AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF: Patriots 20 – Colts 3
FOXBORO – The image of Peyton Manning told the tale better than any words could: The NFL MVP standing, forlorn, with his hands on his hips after being intercepted in the final seconds of the Colts’ 20-3 loss to the Patriots yesterday. It was utter disbelief, shock out how a team this good could be made to look this bad.
Ripe for the picking? Perhaps the Patriots were, as Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt had proclaimed, but Indianapolis wasn’t good enough to pick them. And in yesterday’s highly-anticipated AFC Divisional game at Gillette Stadium, the Colts choked on their kicker’s ill-advised words – in every sense of the word choke.
Thanks to a dominating effort by a decimated New England defense, and 144 yards from running back Corey Dillon in his first-ever playoff game, the Patriots are still alive to defend their Super Bowl title. They’ll head to Pittsburgh for next Sunday’s AFC Championship – and the Colts will head home battered yet again.
The Patriots beat Indianapolis for the eighth straight time in Foxboro, which the Colts left looking as if they understand the futility of Ahab chasing his whale or Sisyphus pushing his rock. They had about as much success.
Despite a decimated secondary – a unit that had cornerbacks Ty Law and Tyrone Poole on IR; and undrafted rookie Randall Gay, street free agent Earthwind Moreland, wide receiver Troy Brown and Asante Samuel on the field – they managed to hold the fifth-highest scoring team of all time to three points and 210 yards.
Manning set NFL records with a 121.1 rating and 49 TD passes, and had a career QB rating of 96.5, including the playoffs. But he’s 0-7 in his career in Foxboro, and in his previous four trips here had a nightmarish 56.0 rating. He wasn’t horrid yesterday, but he was nowhere near good enough.
None of the Colts were. Despite the injuries, despite the crackdown on illegal contact – the so-called Ty Law Rules, after the corner picked Manning off three times in the Pats’ AFC Championship win last season – Adam Vinatieri gave New England a quick 6-0 lead that stunningly would have stood up.
Linebacker Tedy Bruschi defused the Colts’ first real threat when he hit Dominic Rhodes and wrestled the ball away from the Colts runner. Indianapolis did muster a 23-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to cut the lead, but it proved to be the last highlight for the Colts’ offense.
New England chewed up the entire third quarter with a 15-play, 87-yard sojourn through the Colts’ soft cover-two defense. They took the ball, rammed Dillon down the Colts’ collective throats, beat them into submission with their own stretch play, and 8:16 later scored the game’s first touchdown.
On third-and-goal from the 5, wide receiver David Givens came across the field out of the ace bunch formation and snared a five-yard TD for a 13-3 lead. After forcing a punt, the Pats’ encore was a 14-play, 94-yard TD drive that took 7:24 – and the Colts’ heart.
Dillon bounced outside for a 27-yard run down to the 1-yard line. Tom Brady scored on a quarterback sneak on the next play, for a 20-3 lead. There was still 7:10 left, but the game was all but over. All that was left was the sellout crowd’s raucous celebration, the chanting of “Corey! Corey!” seemingly every time Dillon touched the ball.
Bill Belichick has long been Manning’s nemesis, and now we see it is the Patriots coach in Manning’s head, not the defenders in his face, doing the damage. Manning has a 94.4 rating against all other clubs, but came in with a 73.3 rating in 11 previous tilts against Belichick as a coach or coordinator.
