Jumping Jehosephat! Super Bowl XLI-and-a-half will begin at 4:15 p.m. (EDT) Sunday!
As Nell Carter's creative 1980s' sitcom theme song would say, "Give me a break, I sure deserve it."
OK, OK the 8-0 New England Patriots and 7-0 Indianapolis Colts will meet Sunday in Week 9 of the NFL season. Both teams are in different divisions, and the only thing the game means is that ESPN has something to talk about for a week. Fantastic.
As we all know, the Patriots should have no problem in this one.
Just as Tom Brady has led my fantasy team to the most points in the Mint City League (aka MCL), he's also been leading the Patriots to the NFL's top offense, averaging 41.4 points per game. However, the Colts haven't been too shabby, averaging 32 points per game, good for third in the league.
I know what the nay-sayers will say, "Well the Patriots have had a weak schedule." There's no defense for this.
To this point, New England opponents have a combined record of 24-34. That's not that good, but hey, when you've also outscored those opponents 331-127, that is pretty good. To show I'm not ragging too harshly on the mighty Colts, their opponents carry an overall mark of 27-24, and Peyton Manning's team has outscored said opponents 224-102. That's also pretty good.
Around the neighborhood, I've either heard people say the Colts will win, the Patriots will win or the Patriots will completely devour the Colts. I'm on the side of just a straight-up Pats win.
As evident as it is, I'm not a Colts fan. I did root for the squad back in 1996, when Johnny Bailey dropped a Jim Harbaugh pass in the Pittsburgh end zone to end the AFC Championship game. I would have liked to have seen the Colts win that year, but they didn't and I moved on. The Bears were always my team, and the Colts played in a dome. On top of that, I was already in kindergarten by the time those Mayflower 18-wheelers made the trip from Baltimore to Indianapolis, bringing the Colts to Indiana. This is why its possible to cheer for a team that is exactly the same distance away, only separated by an imaginery line that cuts North America into 48 segments.
But back to 2007.
My fantasy team may be in trouble this week, with Brady going against the Colts' top-rated pass defense. The Colts are only allowing 165 yards passing a game, which will be a key matchup in the game, with Brady leading the league with 309 yards a game.
With the offseason acquisitions of wide receivers Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Donté Stallworth, Brady has been torching defenses to the tune of 2,431 yards, 30 touchdowns and two interceptions. Brady's 2,431 yards passing are impressive, but even more jaw-dropping when compared to the league average of 804.
While New England's been tearing through their first eight opponents, the Colts have won 12-straight, including Super Bowl XLI. En rout to that Super Bowl victory, over the Bears, the Colts also took down the Patriots 38-34 in the AFC Championship game.
In that victory at the RCA Dome, the Colts had to rally from a 21-3 deficit, ultimately completing the largest comeback in the AFC Championship history. Very good.
I can respect the fact that the Colts made the big comeback last year, won the Super Bowl and featured, and still do feature, a great defense, led by safety Bob Sanders. The only thing I have a little trouble respecting was Brady's receivers in that contest, i.e. Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney and Troy Brown.
So while Brady was winning games with the aforementioned receivers, not to mention Super Bowl rings with receivers no one remembers, Manning was kicking out records with Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and Brandon Stokely. Now both quarterbacks seem to have equal receivers, which is leading the entire league to complain about the Pats running the score up on their opposition. Seriously? Multi-millionaires are complaining because the Pats are so good that they should stop scoring points on them, embarassing them not only in front of their fans, but also in front of loved ones. I just hope marriages haven't been broken up and sons haven't been disowned. But I wouldn't be surprised either way.
So to repeat, I'm looking forward to a good game come Sunday. Both teams are very good, but while I'm shoveling chili into my mouth, I can't help but think I'm gonna be seeing a Patriots victory. And even if I don't, it's not like they're not going to meet up again in the playoffs.
