There were a lot of eerie similarities between this year’s Patriots Colts match up and previous games of the rivalry. Of course lately we know a lot about blown leads. And this one came very close to being a blown lead.
But finally we also saw something ala 2003, a big defensive play to preserve the win at the last moment. Then it was Willie MacGinest’s goal line stop. This time it was James Sanders, a guy who deserves a big play as much as anyone.
Never celebrated, it was Sanders who was credited with galvanizing the 2009 defensive backfield. He’s a quiet leader. Knows his assignments and does his best to get them done. It was good to see Sanders finally come through with a clutch play, his career lacked a notable big one until he made that interception.
Though the defense gave up a whopping 78% of their third downs, they did pick off Peyton Manning three times. That’s three times more than the Colts defense picked off Tom Brady.
So yes, they looked like swiss cheese but they had less holes than the Colts and made more plays. More big plays. That is a big positive going into the final six games.
But it is still a very big question mark if this Patriots defense can shut down three good quarterbacks en route to a Super Bowl.
The good news is that the Patriots are very much vying with the Jets for the first seed in the AFC. This is a race the Pats must win because whoever finishes in second place in the division will be looking at a five seed, even though they’ll probably have the second best record in the conference.
That’s what makes it interesting when you have two teams in one division both atop the conference. I have no clue how the Jets have won the last three games. Three miracles. They’ll be confident when they come to Foxboro, they’re 5-0 on the road.
The Patriots offense is amorphous and as balanced and potent as we’ve seen. The Randy Moss offense was dynamic, but this offense is so versatile they can play with power or finesse with the same personnel grouping.
However, Brady and company did sputter at the one time you can’t sputter…the fourth quarter. All they really needed was one more decent drive to bleed the clock out and they had two chances to get it. Went three and out on both of them. Consistency is something that will be stressed this week.
Unfortunately there really isn’t much time to savor this one. Thanksgiving kickoff against the Detroit Lions is 85 hours away.