Nice analysis and we appreciate a civil Colt fan. The Colts are fast on D and Adaii was getting his yards. However, the Colts have no answer for Moss. I did not like our play calling - it seemed a bit conservative and not enough Welker. I should also point out and a lot of the talking heads seemded to gloss over this point - this was like an 04 Patriots win...The other team's RB piles up his yards in the 1st half, then the Pats adjust and Adaii gets 38 (??) the 2nd half. I also feel the Pats could have stuck with the draw and quick pass a bit more as Freeny (sorry but he really is a one trick pony) were just teing off arond the edge. In addition, I thought Rodney was a difference maker.
That being said...Colts gave us a tough game and like Andy the only time I was really worried was scoring too soon and going into OT...
Now for a few other things...you have to admit the refs were terrible...and I will tell you that if the PI call on Hobbs went on the Colt defender I would not want a game decided by that. When it comes to PI I wish they would err on the side of caution and keep the flags and let the boys play.
Moss is an obvious difference maker. Nice to be able to throw up a jump ball knowing more than likely your guy will come down with it. I guess Brady thought Stallworth could do the same. That said, our guy blew it by letting Moss go by. just not the way he's suppose to cover that. You hit the big one there, otherwise, maybe Moss finishes with "only" 100 yards.
I was pretty disappointed with the second half play calling for the Colts. They had success with Addai early, but I think he ran out of gas as much as it was Pats clamping down. But first play in the third quarter, and Manning decides to throw it right to Harrison, a killer that was not spoke of much. The defense bailed him out there though.
Next possession, I don't know what happened on that 9 yard loss, but previous to it, he had gained 11, and then another 11 after that loss.
I think Addai ran more like 10-12 times in the 2nd half, I just think they went away from it too soon.
As far as the refs go, not sure what the problem is on the Gozo bomb, looked like a good call to me. On Wayne, some have said that Hobbs (?) impeded Wayne's path to the ball, while not playing the ball. I think the Colts did benefit from the one on Moss? I would like to hear what the Officiating crew has to say about it though. Tough calls to make, like the charge/block in the NBA. But, the coverage on Clark, where it looked like Harrison interfered? In retrospect, I think that no call was consistent with the other call, in that Harrison was entitled to his actions, as he beat Clark to the ball. And in that case, we all know that for every 10 defensivive PI call made, there is one Offensive call made, it just doesn't happen as often. I know this, the officating had nothing to do with the Pats offensive output for 50 minutes. Bottom line is that juggernaut put up 10 points in 50 minutes. No one here EVER would have guessed that in a million years.
But, back to the props. You guys deserved the win, you made the plays when you had to, and the Colts came up short when they needed that one more stop. Here's to avoiding a hangover and heading out west to grab a win.
I expected the Patriots would have great success throwing the ball and they didn't. Lots of reasons for that, but perhaps the most important was that the Colts defense is good. If the Patriots scheme better next time, then I'm hoping they'll be able to pass the ball well in the first half as well as in the last quarter.
