In one of the most anticipated NFL games in recent history, Tom Brady led his Patriots back from a ten point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Colts 24-10 in a battle of the unbeatens in the RCA Dome. New England overcame a hostile and noisy Indianapolis crowd, two Brady interceptions (matching his season total), and a monster performance by Joseph Addai (112 yards on the ground and 114 yards receiving) to walk away with the victory. Peyton Manning, architect of so many fourth-quarter winning drives, couldn’t summon up another one in the Colts’ final drive, as defensive lineman Jarvis Green stripped the football from Manning and the Patriots recovered the fumble to seal Indy’s defeat.
I was afraid this was going to happen.
I was rooting for the Colts, because I was getting a little tired of the media’s incessant ass-kissing of Tom Brady. With this recent win, it’s gotten even worse. ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski has predicted that nobody will beat the Patriots this season, that they will go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl and cure cancer with cold fusion and record a platinum album.
In contrast, SI.com’s Andrew Perloff has written an article listing five reasons the Patriots won’t go undefeated, although two of them (”They have a target on their back” and “Strange things happen”) are about as dumb as people who believe in the Axe Effect or have decals on their vehicle of Calvin peeing on a Ford logo.
Maybe the Patriots will win out. Their regular season opponents remaining have a combined record of 23-32 (although the Dolphins and Jets account for 1 of those wins and 16 losses), and their top threat, the 6-2 Giants, lost earlier this season to a Dallas team that New England dismantled.
However, let’s remember that the Patriots were down 20-10 Sunday in the fourth quarter to a Colts team missing Marvin Harrison and Anthony Gonzalez. New England will almost certainly play Indianapolis again in the AFC Championship game, and we all remember what happened last year.Colts won, Patriots lost, I got drunk and hooked up with an overweight stripper
And then, oh yeah, there’s the Super Bowl. I’m an NFC fan, but I’m not too optimistic about this one. After seeing what the Patriots did to the Cowboys earlier this year, the NFC could probably send the Appalachian State football team to Super Bowl XLII and have the same chance of winning.Zero, in case I’m not being clear
^ Metaphor for the 2007 Super Bowl. Tiger = AFC. Chicken = NFC. Large, dry, dusty surface = John Madden’s head.
