| Colts: The Poor Man's Patriots- 11/01/07 by Stevo It’s “Bold Prediction Time”! That is a segment kindly omitted from those ESPN programs, hosted by the so called NFL “experts”. Since this isn’t my job, I feel secure making a bold prediction, though in my opinion this prediction isn’t bold, it’s pretty clear-cut. But not everyone sees it that way. In fact, I’ m probably the only one. Still I contend that by this time next week, the obviousness of the choice will be abundantly clear. There’s only one game this week I could be talking about. In fact there’s only one game this week that anyone is talking about period. Patriots vs. Colts. Enough said. How many times does it have to come down to this match-up? I found it funny last post-season that, amidst the Chargers and Ravens and other AFC powers that were so newly buzz-worthy, yet again it was the old Manning-Brady showdown. And here were are again. Oh yes, that prediction...the Patriots will win. Not surprising, perhaps. I’m guessing that most of the ESPN suits will tell you the same thing. They’ll also tell you that you’re in for “a close game”. After all, that is what SHOULD happen. Well that’s what the suits do: they tell you what should happen. “If everything progresses as it has, then X will happen”. This does not take a big stretch of talent. Anyone can tell you what “should” happen given recent events. And the 7-0 defending Superbowl champs at home taking on an apparently invincible Patriots team SHOULD be a close game, right? Well, things don’t always occur as we think they should. And we certainly should not take those NFL experts’ opinions to be infallible. But I’m going to take a page from their book and think about what “should” happen: Given that the Patriots’ average margin of victory is exceeding what most teams put on the scoreboard, I expect them to win again by a comfortable lead. They won’t blow the Colts out of the water, but as the game goes on, it will become clear that the Colts just can’t measure up. The game should be under wraps by the start of the 4th quarter, or not much longer after that. I’m confident in saying so because while the Colts are damn good, the Patriots are unreal. Use words like “prolific” and “explosive” to describe Peyton’s offense. Use only one word to describe the Pat’s offense: Unstoppable. For all you LSU students out there, that means they can’t be stopped. I’ve done equations and it’s scientifically impossible to stop Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth, and Ben Watson when they all have Tom Brady throwing to them. Toss in an elite running game led by future all-pro Lawrence Maroney and you’ve got too many play makers for any defense to contain. It’s science. How else can you explain the Redskins-Patriots game? The Redskins defense has dominated every opponent they’ve met this season (save for when the offense starts going 3-and-out on a loop and won’t let the defense catch its breath) and Gregg Williams had a decent game-plan for the Patriots. Result? Well, you already know. With that one game, the amount of total points allowed by the Redskins defense ALL SEASON nearly doubled. Three years ago I would have thought it impossible, but the Patriots are actually making Peyton Manning’s historic 49-touchdown season look quite pedestrian. Nobody has stopped them yet, I doubt the Colts will. As far as the defenses go, like the offenses they’re both damn good, but the Patriots are just better. I don’t think I need to explain why, go look at the statistics. The Colts play well as a team but they fall short of being an elite defense, which is what the Patriots are. The last two reasons I believe the Patriots will win are the intangibles. First, this personal vendetta Bill Belichick apparently has against the entire league this season, which is what Michael Wilbon attributes his constant running up the score to: “...Belichick, is still openly seething that the NFL caught him cheating like a dog and his primary goal is to humiliate every single opponent he comes across between now and the end of the season”. He said it better than me. I’d say that is about correct, and more than anyone Billy-boy probably wants to beat the Colts, the last team to hand the Patriots a loss and in doing so kept them out of last year’s Superbowl. The second intangible is that ability to win games, what we like to call “clutch”. That thing that Brady and Belicheck have too much of and what not having kept Manning out of the Superbowl for so long. Brady is the equivalent of a mafioso who becomes a Boss by age 16. He won 3 Superbowls before he had grown out of his NFL diapers and now has more experience in clutch situations than any quarterback his age has ever had. Plus, the difference in style between Brady and Manning has to give Brady the edge. When things aren’t going well (ie when his protection breaks down), sometimes Manning folds. But when the situation is dire, that is when Brady is at his best. Now though, he’s always at his best. So if I’m right, then boo ya I called it. You know who to give props to if it’s a dominant win by the Patriots. If I’m wrong, then it will only be slightly embarrassing, because I’ll only be slightly wrong. By that, I mean to say that while there’s a chance I’ll be wrong about the Patriots getting an easy win, there’s no way in hell the Colts will win this game. Write that down. Final Prediction: Colts 21 Patriots 44 Redskins Notes (Opinions): Carlos Rogers: Bad news, but our D should still get it done Offense: I just read that they dropped to 28th in the NFL. My culprit: Campbell takes way too long to get rid of the ball. OVERALL: I think we may look back on this humiliating loss to the Patriots as a turning point in the season. But which way the season is turning I can’t say. Discuss this article on our Discussion Board |
Hurricane Stevo
| The Staff |
 | |  | |  | |  |
