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Somehow he looks taller than he really is

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Rivalries are great things.  They pit one team against another and, in our cases, one fanbase against the other.  Head writers from our AFC East blogs always get a little "what about us" when I go into depth about the Patriots rivalry with the Colts and, to an extent, they have a point.  Division rivalries are usually a bit more geographic, hence more tangible in a sense.  The closer a city or state is, the more likelihood of having traveled there.  Aside from geography, we play the other 3 teams in our division twice a year and typically have to get through them to make the playoffs.  You know, win the division?  This hasn't been a problem in past years.  In fact, New England owned the division from 2003-2007, up until last year when the 11-5 Dolphins were crowned AFC East Division Champions.

The Indianapolis Colts rivalry stems from a number of things, but 2 come to mind: both teams possess 2 of the best quarterbacks to have ever played the game and our teams typically have to contend with each other for playoff consideration.  After Sunday's heart wrenching loss, there's not much else we can do but focus on the rest of the season and concentrate on taking the division.  In the cross hairs for this coming Sunday are the New York Jets.

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See if Revis can stop me when I hop like this...

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Dave Hutchison (Newark Star-Ledger) NY Jets D-Coordinator Mike Pettine says Darrelle Revis had help vs. Moss.

Asked Thursday how much of Revis' coverage of Moss in the first game was man-to-man, Pettine said:

"I don't have numbers. We mixed our coverages up a lot. You have to do that against New England. You can't give them one look. I can say this, we weren't in a lot of true cover zero (man-on-man) with no help. Nobody in the league is. Most teams in the league, I would be shocked if they averaged more than four or five snaps a game of straight man coverage with no help.''

Phil Simms shares his thoughts on Pats-Jets, including this opinion of last week's 4th & 2:

"It’s been documented that this was a premeditated thought. The whole week leading up to the game, he decided he was going to do this. I always tell people this about coaches: if it’s fourth-and-one from the one, the last play of the game, coaches already know what play they’re going to call. They determine those kinds of things during the week.

So do I agree? It’s not about agreeing. Would I have done it? No, I would not have done it. What gets overlooked is not having timeouts. If he would have had one, I believe he would have won the challenge because in my mind Kevin Faulk was past the 30 yard line and clearly had possession of the football. It’s a general rule in the NFL to use your timeouts, no matter what, in the first half. In the second half, save them regardless of almost any situation, unless it’s a scoring opportunity. Save those timeouts for the end of the game."

Christopher Price lists his Five Things to watch for Sunday afternoon, including success in the red zone.

"We’re not doing as well in that area of the field as we’d like to do, as we feel like we can do, and we need to do a better job of it," Belichick said. "There’s no other way to put it, and those are important points — the difference between 3 and 7 — those are important points both ways and we have to coach it better, we have to play it better. We’ve got to play our best football in that area of the field because there’s a lot at stake, and there are a lot of things we need to do better.’’

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More photos » by Stephan Savoia - AP

Brandon McGowan and Jonathan Wilhite stretch before practice.

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Karen Guregian notes Rex Ryan was asked if he would have made the same call as Bill Belichick.

If I would have made that decision and it wouldn’t have worked, I’d be hanging from the Empire State Building.

Bill Belichick responds to whether the Jets defense surprised them in week 2.

No.  We knew they were a pressure team.  They're a good defense.  They've done a good job.  They're one of the best defenses in the league.  They haven't given up very many points at all on the defensive side of the ball.  They have a good scheme.  They've got good players.  They've played well against everybody and they certainly played well against us down there in Giants Stadium.  We know they're a good defense and they do a good job.  For us to win, we're going to have to be more competitive in all three phases of the game, but certainly offensively we're going to have to get the ball in the end zone.  I don't think you can expect to beat the Jets just by kicking a couple of field goals.  That's not going to be enough.

Chris Baker on if the Patriots have contempt for the Jets

I don't think so.  I thought there was when I came up here, but it's really not.  It has everything to do with one game at a time.  Obviously, it's a rivalry.  They know us.  We know them.  It was nothing that I thought it was being on that side of the rivalry.  I always thought that they didn't respect us.  It couldn't be further than what is in here.  We have more of a healthy respect for what they do.

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If you're not from the Boston area, you may not have read about this story.  A little background, if I may.  The "T", short for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is a network of trains, subways, buses, and boats that comprises much of the public transportation in the Boston area and its suburbs.  I've used the MBTA for many years, especially during sporting events or concerts at "The Gahden".

Of particular note to this story, the subway system is divided into "Lines" which use colors to designate their routes.  Orange Line, Green Line, Blue Line... you get the picture.  I frequented the Orange and Green Lines in my youth because they went right through North Station, a stone's throw from Boston Garden, or whatever it's called today.

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More photos » by Stephan Savoia - AP

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One of the fun parts of this gig is the chance to interview people in the sports world.  From athletes to sports columnists, it's cool playing "big time" sports media guy (I'm a legend in my own head).  I also like to give you a bit of behind-the-scenes; to me, that's more fun than just listening to a plain, old interview.

I was contacted by a guy who knew a guy (seriously) to interview Junior Seau.  VERSUS is broadcasting "Sports Jobs with Junior Seau".  The concept is this: Junior takes on various sports jobs that are mostly behind the scenes type occupations.  Check out the video after the jump for more about the jobs.

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Injured Matt Light practiced for the first time Friday and is eager to return to action.

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Bill Belichick is all about the Jets as he addresses the media Tuesday.

