INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts should be in a lot better shape physically heading into Sunday afternoon’s road game with the St. Louis Rams.

Indianapolis is coming off a bye week in which they were able to get some much needed rest after a grueling five-game stretch to begin the year. The Colts have gotten off to a 5-0 start, but that included back-to-back nationally-televised road games with Miami and Arizona.

Throw in the team’s game at Tennessee two weeks ago and Indianapolis has been involved in three nationally televised road games through the first five weeks of the regular season.

Injury-wise, safety Bob Sanders (knee) — who has yet to play in a game yet this season — has a shot of playing against the Rams. How well he practices this week will go a long way in determining if he takes the field at St. Louis.

“His activity level is increasing. And he was out there (at practice) last week and looked good. It will increase some this week, and we will see where we are toward the end of the week, but he’s coming along,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said Monday.

Indianapolis should be able to welcome back cornerback Kelvin Hayden (hamstring) and offensive tackle Charlie Johnson (knee). Hayden has been sidelined for the past three games. Johnson didn’t play against Tennessee two weeks ago.

The status of cornerback Marlin Jackson (knee) and receiver Anthony Gonzalez (knee) remain unanswered for the time being.

“I feel good about their progress. I feel good with where we’re headed, in terms of them coming back, but I’m not quite certain when that will be. Kelvin, I think, is going to end up practicing, so we’ll see where he is through the week,” Caldwell said. “Gonzo (Gonzalez) and Marlin, I think those guys are working at their craft, trying to get a little bit better, but I’m not quite certain when they’re going to be available. Some of those things could change in the middle of the week, some may go on to the middle of next week.”�

Team president Bill Polian likes where the Colts are, health-wise, six weeks into the season.

“I think the arrow is up on Bob (Sanders). I don’t want to put a timeframe on that, but he has been out taking some activity with the scout team. We’ll see if we can ramp that up. Marlin (Jackson), I think, is a little bit away still. Kelvin (Hayden) probably is the closest. We’ll see where we are there,” Polian said recently.

“We came through the (Tennessee) game with little or no serious injuries for the first time in five weeks. That part of it was really positive. For St. Louis, we should have all hands on deck other than the defensive backs. And that will be a catch-as-catch-can kind of situation. So, we feel pretty good about that and we’ll just take it from here.”

More work on tap for Colts

Despite a 5-0 start, there’s still a lot of work left to be done by Indianapolis heading into the final two months of the regular season.

“Here’s the good thing about our team. We analyzed the film (from the first five games) and took a good look at it. The thing you have to understand around here is we have very high standards. The standards we have in terms of excellence and play is pretty high. They (the coaching staff and players) set that bar really high. We have a lot of things we could get better at, seriously. That’s the good thing. We believe that as a coaching staff, and the players do also. Our guys are hungry. They are always looking for ways to improve,” Caldwell said last week.

“That’s what counts. I looked at the five-week point from 2006, 2007 and 2008. There were a number of teams that were 4-1 at that time and playing pretty well. They ended up not making the playoffs. Some of them started at 6-2. Another team started at 7-2 and didn’t make the playoffs. As we look at that, we have to understand 5-0 really doesn’t get us anything. They are not handing out any trophies or bonuses for that record. We have a long way to go.”