There were articles saying Indianpolis this year didn’t get any respect. Indy was a very good team this year, but not the best team. Manning is a superb talent, so was Drew Bledsoe.

What the world seems to forget is all the years the New England Patriots were where the Miami Dolphins are today.

It is New England’s time to shine. Let us enjoy it.

Thanks

As for running up the score I say so what. This is the National Football League not the Pop Warner league. These guys are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to play a game. Is it the job of the offense to stop the offense, or is it the job of the defense to stop the offense? I think a great example of this is look how powerful the Colts offense is when healthly let alone beat up with injuries. Last years Championship game is a good example of never giving up. Also the Colts were down 23-0 last night and should have won the game. Should the Chargers have let up a bit being ahead 23-0. Not at all.

Plus the Pats have been ridiculed for their 3 out of 4 Super Bowl wins because they only won by field goals. Sometimes I think you just can’t win for losing.

As for Belichick and Dungy I can only say that is bad sportmanship but I also know from what I hear is that Bill could be upset at what Dungy said about “Spygate”. He did shake his hand and he was done and walked away and then turned back to say something. What I don’t know is what he said to him. I have seen film in the past where they hugged and they were in an embrace at mid field so this leads me to believe it has something to do with Tony’s comments. Dungy is a class act and I think he is a great coach as well.

As for cheaters every team cheats. No doubt about it. They have penalties in place for cheaters. The Pats were caught cheating with the camera after the WHOLE League was warned about such actions. So, shame on them.

Now there was cheating in the game last night too, a Charger defender grabbed a Colts jersey by the shoulder pads and pulled him down and he was never called for it. That was called “horse collaring” and is a penalty. The player cheated.

When an offensive player holds a defensive player and doesn’t get a flag thrown on him then that player cheated. He broke the rules of the game. So, I hope I am making my point here that everyone cheats in one form or another. It doesn’t make it right but it is part of the game.

Thanks for listening to my little rant. Football is a great sport and we all love our own teams and we will stand up for them at almost all costs. LOL

San Diego made some horrendous plays last night - wasn’t that a fumble in the endzone? And we used to love Adam Vinatieri - I mean I’d still like the guy if he was on our team but I love what Stephen Gostkowski’s done filling those shoes admirably.

I don’t blame Adam for missing it - and was hoping he would -
because as much as I could’ve liked the Colts, Peyton Manning has been annointed the second coming and my observation of him is that he has great skills a la Drew Bledsoe, and is a little more sharp than Bledsoe, both having great arms, and both being over-rated. Hey, I’m a Bledsoe fan, but he couldn’t close the deal, and Peyton comes close to not closing the deal. Let’s face it, Brady has done more with less (3 rings) and as far as Belichick goes, he is a great coach that does what every other coach does. It isn’t only the coaches and staff who do questionable things, and not only the officials: the NFL does suspect things for TV ratings, as does Major League Baseball. We all delude ourselves that the game is nice and clean. We’re talking about an extremely violent sport - second only to boxing as a major sport that has ugly aspects to it. I can honestly say the violence in football turns me off; I like the chess match aspect and feel that artificial crowd noise favoring one team is unfair. At least when The Colts came into the old Foxboro stadium and the snowfield was mud and ice BOTH teams had the same disadvantage - it wasn’t like the Patriots had grass and the Colts got dirt.
Same for San Diego/Indianapolis, both had a torrential rain to deal with when San Diego had the upper hand and Indianapolis gained the momentum.

Peyton Manning did contradict himself, though, complaining about injuries last week after the Pats game and then last night saying he wouldn’t blame injuries. At least Tom brady is consistent - and unlike Tony Dungy attacking Belichick,
Tom Brady praises Peyton Manning. BIG difference. Which one is the gentleman, Tom or Tony? That’s a rhetorical question, of course.

When it comes to the Patriots, I’ll admit that they’re a really good team and I have to root just a little bit for Roosevelt Colvin to do good (I went to Jr. High School with him…and he along with Matt Light are fellow Boilermakers).

That said, I cannot stand Bill Belicheat and am still furious that the NFL basically swept the whole filming fiasco under the rug. Seriously, how much are some fines and lost draft picks going to hurt the Patriots? Not at all. Maybe the NFL should take a look at the NCAA to adopt some real punishment measures for the entire league. If you’re caught cheating then eliminate the possibility of the post season for that season and then lower the team salary cap for the next two or three seasons after that. Who in their right mind would try anything then?

And then the “noise” allegations and brushing Tony Dungy off after the game (that the Patriots won). What a miserable man.

Anyone who has ever been to the Dome knows how loud it is in there. Football. Basketball. A concert. A marching band competition. A conference. It’s all the same. It is really loud. The “noise pumping” allegations have went on for years and luckily will cease after this season, because I’m tired of hearing about it.

And finally, what is up with needlessly running up the score against teams when you have the win in hand? Let’s look at their winning margins…

NY Jets 38-14, San Diego 38-14, Buffalo 38-7, Cincinnati 34-13, Cleveland 34-17, Dallas 48-27, Miami 49-28 and Washington 52-7.

Now I can understand wanting to be up by three scores going into the fourth quarter, but later in the game you’ve seriously got to just start eating up the clock and stop putting your starters needlessly in danger of injury. And they wonder why people say that they’re only after an undefeated season and the season passing touchdown record.

But back to last nights game…

My “excuse list” was meant as a “this is what the sports media will say”. There isn’t a single thing on that list that the Colts cannot overcome and actually win a game. Rain…come on, did anyone watch the Super Bowl last year? Special teams have never been all the special on either side of the ball. Excellent kickers missing crucial field goals…does Vandershank ring a bell? Hurt players…that one actually does hurt a bit, but it actually might help the cause from time to time since no film study will do a bit of good.

But the six interceptions is killer. Not killer in the sense that the Colts can’t overcome that, but killer in the sense that there was obviously no synergy on the offensive side of the ball. And as the leader of the team, the poor play falls on Peyton’s shoulders, fair or not. Yes, Vinny stepped in and took the blame, but it honestly should not have came down to the missed field goal at the end of the game.

But that game is over and we’ve got to look at the rest of the schedule for both New England and the Colts. New England has a pretty easy schedule, with the exception of Pittsburgh whom I actually think has a good chance at winning the game. (I’m undecided at this point in the season if that would be an overall good or bad thing as far as the Colts’ post season goes…ask me at about week 15.)

As far as Manning goes, yes, he did have an awful game. Special teams lost the game for the you guys last night not Manning.

Blaming coming off a bad loss to the Pats is as bad as Pats fans blaming playing a tough game against the Chargers last year and losing to the Colts in the AFC Championship game. A lot of the Pats players last year had the flu before the game and I am sure that contibuted their collapse in th esecond half. Oh well, such is life.

I do agree that the officiating this year seems to be excessively worse than previous years. But, that is part of the game that really needs to be reviewed by the league.

Don’t blame the rain as the Bolts played in the same weather.

The Steelers will lose to the Pats so that will give them two losses too. I also think the Colts need a better strengthening coach as too many players are getting injured and that too is part of the game. Just bad luck I guess.

GO PATS !!!