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Armageddon Time
by Michael E Lawrence
1/11/2007
The best part about Sunday’s Armageddon match up between the unvanquished New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts?
Somebody’s got to win.
Expect a gladiatorial faceoff in a game that features not only the league’s two best teams, but carries with it the kind of intensity and rivalry that equates to Super Bowl fever. This could be the best throwdown of the entire 2007 season. What tickets there are available for the game are now selling on eBay for up to $3000. And we thought New England-Dallas in week six was a spot of fun.
 It is the first time ever two unbeaten teams with at least seven wins (they are 15-0 between them in 2007, with New England yet to have its bye) have met in NFL history. Both teams have so far waded through their first half schedules with mesmerizing offense and stifling defense. And the result of this game might just decide homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
Sunday’s will be the first meeting of these two football juggernauts since the Colts stunned the Patriots in the last set of AFC playoffs, overturning a 21-6 half-time deficit in the Championship game and recording a 38-34 victory, winning it on a short Joseph Addai touchdown run with time draining away.
Back then of course, the Patriots weren’t quite what they are now.
In particular, recall Tom Brady’s receiving leaders that day: Ben Watson, 5 for 48; Reche Caldwell 4 for 46; Jabar Gaffney 3 for 37; Heath Evans, 4 for 33.
Yikes.
This year’s souped up Patriots have been the story of the season, toasted by every hack in the land. The success of wide receivers Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth in particular has been much documented, as has the MVP form of Tom Brady. As good as Brady is, Moss has been the difference maker for a terrifying offense that controls the clock despite being built for passing first.
The Patriots have shaken off the early season videotaping controversy, and now, as with all dominant teams, face the sour grapes complaining of beaten opponents suggesting they have no class, as both LaDainian Tomlinson in the 2006 post-season, and various Redskins players, after the Patriots played hard deep into the fourth quarter last week, observed.
The 2007 Colts are no slouches either, though must have looked at tape of New England’s 52-7 grievous bodily harming of the Redskins and wondered what they were getting themselves into.
 While they’ve looked precise and confident for the duration, host Indianapolis hasn’t dominated in the style of Sunday’s visitors. Despite personnel upgrades on defense, the athletic but undersized unit remains vulnerable to strong running teams who can keep Peyton Manning’s quick strike offense off the field.
Might New England surprise the Colts and come out pounding the ball? Don’t bet on it. Brady’s 30 touchdown passes set him on a course to obliterate Manning’s single season record of 49 touchdown passes. At his current rate, he would surpass it by 11. If it’s not broken, New England won’t seek to fix it.
By the same token, Manning and his arsenal of Reggie Wayne, a finally healthy Marvin Harrison, and Dallas Clark will expect to score through the air against a solid but not unbeatable Patriots’ secondary. Clark, though, may see more time blocking in max protect schemes that counteract the New England pass rush.
Then there is K Adam Vinatieri, a multiple Super Bowl winner with both franchises, a Hall of Fame calibre kicker who might yet be called upon to settle a close game, should it come to it.
You’ll be watching two teams who have met four times in the regular season and three times in the playoffs since 2003, with each fixture heated, passionate and heavy with playoff implications.
Expect points, expect drama, expect intensity.
Our take?
Expect the Colts to be playing from behind.
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