The Billiken's Bluff

Although I devote an inordinate amount of time each day to watching ESPN, I rarely post anything on Billiken that is related to sports. However, I find the Colts vs. Patriots matchup this Sunday uber-interesting. Indy is the underdog (2 ½ point dogs for all you gambling degenerates) for Sunday’s game in New England. The Colts have lost 6 in a row at Foxboro, including the season opener. Indy probably had the better team (at least the hotter offense) going into Foxboro last January only to be completely locked down by Bill Belichick, the Secretary of Defense. Indy basically had the same offense they have now but were stymied by the inclimate weather and the inhospitable Patriots’ D.

But this year I really don’t see the Colts losing. The Colts’ offense led by QB Peyton Manning has been shredding the league up this season. Peyton broke Dan Marino’s all-time TD record with 49. The Colts had three wide-receivers who had over 1,000 yards and 10 TDs. It was pretty much the most shocking and aweing air attack since we torched Baghdad in March 2003.

I realize that it’s not smart to bet against the Pats. They’ve won something like 30 of their last 32 games (I need statboy to check on that) and have had the Colts number the past few seasons. But the Pats, despite their 14-2 record are pretty beat up. Both of their starting corner backs, Ty Law and Tyrone Poole, are on injured reserve. Belichick has used a lot of smoke and mirrors to hide these mistakes (such as moving wide-receiver, Troy Brown to defensive back) but I think Peyton and his band of brothers simply have too many weapons at this point. Plus, the weather isn’t supposed to be terrible,low 30s and sunny, which favors Indy.

But the reason this matchup is so different from other rivalries, is because the real battle will be between Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick. QB vs. Head Coach. Peyton Vs. The Brain. No disrespect to Tom Brady, Tony Dungy, Edgerrin James or Corey Dillon, but they are just supporting actors. Peyton calls his own plays at the line of scrimmage, so he is basically his own head coach. Belichick coaches on the football field like Bobby Fisher (pre-asylum seeking) treated a chessboard. The Colts have the superior team, if Belichick can pull this one off it will be because he got into Peyton’s head.