Just say yes to Pats-Colts

By Os Davis  |   Friday, October 31, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

New England Patriots
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Let’s see, what don’t we have for the latest, most obscure chapter of the 2000s New England Patriots-Indianapolis Colts rivalry?

No Tom Brady, no Rodney Harrison, no Laurence Maroney (and, despite the presence of BenJarvus Green-Ellis, little Patriots running game to speak of, really).

No Marlin Jackson, probably no Reggie Wayne. Bob Sanders might be back, but surely rusty.

Peyton Manning will be there, true, and Dallas Clark and Marvin Harrison and Jeff Saturday – whoa, though, you saw them against the Tennessee Titans on Monday, right? A step slow there, a bit off on the block there, even half a yard short on some incompletions.

Maybe Joseph Addai’ll be there, but as his fantasy owners well know has not attacked as excellently as in 2007. Certainly we’ll get more than enough Dominic Rhodes with the concomitant negative yardage runs at which he proved so proficient in the Titans game.

No Colts running game. Happily for the Horseshoes, the Patriots have maybe Ellis Hobbs, maybe Deltha O’Neal ... and next to no pass defense most Sundays anyway.

On the Patriot side of the ball, some names are recognizable from last season’s pass-happy attack; Randy Moss will be there and Wes Welker and reportedly Nick “the Narc” Kaczur will return. Thus far this season, Mark LeVoir has filled in for Kaczur, but LeVoir is no Kaczur. Indeed, since the playoffs kicked off last season, Kaczur has been no Kaczur. The Pats don’t have a line, but do have nearly next-to-no line for sure. And again, with no Brady, there’s little passing attack here.

Matt Cassel, we are promised, is improving, but he’s ... ah you know the rest.

No nothing? Not quite: Good coaching matchup, along with Brady vs. Manning, the constant throughout the rivalry. After winning the first four head-to-heads, the Patriots have since gone 1-3 against Indianapolis, including that surely still painful loss in the 2007 AFC conference championship game, and well-proclaimed genius Bill Belichick has been seriously outcoached by Tony Dungy in recent times. (Anyone else recall the Monday night blowout in 2005?)

What will this game have, with stripped down and aging rosters? Guile, lots of guile. And that should be lots of fun to see.

Perhaps this Sunday’s game will ultimately go down as simply a forgotten footnote in the epic battles of Pats-Colts lore, but it’s doubtful. With a win, the Patriots could seize control of their own destiny, not to mention the lead in the AFC East and inside track for No. 2 seed in the conference; with a loss, the Colts can mail in the season’s remainder.

No reason to write this off as a snoozer.

Prediction: New England Patriots 24, Indianapolis Colts 23.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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