Battle of the Best: Cast your vote
courtesy of stonerforums.com
Tonight, the Patriots face their toughest opponents yet: Peyton Manning and the Colts. The undefeated from Indy are overdue for a loss by now, and Brady, after a shaky start, is undeniably back. Who do you think will come out on top? Place your vote here, and comment your predictions. Whoever nails the prediction perfectly will be recognized on the site.
A little insight:
- The Patriots have won in the last four meetings between the two teams, and the last two were in Indy, much like tonight’s game.
- Colts receiver Dallas Clark leads NFL in receiving. He’s received 60 passes for 703 yards and 3 td’s.
- But, Patriots have the combined force of Moss (49, 712, 5) and Welker (55, 568, 4), and have done a great job this season exposing young defenses, like the Colts.
- In their last three games, the Patriots have outscored their opponents 121-24
- While still undefeated, the Colts barely got by in their last two games, topping Houston by just three points, and San Francisco by four.
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I predict Patriots win it 23-30.
Always a classic matchup. The Patriots have won three in a row (of course the Colts have won eight in a row). Both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have thrown 16 touchdown passes and only five interceptions. The Patriots have the third best passing defense, Indianapolis the ninth.
However, the Patriots have more key players banged up. Missing from practice Thursday were DE Jarvis Green, LT Matt Light, C Dan Koppen, DL Ty Warren, RB Sammy Morris and S Brandon Merriweather. LB Tully Banta-Cain, New England’s leading pass rusher, was also added to the injury report and was limited in practice. Indianapolis was only missing WR Anthony Gonzalez and K Adam Vinatieri.
The big loss for the Patriots here is Light. Sebastian Vollmer has done a very good job in his place, but he is only a rookie, and this week he goes up against one of the elite pass rushers in the NFL Dwight Freeney, who returned to the practice field Thursday. If Vollmer cannot contain Freeney, then he will terrorize Brady’s blindside. This is a huge problem, as it looks like Brady has finally started to get comfortable in the pocket after missing all of last year with a leg injury. I expect the Colts to rush often and at home predict the Colts will stay undefeated.