As November goes on, we'll see if two great teams succeeded in beating the greatness out of each other. I'm pretty exhausted from keeping up with the thrills and spills on my SI.com live blog - check it out.
A few impressions that will last:
* The mark of a great team is the ability to win on a day it didn't play its best (well, the Colts had a little more influence on that than the Redskins did last week). Tom Brady actually threw two interceptions, and didn't land the big shot downfield for more than three quarters. But when the Pats got down 20-10 with less than 10 minutes left, he was cool. So money. Sharp. GQ...stop me before I lay on the superlatives too heavy. The big plays on both sides of the ball that were missing all day arrived just in time.
* Say all you want about Brady, Randy Moss, etc., but if Wes Welker isn't a Pro Bowler, that game has no credibility. All he does is make plays, from the 35-yard punt return late in the third quarter, to the out pattern to the flag against Bob Sanders for the second touchdown, to the third-down catch for the first down which closed the show.
* Yeah, maybe Marvin Harrison's injury made the Colts' offensive game plan a little more Joseph Addai-centric. But the Pats' defense spent much of the day flailing at him, and that 73-yard touchdown doink-and-run in the final seconds of the first half was his coming-out party. He brought the whole box of mad skills to that play - the powerful burst at the right moment, the speed, and the ability to read blocks downfield.
* Forgive Matt Light a couple of penalties. He kept Dwight Freeney from raising the kind of havoc the Pats' coaching staff feared. Robert Mathis, however, was another matter entirely.
* Have the Patriots ever had a better-timed bye? How do you get up to play anyone else after a week like this? The Colts, meanwhile, will be struggling to avoid going 7-2 next Sunday night - I fear trouble at San Diego.
Ariel Meredith
Taylor Walker
Winter Olympics on the SI Cover
Saints Victory Parade
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I thought it was a good game and I do believe that the Colts have a chance to beat them in Foxboro. What I would like to know is why the unsportsman like gameship at the end of the game? Brady headbutting his team and screamin across the line on the kneel downs....Then the snub that Belechek gave to Dungy was crappy. Tony Dungy is one on the nicest coaches in the NFL and didnt deserve to be treated as such----just my opinion.
Hilbili
Layton , UT
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