More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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I rarely question Bill Belichick.  The man is obviously light years ahead of me when it comes to football.  Heck, he's light years ahead of most people who KNOW football.  If there was a classroom full of football brains and Bill was in it, he'd be the guy the teacher got sick of calling on.  You know, the only guy with his hand up.

Even though he's much smarter than me about football, I do not subscribe to the "In Belichick We Trust" theory.  I think it's ok to question and discuss his decisions, be they draft choices, cuts, or whether or not to go for it on 4th and 2.

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More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP

4 days ago: New England Patriots NFL football head coach Bill Belichick speaks at a news conference in Foxborough, Mass. Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, in the aftermath of Sunday's 35-34 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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I am stunned, but not surprised.  I am stunned because as our biggest rival in the AFC, a win would've meant a lot: a chance to go 2-4 against Indy, a better face-to-face record for potential home field advantage (if tie breakers come into play), seeding... you name it.  Most of all, I simply wanted to beat Indy.  And for a large portion of the game, New England had the upper hand.

I am not surprised because the Colts are that good.  When the Patriots get up on a team with as wide a margin as they had, it's usually lights out.  Rivals simply can't recover and usually get stymied in all three phases of the game.  Not so with the Colts, especially Peyton Manning.  I remember thinking to myself that Manning just wasn't clicking with his receivers Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, and Austin Collie.  If he DID begin clicking, it would create problems.

For most of the first half, Tom Brady appeared to be firing on all cylinders and doing an excellent job of finding the weak spots in the Indy defense.  As I discussed in my game preview, picking on the young, inexperienced Indy secondary was one of the keys to success and Brady did a good job of that.  With the half coming to a close, Brady had managed 24 points and our defense held Peyton Manning and crew to 14, an admirable task.  I remember thinking, "This is cool.  We seem to have control of the game, but it ain't over until it's over."  Boy, was I right.

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No, I haven't gone to the darkside.  I'm still your old, loveable MPF (emphasis on old).  I had a fun lead up to this most heralded game, but I'm still looking to head into the Lube and end Indy's undefeated streak in style.  Looking at the injury report, we appear to have key folks coming back.  Granted, it was the media portion of practice and those players could've sat during the closed portion, but it bodes well for us.  Of particular note: WR Julian Edelman, RB Sammy Morris, C Dan Koppen, S Brandon Meriweather, and LT Matt Light (Doubtful).

Out of all of these returning players, I think Edelman will be the most impactful, IF his arm has healed enough.  He'll provide a nice third receiver option for Brady and could rotate in and out with Wes Welker to keep him fresh.  I would then suggest Sammy Morris in order of importance.  When Laurence Maroney is having trouble, Morris seems to find a way to work through the holes.  He's also been providing a nice checkdown target for Tom Brady.

All in all, these returns to practice are good to see.  Or maybe Darth Hoodius is making Indy prepare for them when they may not return?  No, he would never do that with an injury report, would he?

Image (cropped) from: www.foxboroblog.com

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So, thanks for being stupid enough kind enough to let me run your blog for a few days, Patriots fans. Though your liquor cabinet is bare, your toilet seat is coated in piss stains, and the living room carpet as a nice, warm present waiting for you when you get home, I'm sure you enjoyed my two days of blogging here. I appreciate all the fine comments and the insight. This is a smart, intelligent Pats fan community here (well, except for andrew29910, but even Pats fans are making fun of him), and it has been a joy to see the Colts and Patriots blog communities really come together and enjoy this great sports rivalry. 

I leave you with a great quote from Colts center Jeff Saturday, who was interviewed by Colts.com. You might remember him as the guy who pancaked Vince Wilfork into the endzone on Joseph Addai's game-winning TD in the 2006 AFC Championship Game. Saturday, who is likely a future Hall of Famer, has a great quote about this upcoming game that I hope both players and fans take to heart (emphasis mine):

Question: Is it fun to play games like this [Against the Patriots]?

Jeff Saturday: Absolutely! I think the thing you do want to take away from this week is enjoy the week. Understand, this is cool. This is what you play football for. You don't play for the 0-5 teams, or the 0-8 teams. You play for the two best teams in the division, or in the conference, playing each other and battling it out. I mean, there's no hiding. We'll see where we are Sunday night. I think that's exciting. I think players that enjoy this game understand how fun these times are and how few times you really get this opportunity. So, you might as well go out and make the most of it.

I hope you enjoyed this week as much as Jeff Saturday seems to have. Enjoy the game Sunday everyone.

More photos » by Winslow Townson - AP

12 days ago: New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo (51) celebrates a stop as Miami Dolphins center Jake Grove (64) and quarterback Chad Henne look on during the fourth quarter of New England's 27-17 win in an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

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Yesterday, we had the unthruths about the 2009 Colts. Now, we close out with untruths about the 2009 Patriots.

