Soul_Survivor88
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Kerry Byrne does it again! Really fascinating read. You can click on the link to read it in its entirety. But here's a good excerpt of the piece....
Byrne: Few foes able to outwit Patriots
Byrne: Few foes able to outwit Patriots
We witnessed a classic example of a smart team out-muscling a dumb team Sunday night, as the Patriots schooled the Colts, 34-27, in the highly anticipated rematch of the AFC title game that launched Deflategate.
In recent years, the Patriots physically steamrolled the Colts. But on Sunday, they won a battle of wits, playing smart, efficient football when the Colts played dumb, inefficient football. Indy’s mental malaise was compounded by a third-quarter panic attack and self-doubting bouts of inadequacy in the face of the Patriots, who dominate this so-called rivalry year after year.
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Quarterbacks Tom Brady and Andrew Luck each passed for 312 yards and three touchdowns. The Patriots ran for 116 yards; the Colts 120. Brady was sacked twice for a loss of 11 yards; Luck, three times for a loss of 23 yards. The Pats ended the day with 417 yards of offense; the Colts 409.
So the game was an even match physically. But it was a mismatch mentally. The smart team won. The dumb team lost.
The Colts, their tiny craniums apparently overwhelmed by the moment, made the biggest gaffe of the game — a comically bad effort some have called one of the dumbest plays in history.
The entire football world knows the story of Indy’s inept botched punt. We don’t need to rehash the details here. Suffice it to say, the Colts suffered a mental meltdown in every way: coaching, formation, intuition, execution. You name it.
But Indy’s stupidity is only half the story. A dumb opponent might have blown the opportunity handed them, much like the dumb Browns did Sunday against the Broncos.
The Patriots, however, are not a dumb opponent. They live to feast on opponent mistakes — as the Intelligence Index proves year after year. The smart Patriots quickly took advantage of the short field, driving 35 yards in just six plays to score a touchdown and build an insurmountable 34-21 lead early in the fourth quarter.
It was an instant-classic moment in the history of the Intelligence Index.