Good thoughts - particularly the lack of appreciation that the defense gets for the Cowboys game - as you said it wasn't just the final drive it was the 4 of 12 third down completion, but not a whisper in the media.
I suspect that this absence plus the ridiculous "Rogers is better than Brady" argument is possibly the result of Peyton going on IR. If he was still playing this season, and the Colts had no reason to chase the Luckrichaun's pot of gold, the TB/PM dynamic would still be center stage and the November game in Foxboro would be the marquee match up. The sports industry feeds on controversy and debate and when one gravy train dries up they search or create a new one. Besides they are aware that the majority of fans would prefer that the Patriots took a step back for a while, so giving the Pats D any love would be neither controversial or welcomed.
I am not too worried about the O-line yet as I am hoping that we can get Vollmer back soon, and Waters is a substantial upgrade on Kazur, not to mention Solder's progress. They have looked a little more fragile the last 2 weeks, but I put that down to the quality of the Ryan twins defensive planning (and it would be hard to believe that the two hadn't been conversing heavily during the last two weeks. Rex publicly called for other teams to beat the Pats before the season started, and I bet he and Rob were jointly planning against TB and Co before and well into TC).
Like the optimism, I think it is warranted.
