Quick Slants - Week 8, Part 1: The BIG Game
Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first: the Super Bowl will be played Sunday in Indianapolis.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, New England and Indianapolis have gone unscathed through the season. Given the way both teams have played, their meeting this weekend might be the only legitimate reason (barring unforeseen injury) that we won't have two teams go undefeated.
As Cris Collinsworth of HBO notes, the winner of the game will basically be two games up on the loser for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Even should the winner lose one game, the winner would own the tie-breaker by virtue of victory this weekend. Thus, the winner would have to lose two games to lose home field advantage.
Does that seem a tad unlikely to anyone else?
Are we really prepared to believe that either Indianapolis or New England will lose two games the rest of the way?
The Colts have more than answered any questions about the allegedly depleted defense. This unit is superior to the one that took them to the Super Bowl last season...and let's not forget that last season's unit was at or near the bottom of league rankings. From one point of view, it might seem difficult for someone that bad last season to get that much worse this season (the Miami Dolphins excepted), but this Colts defense isn't just a little bit better. It's a LOT better.
It's so much better that we'd be talking dynasty in Indy, what with the offense continuing to do what it has done ever since Peyton Manning took over...
...except that there is already a dynasty in New England.
And they are taking no prisoners.
If the Colts were impressive in their business-like dismissal of Carolina, the Patriots were absolutely breath-taking in their complete dismantling of the Washington Redskins.
It is rare to see a professional team beat another professional team the way that college powerhouses regularly pummel schedule-fodder, but that's what it looked like on Sunday. The Patriots looked like the old Steve Spurrier Gators running up the score against Mother Theresa Community College.
There simply aren't enough adjectives left after their 8-game blitz of everyone in sight. As Peter King of Sports Illustrated points out, no team in the history of the game has opened the season with 8 straight games of 34 or more points. Tom Brady has already surpassed his career-high for touchdown passes in a single season. The defense has been spectacular, and that without all-world defensive end Richard Seymour for most of the early season. Randy Moss is back to making highlight-reel catches on a routine basis, and he's arguably not the best receiver on the team. Wes Welker has been a revelation, and he doesn't look any faster or stronger now than when he was on a miserable Dolphin team last season (ask him for perspective on both teams, and you might have to listen to him giggle incessantly for about 30 minutes before he can give you a coherent answer...). Donte Stallworth is actually playing up to his considerable potential, giving the Patriots two legitimate game-breakers at WR, something only the Colts and the Arizona Cardinals could say for a long time.
And they aren't just beating teams. They are walking through them like there is no opposition whatsoever.
(By the way, ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio has a little blurb about Redskins linebacker Randall Godfrey complaining that the Pats showed no class by running up the score. To which I say: Shut. The. Hell. Up. If you don't like the Patriots scoring so much, well, stop them. It's not their job to ease up on you. It's your job to keep them out of the end zone. If you don't like running backs getting touchdowns, tackle them. If you don't like quarterbacks throwing the ball deep in the fourth quarter, sack them. The only time a game is won is when the final gun sounds and one team has more points than the other team. Just last weekend, Sage Rosenfels led his wounded Houston team to 29 points in the fourth quarter; they were winning a game they had lost until Rob Bironas kicked his NFL-record eighth field goal for Tennessee. The only reason your team didn't duplicate Houston's feat is because you quit playing, not because the Patriots are a bunch of blue meanies. If the Patriots offense scored 52 points, it's because the Redskins defense let them. Butch up, tackle someone, and shut up.)
Make no mistake: the Patriots are as real as real gets.
And, thank God, so are the Colts.
This game is the Ali-Frazier of our generation, but without the political ramifications. It is Houston-UCLA. It is Affirmed-Alydar. Hell, if that whole space-time continuum thingy weren't such a bother, it would be Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods tied for the lead on Sunday at Augusta.
Both teams are utterly professional. Both coaches are utterly prepared. Both quarterbacks are Hall-of-Famers right now. Both offenses are prolific. Both defenses are disciplined, if not occasionally savage.
If ever a game was threatened to be drowned by hype, this is that game, but these two teams will not be caught up in the wash. They will do their jobs, the same as they have done all season. Do not expect bulletin-board material from either squad; if Randy Moss didn't rise to T.O.'s bait before the Dallas game, he'll have even less to say about the silent assassins at WR for the Colts.
I can't wait...
To the surprise of absolutely no one, New England and Indianapolis have gone unscathed through the season. Given the way both teams have played, their meeting this weekend might be the only legitimate reason (barring unforeseen injury) that we won't have two teams go undefeated.
