November 03, 2007

For The Love of Sport: Chasing Perfection : And then there was one. New England travels to Indianapolis and only one team makes it out of the weekend with their perfect record intact.

So last week I had a difficult time stumbling through a column previewing the Celtics season. I was disappointed with the final product so I didn’t feel it was worthy of a posting to Sportsfilter but I did post it to my own website. I also noticed that this is the third week in a row (and the fifth time in 10 columns) that my subject has focused on a New England team. In fairness the Patriots are playing the best football anyone has seen in a long time and the Sox did just win the World Series so I think that my selections are justified. However, I have looked at the sports calendar a few weeks out and I can promise that after this column no articles about New England teams for at least four weeks. This week on the other hand 8-0 New England Patriots at the 7-0 defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts (November 4th at 4:15) is kind of a no-brainer. For those that are upset that I chose not to preview the November 6th match-up between Central Michigan and Western Michigan I can be reached via email at kyrilmitch_76@yahoo.com. At about the midpoint of the season the Colts and Pats have very clearly established that they are the class of the NFL. I think that it would probably also be fair to say that it would be at least a little surprising to see anyone other than these two teams representing the AFC in the Super Bowl. The only other popular preseason selection was the Chargers and at 4-3 and after being embarrassed by the Patriots 38-14 earlier in the year I think we can cross the Chargers off the short list. I would point to November 11th on the calendar for any San Diego fans who are still holding their collective breath. A win over the Colts would re-establish the Chargers as a legitimate contender in my mind but that is pretty speculative at this point. As for the game at hand, this is the latest in the regular season that two undefeated teams have met making this a highly anticipated regular season match-up. However, it is still just that, a highly anticipated regular season match-up. The winner of this game does not win an all expense paid trip to the Super Bowl. I will watch intently and root for my team, but the victor only gets regular season bragging rights for about two months. It is almost inevitable that these two teams will meet again in the playoffs and both teams are an awful long way from matching the 1972 Dolphins, the only unbeaten, untied NFL Champions. This particular match-up is in Indianapolis so I will start with the Colts. By the numbers Indianapolis is 7-0 and they are beating their opponents by an average margin of 32.0 to 14.6. Their offense puts up 399.0 yards per game (3rd in the NFL) while their defense is holding the opposition to 272.9 yards per game (4th in the NFL). Their last game was a 31-7 win on the road against the NFC South leading Carolina Panthers (let me reiterate that the Colts just beat the snot out of a likely NFC playoff team). The key offensive weapon to this game is the emergence of Joseph Addai. In six games this season (he missed the week 5 game against Tampa Bay) Addai has rushed for 592 yards and 7 touchdowns. While the Pat’s run defense has been fair, they have been so far ahead in games that opponents have been forced to abandon the run game early. Since I would expect this game to be fairly close I would also expect Addai’s performance to be a big factor in determining the winner. Watch to see if the Pats pull guys out of the box to compensate for Manning’s tremendous talent and what this means to Addai. One last number on Indianapolis, if ever a team wanted something to hang on the locker room wall for motivation they need look no further than the Vegas odds. How insulted would you be if you were the defending champs playing at home and you were expected to lose by 6 points? Of course given the fact that New England is not only 8-0 but they are also 8-0 against the spread, perhaps the Colts are less concerned with righteous indignation and more concerned with preparing for the juggernaut that is the New England Patriots. New England has beaten their opponents by an average of 41.4 to 15.9 and they have beaten the spread by an average of over 14 points per game. Their closest contest of the season was a 34-17 win over Cleveland that was a 10 point game until a Browns’ late game fumble was returned for a TD. New England’s 439.5 yards of offense is 1st in the NFL while their 268.5 yards allowed on defense is 3rd. The Patriots last win was the 52-7 romp against the Redskins JV team on October 28th (note to future Patriots opponents: if you are opposed to the Pats running up the score either a. play defense or b. break Tom Brady’s throwing arm because I don’t think that you are going to get any help from Belichick). Both defenses are very solid and both offenses are amazing. They are two teams who have met several times in recent history so there is definitely an air of familiarity to this contest. The Patriots are playing like a team with something to prove but no matter how you try and spin this one the Colts are still the defending champs, they won the last head-to-head match-up and they are playing at home. One team will lose and the other will continue to chase those 1972 Dolphins.

posted by kyrilmitch_76 to commentary at 01:07 PM - 0 comments