Booyamos

Sooo who besides cheapie is excited about this?

I know i am... GO PATS! WOOOO! heh.

thoughi think it'll be a really tough game. The pats have a great defense but they are really hurt in the secondary. too man injuries and reliance on rookies right now. This could leave a lot of holes for Manning to pick apart.

But the Pats ate 6-0 against them at Gillete stadium. Homefield advantage and ol billy always comes up with some crazy scheme to control them.

I think it should be a really good/close game. the pats really need to set up their running game and run it at them to control the ball/clock.

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DaFunkyUnit

i just realized that this is a rematch of the (last years?) AFC Championship Game.

its gonna come down to who can kick in the snow.

Vineteri (sp?) vs. Vanderjagt (sp?)

and I believe of all people, Vanderjagt(sp?) is already talking trash...

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guiseppewv

Gotta love a kicker who talks trash.

I think the Colts are going to win this one and I am NOT a Colts fan. I am a die-hard Steelers fan.

whitak24

i am pumped for this game, and while i really want the colts to win, i have to give the edge to the pats. between homefield advantage, the coaching edge, and the fact that they ALWAYS seem to find ways to win when they need to, i don't know how the colts will overcome this.

UNLESS the patriots secondary is just plain bad and manning rings them up.

guiseppewv

Ty Law being placed on the IR is a bad sign for NE.

raimin

, i think colts gonna finally win one against the pats

and he is an idiot kicker, a kicker who is an idiot

cheapie

i'm very nervous. the pats seem to have a mental edge over the colts. BUT the colts are so much better than they were at the beginning of the season. that includes the defense. and the pats are really hurting. i've desperately hoping the pats are foolish enough to think that they can just blitz peyton and disrupt him. WHENEVER teams start blitzing that always leaves the slot uncovered and peyton find the open receiver.

also a big deal will be the weather. currently the forecase for sunday is sunny and 34. wind would be bad as would a sloppy field. the sloppy field would greatly hurt freeney coming off the end. when freeney's getting to the qb, they have to dbl team him. this will open up the other good DE, Raheem Brock. plus, if they have to dbl team freeney, the TE won't be as available for those short passes brady is so good at.

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cheapie

and tyrone poole is out as well. their other starting CB. didja see what the colts did to the poor rookie when denver came to town? the pats will be relying on some pretty tenuous deep help.

i predict the pats will say that they'll concentrate on keeping the deep plays from happening at the expense of yards on the ground. which means edge will have some running room.

kei2

Wow this is a tough one to call.

On the one hand, there's Peyton having a record-breaking year (passer rating, TDs) and the Pats missing Ty Law and Tyrone Poole...

And on the other hand, Belichick is 6-0 against Peyton, the Pats have home field advantage...

I'll take the Colts by 10, simply because New England will be missing its star corners.

Semi-related, does anybody think Vanderjagt's comment was blown out of proportion by the media? He said he thinks the Patriots are weaker than last year and the beginning of this year (probably citing the injuries to the secondary), and that they look beatable. It's not like he said they're going to dominate them, or that they're an overrated team, or something like that. I guess it would be better to just worry about one's own team, but it seemed like people made too much of his comments.

Booyamos

But he's a kicker! lol That pretty much what the pats said after his comment...

well he's a kicker, so what.


I don't think the pats will blitz a lot, last year they really dropped back and only rushed 3 or 4. they know blitzing will just leave big holes that manning will see. Problem is with Law out and Poole out, and that other guy still sorta hurt they can't really do as much. Having Law they could just single him up on Harrison, but now they will have to double or triple him. Limits what defensive schemes they can throw out there.

I'm excited & nervous though, should be an exciting game. its nasty in boston right now (gillete is an hour or so away). raining out. But it's supposed to clear up and be 57 degrees tomorrow. I want lots of snow this weekend! plays to our advantage if there's a nasty field.

kei2

I don't know that they can double cover Marvin, because Peyton is comfortable passing to other guys like Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokley. They can occasionally do Cover 2 and give safety help on Marvin's side, but they can't afford to double cover him the whole game.

bachviet

I'm picking the Colts on this one because they are a better team than last year and earlier this season. The Pats also hurt badly in the secondary like everyone said so Manning is going to have a field day throwing.

Hopefully I don't jinx the Colts because I don't want to see any more talk about the Pats being a dynasty.

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kei2

haha seriously. I hate hearing about how these present-day teams are dynasties. If you ask me, there hasn't been a real dynasty since the Montana/Young Niners or the Jordan Bulls.

TERRIBLETOM

I just hope there's a good party the day of the game...

zenbooty

*cough* *cough* Dallas Cowboys *cough*


As a Patriots fan I'll admit I'd like to see one more Super Bowl and a couple more winning seasons before I say they equal what the 49'ers and Steelers did, but I'd put their current accomplishments up there with Dallas and over Green Bay in the 90's certainly.