As Cris Collinsworth of HBO notes, the winner of the game will basically be two games up on the loser for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Even should the winner lose one game, the winner would own the tie-breaker by virtue of victory this weekend. Thus, the winner would have to lose two games to lose home field advantage.
Does that seem a tad unlikely to anyone else?
Are we really prepared to believe that either Indianapolis or New England will lose two games the rest of the way?
The Colts have more than answered any questions about the allegedly depleted defense. This unit is superior to the one that took them to the Super Bowl last season...and let's not forget that last season's unit was at or near the bottom of league rankings. From one point of view, it might seem difficult for someone that bad last season to get that much worse this season (the Miami Dolphins excepted), but this Colts defense isn't just a little bit better. It's a LOT better.
It's so much better that we'd be talking dynasty in Indy, what with the offense continuing to do what it has done ever since Peyton Manning took over...
...except that there is already a dynasty in New England.
And they are taking no prisoners.
If the Colts were impressive in their business-like dismissal of Carolina, the Patriots were absolutely breath-taking in their complete dismantling of the Washington Redskins.
It is rare to see a professional team beat another professional team the way that college powerhouses regularly pummel schedule-fodder, but that's what it looked like on Sunday. The Patriots looked like the old Steve Spurrier Gators running up the score against Mother Theresa Community College.
There simply aren't enough adjectives left after their 8-game blitz of everyone in sight. As Peter King of Sports Illustrated points out, no team in the history of the game has opened the season with 8 straight games of 34 or more points. Tom Brady has already surpassed his career-high for touchdown passes in a single season. The defense has been spectacular, and that without all-world defensive end Richard Seymour for most of the early season. Randy Moss is back to making highlight-reel catches on a routine basis, and he's arguably not the best receiver on the team. Wes Welker has been a revelation, and he doesn't look any faster or stronger now than when he was on a miserable Dolphin team last season (ask him for perspective on both teams, and you might have to listen to him giggle incessantly for about 30 minutes before he can give you a coherent answer...). Donte Stallworth is actually playing up to his considerable potential, giving the Patriots two legitimate game-breakers at WR, something only the Colts and the Arizona Cardinals could say for a long time.
And they aren't just beating teams. They are walking through them like there is no opposition whatsoever.
(By the way, ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio has a little blurb about Redskins linebacker Randall Godfrey complaining that the Pats showed no class by running up the score. To which I say: Shut. The. Hell. Up. If you don't like the Patriots scoring so much, well, stop them. It's not their job to ease up on you. It's your job to keep them out of the end zone. If you don't like running backs getting touchdowns, tackle them. If you don't like quarterbacks throwing the ball deep in the fourth quarter, sack them. The only time a game is won is when the final gun sounds and one team has more points than the other team. Just last weekend, Sage Rosenfels led his wounded Houston team to 29 points in the fourth quarter; they were winning a game they had lost until Rob Bironas kicked his NFL-record eighth field goal for Tennessee. The only reason your team didn't duplicate Houston's feat is because you quit playing, not because the Patriots are a bunch of blue meanies. If the Patriots offense scored 52 points, it's because the Redskins defense let them. Butch up, tackle someone, and shut up.)
Make no mistake: the Patriots are as real as real gets.
And, thank God, so are the Colts.
This game is the Ali-Frazier of our generation, but without the political ramifications. It is Houston-UCLA. It is Affirmed-Alydar. Hell, if that whole space-time continuum thingy weren't such a bother, it would be Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods tied for the lead on Sunday at Augusta.
Both teams are utterly professional. Both coaches are utterly prepared. Both quarterbacks are Hall-of-Famers right now. Both offenses are prolific. Both defenses are disciplined, if not occasionally savage.
If ever a game was threatened to be drowned by hype, this is that game, but these two teams will not be caught up in the wash. They will do their jobs, the same as they have done all season. Do not expect bulletin-board material from either squad; if Randy Moss didn't rise to T.O.'s bait before the Dallas game, he'll have even less to say about the silent assassins at WR for the Colts.
I can't wait...
Labels: Colts, Game Of The Century, New England Patriots, NFL
posted by van walker | 6:57 AM
1 Comments:
OK, as much as I hate both the Patriots (for their preternatural winningness as much as their Bostonness) and the Colts (for always beating the snot out of my beloved Broncos), I think they are both fine, upstanding, professional teams with likable coaches and a team spirit sadly lacking in much of professional sports.
But how does anyone put together a dynasty under current free agency and salary cap rules? One of the joys of the NFL right now is that your turn will come (unless you're the Lions). Nobody can maintain a juggernaut for too many seasons 'cause the money police won't let them.
So what's up with the Pats and Colts?
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