Let me try and articulate better why I thought that the Colts would be the weaker opponent, even though they would have been the more satisfying challenger and I'm sure CBS was crying in its beer after the final whistle in INDY.
1. First you are all right Peyton Manning would be a formidable challenge had the Colts advanced. As our good friend Mercury Morris would say, Phillip Rivers isn't even in Peyton's town yet, let alone on his street, as far as QB ability goes. However, Manning or rather Manning's offense isn't as good as it was the last 2 years.
2. Even last year, BB's defense held Peyton to 6 points in the first half of the championship game with a decimated secondary.... IN INDY. In the end they succummed to Manning's career performance in the 2nd half, and the loss of still more players in the defensive backfield and RB.
3. In the game THIS year, also IN INDY, how effective would have that Colt offense have been if they didn't get over 70 yds of phantom penalty yds on 2 occassions.
4. THIS year Manning was more vunerable to pressure even with his starting OL intact. I think the good coaches were starting to catch up to his offensive schemes better, and quite frankly Manning, while still one of the top 3 QBs in the league, wasn't as sharp as he's been in the past. A victim I think of the superbowl hangover and too many commercials
5. Harrison, as he showed in the SD game, was never going to be the kind of thread he was in his prime years
6. The Pats would be going into a game with the Colts with a full set of DB, which would allow BB to be much more creative with his personel grouping than he's been able to during the Colts 3 game winning streak in 2005-6. During that time BB was severely limited in what he could do.
7. For some reason Adai isn't the run threat he was last year, though he still was a big passing threat.
8. Without Freeney the only way the Colts could put pressure on Brady would be to Blitz him, and Brady has KILLED everyone who has blitzed him.
Last year, IN Indy, the Pats put up 27 points with shoe makers as WRs. (and it would have been 31 if the OBVIOUS PI was called in the Colts endzone). WHat do you think the total would be with the receivers we have now.
9. Our running game is now BETTER than the Colts running game.
10. While this also applies to the Chargers, I think for a team that HASN'T played a single game in Cold temperatures, playing a game with the temp in the low teens would hurt the Colts offense more than the Chargers. Not just Manning but his receivers as well.
BOTTOM LINE: Assuming LT, River, and Gates play, as I think they will, SD just has more individual talent than the Colts....or the Pats for that matter. My only fear is that their biggest weakness, which is a lack of discipline and mental toughness, might have been overcome to some degree by a victory over the Colts that can be called nothing less than HEROIC.
2 guestions from me. Can I get the correct spelling of symatry, and WTF wasn't Rivers in the game when it looked like he was walking better than most of the players who were in the game. Compare him to say Chad Pennington
