Revenge Game goes New England’s way as Colts fight, but not enough
The Revenge Game played out just fine for New England.
There was a moment, a brief moment, in Sunday night’s 34-27 New England victory over Indianapolis, when you thought the Colts might reverse the narrative, might disrupt all the expectations of a Patriot blitzkrieg. Indianapolis spent the first half looking unlike the lost, beleaguered team they’ve been all season, and the Patriots early on appeared … well, heck, let’s just say “deflated.”
Ah, “deflated.” This was billed as a chance for the Patriots to get even with the team that snitched on them all those months ago, the team that “brought to the NFL’s attention” the possibility that some of the balls the Patriots supplied in last year’s AFC Championship might not have been properly inflated … and, well, you know what happened from there. Fines, lost draft picks, suspensions, overturned suspensions, destroyed cell phones … an unending parade of nonsensical horrors, all spawned from that fateful 45-7 thumping that New England put on Indianapolis back in January.
This year’s Patriots team may not be the equal of the 2007 would-be undefeated team; it might just be better. Combine talent and Bill Belichick’s football genius with a sense of purpose and victimhood, and you’re looking at a team that will show about as much conscience shredding the rest of the league as you would cracking an egg. The Patriots were 4-0 barreling into Sunday night’s game, but conventional wisdom held that those four games were but prelude, that this was the game in which New England would rain vengeance upon Indy.
Early on, Indianapolis didn’t quite play its role. Luck drove the Colts 89 yards for a touchdown to open the game, the first sign that this Colts team had every bit as much to play for as New England. The teams traded the lead back and forth for the next couple of quarters, most notably when the Colts’ Mike Adams returned a tipped Brady pass for a touchdown. Indianapolis actually led by a point at the half, but that didn’t hold up long. New England scored on its opening possession of the second half and never trailed agian.
Late in the third quarter, the game turned for good. The Patriots were ahead by only six when the Colts made the inexplicable decision to call some kind of botched swinging-gate fake-punt play. New England recovered the ball in Indy territory, and six plays later went up by two touchdowns. A late Colts touchdown only served to save face (and cover the spread), not scare New England.
Brady, who had insisted all along that this game was just like every other one, put up a routine 23-37 for 311 yards, three touchdowns, and that interception. Luck had his best game of the season, 30 of 50 for 312 yards and three touchdowns.
After the game, both LeGarrette Blount and Chandler Jones repeated Belichick’s mantra that this game was no more important than any other. But Jones dropped a hint when he followed “We’re on to the Jets” with a grin and a wink. If you believe New England treated this as just another game, we’ve got a great fake-punt play to run by you.
So there you go. Another opponent vanquished, another entry on the to-do list marked out. New England is headed straight toward a date with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on the Super Bowl victors’ stage, and you know that’s exactly how they want it.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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