NESO'S TAKE ON SPORTS

Bill Belichick certainly played a major role in New England’s stunning loss to Indy yesterday, but the fourth down gamble is not the mistake he made.

Up two possessions in the fourth quarter, right after Moss scored his touchdown, the Patriots defense was clearly giving Peyton Manning and the Colts offense any underneath passing patterns.

Obviously, this makes sense. Let the Colts drive, but make them wear down the clock. Unfortunately, the Pats were unable to take significant time off the clock through defense, breathing life into Indianapolis’ lungs.

Bill should have made the Patriots utilize the schemes they had been using for the majority of the game, holding the Colts to a reasonable 21 points.

However, Belichick’s major mistake came during the ensuing drive, after Pierre Garcon burned Leigh Bodden (who did play a solid game) on a slant-and-go pattern for a TD.

Bill decided to move away from the formula of offense which had put up 31 points in 3-plus quarters against the leagues’ No. 1 ranked defense. Whether or not he was trying to run the clock out, the running game he tried to use was clearly ineffective.

Belichick decided not to utilize his teams’ strength (passing) against Indy’s weakness (pass defense), and instead used his weakness (running), playing right into Indy’s defensive strength (run defense).

New England was unable to burn any significant time off the clock with only their sub par running game (wouldn’t it be great if Sammy Morris and Fred Taylor were available, maybe the running game would have succeeded).

Every possession New England had in the fourth quarter was slightly dysfunctional. The offense sputtered, but Bill did not think to go back to the Patriots’ strength and get Welker or Moss involved in the game.

Then, his second mistake (which is not as major because if he doesn’t commit the first mistake, the game never gets to this point) came with 2:23 left, when he used both of New England’s remaining timeouts before the end of the two-minute warning.

Obviously, the 4th-and-2 call to go for it was questionable, but I stand by Bill’s decision.

No, it’s not because if Bill makes a decision, I deem it correct. It’s because the Patriots defense was without Ty Warren, Jarvis Green, Rob Minkovich and Tully Banta-Cain, resulting in an exhausted front seven without one of its best pass rushers (Banta-Cain).

Yes, Peyton had not been overly successful against the Pats despite injuries, as he threw two ducks for interceptions, but if Peyton threw with the same precision he did in a short field, he would certainly have had success.

Even if the Colts had to drive 70 yards, who’s to say New England wouldn’t have been torched due to a lack of pass rush? Belichick realized his blunder in calling the two timeouts, and he knew he needed to go for it, as he would be unable to stop the clock if the Colts went through a long drive.

What he didn’t count on was his defense making desperation stops, keeping the clock going.

I have trouble understanding two things.

One, the play Belichick called. I know he was confident in its ability to gain two yards, but if Kevin Faulk had, instead of running a short out route, ran a short in route, where he cut across the center of the field, he would have gained the necessary two yards.

On the out route, Melvin Bullitt was given extra time while the ball was in the air to react and make a solid stop, whereas if Brady threw the same pass to Faulk in the middle, Bullitt would have had less time to react, giving Faulk an opportunity to dive forwards, while still giving Brady the opportunity to evade the blitz.

Second, the defense from the Colts’ 30. Unlike some people, I don’t think that Belichick going for it was an insult to the defense. I think it was a statement of reasonable support, putting faith in the defense to hold the Colts on a short field.

However, I think that on the Joseph Addai run, with just over a minute to play, the defense should not have stopped him at the 1, giving the New England offense 1:13 to work with instead of just 0:13 on the clock.

One more thing I should mention, Laurence Maroney fumbling the ball in the end zone. Unbelievable and completely inexcusable. Even though the Colts didn’t score off the mistake, the Patriots should have at least added an extra three points, if not seven had Maroney not fumbled. Can he alone be blamed for the loss?

No, obviously Belichick has to take some heat, as he has, as do many defensive players for missed tackles and the sort.

Nonetheless, whether or not Belichick should have gone for it should have been irrelevant had he not botched the earlier portion of the fourth quarter, when he had opportunities (on interceptions and punts by the Colts) to put the game away.

The game is over. I am still stunned, and there is truly no excuse for the Patriots’ to even be in that situation at the end of the game, as I said up by three possessions with just 10 minutes remaining.

However, the Pats can clearly hang with the Colts, even in Indy. So, if the teams match-up in the playoffs, which would not be too surprising, we can look out for a sensational game.

The most disappointing part about this game to me? Not just that we lost, but that now the Colts have won 18 regular season games in-a-row, 5 away from breaking the Patriots’ 22-game regular season win-streak record. Yes, records are meant to be broken, which I suppose provides some solace, but the Patriots still have the most consecutive (post-season/regular season) wins, which, when Super Bowl titles are looked at, are important.

Looking at this in a positive light, as seemingly hard as it might be, we know that the Patriots will not have problems playing against Indianapolis even if in Indianapolis, putting up 34 points and losing by just 1, and we know that Sebastian Vollmer can be a force, as he shut down Dwight Freeney. For that matter, the Patriot offensive line was very strong, with the exception of a couple breakdowns caused by Robert Mathis. From a football fan’s point of view, this was truly an amazing game to watch, it’s just that the Patriots fell on the wrong end of the score.