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NFL ArmageddonA Colts fan and a Pats fan dissect every angle of Sunday's big game.

By Eric Gillin and Brendan I. Koerner
Posted Friday, Nov. 2, 2007, at 11:57 AM ET

(Continued from page 2)

Like our pals in Vegas and the Cayman Islands, I'm expecting a fairly high-scoring game—such is life on the RCA Dome turf, where it's a lot easier to sprint forward than backpedal. And I'm also expecting the Pats to strike first; in big games, the Colts always seem to start with a three-and-out for some odd reason. But once Manning gets in the flow and the Colts D registers some critical third-and-short stops—eat some space, Raheem Brock!—things should tilt our way. And that'll make it four in a row versus the reviled Pats, forever banishing memories of our Foxborough frustrations.

No doubt your prediction will be rather different, Eric. So, c'mon, enlighten me—how, exactly, is the Pats' secondary going to keep the red-hot Wayne from doing his patented, dice-throwing touchdown dance? And, perhaps more importantly, why is it that Brady was named the world's best-dressed man by Esquire when that honor clearly belongs to the Colts' dreadlocked, sunglasses-loving Sanders?

Eric: I seriously hope you're kidding. Bob Sanders looks like the lost Ying Yang Twin in that picture. And besides, this game doesn't come down to sartorial splendor—if it did, the Newsies-inspired ensemble Brady had on last week is far superior to any 42-button, candy-colored zoot suit Sanders would wear. Advantage: Pats.

This game will come down to defense. And whenever people start playing the whole offense vs. defense matchup game, I always ask myself: Which side would win in a knife fight? Brendan, I don't think the Colts have a chance in hell in a knife fight against the Patriots on either side of the ball. Rodney Harrison looks like he could murder at least six people all by himself. And he's joined by Adalius Thomas, Asante Samuel, Rosevelt Colvin, Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi, and, most recently, five-time Pro Bowler Richard Seymour. I'm pretty sure one of those dudes will be able to slow down the "uncoverable" Dallas Clark.

With so much talent on the defensive side of the ball, Belichick won't be deploying the kinds of trickery he needed to pull when Troy Brown was going both ways. Like any good bully, he's going to try to destroy everyone: beat the holy crap out of the Colts, and the Colts receivers, and the Colts cheerleaders, and anyone wearing Colts merchandise until Bill Polian whines to the commissioner's office again. It won't be easy to stop Peyton—the few times the Patriots have been in trouble this year have been when the other team goes no-huddle and speeds up the tempo, a Peyton Manning special. A combination of blitzes, hurries, and run-stuffs will generate a few three-and-outs on Sunday, which is all the Pats offense will need to win.

That's because I don't think the Indy D could beat the New England O in a knife fight. Kyle Brady is a tough, 280-pounder who will help max-protect and catch enough passes to keep Freeney and co. honest. Your secondary is going to have to make some agonizing choices: If they double-cover both Donte Stallworth and Randy Moss like the Redskins did last week, they'll get torched by Wes Welker underneath, or by Laurence Maroney running between the tackles. This isn't the 2006 Patriots receiving corps, which was constructed like a fifth-grade diorama: a Little Tikes figurine holding down the slot, a broken G.I. Joe guy slung out wide, and glitter-soaked cotton balls used to create "atmosphere." The 2007 Pats receivers are a thermonuclear weapon with a seven-second timer. There are three colorful wires coming out of that bomb: Welker, Stallworth, and Moss. It's like an action film: Can the Colts clip all three of those wires or get to the quarterback before the timer runs out? I don't think so.

At the very least, you're gonna need more than Bob Sanders. (He might get Peter King's MVP endorsement, but consider the source—King said the same thing about Jake "The Snake" Plummer.) You're going to need Brock to stuff the lanes and Keiaho to have the game of his life, because while the entire world thinks this is going to be a scoring fest, I'm not convinced.

I think Chairman Belichick has been running up the score all this time for two reasons. The first is purely psychological. It's scary to face a team that puts up 40 points a game, routinely wins by 30, and never, ever shows any mercy. The second is that old Belichick standby: Take away the one thing the other team does best. I think he's setting up a trap. I wouldn't be surprised to see Belichick surprise the Colts by using the well-rested Laurence "Predator Larry" Maroney to eat up the clock. And when the Colts start to stack the line, Brady will throw over the top to Moss. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Brendan: All your talk of knives got me thinking about a terrible moment in Colts history: the night that cornerback Nick Harper's wife stabbed him in the knee. There was no long-term damage, but we Colts fans will forever wonder if the injury slowed Harper just enough to allow Ben Roethlisberger to tackle him in that 2006 division playoff game.

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Eric Gillin is the editor of Esquire.com and was the editor in chief of the now-defunct BlackTable.com. You can reach him at . Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and a columnist for Gizmodo. His first book, Now the Hell Will Start, is out now.
Photograph of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady by Travis Lindquist/Getty Images.
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