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Men Amongst Boys

Gray, Patriots flex their muscles in 42-20 rout of Colts

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Rumblin'. Bumblin'. Stumblin'.

The famous phrase first coined by ESPN's Chris Berman could not be more illustrative of the New England Patriots dominant 42-20 victory over the (then) 6-3 Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football. Led by the remarkable performance of running back Jonas Gray and the masterful coaching jobs by Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia, the Patriots entered Lucas Oil Stadium, a venue in which they have some unpleasant memories, and made a statement to the rest of the league that they are the best team in the NFL. Based on the last 6 games, its less of a statement; its more of a fact.

By now, you know the story about Gray. An undrafted rookie free agent out of Notre Dame, Gray bounced around from practice squad to practice squad during the past 3 years to finally earn his spot as a starter with the Patriots after Stevan Ridley went down for the season with a torn ACL. Gray shredded the Colts 8th ranked rushing defense for 201 yards on 37 carries and 4 touchdowns, tying a Patriots franchise record. For those of you doing the math at home, that is 5.4 yards per carry. Any time you are averaging over 5 yards a carry, you are doing something right. Only one of Gray's 38 carries went for a loss, and the Patriots earned an automatic first down off of it because of a face mask penalty anyway. Forget shredding the Indy D, the 5-foot-9, 230-pound bowling ball of a man bulldozed and steamrolled right through them en route to a career day.

On the other side of the ball, the Patriots defense was simply great. One week after holding the godly Peyton Manning and the NFL's second-highest scoring offense to just 23 points, the Patriots replicated that performance by holding the leagues highest scoring offense to just 20 points. An incredible game plan by mastermind head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia was put together, often confusing Colts quarterback Andrew Luck with multiple formations and sub packages that resulted in the Colts offense putting up just 322 yards of total offense, compared to New England's 501. The Patriots forced the Colts to become one-dimensional, absolutely shutting down their running game and forcing them to throw the ball when they didn't want to throw it. Indianapolis had just 19 yards rushing and averaged a measly 1.1 yards per carry. Luck and the Colts were never able to find a rhythm, thanks in large part to the defensive scheme put together by the New England coaching staff.

Darrelle Revis shut down Colts receiver Reggie Wayne for most of the night (at least when Revis was covering Wayne) and big-play threat T.Y. Hilton was a non-factor. A tell-tale sign of the frustration from the Colts offense came in the fourth quarter with the Colts trailing 35-20 with over 8 minutes to play. After 3 straight incomplete pass plays, Colts coach Chuck Pagano elected to go for it on 4th and 10 from their own 32-yard line. With plenty of time left and 2 timeouts left in their pocket, Luck attempted to take a trip to Revis Island on 4th down, but was denied access to the resort, thus leading to a turnover on downs which gave the Patriots excellent field position to put the final nail in Indy's coffin.

Three plays later, the momentum swing was complete and the dagger was stuck in the hearts of Colts faithful. Tom Brady hit Rob Gronkowski on a curl route, which Gronk turned into another beast-mode type touchdown, running past and through five Colts defenders for 26 yards on his way to his 9th touchdown of the year. 42-20. Game. Set. Match.

While it wasn't a perfect performance by the Patriots, as evidenced by Tom Brady's bonehead interception on 3rd and 1 late in the 2nd quarter which ultimately turned into a Colts touchdown to keep the game close, it was a pretty darn good showing by an incredibly tough football team. New England shoved Indianapolis around, displayed their physical toughness and won the battle at the line of scrimmage. Using Cameron Fleming as an eligible tight end, or a 6th offensive lineman, to lead to Gray's career day on the ground was evident of the genius that is Bill Belichick. The last 5 weeks, the Patriots would hang 50 on you in a heartbeat mainly by throwing the ball. Josh McDaniels created matchup nightmares for opposing defenses with the likes of Gronk, Julian Edelman, Brandon LaFell, Shane Vereen, and even Tim Wright and Danny Amendola through the air. Today, they walked into Lucas Oil Stadium, lined their men up at the line of scrimmage, said "we're tougher, stronger, and better than you are" and ran it down Indy's throats. That is what great football teams do. They can beat you in more ways than one. And the Patriots are a great, great football team.

Bill Belichick has always preached "playing your best football after Thanksgiving", so this team is not done yet. However, they are rounding into shape at just the right time.They have outscored the other two main threats in the AFC 85-43 in consecutive games. And if this isn't even their "best football" just yet, well, that is a scary, scary thought.

Standing at 8-2 and currently holding the #1 seed in the AFC with 6 games to play, there's only one way to put it; We're on to Detroit.

On to Detroit, indeed.

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