The Thrill Diddy In Circle City
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by user Enybo
Due to the New England Patriots losing over the weekend and therefore giving me a big 0-1 in challenges, I am forced to write my opinion as to how the Indianapolis Colts overcame the Mighty Belichick and advanced to Super Bowl XLI. I am not here though to analyze every miscue, theorize on what should have been, or make excuses for what was. I will keep my answer simple. The Colts won the AFC Championship because they beat the Patriots. I told you it would be simple.
They simply put more points on the board than the New Englanders. Tony Dungy’s masterful defensive plan helped too: Stop the Patriots from putting up more points then his team. Dungy is a friggin genius. If only Bill had thought that one up then maybe the Patriots would be playing on Feb 4th. I am not going to play psychologist and try to deduce what Bill Belichick and coaches were thinking or what was going through Peyton’s head, but there are facts that are undisputable. The Pats jumped out to a cozy 21-3 lead, but through a handful of failed drives and brilliant work by Peyton Manning to find an open Dallas Clark over and over again, the Colts were (Warning: Overused cliché coming up) able to exorcise, or is it exercise, some demons.
I will admit, I think all the frenzy about demons and monkeys, and even demonic monkeys is all a bunch of crap. You win some, you lose, and if you lose some you keep fighting till you win some. Manning is arguably the best quarterback of this generation and odds say sooner or later he is going to win. Helk, even Joe Frazier knocked out Muhammed Ali once. Speaking of Ali and Frazier, that’s exactly what this was, The Fight Of The Century, The Thrill Diddy in Circle City. The Patritots came out swinging and throwing haymakers, but the Colts didn’t give up. It reminded me of Ali v. Foreman, the infamous “Dope On A Rope” fight. The Colts took jab after jab, and then they struck back when the Pats were getting tired. The two traded punishing knuckle sandwiches and all Tom Brady could say in the end: “He's not human. He's like a piece of iron.”
When the fight was expiring into its final minutes, the true magic show started. The Colts setup the patriots with a perfect 1-2-3 knockout combo. They did what very few could ever accomplish. Where the Oakland Raiders, the St. Louis Rams, the Carolina Panthers, and the San Diego Chargers failed, Dungy and the Colts would succeed. Stopping the last minute heroics of Captain Clutch was the only way to beat the three time world champs. With 3:22 left to play and and 1st and 15, the Pats ended up going 3 and out culminating with a near interception by Bob Sanders that would have otherwise been caught by Troy Brown resulting in a first down and a potential Patriots win.
Sanders broke up the play though and the Pats were forced to kick. Not to get off topic, but does anyone else think that Todd Sauerbraun is on steroids? His arms are freaking huge!!! Anyway, that was hook number one and the second would come on an 80 yard drive finishing with a 3 yard touchdown run by Joseph Addai. With the Colts ahead by four points with less than a minute left, the look in Brady’s eyes were unforgettable. He had that look of calm, that look of confidence, that look that said, “I have done it before and I’ll do it again.” It was the complete opposite the look that Reche Caldwell had on his face the entire game. And for a moment, I actually the thought he would pull it off one more time.
But the knockout punch would come on a 1st and 10 with what looked like the Pats getting ready to hand the Colts an uppercut. Tom Brady threw another ill-advised pass to Ben Watson which was read perfectly by Marlin Jackson who intercepted the ball and immediately fell to the ground. (Mr. McCree, are you taking notes?) It was a sucker punch though, no one saw it coming and it took the breath away from millions of fans. And like that, the game was over. It was phenomenal, a story to tell your grandkids, stuff legends are made of. That’s the tale of how Manning beat Brady. He wore the Pats down. He matched them tit for tat. And then the Colts defense which was showing up on milk cartons from August thru December finally appeared and stopped the ‘Man’ himself.
