Colts vs. Patriots – November, 2009 – The Way I Saw It
I have been attending sporting events for most of my life. Many are great experiences, a few are boring and most of them fall somewhere in between. What I experienced last night at Lucas Oil Stadium left a sold-out crowd speechless at first and then screaming at the top of their lungs in absolute celebration. As I sit here nearly 12 hours after the Colts come from behind victory I am still completely amazed by what I saw. We saw greatness. We saw futility. We saw the Patriots doing whatever they wanted offensively and the Colts struggling……for most of the game.
For 3 quarters the Patriots controlled the game. Many national media outlets are saying that the Patriots manhandled the Colts. I disagree. Clearly the Patriots played better than the Colts did; but, we had many, many self-inflicted errors. These caused our defense to stay on the field for too long and allowed the Patriots to keep rolling. The Patriots are clearly an outstanding team. But, to say that they just destroyed the Colts is a misrepresentation of the facts. Much of the damage, we did to ourselves.
The Colts have an ability to rise to the occasion. They are a team on both offense and defense that is doing whatever it takes to win. That is what happened on Sunday night. The Colts simply had enough. Enough of the dropped passes. Enough getting beat down field by the Patriots receivers. Enough of letting Tom Brady do whatever he wanted. They simply had enough. I was there and for most of this game I was as frustrated and disappointed as I have ever been watching a Colts game. Then, they decided to fight back.
On 4th and 2 on your own 28 yard line you elect to go for it?? Wow. I think “Hoodie” has a very healthy ego. He has built a team that also has a very healthy ego as well. In part, that is one of the intangibles that makes them such a great team. But, this call has got to be one of the most foolishly self assured and arrogant coaching decisions I have ever seen. Ever. Period.
We were reminded of an invaluable fact last night as Colts fans: As long as Peyton Manning wears #18 for the Colts, we will always, always, always have a chance! Peyton is cut from a completely different cloth. He is an example of preparation and maximizing your gifts.
Here are some pics that I borrowed from the Indianapolis Star web-site:
Bill "Hoodie" Belichick and friend who shoved down an NBC camera man leaving the field after the game. Yeah, classy.
Reggie Waye, catching the game tying pass with :13 seconds to go (extra point gave us the lead)
Peyton celebrating a big, big win against the Patriots
Worship Leader Probs 
Great game! I’m a new convert to Indy because I’m moving there shortly and Seattle really shouldn’t call themselves a pro team. Great win!!
Great analysis. I was there too and although every article I have read blames the loss on Belichicks “Bad Call Heard ‘Round the World,” you cannot deny that the Colts played unbelieveable football in the last 10minutes, never gave up and stopped New England when it mattered. Give our D some credit, give our O a lot of credit and give me Peyton Manning the ball when trailing in the 4th of any game.
Hey BT-
You know I love the Colts win and I loved that Bellicheck’s decision blew up in his face. And I love that the Evil Hoodie kept saying “a yard” and “one yard” when referring to the 2 yards that the Pats needed (doh!).
That being said, his decision to go for it was statistically correct. Leave it to some uber-geeks to boil it down: .
And, that he had the guts to go for it is probably a big part of his coaching success.
Absolutely a gutsy call and the stats do prove that they’ve had success on 4th down. However, leading by only 6 points on your own 28 yard line with 18 as the opposing quarterback and that much time on the clock??? That is football suicide. You really have to weigh that above the stats, I would think.