Sunday showdown: 8-0 New England vs. 7-0 Indianapolis

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 11/01/2007

   Regular-season games are important, but this Sunday’s match-up in Indianapolis between the defending Super Bowl Champion Colts and the New England Patriots is enormous.

 Both teams are undefeated, both teams have won Super Bowls recently, and both teams appear to be peaking towards this game. Tony Dungy, the good-guy head coach of the Super Bowl Champions, matches up against Bill Belichick, the three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Patriots.

 Is it integrity vs. no integrity? Remember, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hit New England’s Belichick with the largest fine in NFL history seven weeks ago, $500,000, for illegally having a camera man film the defensive signals of the New York Jets in the season opener.  

And, Goodell stripped the Patriots of their 2008 first-round draft choice and fined the organization another $250,000. Yet, no suspension for Belichick? The Patriots also have defensive back Rodney Harrrison, who served a four-game suspension this season for having used Human Growth Hormone (HGH), a league-banned substance.

 Dungy does not cheat his players, and he plays by the rules. His book Quiet Strength is number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Does that mean we should be pulling for the Colts?

 At quarterback, Peyton Manning of the Colts, who holds the NFL single-season record of 49 touchdown passes, goes against Tom Brady of the Patriots, who’s the first quarterback in NFL history to throw three or more touchdown passes in eight straight games. Brady is also the first quarterback to have thrown 30 touchdown passes in eight games.

 At wide receiver, it’s Marvin Harrison of the Colts vs. Randy Moss of the Patriots. This game has it all.

 Only one team in the NFL has finished undefeated in 87 years; that was the 1972 Miami Dolphins, 17-0 for Don Shula. There have been four teams in league history that have finished the regular season 15-1: the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 1986 San Francisco 49ers, the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, and the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers.

 Both of these teams have that type of potential, and this Sunday’s game will go a long way towards determining which team that will be. Yes, we have a long way to go with nine weeks left in the regular season, but this game is huge.

 Home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs could be at stake, and these teams seldom lose big games at home. The Patriots have outscored their opponents 331 to 127, the Colts 224-102.

 The Colts have the NFL’s number-one pass defense; the Patriots have the NFL’s number-one offense and pass offense. New England has won 11 straight regular-season games; the Colts have won 12 in row, including playoffs. And, the Colts have beaten the Patriots three in row, including playoffs.

 The Patriots are putting a hurting on Las Vegas — they are the first team in NFL history to win eight games in a row by a margin of 17 points or more. The Patriots are on pace to smash the NFL single-season scoring record held by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings of 556 points.

 I remember being in Tampa in the 90-degree heat that day in 1998, when the 7-0 Vikings lost — it was Dungy’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers that upset the Vikings 27-24 in Tampa. The Patriots have scored no fewer than 34 points in each game, and have scored 48, 49 and 52 points the last three weeks.

 Can Tony do it again? Button up your chinstraps, folks — something has to give this Sunday. I can’t wait.