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sports nut: The stadium scene.

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 3)

But Harper's gone now (to the Titans), and so is the tired stereotype you're dredging up about the Colts being (ugh) a "finesse" team. Yes, our defense is built small and fast so it can play a Cover 2 scheme, but we love to flat-out brutalize opponents—you should try asking Jaguars quarterback Quinn Gray for his opinion on the matter, as I believe a snarling Dwight Freeney shall be sprinting through his nightmares for the next quarter-century. As for Dallas Clark, I can only recommend that you put a corner on him; Adalius Thomas may be a great player, but I doubt he can cover No. 44 all the way down the field.

You're right about Maroney being a pivotal figure in this game, though. As you might recall, Predator Larry was the back that Bill Polian truly coveted in the 2006 draft. But New England scooped him up, and we had to settle for a consolation prize: Joseph Addai, who you might remember leaping into the RCA Dome crowd last January.

Look for similar exultation from our featured back this Sunday. We take this one 29-24, after being down a touchdown at halftime. A classic Manning comeback.

See you in the playoffs, Eric—provided you can survive the divisional round. I bet the Chargers will be awfully motivated should they have to travel to Foxborough in January.

Eric: Like the Colts on Sunday, your Nick Harper story falls just short. See, 20 years earlier, Patriot Irving Fryar's wife slashed his hand before an even bigger contest—the AFC Championship—forcing him to miss that game entirely. (That said, unlike you, I don't blame Fryar's injury situation for the outcome of the next game. Those '85 Bears were awesome.)

I understand that Indy's new cornerbacks, Kelvin Hayden and Marlin Jackson, make the Colts a far more physical team than last year's championship model. But just because the Colts love to brutalize opponents doesn't mean they'll be able to. You want to get physical? Great idea. The Patriots are in full-on, Tupac Shakur, middle-fingers-to-the-sky mode right now. They'll turn this thing into a prison-yard battle royal and end up stabbing Dallas Clark with the yardage marker.

As I've been saying, wild-eyed rage is New England's secret weapon. Eric Mangini pushed. Bill Belichick snapped. And now the rest of the National Football League is going to pay for it. Indianapolis is just too good to allow the Patriots to destroy their will, so instead of a track meet, we'll see a slugfest. The Pats will keep the crowd out of the game with a few long, controlled drives at key moments. On Monday, sportswriters will credit the Colts with a moral victory, keeping the game close deep into the fourth quarter, when New England will ultimately prevail, 28-20.

Brendan, if by some miracle the Patriots play the Chargers in the divisional round, I can't wait to see the brat attack that B.L.T. (Baby LaDainian Tomlinson) pulls after he gets humiliated. No matter how angry they are, we both know the Chargers wouldn't win in Foxborough—and neither would the Colts. You better pray for a win this weekend so Indy gets home-field advantage.

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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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