Sport-Blog.com

The Indianapolis Colts have become one of the NFL's top teams in the past several years, but they've always had one major knock against them:  they simply could not beat the New England Patriots.  Since both teams play in the AFC, the Colts would have to get past this hurdle sometime in order to reach the Super Bowl.  If Monday night's 40-21 victory is any indication, then this could be the season that it happens.

Entering the prime time matchup, Colts' starting quarterback Peyton Manning was a career 0-7 when playing New England on the road.  Manning has been criticized as not being a "big game" quarterback because he never could put together a good performance against the Patriots.  In fact, in last year's record-setting season in which Manning threw for 49 touchdowns in the regular season, he was held to just 238 yards and 0 touchdowns in the divisional championship game in New England.  That came just one week after Manning scorched the Denver Broncos for 457 yards and 4 touchdowns.  

So this year, with the Colts riding a revamped defense to a 7-0 record and the injury-plagued Patriots struggling to win games, the timing seemed impeccable.  Though Manning hasn't put up the huge offensive numbers that he did a season ago, he hasn't had to in order to win games this year.  Tonight, however, it seemed that Manning was on a mission to take the game into his own hands and get over the New England hump once and for all.  He came out firing and didn't let up until the Colts had put 40 points on the board.  In previous meetings between these two powerhouse teams, Manning, the two-time NFL MVP, was consistently upstaged by the Patriots' Tom Brady.  Not this time.  Manning completed 28-of-37 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns, while Brady was 22-of-33 for 265 yards and three touchdowns.

While the Indy defense bailed out the team on a couple of occasions when the offense clearly appeared stagnant, that wasn't the case tonight.  The Colts were clicking on all cylinders.  Both Marvin Harrison (131) and Reggie Wayne (124) broke the century mark in receiving yards.  Harrison caught two touchdown passes, including a 30-yarder midway through the 4th quarter that essentially put the game away.  Wayne also caught a touchdown pass for the Colts.  The ground attack was working as well, with running back Edgerrin James carrying the ball 34 times for 104 yards and a touchdown.

The Colts' defense was solid, too.  They stuffed Patriots' running back Corey Dillon all night long and held him to just 40 yards on 12 attempts.  The defense also forced two fumbles and an interception, and kept enough pressure on Brady to prevent a patented Patriots comeback.  In addition, the win preserved the Colts' perfect record.  At 8-0, Indianapolis is the only remaining unbeaten team in the NFL.  

Now that Indianapolis has finally defeated the Patriots, there has been a definite power shift in the AFC.  The Colts, Steelers, and Bengals are all riding high, while the Patriots dynasty will have a tough time winning their third championship in a row.