[RikkiDee]

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Indy has the toughest schedule in pro football--and nothing else prepares a team for games like this: NE will not be facing an inexperienced Romo, a decimated buffalo defense, a qb-less washington.

Indy has an o-line that may well be the best pro football has ever seen.

Indy has a defense that can influence Brady: they possess speed, toughness, and youth. They are built to play on plastic, welcome to Indianapolis, and they also have an offense that will move the ball with a pace that will keep that defense rested.

Indy has home field advantage, and it will be LOUD.

Indy has a qb that is a six sigma event: this is a qb that can do anything and everything that Brady can do AND has redefined the position in ways the pundits have not yet fathomed.

Indy, imo, not only can but will beat NE: they will abuse a defense already exposed by Cleveland as lacking stamina and vulnerable to the run. I remind you, NE fell behind at Dallas in the third quarter. I remind you, Moss continues to express as much reluctance to go over the middle as ever. I remind you that NE fields an aging LB core, and this limits their effectiveness to the zones in which they set up, they cannot control the necessary real estate to keep Indy from controlling the game. I believe, the age of the LB's is the achilles tendon of NE, and it will be stretched to a dangerous degree here. NE, defensively, will be unable to deal with the weapons Manning brings to the table.

I do not think that Brady will make it through this game without a turnover or two. and the knock on brady is loss of composure when picked. the pressure that Indy will apply to the NE offense is not so much defensive, as the need to maintain the lead, on the road, against an offense that keeps pace with them, and a defense that will abandon the pretense of limiting brady, but will instead concentrate on taking the ball away, in picks and fumbles.

an interesting aspect of this game within a game of pressure, is how NE will react to waiting to get the ball? knowing that no mistakes will be allowed, none, not one, or they will be down a score.

NE will set the pace early: they have a great offense, more dangerous than at any time in the match-up history of these two teams, but that will not be enough. And Indy will keep that offense on the side line: it will require one stop to tip the scales in Indy's favor, and they will get 2-3.

last year, before the beginning of the play off series, i remarked to an acquaintance that Indy has been the best team in football for the past 8 years. This year, that knowledge seems to permeate the awareness of the players themselves. I will go so far as to say, if they win this game, and the championship, that they are the best team I have ever seen: and I saw the Steelers. Well, maybe the Steelers still. but in the modern era, most definitely the best.

The good news: I will get +170 at some point in the week on a team that should be -3 +100.

tlt

of course, if the O line turns up on the injured list this week, all goes by the board.

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lol