Idle thoughts - The "on to Indy" edition

[50-yard-line]

So, two weeks ago, we were all terrified that the Ravens won and we'd have to face them instead of the soft Colts or Bengals, and now...

No playoff game is a cakewalk, but I like the Pats' chances this week. I wanted the Colts to win yesterday - kept trying to figure out how that might happen. In the end, I figured it was only possible if Manning sucked, and he really did - as in, one of the worst performances I've ever witnessed. You could tell that every player on the field knew it, too, soon after halftime. the guy simply couldn't perform as an NFL QB. His thorws of any distance were giving DBs and LBs extra seconds to react to the ball.

Other than the quarterbacks, Denver is a better team than Indianapolis. Talib, Harris Ward in the defensive backfield - Indy can't match that. Miller, Knighton, Ware (although, yeah, he fell off a cliff as the year wound on) - Indy can't match that.

Indy's got a good receiving corps, but really, Denver's is top dog. And Denver has a better running game.

 

[DarrylS]

I am in the guardedly optimistic camp, as much as I believe we should win, on any given Sunday.

I am really glad to see that Amendola and Hooman were part of the offense, prior to this thought they were very focused a small group in their receiving corps.. with adding these two guys and possibly Wright will give any D fits..

There were some defensive flaws yesterday, but Flacco did not get any long runs which may have been one of the reasons that there was not a lot of pressure, as Jones/Ninkovich had to contain the edge.

Looking forward to a good game, do not understand why we are playing so late and Seattle is playing so early?? That does not make much sense to me..

 

[FourierSeries]

I am in the guardedly optimistic camp, as much as I believe we should win, on any given Sunday.

I am really glad to see that Amendola and Hooman were part of the offense, prior to this thought they were very focused a small group in their receiving corps.. with adding these two guys and possibly Wright will give any D fits..

There were some defensive flaws yesterday, but Flacco did not get any long runs which may have been one of the reasons that there was not a lot of pressure, as Jones/Ninkovich had to contain the edge.

Looking forward to a good game, do not understand why we are playing so late and Seattle is playing so early?? That does not make much sense to me..

They alternate every year. Last year AFC game was the early game. This year it's the late game.

 

[DarrylS]

They alternate every year. Last year AFC game was the early game. This year it's the late game.

So I guess common sense is not a factor.. .thanks.

 

[BradyToAmendola]

You're an idiot if you're dismissing Indy (not saying anyone here is, just in general). We won last game vs them cause of our running game. Indy was missing their 2 best dlinemen in Arthur Jones and Cory Redding. They will be active this week. We're not gonna be able to run nearly as effectively. And Stork is most likely out.

 

[FourierSeries]

You're an idiot if you're dismissing Indy (not saying anyone here is, just in general). We won last game vs them cause of our running game. Indy was missing their 2 best dlinemen in Arthur Jones and Cory Redding. They will be active this week. We're not gonna be able to run nearly as effectively. And Stork is most likely out.

Redding played last game I believe. He also played in last year's playoff game when we ran all over them. Arthur Jones will help them for sure, but I still think we can be effective in the running game. I also expect Brady to play better than he has in the previous two meetings.

 

[Bonzo]

For all the hand-wringing in Decmeber about the Patriots offense, that Indy O has also really cooled off. In the 9 games since we played them, they've eclipsed 30 points only once. (And that was against Washington.)

Further, over the final month of the season, Luck was pretty terrible: passer rating of 71.1, and a 53.6% completion rate at a pedestrian average of 6.0 yards per attempt. Most recently, his performance in Denver was pretty consistent with those numbers.

 

[rochrist]

For all the hand-wringing in Decmeber about the Patriots offense, that Indy O has also really cooled off. In the 9 games since we played them, they've eclipsed 30 points only once. (And that was against Washington.)

Further, over the final month of the season, Luck was pretty terrible: passer rating of 71.1, and a 53.6% completion rate at a pedestrian average of 6.0 yards per attempt. Most recently, his performance in Denver was pretty consistent with those numbers.

Yeah, he wasn't great yesterday. He was good enough, helped along by having the Broncos field the corpse of Peyton Manning.

 

[VJCPatriot]

The loss of Stork concerns me. Our offense seemed to lose some steam initially due to Stork loss. But our OL eventually recovered and Tom was able to make some plays. But he will have less throwing time than if Stork were healthy.

To me it still looks like Luck has the Favre gunslinger mentality. He put up balls for grabs and it resulted in 2 turnovers. The key is to Capitalize and turn those turnovers into points because Luck WILL Sling the ball given the chance. If we score points of turnovers we get a huge edge.

Luck is certainly better than a broken down Manning, but I still don't fear him. He looks like Favre with some mobility though. So we need to have some plan in place to spy the QB so he doesn't get too many cheap yards/1st downs.

I feel pretty confident of our chances against Indy. Their defense is not as good as Baltimore, and we should be able to put up points. As for Luck, force the turnovers and score points and he will quickly become frustrated and might make a couple of more costly mistakes. BB is in Luck's head btw, check our track record against the Luck-led Colts PFK ;-) That's our main edge going into the AFC title game!


PS I expect to see a healthy does of Jonas Gray (if health) vs the Colts smallish DL. Bolden was completely ineffective against the Ravens and I see no reason to put him back onto the field.

 

[mgteich]

So, two weeks ago, we were all terrified that the Ravens won and we'd have to face them instead of the soft Colts or Bengals, and now...

