* - Two great quarterbacks, but contrasting styles for sure:
Here are the teams with the most pass attempts more than 10 yards downfield in 2010:
130 - Colts
121 - Broncos
119 - Chargers
And here are the teams with the fewest such attempts:
73 - Patriots
73 - Jaguars
74 - Rams
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* - This ain’t like Peyton: Over the Colts’ last three games, Manning has completed only 12-of-43 passes over 10 yards downfield (28 percent). In their three games before that? 24-for-47 (51 percent). He’s completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes to wide receivers in each of the last three games. First such three game streak for the Colts since 2007.
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* - The Patriots completed seven passes on throws more than 10 yards downfield last weekend. They only had six such completions in their previous three games combined.
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* - The Colts are the only team that has scored 17 or more points in every game this season.
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* - The Patriots now lead the league at converting 3rd-and-short (five yards or less), having moved the chains at a 64.4 percent clip. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Pats are last at stopping third downs overall (47.5 percent) and 31st at stopping 3rd-and-10 or more (32.3 percent). Only the Jets are worse (36.2 percent).
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* - The Colts lead the NFL in passing first downs per game (16.0) while the Patriots defense has allowed the most such first downs (15.3). New England has allowed 20 or more first downs in eight of their nine games this season.
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* - The Colts rank second in drives of 10 or more plays this season (23) and are third at cashing those in (4.52 average points). New England’s defense has allowed 18 such drives (30th) and allowed points on 17 of them (94 percent, last).
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* - On defense, opponents are averaging 5.0 yards per carry on the ground, the highest in the NFL:
5.00 - Colts
4.97 - Redskins
4.85 - Buccaneers
Indy’s rushing defense is third worst on first downs:
5.84 - Redskins
5.59 - Raiders
5.50 - Colts
Pittsburgh has played the best rushing defense on first down this year, alowing a 2.3 yard average.
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* - Both teams have been rather pedestrian this year against blitzes: The Pats rank 11th with a +1.50 rating (7.1 yards/pass play, two touchdowns, three interceptions) while the Colts are 17th at +1.13 (only 5.2 yards/pass play, but five touchdowns and one interception).
Both teams have been VERY GOOD when there is no blitz: The Colts are third at +2.50 while New England ranks fourth with a +2.48 rating. The Patriots’ 15 touchdown passes when there is no blitz are the most in the league.
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* - The Colts have 25 completions to their wideouts that have been caught behind the line of scrimmage, tied for the league lead with the Rams. Their completion percentage (86.2 percent) ranks second on those throws (Giants, 86.7 percent).
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* - When the Patriots have chosen to run the ball on third down, they’ve been quite successful at converting the first down, doing so 64 percent of the time:
74% - Texans
64% - Patriots
64% - Buccaneers
When Colts OPPONENTS have run it on third down, they’ve converted 63 percent of the time (third worst):
65% - Vikings
63% - Buccaneers
63% - Colts
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* - The Pats’ third down pass DEFENSE has been brutal, as 50 percent of opponent pass attempts on third down have resulted in a first down (45-of-90), the highest percentage allowed in the league. Contrast that to the Colts’ defense, which has allowed only conversions on just 34 percent of opponent third down tries (ranked fifth).
New England’s defense has allowed 7.1 yards/pass play on third downs this season, but it’s been noticeably better over the last four games (4.6).
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* - When they’ve been pinned inside their own 20-yard-line, the Colts have completed 83 percent of their passes (25-of-30), the highest in the league, while the Patriots have ALLOWED 75 percent completions on those throws, second highest/worst in the NFL.
The Pats’ offense has completed just 45 percent (10-of-22) when inside their own 20, the worst mark in the league.
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* - Indianapolis defense has allowed an average of just 8.0 yards per catch on opponent passes to tight ends this season and each catch has come an average of 3.7 yards downfield. Both are NFL lows. However, you couldn’t tell it from last week’s stats: The Colts allowed 11 completions to Cincinnati’s tight ends last Sunday, their most allowed in 44 games. What’s more, they racked up 74 YAC (yards after the catch), the most against Indy in their last 80 games and the first time they’ve allowed 30 or more in over a year.