OK, we're getting ready for the Jets and that's in addition to what we saw from them earlier in the year. They have added some things offensively [and] defensively. [They have] a real good running game, of course. They present the usual scheme problems, the ones we worked on the first game and that they did a good job with. We have a lot of work to do there. It's a division game [and] it's November, so we've got to play well Sunday. We need to play a good game here against the Jets. They got us the last time and we need to win the division.

Joe Fitzgerald feels the fans made the wrong call after Belichick's gamble.

It’s odd how we express contempt for coaches who are too conservative, too unimaginative, who play it too close to the vest, then vilify one for throwing caution to the wind, even though his track record suggests his instincts are usually correct.

We profess to admire those who swing from their heels, shoot for the moon, exhibit the courage of their convictions, never cautioning them to play it safe.

Truth be told, if Belichick’s move had worked we’d now be basking in its glory. But because it fell 30 inches short we’re offended by its failure. And we view ourselves as sophisticated? Please.

Deshawn Zombie, Colt's blogger (18to88.com) can't believe he's defending Bill Belichick.

The Pats offense did NOTHING in the final 2.5 quarters. They scored 10 points on drives that started from the Indy 7 and the Indy 31. They also turned the ball over twice. That's the definition of doing nothing. The Pats defense gave up 28 points already and was about to have Peyton Manning drive the length of the field on them. Instead, Belichick flipped the script. Instead of the headlines being, "PATS WEAK", "PATS BLOW LEAD", "PATS DEFENSE SOFT", "BRADY GREAT IN FIRST HALF, WEAK IN SECOND HALF" everyone is focused on what an idiot Belichick is, as if he gives two craps what they say. Bill Belichick fell on his sword for his team Sunday night. They folded, and he took responsibility in the most manly way possible. No one is questioning the players about their mistakes. They are all focused on the coach. It's brilliant.

Belichick might have killed the Colts on Sunday night. By being aggressive and failing, he has opened the door for Jim Caldwell to play passive the rest of the year and get away with it.  Now when Jim punts instead of going for it, the local fans and media will embrace the conservative calls.  This possibility terrifies me.  Don't listen to the pundits.  Belichick did the right thing.  I can only hope Caldwell has the balls to do the same when it matters.

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Sebastian Vollmer did his job Sunday, neutralizing Dwight Freeney.

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Bill Belichick talks about the game at his Monday Press Conference.

I thought it was our best chance to win. I thought we needed to make that one play and then we could basically run out the clock. We weren't able to make it.

Well, there're a lot of the decisions in the game that we all have to make - coaches, players. Each play is filled with decisions and you try to do the best you can on those and I think that's what we all do.

I tell the team - and I think they believe that I do what I feel like is best for our football team to win every game. I put the team first and I put those decisions first. I would hope everybody understands that.

[Asked if he would make that call again] You only get one chance.

[On the Colts moving the ball quickly downfield]  We knew that. It didn't take those drives to figure that out. It's an explosive offense; we've seen them do it in one play. They did it to us two years ago on a 73-yard check down to [Joseph] Addai. It went the whole length of the field. We know how explosive they are. Anytime they have the ball they are capable of scoring. They're capable of scoring touchdowns. They're capable of scoring them in a hurry. They're capable of scoring them in one play. That's playing the Colts. I don't think that's anything that was overly significant in this game and that's the way it is in every game.

It’s disappointing to come up short in a game like that and I think we all feel it - as we should - [because] we put a lot into it,’’ Belichick said. "There were a lot of plays in that game that you think about. Obviously from a coaching standpoint, there are always a lot of things that could have been done better by me, the players, and everybody else.

You always feel that way after a tough loss like that. We’ve all got to do a better job, starting with me, and find a way to win those games.

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Third arm's the charm. Randy Moss catches the ball - and Antoine Bethea - for a touchdown.

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Mike Petraglia offers some quick hits from Tom Brady's Post-Game Presser:

"We had an opportunity to win the game. We’ve been working on that for a long time. Just came up short."

"We had a lot of good plays today. Coach has a lot of confidence that we can gain a yard-and-a-half to win the game."

"Coach is being aggressive and I love that about him. We just came up short."

"We just said we’re going. It’s a bummer. There’s a lot of football left."

"He’s thinking we have our offense on the field and we have over 450 yards of offense." Brady explaining logic of going for it.

"Up 13 with four minutes left, and you can’t close them out, that’s going to stick with us for a long time."

"We’ve got to make improvements. I know why we lost. I don’t think it’s a surprise. Play a good team and you can’t miss opportunities."

"I never second-guess coach Belichick. It’s easy to second guess."

Advanced NFL Stats:  Belichick's 4th down decision was statistically the right one.

With 2:00 left and the Colts with only one timeout, a successful conversion wins the game for all practical purposes. A 4th and 2 conversion would be successful 60% of the time. Historically, in a situation with 2:00 left and needing a TD to either win or tie, teams get the TD 53% of the time from that field position. The total WP for the 4th down conversion attempt would therefore be:

(0.60 * 1) + (0.40 * (1-0.53)) = 0.79 WP

A punt from the 28 typically nets 38 yards, starting the Colts at their own 34. Teams historically get the TD 30% of the time in that situation. So the punt gives the Pats about a 0.70 WP.

Statistically, the better decision would be to go for it, and by a good amount. However, these numbers are baselines for the league as a whole. You'd have to expect the Colts had a better than a 30% chance of scoring from their 34, and an accordingly higher chance to score from the Pats' 28. But any adjustment in their likelihood of scoring from either field position increases the advantage of going for it.

You can play with the numbers any way you like, but it's pretty hard to come up with a realistic combination of numbers that make punting the better option. At best, you could make it a wash.

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