As I sat in my palatial suburban home yesterday awaiting Super Bowl 41.5, the tension began to build for me as I watched the noon games unfold and come to completion.  I couldn’t wait for THE late game to begin.  And I knew EXACTLY who I was rooting for, which isn’t common for me.  I even got my wife to watch the game with me and she usually doesn’t watch football (unless one of our boys is involved). 

She said before the game (as she always does), “Who do we want to win?”  Normally, my answer to this question is very neutral, answered with “No one”.  She then normally goes into a series of 50 questions to find out the records of each teams, who the key players are, etc.  She then compiles all of this information in her brain (along with the ‘prettiness’ of each team’s uniforms) and decides who she is cheering for.  Sounds logical, right?

However, yesterday, when she asked the question, “Who do we want to win?” she received an emphatic answer from me, “We want the Patriots to lose!”  She was taken aback, looked at me and said, “Why?”  What followed next was a 10-minute diatribe outlining all of the reasons not to like the New England Patriots.  By the end of my sermon, my wife was ready to jump through the T.V. and pummel the Patriots herself.

I believe that’s how most of America felt about the game yesterday.  It’s easy not to like the Patriots right now.  They were caught cheating.  Bill Bellichick has the personality of a wet towel.  Randy Moss is as unlikable as they come.  Rodney Harrison is considered by many to be the dirtiest player in the league.   Blah, blah, blah.  We’ve heard them all.

However, as most of you know, I pride myself in staying objective, regardless of the circumstances.  The Patriots victory yesterday was extremely impressive and I am now of the opinion that they will go undefeated.  The Patriots had EVERYTHING going against them yesterday.  Let’s list them:

1)      Facing the Colts, the reigning SB champions and the consensus 2^nd best team in the league.

2)      Joseph Addai playing probably the best game of his career.  He was running like a man possessed.

3)      Playing in a hostile, domed environment on the road, making it hard to audible and communicate on the offensive side of the ball.

4)      Facing an improved Colts defense that had everyone healthy and were playing at the top of their game yesterday.  They were getting consistent pressure on Brady, they were containing Maroney, they were hitting hard, and they were not giving Brady very many open targets.

5)      Having several calls/non-calls from the officiating crew go against them during the game.

The Colts started out fired up, driving the ball on their first 2 offensive possessions and forcing the Pats to go 3 and out their first time with the ball.  But they couldn’t stop the Pats on their 2^nd drive of the day and the Pats were up 7-3.  Then the referees gave (and this is not even an arguable point) the Colts a first and goal with a horrible call on the ensuing drive.  Reggie Wayne tackled Ellis Hobbs in the end zone to prevent the INT but the official called Hobbs for Pass Interference.  Despite the Colts being helped immensely, the Pats forced the field goal.  That was an enormous stop by the Pats defense and ended up being the difference in the game.  The rest of the 2^nd half consisted of 2 things:  Matt Light proving once again that he is the dirtiest O-lineman in the game with a dangerous leg whip and Joseph Addai amazing us with his catch and run to ostensibly end the first half with the Colts now up 13-7.

The 3^rd quarter was a battle, with both sides seemingly ‘testing’ the other and the only scoring was a Patriot field goal.  It was a non-eventful 3^rd quarter and the 4^th started with the Colts still up 13-10.

Things picked up immediately in the 4^{th quarter}.  The Colts intercepted Brady for the 2^nd time and Matt Light once again proved to us all why he gets the award for the dirtiest O-lineman in the league.  The Colts took advantage of a short field and punched it in for a 20-10 lead.  Unbeknownst to them, those would be their last points of the day.

At this moment, you could sense something was going to happen.  There were less than 10 minutes left in the game and time was running out on the Patriots.  It was hard to believe they only had 10 points on the board this late in the game with what we were used to seeing out of their offense.

And then Brady and Moss took over.  Moss made an unbelievable 1-handed catch.  And then Moss caught a 55-yard bomb in between 2 defenders that gave the Pats first and goal.  Thanks to another bad call by the officials (Moss was called for a mystery pass interference) the Colts now had the Pats backed up to the 13 yard line.  No problem.  3 plays later, Touchdown Patriots.  The drive took LESS than 2 minutes and the Patriots were back within a field goal.

Yes, time to worry.

The Colts took the ball and looked nervous.  The O-line wasn’t blocking like it had during the previous 3 and a half quarters.  The running game sputtered, Manning was sacked, and they had to punt.  The Patriots got good field position and 3 plays later they scored another touchdown.  This drive took LESS than 1 minute!  Now THIS was the Patriots offense we were used to seeing and they had taken the lead before anyone knew what hit them.

The Colts still had plenty of time but couldn’t get anything going and Manning ended up turning the ball over.  The exclamation point on the game came when, after the Manning fumble, a Patriots player spiked the ball at mid-field directly on the Colts helmet, signifying an impressive victory ……………. The irony? It also put an exclamation point on why the Patriots are so easy not to like …………