama and Jordan Lampos.

With ticket requests taken care of, Scott’s attention is on the Bears’ defense.

It should be a good matchup because Indianapolis runs and passes with equal efficiency, in part because of a self-described “tall, skinny kid” from Lewiston.