ivanvamp

From: NFL Power Rankings - Top 32 NFL Football Teams - FOX Sports on MSN

"The true shame of the Bill Belichick controversy is that his much-discussed fourth-down call gone bad has distracted us from noticing how much of the game the Patriots dominated at Indy."

This is true. Some relevant numbers:

Total Yards
- NE: 477
- Ind: 407

Time of Possession
- NE: 35:02
- Ind: 24:58

# of times into the opponents' Red Zone
- NE: 6
- Ind: 3

3rd down efficiency
- NE: 7 of 14 (50%)
- Ind: 5 of 12 (41.7%)

Obviously, these stats mean nothing in terms of the final score, but it does show that the Pats are every bit as good as the Colts, dominating them for the first 57 1/2 minutes of the game (Indy outscored NE 14-0 in the last 2:30). And they did it in Indy.

The league should be served notice: the Pats are back in a very big way, the final score notwithstanding.

CampPen33

Yep.......

buile

It's starting to sound like the shoe's on the other foot: instead of Colts fans comforting themselves in Manning's stats when we beat them, now we're bringing up stats in a loss. Prior to the game, with all the Manning/Brady hoopla, I said out loud: the only stat that means anything in the end is the score, and that's still true.

Yes, there's lots to look forward to from the game, and I think we'll beat Indy in a re-match, but, heck let's not turn into Colts fans fer cryin' out loud!

JMarr

Couldn't agree more with the thread title. Until the end it was a beatdown of epic proportions [which made the collapse that much harder to swallow]. It was amazing to see shades of the 2007 offense again vs. a quality opponent, and through the 1st three quarters, I thought Belichick, Pees, and the players had executed a masterful defensive gameplan against Manning. As long as there's no dissention in the lockerroom or significant letdown of morale, this team truly will be the one nobody wants to play in December.

jmt57

The Maroney fumble, the end zone interception, unable to punch it in from the five-yard line. If the Pats are able to get the job done on any one of those three plays, the 4th down play at the end of the game never happens. And if the Pats convert on two, or all three of those plays, then the game is not just a victory but a blowout. One or two small changes earlier in the game, and the entire focus and topics of conversations for the last 48 hours is completely changed.

ivanvamp

Yep. People will say that about Baltimore, but tell me one team that will want to play a 12-4 (guessing) New England Patriots team in the playoffs. Answer: nobody...not even the Colts, who have to be feeling like they got *extremely* lucky (maybe fortunate is the right word) to survive last week's game. They probably can't be totally confident that will happen twice.

BelichickFan

I don't think anyone's saying we should get the win for having more yards. But this wasn't a playoff game, the last half of this book has yet to be written and despite the terrible ending there is much left to be optimistic about from this game.

__________________
Don't Give Me a Defensive Player Who Can't Tackle . . . What Am I Going to Do With Him ? --- Bill Belichick

CampPen33

How wrong you are!!!!




jk

TheComeback

Colts and Pats fans have a lot in common.

That said, I have no problem with the OP. There is a lot to look forward to with this team, and there's nothing wrong with talking about it. It's part of accepting a tough loss, but it's also true that NE played a great game against a great team on Sunday.

I was surprised by our performance on defense. Couldn't believe we'd held them to 17 points through three quarters. Unfortunately, every minute counts as much as the one that came before it, and we gave them too many chances to come back and beat us, which of course they did.

MrTibbs

Only stat that matters is the final score. Like guys said let's not revert to Colts fans way of thinking. What's next "Yeah Brady has better stats" while the Colts go on to win the Super Bowl?