2007 AFC Champions

It wasn’t pretty, most of it was not particularly good football, and they spent a lot of time looking almost exactly like the deer-in-the-headlights team that got shown the playoff door two years running by this very same Patriots team. I still think the Tony Dungy game plan is flawed, I still think that there are glaring holes in a number of places, but none of that matters right now, right this second - and won’t matter for the next two weeks.

For now, the Indianapolis Colts are the AFC Champions - and for just a little while, that will be enough.

For the first time in the Peyton Manning/Marvin Harrison era, for the first time since the Colts came to Indianapolis in 1994. For the first time in NFL history, a team came back from an 18-point deficit to win a conference championship game. Speaking of firsts...

Earlier today, Lovie Smith became the first black man in the history of the National Football League to take his team to the Super Bowl after the Bears pounded the Saints and ended what had been a great Cinderella story. Just a little while ago, Tony Dungy became the second black man in NFL history to take his team to the Super Bowl.

For the first time in NFL history, a team gave up more than 100 yards rushing in EVERY game in the regular season - and that team was this year’s Colts. In the playoffs, none of the three teams the Colts have faced have rushed for 100 yards against the Colts rush defense.

For much of this game, the Colts looked cooked. The Patriots went for it on 4th and 6 and converted, then followed that with a 7-yard Corey Dillon run for a touchdown, with no Colt even close; Dillon walked in. On the Colts’ next offensive series, Manning threw a pick to Asante Samuel, who ran it back for a touchdown. Manning could not connect with any of his receivers deep downfield - a testament to how incredibly well the Patriots played the Colts in coverage and how ridiculously good their defensive backs are (even if they do make a lot of un-called contact). I thought Ed Reed was a disruptive defensive back - the New England secondary was all over every play, until late in the second quarter, when Manning finally started looking underneath to Dallas Clark (who had 6 balls for 137 yards, by the way). By contrast, the Colts looked horrendous in coverage, leaving wide stretces of the field open, and Tom Brady put passes there every time.

The Colts were unable to get any penetration on Brady, who had what felt like years to look downfield for receivers - seemingly a waste of time, since all he really needed to do was look underneath. The Patriots, on the other hand, got to Manning a lot - and Manning even got to himself once. With 9:25 left in the first half, Manning dropped back and swung around to his right. With no options at receiver, he slid to end the play, not quite making it back to the line of scrimmage. By rule, that goes as a sack, which was credited to Eric Alexander. But if you saw the game, you saw what happened - Manning sacked himself. The next play was a real sack - Roosevelt Colvin, who was born and raised in Indianapolis and went to college at Purdue, dropped Manning for a loss of 11 yards. On the next play, Manning failed to get the play off before the play clock ran down, and was called for a delay penalty. Hunter Smith had to punt from the Soldier & Sailors Monument.

And yet in spite of all that, the Colts managed to win the game - in spite of what was not a great game from Manning (and would have been downright atrocious, not to mention a loss, if Dallas Clark had not been there to finally make Manning look like Manning again), in spite of a running game that was only so-so until Addai ran those three perfect little yards for the touchdown that gave the Colts their first lead.

It was appropriate that Addai be the one to get that touchdown - the one that gave the Colts their first lead and wound up providing the margin that won the Colts the right to play in the Super Bowl. It was a play that Edgerrin James could never have made - the kind of play that cost the Colts the game the last time New England came to Indianapolis.

Despite some poor play-calling, a slew of dropped balls, and an 80-yard Ellis Hobbs kick return that set up a Jabar Gaffney touchdown that Dungy challenged. (The play stood, which was the correct call - it was one of the best end zone catches I have ever seen. Gaffney got one foot inbounds, barely, and also managed not to step out of bounds at any point while roaming the back of the end zone before the ball was thrown to him.)

There were some nice Colts plays - they were just few and far between, and were virtually nonexistent until the last drive for the Colts before halftime. The second half featured the tackle-eligible play in which Manning connected for his only touchdown pass, the Manning quarterback sneak for a touchdown, and the Jeff Saturday fumble recovery for a touchdown.

And now another first - this was the first time in NFL history that two offensive linemen scored touchdowns in one game. And not quite a first, but something unusual - Manning had a total of zero rushing touchdowns in the combined 2003, 2004, and 2005 seasons. In the 2006 season, he has had five rushing touchdowns.

The Patriots also played pretty clean football, which is unusual for them, at least when they play the Colts - the only fake injury was near the beginning of the game when Richard Seymour pretended to be hurt, but he actually ended up sitting out a lot of the game, so he may actually have been hurt. But he might just as well have been faking, too. If it were any other team but the Patriots, that would not have occurred to me, but playing dirty is one of the things that has helped New England win three of the last five Super Bowls. You take advantage of the rules when you can - Manning likes to catch the opposite team with twelve men on the field and call a quick snap, which results in a penalty. And even though that does exploit the rules, it isn’t cheating - which is what it is when the Patriots fake injuries to get extra timeouts.

That’s a minor quibble, though - the Patriots are an incredibly good team, mostly because they have the guy who I think is the best coach ever in NFL history, Bill Belichick. They also have one of the most poised quarterbacks I have ever seen play the game. Tom Brady has no fear - and will literally stand there in the pocket until he finds an open receiver. The Patriots have had the number of the Colts in the playoffs in years past - and they had the Colts’ number for almost half of this game, too. The Colts had just enough to win. I don’t know if that’s enough to win in Miami in two weeks, but it should be a good game.

I don’t know who got the official player of the game award, but if it went to anyone other than Dallas Clark, then it was given to the wrong guy. The Colts don’t win this game - aren’t even in a position to win it - if he doesn’t make some key catches.

It feels pretty good right now, even though the game was so ugly. It’s going to feel even better tomorrow...and then it’s going to feel pretty good for the next two weeks. And, of course, I’ll take an ugly win like this if it means that the Colts get to take home the Lombardi Tropy.

But for a guy who has had to endure so much criticism in the face of such great play for so many years, I really hope that Manning has the kind of game in Miami that he has had so many times here in the Hoosier Dome - 400 yards, 4 touchdowns, maybe a naked bootleg for a rushing touchdown. That would be a great end to what has been an odd season - sometimes frustrating, sometimes inspiring, and now, the best season the Indianapolis Colts have ever had.