Prelude to Colts-Pats X

By Os Davis  |   Monday, October 29, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

New England Patriots
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Those who suspected the New England Patriots would be something special this season and remembered the Indianapolis Colts as defending champs marked Sunday on their calendars long ago.

Ladies and gentlemen, this weekend is time for the 10th round of Colts-Patriots, a series that in the A.B. (After Brady/Belichick) Era has typically given us a dandy and often determined the alpha dog of the NFL. Nearly every season this decade has given us one or two matchups of Brady vs. Manning, Belichick vs. Dungy, Indy receivers vs. New England secondary ... and this year, some would have us believe the fate of the multiverse is at stake.

A quick review of recent history, then...

Week 3, 2001. Young and unknown Thomas Brady's first NFL start came against these Colts piloted by Peyton Manning. Brady looked like a veteran (albeit a highly conservative one), Manning threw three interceptions (two returned for TDs), and the Patriots cruised to an astounding 44-13 victory, the first of many surprises in that season.

Week 6, 2001. Under the old divisional format which had the Patriots and Colts in a five-team AFC East, the teams faced off three weeks later in Indy with a similar result but in different fashion. That one was 38-17, New England; Brady put together a game straight out of 2004: 16-for-20, 202 yards, three TDs, zero interceptions.

Week 13, 2003. By now, the Patriots were no longer a surprise and the Colts were picked by many to play in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Indy hosted New England late in the season with both teams sporting a 9-2 record, resulting in a dandy 38-34 shootout. Manning went for four TDs, but the Patriots' defense woke up in time to save the day. Tedy Bruschi and the boys held the Colts off with an airtight goal-line stand on the game's last four plays, three of them runs by Edgerrin James and all taken from the 1-yard line.

AFC championship, 2004. Sure enough, it was Patriots vs. Colts in the AFC championship game when 2003 was in the books. Despite the superior record and home field, the Pats went off as one-point underdogs. And why not? The infamous stat bandied about incessantly before this game was that in two playoff matchups, the Colts had punted exactly zero times. The final of this one was 24-14, but certainly one of the most lopsided 10-point games in playoff history. The Patriots cooled the hottest offensive machine since the 1999 St. Louis Rams enough to run up a 15-0 halftime lead and never relinquished control.Manning was sacked three times (all by Jarvis Green) and picked off four times (thrice by Ty Law).

Week 1, 2004. Though Brady (26-of-38 for 335 yards on three TDs) outdueled an again-confused Manning (16-of-29 for 256 yards, two TDs and one pick) and Corey Dillon went for nearly 6.0 yards per carry, the New England defense was porous enough to make it a three-point game with seconds left. From 47 yards out, Mike Vanderjagt helped cement his reputation in the clutch by going wide right. Patriots, 27-24.

AFC divisional playoff, 2005. For Indy, perhaps the low point of the entire rivalry. The most memorable sequence of events: Manning opens the fourth quarter with second- and third-down incompletions, unsnaps the chin strap, and shouts a four-letter synonym for excrement twice. The world knew Belichick had gotten in his head. Game definitively over. Patriots, 20-3.

Week 9, 2005. Also known as the "Peyton Manning Love Fest" as the Colts encountered no difficulties on any side of the ball, coolly smoking the Pats while making Asante Samuel and the secondary look especially bad in a 40-21 romp. In between crushing Colt plays, viewers were "treated" to old Peyton Manning commercials, new Peyton Manning commercials, Peyton Manning bio clips, and Peyton Manning parodies of Peyton Manning commercials. And beating the Patriots in Foxborough? "Priceless," indeed.

Week 9, 2006. For New England, clearly the low point of the entire rivalry. Bringing in a perfect record, Indy was able to leave Foxboro 8-0 thanks to a missed field goal, costly penalties and an uncharacteristic four-pick performance by Brady. Colts beat beaten Patriots, 27-20.

AFC championship, 2007. This one set television audience records and disappointed few. Whoa, did this one have it all. What began as a garden-variety Patriot blowout thanks to some nifty play-calling and another timely Samuel interception returned for a TD turned into this decade's finest playoff game thus far. Coming out after halftime facing a 21-6 deficit, the Colts stayed cool and came back. By engineering consecutive drives of 76, 76 and 67 yards, Manning led the Colts to a 38-34 lead late in the fourth and just enough time for one more Brady-led drive.

Manning sat on a bench far from the sideline and didn't watch. Brady found Ben Watson for 19 yards. Brady found Heath Evans for 15 yards. Brady ... threw an interception. Game over, and many who had borne witness (some not even employed by ESPN) said it was the greatest game of football they'd ever seen.

And that's what Colts-Pats X has to follow; surely, however, once this year's chapter - or maybe chapters, come playoff time - is written, it'll be another one for the books. The history books, that is, telling the tale of two great NFL franchises and a rivalry for the ages.

RealFootball365.com: One finger on the pulse of history all year-round.
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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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