First off, that was quite a game - and it's always great when a game lives up to it's billing (as last year's AFC championship did as well). These two teams are pretty evenly matched and I'll eat my face if they don't meet again in the AFC Championship again. It's Brady's & Peyton's world and the rest of us are just living in it.
It's all over all the sports' pages & sports sites, so there's not much more to say - but the Patriots played their worst game this year and still regrouped to come back from down 10 in the 4th to beat the undefeated, defending champion Colts, in their house. There were some, dare I say, questionable calls on the Patriots (Pass Interference calls on Hobbs & Moss). And Pats still prevailed. After reading through some articles this morning, one aspect of the game isn't really being covered - the fact that the Patriots completely shut down Manning. He finished 16 for 27 for 225 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. But take out the 73-yard catch-and-run by Addai to end the 1st half (which was clearly a dump to the check-down and the play was made by Addai; just ended up also being a nice stat bump for Peyton) and his numbers were 15 for 26 for 152 yards with 1 INT. Granted the Pats gave up a lot on the ground by going to the nickle package all game, but the halftime adjustments really shut down the ground game too. But to make Peyton look like Eli, that's a huge accomplishment that's really not being played up enough.
I'll leave it at that, because now the rest of the Patriots' season will be all about the undefeated watch - and when you glance at that schedule, it doesn't seem far-fetched at all. Coming off the bye, they go to Buffalo, then home against Philly followed by a Monday-nighter down in Baltimore. None of these 3 teams have the offense to keep up with the Pats. Win those 3, and they could be sitting at 12-0 with their next 3 games at home. Pittsburgh presents a challenge, but at a charged-up Gillette Stadium (and with yours truly in attendance), they'll have their work cut out for them. The Jets game will be a massacre because of the Mangenius' snitching, and the Dolphins will try to play for pride and the boys of '72, but let's be real - that team is a disaster and might stuggle against Saban's Crimson Tide. So it could come down to the last game of the year, where Belichick will have to decide to rest some starters since everything will be locked up or to go for immortality ... hmm, I wonder what he'll do? Besides, they'll get to rest on their playoff bye week.
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The officiating was horrible...4 involving pass interference...the two called against the Pats D were gifts, while the one called on Moss on offense was complete idiocracy, and there was another non call in the game in which Moss had his arm hooked on a 3rd down. I wonder if Vegas had any influence on this game when I see calls like that. I hate talking conspiracy theories, but no way should officiating be that poor in a game of this caliber, and all the calls go against the same team.
I completely agree. The officiating was horrible, and also the commentary that went along with the officiating was also suspect. They seemed to quickly agree with the officials and on every call that went the Colts way and then just moved on. It was painful to watch, especially when you needed to the Patriots to cover by 6. Blah!
Here's some chatter from the Colts locker-room:
"I definitely think we showed the country that they're beatable," Indy defensive end Dwight Freeney said afterward in the subdued home locker room. "Compared to what they were winning games by, 52-7 and all that (expletive), this was a much different story. At least we showed there is a formula to beat them. Now we've got to figure out how to finish them off."
Actually, Freeney, you didn’t show the country that they’re beatable. You didn't show there is a formula to beat them either. Because you didn’t beat them. What a dolt!
"We lost that game, man," wideout Reggie Wayne said, shaking his head. "We lost it ourselves. You feel me?"
I mean, yeah, I feel ya, Reggie, you did lose that game. 24-20. But you didn't lose it all by yourselves; the Pats had something to do with it. Sounds like he should focus on catching the ball more and not throwing his defense under the bus.