The only thing that bothers me is, when we played them in Indy they had 5 starters out with Harrison being the most dangerous out.
Even when he was healthy, Harrison wasn't the Colts #1 receiver this year. Reggie Wayne is their #1 WR now. And let's be realistic, Harrison isn't TO, sitting at home in his own personal hyperbaric chamber that he bought for $20k. He's just a very talented WR and one who was in his twilight before this injury, which he has been told might persist for the remainder of his career.
I do believe we would have stumbled and lost that game had harrison been in simply because he draws double coverage away from our secondary which would have surely taken them to a victory.
It's possible, but as I said, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark have more than picked up the slack for the Colts' passing attack. Something else to keep in mind is that if Harrison were active and a difference maker, then the game would turn into a shootout like last year's AFCCG. The type of shootout Belichick and Pioli seemed to specifically build this offense for.
Dungy has been sandbagging his best starters
There's a delicate balance between resting starters and keeping them sharp. Dungy has been forced to do the former and largely at the expense of the latter. That will hurt the Colts more than help.
if our weather is terrible, windy, snowy and so on...You all can forget our deep passing game (which BTW brought us here in the first place)
The threat of Moss and the deep ball helped get us here. Brady's ability to always find the open receiver, keep him out of harms way and use the short passing game in support or replacement of the running game is what has carried us here.
More importantly, Tom has more experience and more comfort playing in bad, New England weather. And that includes his ability to run a strong passing game. Keep in mind, the Patriots will have been practicing in this weather for weeks and played in one playoff game in it already. The Colts will have been in their dome for weeks before heading up to Gillette. It's a pretty substantial difference.
and then it would be up to both team's running plays and quick outs for one to be the victor and in this case the Colts do have a slight edge.
I don't buy this argument anymore. Maroney has proven to all but the most squirrelly of the Chicken Little bunch that he can run the ball when he's called upon to do it.
Plus, you also have to factor in Manning's no-huddle offense running all the time.
This is a weakness for his offense on the road.
If you all remember last year in the dome, our boys were flat out winded on the sidelines with trainers rubbing cramps out of their legs.
Road game. After a previous road game in San Diego. Dome heat. Defense had the flu. Defense was missing several key starters. We still nearly won that game. Not comparable at all.
Like I said. if weather shuts down our passing attack then the Colts have the edge.
You haven't in any way proven this.
We just have to hope for 'Lucky Breaks'...AKA, TURNOVERS!
Brady has one of the (if not the) lowest interception rates in playoff history. Manning does not. The defense can pressure Peyton and force fumbles. They proved that this year. Peyton tends to implode in the playoffs, even last year. Brady does not.
