FOXBORO -- One morning last month, Bill Belichick was asked
about the Indianapolis Colts, a team his Patriots had beaten, 38-34, on
Nov. 30.
Belichick made it clear he didn't think Indianapolis would look forward
to a rematch.
Yesterday, we found out why.
Manhandling the Colts in a way they're not accustomed to, the Patriots
earned their second trip to the Super Bowl in three seasons with a 24-14
win at snow-dappled Gillette Stadium.
Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning, deified after having two incredible
games in these playoffs (8 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and just 12
incompletions in two playoff wins), got intercepted in the end zone at
the end of the Colts' first drive and threw three more picks along the
way as New England's defense took away his mystique like it was lunch
money.
Manning finished the day 23-for-47 for 237 yards. He got sacked four
times and intercepted four times as the Patriots rolled to their 14th
consecutive win.
Indianapolis turned the ball over five times in all and also had to take
a safety when their (ironically named) long-snapper, Justin Snow, fired
the ball over the head of punter Hunter Smith in the second quarter.
It was a game that should have been far less dramatic, since New England
led 15-0 at halftime and 21-7 at the end of three. But the inability of
the Patriots' offense to produce touchdowns instead of field goals made
for some gut-twisting moments in the fourth quarter, as the Colts closed
to within a touchdown with 2:30 remaining.
But Adam Vinatieri sealed the game with his fifth field goal 95 seconds
later to deliver the Pats to Houston, where they will play the NFC
champion Carolina Panthers, who beat the Eagles yesterday in
Philadelphia.
When it was over, there was plenty of satisfaction but a muted
celebration. After he'd finished accepting the AFC Championship trophy
and addressing the media, Belichick explained why.
"This team has accomplished a lot, but we're still not at the finish
line yet," he pointed out. "Until we get there, I don't think we ever
want to look back. We're just going to keep playing it week to week like
we have all year because that's really what we are. We haven't stopped
to look back at any other point and I don't think we'll stop to look
back now. It's going good, everybody's confident but there's another
hurdle ahead of us."
Clearing yesterday's hurdle proved easier than many around the country
imagined.
The workmanlike Patriots were going against a team some experts said was
the hottest they'd ever seen. But the sticking point for Indianapolis
was going to be its defense -- smallish up front, inexperienced and
dinged-up in the secondary.
New England overpowered the Colts off the opening kickoff, converting
twice on third down and once on fourth before Tom Brady (22-for-37 for
237 yards with a touchdown and an interception) hit David Givens with a
7-yard touchdown on the 13th play of the 65-yard drive. Using a
convincing pump fake on first-and-goal from the Indy 7, cornerback Brian
Macklin smelled a wide-receiver screen. Givens went backdoor on Macklin
and scored easily. It was the fifth straight game the Patriots scored a
touchdown on their opening drive.
The Colts were poised to answer but on third-and-3 from the Pats 5, a
pressured Manning threw to the end zone and was intercepted by safety
Rodney Harrison.
The Pats turned that into a 31-yard Vinatieri field goal and, after a
one-handed Ty Law pick (his first of three) the Pats added another field
goal to make it 13-0. Then Snow snapped it over Hunter's head to make it
15-0 and almost everything that could go wrong had -- until wide
receiver Marvin Harrison fumbled at the Patriots' 16 after making his
first catch of the day. Rodney Harrison forced that one and cornerback
Tyrone Poole recovered.
To that point, the Patriots had most of their success jamming the Colts
receivers as they came off the line to disrupt their timing. It was the
same style the Patriots used in the Super Bowl two years ago when they
knocked off the St. Louis Rams. As the game wore on, they continued to
rattle and jostle the Colts' receivers and the day was punctuated by
three thunderous fourth-quarter hits -- two by rookie safety Eugene
Wilson and one by linebacker Roman Phifer as the Colts moved downfield.
"This is probably the most simple game plan we had," said Law. "Stick
them and beat them up at the line of scrimmage. If you watch these guys
all through the season and postseason put up these big numbers, you see
a lot of guys run through the secondary. We said, 'We are not going to
let them do that to us. We're going to challenge them more than other
teams, and may the best man win.' "
Predictably, the Colts came out of halftime with a reworked plan and,
using running backs Edgerrin James and Dominic Rhodes liberally, they
marched downfield to make it 15-7 on James' 2-yard run. The Pats
answered that with two more field goals at the ends of drives sparked by
the running of Antowain Smith (22 carries for 100 yards).
After Manning threw a silly interception to Law at his own 31, the Pats
were poised to put the game away. But Brady forced a pass to Dedric Ward
in the end zone that was intercepted . . . his first interception at
Gillette Stadium this season. It was a costly mistake, since a field
goal would have all but iced things, but now the Colts were down just
two scores after 45 minutes of New England dominance.
The Colts drove into Patriots territory again before Manning got sacked
on third-and-6 from the New England 23 by Jarvis Green (3 sacks) and
then got picked by Law on the next play. But the Patriots went
three-and-out, and this time Manning got them into the end zone with a
7-yard throw to Marcus Pollard with 2:30 left.
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TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS: It's back to the Super Bowl for Tedy Bruschi and the Patriots. Bruschi displays the AFC Championship trophy moments after the Pats disposed of the Colts yesterday.
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An onsides kick was recovered by the Pats but they couldn't pick up a
first down and Indy had a last chance. Manning misfired twice, then
threw for Pollard on third-and-10. It appeared Phifer grabbed him but
there was no flag. The same thing happened on fourth down, although the
contact on that play appeared to be mutual.
