Patriots Beat Colts 24-20 in an Epic Battle
“Now THAT’S the Peyton Manning we know and love!”
Last January, the Indianapolis Colts stunned the New England Patriots by coming back from a 21-3 deficit to win the AFC Championship game 38-34. On Sunday, the shoe was on the other foot.
Down 20-10 with less than 10 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, Tom Brady led his team on two touchdown drives to stun the Colts 24-20. Both late scores were highlighted by two bombs; a 55 yard strike to Randy Moss and a beautiful 33 yard sideline toss to Donte Stallworth.
Some more random, semi-coherent thoughts on a game that somehow managed to exceed all the hype leading up to it:
- Dwight Freeney showed a national audience exactly why Indianapolis ponied up $72 million for him in the off-season. At one point, I thought I could hear Matt Light yelling, “thank you sir, may I have another?!”
- That one-handed catch Randy Moss made in the 3rd quarter (1:44 mark in this NFL.com video)? Ridonculous. I have to admit; the juggling interception made by Colts linebacker Gary Brackett was pretty impressive as well.
- Yeeeah, about the refs…as you all know, I’m a complete Patriots homer, so I’m going to let an unbiased 3rd party (The Big Lead) give his take on the officiating crew:
I never, ever try to harp on the refs … but wow, there have been two phantom pass interference calls, both against the Pats. That one called against the guy {Ellis Hobbs} defending Reggie Wayne was bad, and the one on Moss a second ago was an absolute joke.
Couldn’t agree more TBL, although I vocalized my displeasure with some slightly different verbiage during the game (to my next door neighbors with the young children; sorry about that…).
- With the Yankees in disarray, the enemy opponent who I fear the most in a close game against one of my New England teams has officially changed from Derek Jeter to Joseph Addai.
- Many people are sure to mention that the Colts weren’t at full strength, with Marvin Harrison and starting left tackle Tony Ugoh not able to play. Fair enough. But this is football, and injuries do happen. The Patriots lost their leading rusher for the season, and for last year’s AFC Championship game they were without Rodney Harrison, who intercepted Peyton during this game. If it’s any consolation for Colts fans, both players should be healthy for the January rematch in Foxboro…
- Finally, the talk about the Patriots chances for going undefeated this season can officially begin NOW. Here’s a look at the remaining schedule:
at Buffalo
Philadelphia
at Baltimore
Pittsburgh
NY Jets
Miami
at NY Giants
We’ll get a closer look at perhaps the two toughest teams tomorrow night, when the Steelers taken on the Ravens in Monday Night Football. Of the two, I’m more worried about the Steelers, even though the Patriots get them at home. They have the #1 ranked rushing game in the league, and the #1 overall defense in the league. That promises to be yet another bruising battle.
That’s all for now. I leave you with a sentimental moment at the end of today’s game; the touching handshake between head coaches Bill Belichick and Tony Dungy:
Damn, did it just get colder in here?
New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, NFL, game of the year
November 6th, 2007 at 6:04 am
[...] the Patriots in the 2004 AFC Championship Game. Because of this, and their suffocating defense (as I mentioned on Sunday), the Steelers look like the prime candidate to play spoiler to the Patriots quest to go [...]