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AFC heavyweights collide: Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots preview

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AFC heavyweights collide: Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots preview

Things have not nearly been going as smoothly for the Colts this season, as compared to 2009. Injuries and inconsistency have the Colts sitting at 6-3, which is still a solid record, but not what the team is accustomed to at this point in the year.

The Patriots sit at 7-2 after a huge road win in Pittsburgh last week. Tom Brady looks as sharp as ever, despite having an inexperienced receiving corps. He’s the unquestioned leader of this bunch and has gotten production from what he has to work with.

Both teams are over .500, but both are in tight division races. The Patriots still trail the 7-2 Jets on a tiebreaker, while the Colts are only one game up on the Titans and Jaguars in the AFC South.

Peyton Manning is carrying the load, despite not having his go-to tight end in Dallas Clark for the rest of the season. Manning and the Colts’ offence have looked good despite that, but not the same unit we saw last year.

The Colts’ defence has been heavily inconsistent this year. They have struggled heavily on the road, which has caused the team to be 1-3 away from Lucas Oil Stadium. The Colts are battling injuries on defence with Bob Sanders likely done for the year and linebacker
Gary Brackett missing a good amount of time as well.

The Colts’ struggles away from home do not bear well when they face a Patriots team that is undefeated at home. The Patriots are also the top-scoring team in the NFL and that spells disaster for the Colts’ struggling defence. Brady has been unbeatable at home
in recent years; he has not lost a home game in the regular season since November 10, 2006, a 17-14 loss to the New York Jets. Brady went 8-0 at Gillette Stadium in 2007, 1-0 in 2008, 8-0 last season and so far is 4-0 this year. His only loss at home in that
span was a 33-14 loss to Baltimore in last year’s play-offs.

The Colts’ chances Sunday weigh heavily on whether Manning can deliver a masterpiece. The Patriots’ defence has shown inconsistency this season and is inexperienced, which Manning can exploit.

Brady may have lost Randy Moss in a trade this year, but he’s made do with receivers Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski and running back Darren Woodhead. He still commands well and has New England scoring a lot of points.

This game renews a decade-long rivalry between the two teams. While the Colts have won the previous two meetings, both those games were in Indianapolis. Brady was injured for the 2008 game, which resulted in a tight 18-15 loss.

Last year’s meeting was even tighter, as the Colts pulled off a miracle comeback, overcoming a 17-point deficit to win 35-34. That came following a controversial decision by Patriots coach Bill Belichick to go for a fourth-and-two gamble in his own territory
rather than punt it away with about two minutes left. New England failed to convert and Manning took over from the Patriots’ 30-yard-line and converted the drive for the game-winning score.

Now both teams find themselves in play-off spots, but a loss could drop the Colts out of their division lead. A loss for the Patriots keeps them behind the red-hot Jets. This should be the game of the week.

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