All of us like our chances this week. We should cover the 7 points. And, no, we shouldn't discount INDY. There are a fine team. We are the better team, playing at home, and we should win. The effect of our major injury (Stork) is minimized against INDY.

With regard to the Ravens, we weren't terrified. I believed then, and now, that BALT posed more of a threat to us than any of the other teams in the playoffs. I still believe in that assessment. It took a great coaching effort to beat BALT, including the unusual formation (3 times), Edelman's first pass, and a fine game by Amendola. I thought that we'd beat BALT. but that it would take a great effort. The game didn't provide surprised in that regard.

 

[PScottman]

The loss of Stork concerns me.

The potential loss of Browner concerns me more. The Colts are an offensive team and while he had arguably his worst game of the year versus them (Fleener found his mojo that game) he's the straw that stirs this defensive ****tail not with his cover skills as much as his physicality.

Look at guys like Tavon Wilson for example - laying wood on receivers time and time again - never had that in his game before this year. Might be attributable (might not, but I might as well bring something unique to the discussion). The entire secondary is looking to lay the seeds of alligator arms as the game goes on. It's all about that earth shattering bass I suppose.

 

[Observer]

The reality is that this is as favorable a matchup as we could hope for in the biggest conference game of the year. Pats really should win this if they are the best team in the league.

 

[SVN]

I'm really worry about our defense, even if we beat indy i'll be afraid of whoever we end up facing.

I think we need to worry about the next game. Its great luck and honor to reach the SB itself. Lot of things need to fall your way to get there so cant say or predict what will happen without taking care of indy. If vereen fumble wasnt overturned or edelman doesnt recover his fumble, we might be sitting at home. A lot of things need to go your way to reach the final 2 so lets hope we first get there and then worry later.

 

[SVN]

bruschi with lot of thoughts on indy
http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story...schi-tap-new-england-patriots-baltimore-colts

sounds like BB

 

[IllegalContact]

I'm also of the thinking that the reason the pats are playing the colts is because of the broncos and not the colts......the colts did nothing special

manning was awful

 

[Rob0729]

I still cannot take the Colts all that seriously. They had an easy path to the AFC Championship Game. They are a soft team that beat up on two softer teams.

Cincy hasn't won a playoff game with Andy Dalton at the helm despite getting their every year he has been in the league.

The Broncos were a shell of themselves and I quite frankly think they all quit somewhere in the 3rd quarter when they saw that Manning was incapable of leading a drive and wimped out on a 3rd and five with about 20 yards to run for the first and thrown to the guy in tight coverage.

I am actually agreeing with Felger on this one. I think the Colts are pretty much the same team the Pats have beat on during the Luck era. Luck is still the same guy who can make terrific throws but will make incredibly stupid and costly mistakes (the Broncos just couldn't capitalize).

As for the Broncos, they are proof why you don't go "all in". The last team to win the Super Bowl going "all in" might have been the Broncos in the late 90s. They will have some tough choices to make. I might dump Demarcus Ware who was great the first six weeks of the season (7 sacks) and done little since (3 sacks in 10 regular season games and the playoffs). They might want to let Manning go and use that money to keep their pending free agents.

 

[Sicilian]

Cincy hasn't won a playoff game with Andy Dalton at the helm despite getting their every year he has been in the league.

And they were missing AJ Green for that game. You could argue that the Colts beat two teams, each without their best player (Manning being a shell of himself).

 

[1960Pats]

I'm also of the thinking that the reason the pats are playing the colts is because of the broncos and not the colts......the colts did nothing special

manning was awful

Of course Manning was awful, it's the playoffs.

 

[IllegalContact]

Of course Manning was awful, it's the playoffs.

Right, but the point was more about the Colts and how much of Sunday's result is a credit to their play.....with the way the Broncos played, the Raiders would have beaten them.....in Denver

 

[1960Pats]

I still cannot take the Colts all that seriously. They had an easy path to the AFC Championship Game. They are a soft team that beat up on two softer teams.

Cincy hasn't won a playoff game with Andy Dalton at the helm despite getting their every year he has been in the league.

The Broncos were a shell of themselves and I quite frankly think they all quit somewhere in the 3rd quarter when they saw that Manning was incapable of leading a drive and wimped out on a 3rd and five with about 20 yards to run for the first and thrown to the guy in tight coverage.

I am actually agreeing with Felger on this one. I think the Colts are pretty much the same team the Pats have beat on during the Luck era. Luck is still the same guy who can make terrific throws but will make incredibly stupid and costly mistakes (the Broncos just couldn't capitalize).

As for the Broncos, they are proof why you don't go "all in". The last team to win the Super Bowl going "all in" might have been the Broncos in the late 90s. They will have some tough choices to make. I might dump Demarcus Ware who was great the first six weeks of the season (7 sacks) and done little since (3 sacks in 10 regular season games and the playoffs). They might want to let Manning go and use that money to keep their pending free agents.

Indy beat the teams that were on their playoff schedule, one at home and one on the road. They couldn't do more than that.

I honestly think that too many of us have short memories. I remember a very similar situation in 2010 (meeting a team in the playoffs that the Pats humiliated a couple of months before) and the Jets crushed the hopes of all of us. The only difference is that this time the opponent has a QB that's dangerous.

The last team to go all in and win is the 2001 Pats, but you're right, there haven't been many.

Demarcus Where will be doing the same thing that Emanuel Sanders will be doing for the rest of the playoff season. Watching Danny Amendola play football.