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Pastimes : Football Forum (NFL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Buckey who wrote (22063)	1/17/2005 7:41:17 AM
From: LTK007	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45639

Marv Levy on Pats victory(for me Pats are the best team in football until they are beat: in their loss to Steelers they played without Dillon-welles) <<Patriots deliver team effort It's not the Patriots' win over the Colts that's so shocking, it's that they held Peyton Manning and his team to three points! That is just startling. Everyone expected a more competitive game from Indianapolis. New England 's defense played magnificently, their offense controlled the ball drive after drive; they held the ball for nearly 38 minutes, leaving Manning to only 22 minutes on the field. That's a fine way to limit the damage that Manning can do. So what went wrong? Indianapolis had the second-fewest giveaways all season long and the second-most takeaways, and today the Colts turned the ball over three times and didn't get it back once. That's a big reason why they didn't do better than expected. I had also hoped to see the Colts run their no-huddle offense at a faster tempo. They did it for a little while in the first half and they seemed to move the ball a little, but they didn't stay with that approach. A couple of key dropped passes didn't help things, either. Tom Brady, Tedy Bruschi and the Patriots play as a team, and that makes them very dangerous. It's also worth noting that Tom Brady's longest pass was for 17 yards, that he threw to 10 different receivers, and the Patriots only had two plays for longer than 20 yards (both runs by Corey Dillon ). Know what that says? They played "small ball," and they wanted to keep Manning off the field. Just banging away and letting the time clock elapse was part of the Patriots game plan. Is this a case where Bill Belichick and his staff know the Colts better than the Colts know themselves? I don't think so -- there's no magic here. Give credit where it's due, the Patriots play smart, level-headed football. I heard a comment during the telecast that none of the Patriots wear their Super Bowl rings. I know that players on the team have become best friends with each other, and you never hear of any animosity between teammates. There's a team orientation that is really unique. Teams strive so hard to get that, and the Patriots reflect it every time they take the field. And there's no further proof of that when you look at Dillon, a malcontent on the Bengals for years, coming to the Patriots and playing like a true professional on the field and carrying on like one off the field. He's all business and not into the "look at me" stuff. The attitude starts at the top with team owner Robert Kraft, a fine owner. I was rather disappointed with how the Colts tackled, to tell you the truth. I don't know if it bothered them to be outdoors in the cold or if they were on the field too long. You could come up with a million theories why Indianapolis failed to slow down the Patriots. I do think the weather impacts dome teams in the winter.>>