One Man's Take

Shockingly, despite last night's events the sun still rose this morning. So before we start rationing water and finding candles let's take a look at what happened in last night's debacle.

It seems to me that this game draws parallels with 2 games in recent Boston sports history: last season's regular season matchup with the Steelers and the opening game of this year's Red Sox season against the Yankees.

Heading into the Pittsburgh game last year much of the talk was about the Steelers needing to put on a positive show against the Patriots to legitimize their stock as an elite team in the AFC. Both were undefeated but the Steelers were new to prominence and playing a rookie QB. As in last night's game the win meant much more to the Steelers than the loss meant to the Patriots who were coming off of a Super Bowl win and had a huge win streak that was getting far too much attention. Similarly the Patriots had a dominating streak against these Colts which was inevitably going to be broken and better for it to happen now than in the AFC Championship game. In both cases the consequences of a loss for the Patriots' opponent would have been far worse than the consquences of a loss for the Patriots. Ben Roethlisberger may not have been the miracle savior who couldn't lose in the regular season and the Colts would still be haunted by ghosts in Foxboro.

The second parallel with the Yankees is more of a stretch but what hell I'm feeling limber. Opening night in Yankee stadium this past season was a day that came too soon for the Red Sox and not soon enough for the Yankees. As we all know the last time they met on that field the Red Sox completed the greatest comeback in the history of sports and went on to win the World Series while the Yankees went home to contemplate the worst choke imaginable. The Yankees made a huge off season acquisition in Randy Johnson and were going to show him off in the first game against their hated rivals. He was to be matched not by Curt Schilling, which would have made the game more crucial for the Red Sox, but by local fat man and ex/wanna be Yankee David Wells. Obviously the Yankees had to have this game for their fans and for themselves, for the Red Sox it was just the first game of 162 in the "year after." It parallels the Pats v. Colts game because of the matchup. Manning and his Colts could simply overmatch the Pats and their depleted secondary last night just as Johnson and the Yankees overmatched the Red Sox in April. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that this was a game that mattered much more to the Yankees (NY Post headline the next day: Yankees Win Game 8 - ALCS Tied 4-4) just as last night's game mattered much more to the Colts. Both were getting the monkey off their back momentarily, but in the end will it matter?

The point here is what happened in the long run with both of these big wins for Patriots' (and Red Sox) opponents. In the AFC Championship game the Pats pounded the Steelers on their home turf and proved that one game on Halloween does not mean much. In baseball the Yankees and Red Sox tied. So these huge earth shattering games don't mean anything if they are not followed up by a championship. If the Colts are polishing their rings in February they may look back at this as the game that got them over the hump. If not they are just 1-7 against the Pats, and if they lose to them in the playoffs the cloud above Manning's head will get even heavier than it was before he dispelled it last night.

The major difference that may hurt these comparisons is that last night's game was at home while the other two were on the road. Home losses hurt more, but regardless the game was still more important to Indianapolis.

Now a few notes on the game itself: (most of these were written at 2AM last night and only slightly edited, I apologize for their anger)

This secondary stinks. Everyone was open all night. I was there, high up in offensive coordinator type seats, seeing plays develop and it was clear that I could have made those throws. So could Kyle Orton, Chad Penninton, Gus Ferrotte, and Cody Pickett. This game was nothing special for Manning, and everyone knows that he still has to prove he can beat New England when they're healthy.

2 plays decided this game, a fumble by Corey Dillon at the end of the first half. At the time it was 14-7 and the ball was on the Colts' 25. Without that fumble they go into the locker room at worst 14-7, probably 14-14 and everyone would have settled for 14-10. The second play was the on-side kick. I have no problem with that since they hadn't stopped them yet, why not take a shot, worst comes to worst you give them the ball on the 30 and save yourselves 2 minutes. Too bad they didn't get it though, had they this game would have been a lot more interesting.

The Colts scored on 7 of 9 possessions, the only punt came in the last 2 minutes when it was already over and the other was an interception. Had this game been closer they wouldn't have punted at all. The last time we saw this was in the epic shootout in KC during the playoffs a few years ago when Manning and the Colts were "unstopable." Remember what happened that year in New England?

The Pats still own the Colts psychologically - want to know why? Ask Tony Dungee why he went for two when leading by 19 with under 5 minutes left. He won't tell you, but he was scared that they would lose, he was playing for the tie and assuming that that Pats would score 3 times. Didn't happen, but that's how badly this Pats team has damaged their heads.

Throw it, run it, whatever, they couldn't stop the Colts in any aspect of the defensive game. In the first quarter James was averaging over 6 yards per carry, and they still managed to throw it all over the field. I don't even want to know how many third down conversions they made, I really don't. The one that killed me was when the Patriots had them pinned on their own 6 on 3rd and 15 when it was still 21-7. Manning hit a wide open Reggie Wayne at the 22 and the air went out of the building. The crowd was hardly in it after that.

