Patriots Beat Colts: A Recap

After both the Patriots and Colts warmed up on their first two possessions, the only thing of relative import was the Colts use of six and a half minutes of the 1^st quarter. Soon after the initial stalemate, the Colts came roaring back, led by Joseph Addai. As Manning usually does, he softens up opposing defenses with Addai pounding the defenders while he prepares for the 45 yard, post or fly route. This is exactly what happened when Manning threw to Gonzalez. Asanti Samuel, in a make or break intention clearly held Gonzalez. A pass interference call was quickly made and the Colts were on the Pats 9.

Immediately after the ball was given again to Addai, a pile-up resulted. The refs called Addai down, but the ball may have been knocked loose in a fumble. Because of the lightning fast quickness of Manning's play calling, Belichick could not throw the red flag for review. After surprisingly no play action fakes, Addai was given the ball two more times and the Colts settled for a field goal.

The Patriots, highlighted by an emergetic Tom Brady jumping up and down on the sidelines immediately answered back with several strong runs by Laurence Maroney. It was interesting to note, that Brady, confident about the run, thought better about passing against a Colts defense that had safeties playing 30 yards back from the line of scrimmage. He abused this defensive scheme, with Maroney, running inside on the blockers with an eventual bullet to Randy Moss in the left corner of the end zone. At this point must wonder why Ben Watson wasn't given the ball in the endzone, being the Pats virtual Red Zone TD receptacle. Patriots were then on top 7-3 (2^nd quarter).

Again, Manning initiated a screen to Addai which was accented with Colt blocking on the sidelines that allowed him to tightrope the sideline for about 5 extra yards -- tacked onto a 14 yard screen. After excellent protection from the Colts line, with the NE defense in a virtual prevent defense---Peyton turned on another Addai strike up the sideline and Kenton Keith punched in the 1-yarder for a first down.

Next, NE was hit with another questionable pass interference call, with Ellis Hobbs. This call was clearly questionable as Hobbs can be seen looking for the ball and at most, what we see is incidental contact on Reggie Wayne, and Wayne actually following his own body-movement momentum. On 3^rd and 5, Manning was entrenched with at least 4 blitzing Pats and threw the ball to Martin for a loss of two. The casual analyst has to wonder where Peyton's play action was? Colts kick for 3. (Patriots 7, Colts 6).

Maroni, and a shot to Wes Welker quickly got the Pats to midfield on their next possession. Randy Moss, taking advantage of an all too soft-Indi cushion secondary (likely brought on by a Blitz package) found himself open on thhe left corner with a 8 foot cushion for a 1^st down. A huge 15 yard penalty was appropriately called on M-White, backing the Patriots up by 15 yards. If you get a chance to watch the replay, note how White attempts to block with a Kung Fu side-kick (I seriously can't describe a better analogy it is what it is). To see him, try to slow the Colts Defense was comical to say the least. Next, Brady went long and was intercepted at the 1 by by A. Bethea.

With about a minute left, many coaches may have considered playing the safe game by running the ball to force the Pats, to burn their two time outs. Manning, differentiating himself as a Hall of Fame type quarterback, and a Field General chose to throw long on 1^st, and eventually settled for a short pass to Mike Vrabel on second down. Third and 5 saw Manning complete a 10 yard pass to Reggie Wayne. Finally the option play came to fruition as Manning with an ostensibly conservative play, faked a handoff to Addai and then dumped it off over his center.

Instead of running for a simple first down, Addai was able to split the Patriots defense for a 70-yard TD scamper. The mid-cut Addai made in the field saw a slew of Patriot defenders laying horizontal, and primed for a catnap. (Indianapolis 13, NE 7).

Second Half

The Colts Defense prepared for more assaults from Maroni, came out expecting the run and NE obliged. After a few quick plays, NE was forced to punt.

NE **Strike Backs*** Rodney Harrison immediately after picked Manning and sets the Pats up around the Colts 30 yard-line. Brady failing to take advantage of their field position was rushed by the Colts DE Robert Mathis who single-handily knocked the Pats out of field goal position. Pats punt.

In a similar turn of events, NE is successfully able to read successive Colt run-plays and blasted Joseph Addai back to the Colts 20 yard-line. The Colts too, were forced to punt. Deciding that a penalty would be par for the course, a Patriots, special teams player took jaw-jacking to another level, blocking a Colts defender 5-8 feet out of bounds. Patriots at this point were making a run for a deceptively large number of gross penalty yardage mainly because of the pass interference call (which Im sure will undergo some debate in the next few days).

NE responded on their drive, developing circus catch by Moss for 17 yards---one handed and a necessary highlight for anyone who has ever been sincerely "mossed." After a continuing onslaught of Colts, Brady took matters into his own hand, running for 17 yards up to the sideline, and then striking a sprinting Moss for 12 yards. A 9, yard draw to Kevin Faulk pushed the Pats for further momentum setting up a field goal (Colts 13, Pats 10)

The Colts responded with several short passes and a long-bom-attempt to R. Wayde on a 3^rd and 2. With a coach-driven offense this may not have happened, but Peyton showed his unpredictability in calling this play, event though the ultimate result was an incompletion. The Colts punt again.

Next, Wes Welker put his small but powerful frame to use and returned the punt almost to middle field. Brady attempted a deep strike and the Colts, showing that circus runs through Indy as well via their LB Brackett, promptly intercepted the ball.

After some additional runs to Addai, and a quick shot to R. Wayne, Manning powered his way into the end zone for the Colts second touchdown of the day. (Colts 20-Indy 10)

If anyone at this point thought or even pondered the Patriots were dead in the water, then the Moss factor was not int heir rudimentary equations. Without any hesitation, Brady hit Moss for 55 yards. Interestingly enough, Moss was called for Offensive Pass-Interference, soon after in the end-zone. One must wonder if the officials had been successfully lobbied about push-offs by Moss as he was certainly more culpable of this infraction earlier in the game.

After an uncertain scheme regarding their red-zone defense, the Colts called a timeout on 3^rd down. After the time out, the predictable and automatic Wes Welker was hit for three yards breaking the plane on the goal line. (Colts 20, Pats 17).

The Colts finding their own problems with penalties were hit with a holding and false start. After tremendous pressure on manning, the Colts were forced to punt. Wes Walker again stunned the Colts with a return to the 50 yard line.

Brady with 3:46 and three time outs, initially hit Moss for 5 yards and then hit Dante Stallworth for a 33 yard pass in what sufficed as a push-out. A quick reception by K. Faulk ripped the Colts for a TD. (Patriots 24, Colts 20)

Peyton Manning, responded with a 24 yard pass play to R. Wayne and after two more pass plays and the Colts again found themselves in a third down situation. After some monumental pressure, the Patriots via Jarvis Green stripped the ball and took over around the Colts 42 yard line which was pushed back due to a Patriots penalty.

The Patriots found themselves in a third down situation and clutch Wes Walker made a first down that essentially ended the game - since the Colts were out of time outs. (Final: Patriots 24, Colts 20)