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These are among the many times I miss Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt. Innovators in sports speak logically about change.

Hunt was the supposed fool who started the American Football League, which led to a merger that only made the NFL stronger. For years, Hunt pushed for the league to use the college 2-point conversion. It's now a valuable, accepted part of the game.

One of Hunt's biggest pushes was to either expand rosters above 53 or do a logical thing -- use the 53 players owners are paying. The current rule is that 45 active players can suit up, along with a third quarterback. Seven players sit, which always baffled Hunt.

Sunday night, I was sitting in Qualcomm Stadium watching potential history. At his worst, Peyton Manning was at his best. The Indianapolis Colts almost overcame a 23-0 deficit in a game in which he threw six interceptions. Were it not for the replay booth overturn of a first down by challenging the spot, Manning would have taken a knee a couple of times and Adam Vinatieri would have booted the winning field goal.

My mind raced to Hunt when I saw the Colts' inactive list. The Colts had more injuries than spots on the inactive list. Tony Dungy scratched eight players and didn't suit up injured defensive tackle Raheem Brock, giving him only 44 healthy players for the game. Five inactives were on the offense, leaving only 17 players. Tackles Ryan Diem and Charlie Johnson went down during the game, leaving only 15 offensive players.

Hunt would have been all over this. "Why not have more players?" he would say. In games such as this, the thought is so logical. In 35 years, this is the worst I've witnessed for attrition and lack of depth. Vinny Testaverde and Tim Rattay ended up coming off their couches on a Tuesday and playing against each other that Sunday. The Rams lost five offensive linemen to injured reserve. The Bengals lost almost all their linebackers.

The reason I would need a Hunt pep talk is because the 45-man active list -- as silly as it sounds -- is best for the competitive nature of the sport. It sounds illogical, but it's right.

•  Why should Manning go through four quarters of football with a three-receiver set consisting of Reggie Wayne, Aaron Moorehead, Craphonso Thorpe and no one behind them? The Colts had 84 plays. In the second half, he put together drives of 12, 7, 9, 12, 11 and 9 plays. The only way Moorehead or Thorpe could take a breather was to substitute tight ends Ben Utecht or Bryan Fletcher.

•  Why should offensive line coach Howard Mudd have to create tackles along the sideline? In the second half, he was turning guards into tackles and raw players into starters. Left tackle Tony Ugoh and third-string tackle Daniel Federkeil were inactive. Diem and Johnson went down early in the second half. Mudd had only Michael Toudouze, just promoted off the practice squad, to play tackle. All he could do was make Jake Scott a tackle and have Dylan Gandy patch the final spot along the line at guard.

With the ragtag bunch of backups, Manning had 43 second-half plays and almost won the game. It might have been his greatest half, had the Colts won.

Suddenly, it dawned on me why the league keeps the inactive list at 45. The Colts wouldn't have had any chance of coming back if teams could play all 53 players. With nine players unable to suit up because of injuries, the Colts would have been at a nine-player disadvantage if the Chargers could have suited up 53 players.

What was a memorable 23-21 loss would have been a 37-14 blowout. Leaguewide, games would be less competitive if one team could dress seven or eight more players than the other.

The NFL, like most sports, is resistant to change, and other things that seem illogical also have stood the test of time. For example, the NFL is resistant to changing the overtime rule to a two-possession system because the original sudden-death system was set up to ward off tie games. That system works. The first team that scores wins, and there might be one tie in a decade.

The competition committee did extensive work on injuries and determined a team normally is going to have 6.2 injured players a week, particularly this late in the season. Some teams have fewer injuries. Some have more. From Thursday's report, the Colts have 11, the Packers 10, the Ravens, Chargers and Bears eight. The Eagles and Jets have relatively clean injury lists. It balances out.

Wisely, the committee looked at the competitive nature of things and figured to cut the difference. So the injured team isn't at a big disadvantage, the committee determined to sit seven, and that number has stood the test of time.

This offseason, the committee might have to take into consideration commissioner Roger Goodell's edict to take more cautious approaches on player concussions and its impact on active rosters. This was a long overdue ruling and a wise position by the commissioner because of the increasing worries about concussions. Now, if a player has a concussion, there is a good chance he's going to sit a week or two.

If a player has a neck stinger, doctors are being even more cautious. Before this year, players suited up with stingers. More doctors, worried about making the injury worse, are keeping players with neck stingers on the sideline for a week or two or even longer. Safety is a reality, and it's having its impact on the active and inactive lists.

Maybe the league needs to consider looking at whether having 49 active players is wise under those circumstances. But the league cannot come to a quick, rash conclusion. Would an extra active player or two help if concussions and stingers are going to keep more players on the inactive list? That's worth studying.

Injuries are playing a bigger factor in games this year. More third-stringers are playing as starters than ever before. General managers will tell you that if you get down to your "thirds," you're in trouble. Thirds are usually young in age and cheap in salary. If thirds actually were starters, they'd be the starters or would have enough value in trades to net a draft choice or two.

When coaches have to start third-stringers because of injuries, it has a big impact on special teams. A coach can't expect a third-stringer to play 60 plays on offense or defense and fill his role on special teams, too. This juggling has had its biggest impact on kickoff returns.

Kickoff returns are a yard better than last year and are at the highest level since 1978. The average return is 23.4 yards. The next-closest year was 2000 (22.7 ypr). Teams that, like the Colts, have been using more thirds as starters are pumping up that average.

The Indy kickoff team is giving up 25.2 yards a return and has allowed two touchdowns. With as many as nine inactive players, special-teams coach Russ Purnell has to go begging for coverage help. Giving the other team more healthy players to use against him with an expanded inactive option would only make it worse for the Colts or teams in similar situations.

Still, it would be great to hear Hunt's arguments again. Dressing 53 doesn't work out as logical as it sounds. Although it seems silly to sit healthy players, it's unfair to concede seven players to another team. Imagine what Bill Belichick could do with seven extra players compared with his competition. He's blowing everyone out with an even slate of players.

John Clayton, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame writers' wing, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.