Welcome, Los1sol - - great stuff from you.
This is the game. I have enormous respect for the Colts - - can't believe they (and their fans) wouldn't be ticked that the media has pretty much overlooked them copmpared to the Pats this year. They have won 12 straight, they are the Champs and they have won two tough road games the past two weeks in very impressive fashion.........and they are 4.5 point underdogs.
This is the way I felt in 2004 when the Pats were steamrolling as Champs in the midst of the 21 game winning streak, and all the national media could talk about were the Colts. I guess we could say the tables have turned a bit.
That being said, Maroney is nowhere near the RB he was last January. In the AFCCG he was running with his left arm practically taped down and clearly was flinching away from contact. This year, he had a bad groin for a few weeks, but is now well rested and has been averaging over 5 yards per carry the past two weeks. More impressively is how tough and aggressive he ran last Sunday against a normally very stout Washington D. I believe it truly was the key to the game. The Pats established the run early, with Maroney running it right up the gut (instead of his sometimes unsuccessful "french pastry" running). This punch in the mouth early took the Skins out of their D gameplan and they were in trouble the moment they realized that they would have to pay equal attention to the run and not take it for granted. This basically was too much for them to handle.
In a nutshell, Maroney looks quite healthy now and he is rested. This is the first Pats-Colts game in memory where the Patriots were not the more injured team.
That being said, the Colts deserve all the credit in the world and they too could go 16-0.
Thanks Shmesssy. I think the whole media attention being payed the pats is definitely something the Colts players will use to their advantage all week. As far as the fans go, I can't speak for anyone else, but I actually don't mind it. The less pressure they have to deal with, the more focus and relax they should be, in theory.
Besides, not all the press the patriots have gotten has been positive, so I'm content to let the media circus be all-pats all the time.
For now...