Last Sunday, Jonathan Wilhite got the kind of attention that no corner wants -- but ultimately most will get at points of the year.

He was manned up on the outside with Reggie Wayne, when Wayne scored the game-winning points in Indianapolis' 35-34 win. Wayne and Peyton Manning made an adjustment on the play, switching from a fade to a slant, and Wayne sold the fade before breaking inside and getting the razor-thin bit of separation he need to haul in a perfect throw.

Wilhite said yesterday that, even though he reacted fairly quickly to Wayne's break and was close on the ball, "Almost winning doesn't matter."

"Me, personally, I just lost some battles," he told me in the locker room. "I made some plays, I lost some plays. That’s what it boils down to.

"It comes with the territory of being a corner. I feel like every week you compete against NFL receivers, they’re gonna make some plays and you’re gonna make some plays. The most important thing is to bounce back and realize your mistakes and why you lost the battle and move forward."

Wilhite also was well aware of what he was up against -- a receiver probably among the five best in the game, and an all-time great quarterback. Not all of Wayne's 12 catches came with Wilhite near (the Colts receiver got considerable snaps out of the slot, too), but the most important one did. So he'll take the lessons learned from covering Wayne, and move on.

"He’s a great receiver," Wilhite said. "He’s not just good, he’s great, and he’s been doing it for a while. I take a lot, it was an honor to be on the same field and compete against him, one of the guys that’s gonna go down in history. We’ll see him again. We’ll play them again, hopefully, and we’ll see what happens."