False

Tom Brady will take three years to fully recover from his injury, which means that he won't be "great" for a while now.

True

This year, Brady is completing 65% of his passes for 2364 yards (third best in AFC) and has 16 TDs to 5 INTS (same TD to INT ratio as Peyton Manning). Early this season, Brady did look "out of sync" with his receivers, and the Patriots are lucky they did not lose their first game of the year to the Buffalo Bills. However, Brady has recovered his form and is playing very well. In fact, it is shaping up to be one of his best statistical seasons ever.

Much of the "it will take three years" talk comes from using Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer as an example. Palmer suffered a somewhat equally horrible knee injury to Brady's in 2006, and it is only now that Palmer looks to have returned to form. This example is very misleading and flawed though. Palmer was "ready" to play the next season after his injury, but the Bengals roster in 2007 was not the Patriots roster in 2009. Flaws in the Cincy roster, bad coaching, and poor ownership factored more into the Bengals struggling since their last playoff appearance; not Palmer's injury.

False

The Patriots have lost too many important players to be a contender anymore.

True

Gone are Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel, and Richard Seymour. These players were the foundation of three championships. However, new players like Jerod Mayo and Brandon Meriweather have the Patriots allowing only 14.5 ppg (#2 behind the Colts). So, statistically, this is one of the better defense the Patriots have ever had. When you have Tom Brady, and you give him a defense that is only allowing roughly 2 TDs a game, you ARE a contender.

False

The Patriots basically have only two receiving weapons on offense: Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Double those two guys and you should be able to shut down this offense.

True

Um, if things were that easy, the Patriots would be 0-8 now. They aren't. When teams double those two WRs, tight end Benjamin Watson has stepped up and made some big plays. He is on his way to a career year, currently with 19 receptions for 271 yards and 4 TDs.

Like with all great teams, lots of silly, incorrect information gets thrown out there and just accepted as fact (like when people say Peyton Manning "struggles" against 3-4 defenses). When morons spew this kind of lazy garbage, it is up to us bloggers to kick them in the nuts, laugh in their face, and yell "WRONG!"

More photos » by Tom Strattman - AP

12 days ago: Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (18) scrambles out of the pocket as he is pursued by Houston Texans defensive end Connor Barwin (98) during the second half of an NFL Football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Indianapolis won 20-17. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

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False

The Colts haven't beaten anyone "good."

True

The Colts destroyed the 5-3 Arizona Cardinals in Phoenix in Week Three and are just coming off a tough, gritty win against the 5-4 Houston Texans. The only team with an above .500 record that the Patriots have beaten is the Atlanta Falcons. So, if you really feel the Colts haven't beaten anyone "good," then (by logical extension) neither have the Patriots.

False

The Colts are getting a lot of unnecessary hype.

True

The Colts are 8-0 under a rookie head coach for the first time since the merger. Yet, you see the New Orleans Saints getting high rankings everywhere while former-Patriots whiz kid Josh McDaniels is everyone's favorite rookie coach with the 6-2 Denver Broncos. So, unless you would prefer the 8-0 Colts receive ZERO press coverage, I don't know if they can be much more "under the radar" an undefeated team in Week Nine can get.

False

The Colts rookie corners are untested.

True

They've played receivers like Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson, and held both of them out of the endzone. They've gone up against QBs like Kurt Warner and Matt Schaub, containing both. The pass defense is ranked 9th in the league, allowing only 4 TDs and forcing 9 INTs. These guys aren't "rookies" anymore.

That is all. Carry on.

TONIGHT!

9:00pm

Blog Talk Radio

The War of 18-12 is the topic of tonight's Stampede Blue Radio, which will feature bloggers MaPatsFan and BigBlueShoe discussing the upcoming Patriots v. Colts grudge match this Sunday.

This is your open thread for the podcast. Enjoy.

Now that I own this blog, and all the souls of the people currently reading it (which kind of makes me sound like the Freddy Krueger of sports bloggers), I'll dump on you what I dump on my own readers every Thursday during the NFL season: My game previews.

Welcome to primetime, b*tch!

If you don't get the Freddy Krueger reference, just keep your mouth shut or you will make MaPatsFan and I feel very old.

For this preview, I am required to (ugh!) do it from the POV of a Patriots fan, which basically means I cannot insert snide comments about Bill Belichick's sleep-inducing press conferences, or state that players "suck" just because I don't like them. For me, this takes all the fun out of writing a preview. I mean, what good is a preview if I can't make YET ANOTHER joke about Spygate, the Pats choking in the Super Bowl, and the laugh-rot-comedy-musical-review that is a Bill Belichick's post-game handshakes, which for Belichick seem less about sports congeniality and more akin to getting water boarded in a tank of gasoline.

Someone is NOT enjoying this handshake

Nevertheless, I will saunter forth with this preview, which (both on paper and seemingly in practice) might pit the two best teams in the NFL against each other this Sunday.

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