Bill Belichick can't cover wide receivers. Neither can Randle Gay, Asanti Samuel, Eugene Wilson, Dwayne Sparks, or anyone else New England marched out to try to stop the Colts' passing game. Unlike we have thought for the last 4 years, coaching isn't everything when you don't have the horses. Game plan cannot account for lack of talent.

Peyton Manning played a great game, but don't break out the trumpets, meats, and cheeses just yet. He played a great game against a terrible secondary and while it's true that he orchestrated great play calls he didn't do anything that Jake Plummer or Drew Brees were unable to do. In my opinion Tom Brady played a better game against a better secondary and under incredible pressure to score everytime they touched the ball.

Does anyone miss Rodney Harrison? That weak first half hit from Asanti Samuel that allowed a first down and still spawned a chest bump made me sick and Rodney probably broke a crutch off in his ass in the locker room afterward.

Belichick's press conference was 1:42, Brady's was :32 seconds. They're pissed. Sorry Mr. Saban that's really unfortunate scheduling for you.

Dillon's fumble didn't lose them the game but it did cost them a chance at winning it. Manning had just been intercepted and everyone in the stadium knew that the Patriots were back in his head, if only for a minute. For a few fleeting moments he must have been standing on the sideline thinking, "Not again." Then the Patriots converted an improbable 3-23 and you could feel the old energy coming back and the wind was leaving the Colt's sails with similarly improbable speed. Then Dillon lost the ball at the worst possible time, the Colts took the 2:05 left on the clock and turned it into 7 points, effectively ending the contest.

I was shocked when the Colts came out to start the second half and marched straight down the field on the Patriots defense. Belichick is known for his halftime adjustments and you almost always see a positive change in the team to start the 3rd quarter. Something that the opponent is keying on or getting to easily is taken away. Not so this time, further proving that coaching and adjustments can only take you so far, eventually you have to have players who can execute and last night this Patriots team did not.

Guess what. This game means nothing to New England and everything thing to the Colts. If you want to corronate the Colts the greatest team since the dawn of time talk to me in February if they are wearing a ring, otherwise they still aren't as good as we are and Manning is still a chump. Reality is the Pats are winning the division and making the playoffs, chances are they aren't winning the Super Bowl, but they have just as good a shot as the Colts and give them a chance in the playoffs, even in Indianapolis and I'll be thrilled.

That paragraph is in red because it was written last night when I got home from the game and I decided not to change it. I guess my state of mind wasn't exactly diplomatic or rational but I actually had to delete the paragraph that followed it regarding Sportscenter, Manning's manhood, and the Colts fans brushing their "tooth" (singular). I think I might have anger issues sometimes.

And finally, I can't stop thinking this so I'm just going to say it and be damned if you disagree. The NFL wanted this to happen. If you disagree please explain your reasoning to me because I just don't see it. An early season schedule consisting of teams whose combined record at this point is 19-38. An extremely convenient bye the week before the Pats game. More pass interference penalties than 2 years combined. Not to mention the Patriots schedule, set up to exhaust and inhibit them before the Colts come to town, followed by an easy second half. Where's the balance and how is this fair? I know the Colts are sexier on a national level and that the Patriots and Bill Belichick are boring but stacking the deck in order to place your poster boy on top prematurely is bullshit, plain and simple. It's a business, I understand that, but to use the first half of the season as a marketing tool to change the status of the elite teams to more positively reflect a player you want to highlight reeks of blatent commercial favoritism and that is pathetic.

So where do we stand now? Well we're 4-4 with an easy divisional schedule in the second half and only two games that look like potential trouble, at Kansas City and Tampa Bay at home. They have 5 games remaining within the AFC East, conservatively you can give them 3 wins but they'll probably get 4. After Miami they play New Orleans at home, that's a slam dunk, then they will likely only need one of the Kansas City or Tampa Bay games to win the division at 9-7. If they take care of business in the division they could end up at 10-6 or even 11-5. The problem is we're talking about this team going probably the weakest 10-6 in the NFL and winning the second weakest division (NFC North). That does not bode encouraging things for the post season. It's sad to admit but this team is simply not going to get it done this year and if they were in any other division they would be in serious danger of missing the playoffs. Once you get into those playoffs however, anything can happen with Brady, Belichick and some luck they could make some noise. But this season, it's not going to happen on it's own. They'll need help and luck.

Hey, our run couldn't last forever, but this game is not the nail in coffin. If the Colts knock them out of the playoffs I'll give them that distinction, but they haven't earned it yet.