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Patriots passing every test

Patriots passing every test

By Dan Ralph

Heading into last weekend, the New England Patriots showed they could blow out opponents. On Sunday, they proved they could not only win a tight game, but also come back to do so.

It took two Tom Brady touchdown passes in the fourth quarter for the Patriots to rally for the 24-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the battle between the NFL’s two undefeated teams. Now, New England stands alone with a sparkling 9-0 record that’s again got people talking about an undefeated season, the first since the Miami Dolphins turned the trick in 1992.

But it wasn’t until Brady hit Kevin Faulk with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 3:15 remaining that New England took the 24-20 lead. And New England didn’t cement the win until linebacker Roosevelt Colvin recovered Peyton Manning’s fumble shortly afterwards that the Patriots were able to run out the clock and secure the victory.

The tight, close game was something new this season for a New England club that had been scoring more than 41 points a game and had defeated eight rivals by an average winning margin of 25 points. The Patriots came into their showdown with the Colts following a lopsided 52-7 decision over the Washington Redskins.

Brady was the key figure in New England’s comeback. He threw for 153 of his 255 total yards and two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Brady has now registered three TD strikes in an league-record nine straight games, breaking the record of eight previously held by Manning.

Brady has also thrown a club record 33 touchdown passes so far this year.

But Indianapolis also had no answer for Randy Moss, who finished with nine catches for 145 yards and a touchdown. It was Moss’s 55-yard reception in the fourth that left New England at the Indianapolis three-yard line, setting up Brady’s TD pass to Wes Welker with 1:43 remaining that cut the Colts’ lead to 20-17.

Moss’s first-half TD catch was his 12th of the season, tying Stanley Morgan’s club record.

The loss tarnished a solid performance by Colts running back Joseph Addai, who had 112 yards rushing on 26 carries and also added 114 yards receiving. He became the first Indianapolis player ever to record 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in the game.

The Colts looked to be in great shape, going ahead 20-10 on Manning’s one-yard touchdown run with 9:42 remaining. Up to that point, Indianapolis had done a great job against a Patriots‘ offence that could muster just 59 first-half passing yards.

What’s more, Indianapolis was playing without four starters, including receiver Marvin Harrison. And rookie Anthony Gonzalez, Harrison’s replacement, was forced out of the game in the first half with a broken finger.

However, Addai gave the Colts a huge spark when he took a Manning pass 73 yards for the touchdown that led Indianapolis to an emotional 13-7 half-time lead.

Manning had a less than spectacular outing by his standards, completing 16-of-27 passes for 225 yards with a touchdown and interception. He also lost two fumbles.

New England avenged its 38-34 loss to Indianapolis in last year’s AFC title game as the Colts went on to win the Super Bowl by downing the Chicago Bears in the NFL title game.

And now, talk about an undefeated Patriots season is again heating up, especially with the club having a bye week this week before resuming league action with a Sunday night game against the Buffalo Bills.

A quick glance at New England’s remaining games would suggest a pretty easy run for the club. After taking on Buffalo on Nov. 28, the Patriots will face Philadelphia and Baltimore before an interesting home matchup against the always tough Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 9.

Then after facing the Jets and Miami, the Patriots will finish the regular season off against the New York Giants on Dec. 30.

Interestingly enough, if New England goes into that game with a perfect season hanging in the balance, fans will have to tune into the NFL Network to watch history in the making.

But the truth is, the more New England wins, the bigger the target gets on its back. Then again, if the Patriots can rally to win against the defending Super Bowl champion, here’s figuring Brady and Co. will be able to do so against their remaining opponents and make a solid run at the Dolphins’ undefeated mark.

All of which would really make for an interesting rematch with the Colts in the AFC championship game, wouldn’t it?