bask in the glory and then some worries

[Patfandango]

It was a great win against a very good team. That is the best ball-hawking defense in the league right now and they played us very well. We weren’t sloppy; they were punishing us. The Pats matched their physicality and intensity and came out with the W, despite so marginal PI calls. It wouldn’t surprise me if we meet them again this year as they are the class of the NFC. We passed this test and won a slugfest. Also, this weekend, the Denver loss was important and perhaps they are showing signs of faltering.

Here are my worries. Despite much Colts bashing on this site, this team is to be respected and even feared. Manning is a great QB playing his best ball and their running game is on track (Addai had 171 yds and the team had 237). I feared them less when they could not stop the run or generate a running game both of which are necessary to win in January. When teams have to respect the run, Manning is all the more deadly.
Our loss of Seau takes away our designated run stopper (like TJ or Phifer) and tips this further in favor of the Colts. Baltimore and San Diego are also playing well and they are also both contenders. I don’t fancy facing any of them. In the NFC, facing the Bears again would worry me but I’m not concerned about anyone else in the B league this year. Grossman is capable of playing lights out, which would the missing piece to make them formidable (he actually played well considering the pressure). That said, I’ve seen BB game plan against much worse odds and come out ahead. It should be a fun couple of months.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

I don't see the Colts the way you do. I seem them as the team we almost went into overtime against despite playing our sloppiest game of the year and not running the ball much.

I see the Chargers and Ravens are real hard nosed football teams. Denver could be tough again if Cutler lives up to the hype.

I'll take my chances against the soft Colts over those other teams.

 

[Brady-To-Branch]

The Bears will never win the NFC with Grossman at QB.

Since Dallas made the switch to Romo, they are the best team in NFC.

 

[Willie55]

Colts are way too soft. Even the hapless Eagles with Jeff Garcia at QB were moving the ball against them.

Marty-ball is guaranteed to show up in San Diego come playoff time.

 

[FloridaPatsFan]

The Bears will never win the NFC with Grossman at QB.

Since Dallas made the switch to Romo, they are the best team in NFC.

The Bears will win the NFC no questions asked. End of story. There is nothing even remotely close to them in the NFC. Grossman is not a great QB but with that defense and playing in Chicago in January will be enough for them to make it to the SB. They will wrap up homefield in a couple of weeks.

If Trent Dilfer can win a SB with a great D (Ravens) then certainly Grossman can. Romo has not faced real playoff pressure yet. It makes even good QB's turn into stiffs. I like what he is doing but I don't think he'll be throwing like that against good defenses in the playoffs.

 

[JoeSixPat]

The bad news is that we are FAR from a perfect team.

The good news is that so too is every other team out there.

I blame the Colts loss ultimately to bad playcalling - abandoning the run made no sense to me then, and less so now.

Denver seems to be imploding, and the Chargers and Ravens are tough teams, but I think that given our defense -even without Seau - and our offense - even without a full WR corps - can play well enough to beat both of them.

So while I am concerned by the constant turnovers and the lack of WR plays (we had 4 completions to WRs yesterday) I'm still confident that we can beat any team if most of our players step up on any given Sunday