Re: patriots v colts

from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/11/04/mmqb/?eref=mostpop

Moss-Welker-Stallworth lead Pats

 

NEW YORK -- I'll get to the best game a back ever had, to Saints alive, to the once-fraudulent Lions and to the Super Bowl-bound Browns here in a page or two. But let's begin with this week's Game of the Century, which actually turned out to be everything we all wrote it would be. And more.

Three observations on Pats 24, Colts 20:

New England's offseason won this game. Of the 13 biggest offensive plays for New England -- the plays that would decide the outcome in the wildly noisy RCA Dome -- 12 of them were handled by the three new Patriots receivers.

It's amazing, and I do not use that word lightly, that New England got Randy Moss for a fourth-round pick on draft day from Oakland. He's the best receiver in football right now, the most dangerous deep threat and a player blessed with the ability to catch a ball one-handed better than anyone I've ever seen. The Raiders were desperately trying to peddle Moss to the Packers in April, and fruitlessly tried to get a deal with Green Bay hours before dealing him to New England. (The Packers shied away, fearing how disruptive Moss could be because of his recent history with Minnesota and Oakland.)

It's surprising the Pats were able to filch Wes Welker for second- and seventh-round picks from Miami, after the Dolphins stupidly failed to put a first-round tender offer on the restricted free agent. Welker led the Dolphins in the rare trifecta of receptions, punt returns and kickoff returns last year. The Pats gave Welker an offer sheet, and Miami awkwardly tried to save face on the deal by taking a final-round pick from New England.

And the market for free-agent Donte' Stallworth was thin with teams fearing his off-the-field problems.

New England swooped in and got them all -- for the remarkably manageable 2007 cap total of $8.4 million. Imagine getting an all-star receiving corps for eight percent of your overall cap. That's what VP of player personnel Scott Pioli and coach Bill Belichick did, and in the fourth quarter of the biggest game this year, those three players beat the defending Super Bowl champs.

With just under 10 minutes to play, Indy took a 20-10 lead.

Play 1: Welker returned Adam Vinatieri's kickoff 26 yards to the New England 27.

Plays 2 through 7: Tom Brady threw to Moss on six straight dropbacks. It looked like the only other player on the field was Moss. Brady would drop back, look around, then zoom in on the angular one. Incomplete to the left, complete for 15 over the middle, incomplete on a short incut, then deep down the left hash for 55 yards to the Colts' 3, then incomplete in the left side of the end zone (when offensive pass interference was called on Moss), then incomplete to Moss. Second-and-goal from the Colts' 13.

Play 8: Brady dumped it over the middle to Welker. Gain of 10. Third-and-goal from the 3. Eight minutes left. Huge play coming up. You don't want to settle for the field goal this deep in Indy territory. You want seven.

Play 9: Welker trolled along the goal line to the left side of the end zone, with safety Bob Sanders covering him man-to-man, ready to lay the big hit on him. But Brady led Welker perfectly, and the kid from Oklahoma caught it and just got inside the pylon. Touchdown. Now it was 20-17, Colts.

Play 10: The Colts' drive stalled, and with just more than four minutes left, Hunter Smith punted from the Indy 21. To Welker, of course. He took it at the Pats' 26 and jitterbugged upfield, breaking two tackles and coming to rest at the New England 49. Gain of 23. Crucial play, because now Brady could take his time and not feel he had to rush the drive.

Play 11: Moss again, this time a five-yard pass from Brady.

Play 12: Brady sent Stallworth deep down the left side and found him, with Stallworth being forced out of bounds on a 33-yard sideline go route. First-and-10, Indy 13. Is there no one else on this team other than Moss, Welker and Stallworth?

Play 13: There is. Brady found Kevin Faulk just over the line for a completion, and Faulk rammed in for the touchdown. Pats, 24-20.

Postscript: After New England forced a turnover with 2:25 left, the Pats soon had a third-and-6 from the Colts' 42. If they converted, the game would be over. If they failed to convert, Indy would get the ball back at the two-minute warning with no timeouts. But who didn't think Manning could drive the Colts downfield in two minutes, timeouts or not? Brady threw to the right sideline for Welker, who ran a quick out and caught the pass with enough yards for the first down. Instead of running out of bounds, Welker flopped on the ground inbounds smartly, making the clock run down to the two-minute warning. Brady knelt for the final three plays, and the Pats had their win.

Without an overhaul of the receiving corps, New England would not have won this game. You could see it early. Pats up 7-6, late second quarter, third-and-7, Colts 46. Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney were hemming in Brady, and Freeney was a millisecond away from enveloping the Pats' QB when Brady fired a nine-yard strike to Moss doing a sideline curl on the left side. A year ago, this would have been Reche Caldwell or Troy Brown, and cornerback Tim Jennings wouldn't have given one of them the 5-yard cushion he respectfully gave Moss, fearful of him turning on the jets and beating him deep.

Now, could anyone else have gotten those three players in tandem? Well, you would need the cap room and a coach unafraid to take in strays. New England had both of those. And so far this year, the threesome is averaging 16 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns a game. They're the reason New England is still undefeated this morning.

This game did not decide the AFC Super Bowl rep. Before the game, I was convinced if the Patriots won, they'd have the Super Bowl berth all but locked up. Indy could not come to Foxboro and win in January, I thought.

Now? I'm not so sure. Think of Sunday's game. If Marvin Harrison played, would that have been Anthony Gonzalez's first-half drop in the end zone or a Colts TD? Would that second-half drop by Aaron Moorehead have happened? And how about the crucial third-quarter drop by Reggie Wayne at the New England 28? How can he drop a ball like that, perfectly thrown by Manning? In other words, the Colts had plenty of chances to keep this one close, and to cushion their lead.

On defense, the Colts were a far more physical a group than New England had seen previously. Cornerback Marlin Jackson was the headhunter Sanders had been in recent weeks. Gary Brackett made one of the best interceptions you've ever seen on Brady, a one-handed pirouetting job. The Patriots walked away with more respect for an Indy defense than after any game of this modern rivalry; Belichick is 8-4 against the Colts since taking the helm in 2000.

Why do I give Indy a shot in January? Harrison, you'd think, would drag his aching knee into the starting lineup for that one. And the last two times they met in Foxboro, Indianapolis won -- 40-21 and 27-20. It'll be colder, most likely. But it was 51 degrees for the 2005 meeting, and 31 last year on a Sunday night, when the Colts put up 27 points and picked off Brady four times. No, this most definitely will not be a walkover in the rematch.

Joseph Addai is one heck of a football player. He invented that late-first-half touchdown catch-and-run from Manning, zig-zagging 73 yards for a shocking touchdown. And he finished with 26 carries for 112 yards and five receptions for 114 yards, the first Colts back with more than 100 on the ground and through the air in one game. Getting 226 yards on 31 touches is as good day as any player can have against a defense as calculating as New England's, and he'll be ready for a rematch.

[… followed by seven more pages about the rest of the NFL]