BrewMaster

since my niners started to suck this is sad time of year for me.

i hope the Pats pull it off but I won't be upset if the Colts win either. I did grow up with Tommy Brady so I am partial to the Pats.

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eSDee

All I care about is that someone roughs up Vanderjagt. Other than that, I am rooting for the Steelers.

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kei2

Wasn't the Cowboys' success before the Niners'? I thought the game with Dwight Clark's "The Catch" was what ended Dallas dominance and started the Niners' run?

guiseppewv

They just signed someone (Hank Poteat, I think) to take over at CB. That is not good news to have someone join the team at this late of a date.


but I still like the kicker stepping up.


Yep and they insulted their own kicker, who has won many games for them with his game winning field goals as time expires.



They need 4 SB wins to do what the Steelers did. No chance at that.


I hope the Steelers win but I hope Vandy kicks the winning FG. That would be great.

zenbooty

You need to take into account the eras. Its so much harder to keep a talented championship squad together in these days of free agency and salary caps. Even if they only win 3 rings, I would put the accomplishment at the same level as the Steelers. Its like comparing baseball Hall of Famers' stats. You have to take into account the eras in which the accomplishments were made.

The Cowboy's had two periods of glory. The first was the in the 70's, with Roger Staubach and the "Doomsday" Defense. This isn't generally considered a dynasty, though, since they only won 2 Super Bowls and were generally overshadowed by the Steelers' dynasty. This was the period that was ended by the Niners.

The second period, considered a dynasty, actually pretty much book-ended the 49'ers dynasty. This was the period in the early 90's with Troy Aickman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irving, Jay Novacek, Larry Allan, and a bunch of other big names. They won 3 rings in 4 years, and were the most successful franchise overall throughout the early and mid 90's.

DaFunkyUnit

i hope Vanderjagt gets a "Unsportsman-like Conduct, Excessive Celebration" call called against him.

Grubbie

Or he makes a field goal, jumps up and tears his acl when he lands...... Oh wait wrong kicker....

guiseppewv

That is a good point but a mute one b/c the steelers are going to get the one for the thumb this year.

If the Pats weren't so banged up in the secondary I would say that they would probably win this wknd's game but due to secondary issues they don't have a great chance of winning.



That would be cool if that happened......as long as he got the penalty AFTER the GW FG.

zenbooty

The Patriots don't beat Peyton with their secondary. They beat him with confusing and nebulous alignments.

guiseppewv

No, but they do need a secondary just so they can give their DL and LBs a chance to get to Peyton. If Peyton is able to "throw wild" as opposed to "run wild" then it will be a game that the Patties cannot hang with offensively not even on their best day with their team this season. I am not sure any team could hang with Peyton's offense if it is running amuck. We'll see who's right come Sunday.

zenbooty

They HAVE a secondary. They just don't have a great one.

Peyton's (and the Colt's offense in general) strength is reading a defense before the snap and making adjustments that take advantage of the read. So Belichick doesn't let Peyton read it. He set his guys up in a vanilla alignment and then has them shift right off the snap into their defensive coverage. This forces the Colts to try and make their adjustments after the snap, which they're not nearly as good at doing.

And as for no one being able to stop the big Midwest Machine, I remind you to go look at the recent history of these teams and remember that it is Peyton and the Colts who have something to prove here.

cheapie

you're right zen. the onus is entirely on the colts to beat the pats. they pats have owned them and didn't peyton have a team in college that he could never beat?

yeah. ...vandy is good. but he hasn't always been money in the huge games. he missed big shots against miami in and of course the big one against the pats this fall. of course, it was a long one. he did nail two at denver last year that were incredible and won the game so i can't say he never hits the big ones....but still.

and btw, the colts do have a grammatica on the team. not sure it's the one that torn the acl celebration or not.

ialsohaveadream

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the effect Belichick will have on the game. That man can come up with some ridiculously genius gameplans.

Also, don't forget that the Colts don't have a particularly strong defense, and the Patriots have an even stronger offense than they have in the past, thanks to Dillon.

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dbax791

Ugh. Bill Gramatica. It sucks enough being a Cardinals fan without bringing up that memory.

guiseppewv

The colts were beat last year by the pats in the playoffs. But that was then this is now. Currently the Patriots have a below average secondary at best. With Ty Law their secondary is above avg and minus all of the other injuries they have in the secondary they are good to great.

They might not be as good *after* the snap at adjusting their reads but it isn't going to matter b/c they are going to slice and dice the Pats secondary.

Bottom line is that the Pats aren't going to hang with the Colts. I personally would love it if they could b/c then my Steelers would easily spank the pats, again, and they would go to the SB but I am a realist and I do not see NE winning this wknd.