Playoffs Shaping Up Favorably For Patriots If They Take Care of Colts

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Playoffs Shaping Up Favorably For Patriots If They Take Care of Colts
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Wild Card weekend is over, and for the Patriots things seem to be working out in their favor after Indianapolis knocked out the Chiefs, and San Diego took care of the Bengals to set things up for next week's Divisional round....

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[RhodyPatriot]

Patriots will have a harder time beating the Colts than the Broncos will have beating the Chargers.

 

[MossWelkowski]

Patriots will have a harder time beating the Colts than the Broncos will have beating the Chargers.

Why do you say that? That game is a division game and SD has gotten within 8 points both games winning one of them.

Last time patriots played luck it was 59-24

 

[PatsSox363804]

Patriots will have a harder time beating the Colts than the Broncos will have beating the Chargers.

The Broncos and Chargers played 2 one score games this year so I'm not sure why you say this like it's fact?

 

[bresna]

Patriots will have a harder time beating the Colts than the Broncos will have beating the Chargers.

It's the playoffs so every game is a tough one but what makes you think that the Broncos are going to walk all over the Chargers? The Chargers just beat the Broncos at home 27-20 back in December. I would think that the Chargers have just as much of a chance of winning as the Colts, if not more so.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Patriots will have a harder time beating the Colts than the Broncos will have beating the Chargers.

And Peyton Needs a SB win to be 1 game above .500 for the post-season.

Lose this week and he'll be 9-12 with (9) 1 and done
Lose next week and he'll be 10-12
Lose the SB and he'll be 11-12

 

[PatsDeb]

Our game is going to be tough. I am nervous about an Andrew Luck come back against our D, but Peytie Pie has to be sweating it out that the three teams who beat him in the regular season are the only AFC teams left.

 

[Rick Sanford 25]

And Peyton Needs a SB win to be 1 game above .500 for the post-season.

Lose this week and he'll be 9-12 with (9) 1 and done
Lose next week and he'll be 10-12
Lose the SB and he'll be 11-12

Something that knocked me out was that Tom was 3-5 in his last 8 post season games.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Something that knocked me out was that Tom was 3-5 in his last 8 post season games.

Tue, but skewed. you are taking the 2007 SB loss into account.

if you go by seasons (2007 to present then he's 5-5...hard to discount those wins to get to the SB to make the numbers look bad). Break even still doesn't look good by TB standards and that 5-5 includes his only 2 seasons of 1 and done's.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

San Diego and Indy are both hot. Each has a very good QB, who is capable of having a great game anytime he steps on the field. Rivers has done that inconsistently in big games over the years. We're still learning about Luck.

Both could be peaking at the right time.

I don't know how any of this boils down to things "shaping up favorably" for our guys.

Given that the Chargers just played yesterday and would have to have traveled all the way back to the Coast and then to the Northeast again on Friday if they were playing the Pats and given Rivers' history in playoff games and the fact that the Pats have come up big against the Chargers in the Playoffs over the years, I'd rather be facing San Diego than Indy this weekend.

 

[moosekill]

San Diego and Indy are both hot. Each has a very good QB, who is capable of having a great game anytime he steps on the field. Rivers has done that inconsistently in big games over the years. We're still learning about Luck.

Both could be peaking at the right time.

I don't know how any of this boils down to things "shaping up favorably" for our guys.

Given that the Chargers just played yesterday and would have to have traveled all the way back to the Coast and then to the Northeast again on Friday if they were playing the Pats and given Rivers' history in playoff games and the fact that the Pats have come up big against the Chargers in the Playoffs over the years, I'd rather be facing San Diego than Indy this weekend.

I wouldn't call Indy hot. They were gifted a win against a hugely over rated team that lost key players throughout the game. Their defense stunk up the place and they gave up the ball a bunch, while playing at home in a dome. Does that mean the Pats will win, no it sure doesn't, but lets not get carried away with the Colts.

Chiefs had beaten one playoff team this year, the Eagles.

 

[goheels22002]

The more I look at the Indianapolis Colts, the more I think that they were supremely lucky (pun intended ) that KC running back Jamaal Charles was injured on the first drive of the game on Saturday and their backup running back, Knile Davis went out in the 4th quarter. With no running backs, they couldn't chew up the clock and keep the Colts offense off the field.

The Colts have the 26th ranked run defense and ill-equipped to deal with Ridley, Blount, Vereen and Bolden. The Patriots can run on these guys, and if they get a lead, can attack at their defensive line and their DBs who are nothing special.

Converting 3rd downs and mounting time consuming drives is something the Patriots are prepared to do as we saw with Baltimore and against the Bills in the rain.

Kansas City lost because they couldn't pound away with Charles and their defense wasn't able to stop the Colts wide open passing game in the friendly, climate-controlled Oil Can. Outdoors at Gillette in the 30s at night is a whole different deal.

 

[pdangle]

I've been watching SD all season out here in... well... out here in SD. And count me as happy Denver gets to tangle with them first. A much improved and more disciplined team this season. Caught some bad breaks, lost winnable tight ones, first 15 games, so it was karma to see it even up and they get in over the bums in MIA, PIT, BAL. Not sure why anyone would rather tangle with a 70% passer, and a team that handed it to DEN and CIN in their own stadiums.

 

[Bhelmet]

Our game is going to be tough. I am nervous about an Andrew Luck come back against our D, but Peytie Pie has to be sweating it out that the three teams who beat him in the regular season are the only AFC teams left.

Or the stage is set for this year's story

 

[Bhelmet]

Indy is a great draw for one glaring reason for me: dome team outside. I like that as far as our chances go. If we pull it out Saturday night, the next game will be TOUGH no matter who we face. A game in Denver would be epic and could outshine the SB - at least the potential is there. SD here would be NO easy game either- in fact, it may be tougher than going to Denver. There is nothing scarier than a team playing with house money - I would like to think some of that is going on with NE, but not sure BB or TB would allow that. Those teams playing with house money have done VERY well in SB's of late. I just want the post-season to extend past Saturday for the Pats.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I wouldn't call Indy hot. They were gifted a win against a hugely over rated team that lost key players throughout the game. Their defense stunk up the place and they gave up the ball a bunch, while playing at home in a dome. Does that mean the Pats will win, no it sure doesn't, but lets not get carried away with the Colts.

Chiefs had beaten one playoff team this year, the Eagles.

A QB like Luck, when he's on top of his game, can equalize the deficits created by turnovers, game injuries and lousy D. It diminishes what Luck accomplished on Saturday to say that Indianapolis was "gifted" with a win; there are no "gifts" in the Playoffs.

I'm not carried "away" with the Colts, but I am carried pretty far down the road by Luck.

As far as "hot" goes, we might have different definitions of the word, in which case you are entitled to your's. To my mind, the Colts have won five out of six, including their last three regular season games by a combined score of 78-20; that qualifies as reasonably warm to me.

I'm not suggesting that the Pats are "cold" by comparison, but their momentum looks different, rebounding by drubbing the Ravens and taking care of business against the Bills after just eking out a win over Cleveland and losing to Miami.