” Is it Sunday yet? Better yet, is it January? The weather may not feel like it, but when the Indianapolis Colts play the New England Patriots Sunday, a glimpse of the AFC Championship game will be seen. Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady is a match-up that I look forward to every year.”
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Is it Sunday yet?

Better yet, is it January?

The weather may not feel like it, but when the Indianapolis Colts play the New England Patriots Sunday, a glimpse of the AFC Championship game will be seen.

Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady is a match-up that I look forward to every year.

Manning’s Colts have had so much trouble with the Patriots–until their Super Bowl winning season last year.

I’d find it hard to believe someone wouldn’t be intrigued by this match-up.

The two best quarterbacks in the league will play for supremacy of the National Football League.

Two future Hall of Fame coaches, who most likely have gotten no sleep this week, will try to out-strategize each other to secure a zero in the loss column.

The success of the Patriots has thrown a shadow over the defending Super Bowl champion Colts, and rightfully so.

Though it’s only week nine, the Patriots have already scored more points (331) in eight games than 16 teams did last year.

That’s half of the NFL.

Brady is one touchdown shy of Peyton Manning’s league-best 31 touchdowns last year, and has thrown more touchdowns in 2007, alone, than six teams scored in 2006.

The Patriots are having a dream season.

That doesn’t discredit the Colts at all, it’s just a testament to the strength of the 2007 Patriots.

It’s as though the Patriots are playing fantasy football.

But as every fantasy owner knows, there is always one game on the schedule that a team destined to win, loses.

And this is the week for the Patriots to lose if they are going to at all this season.

For eight weeks, it has been reminiscent of any given Sunday where golf experts pick Tiger or the field.

But who have the Patriots actually played this year?

Nine weeks into the season, they are finally playing a team that stacks up well against them.

Every other game seemed like a David vs. Goliath story where an underdog team had the slightest chance of slaying the beast.

Even when the Patriots played the then-undefeated Dallas Cowboys in week six, the Cowboys had a slim chance of contending with the juggernaut.

But all of that changes Sunday.

The Patriots will have to deal with the Colts’ no-huddle scheme, a system in which the team has seen little of this year.

And nowhere near to the effectiveness in which Manning runs it.

Manning’s trademark audible chaos at the line of scrimmage will confuse the Patriot D and lead to mis-matches throughout the game.

The Patriots have a linebacker core that is effective, but old, and will have a hard time keeping up with tight end Dallas Clark and speedy rookie Anthony Gonzalez.

Not to mention future Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison and the most underrated wide receiver in the NFL, Reggie Wayne.

The Patriots seem larger than life right now, but don’t expect their shadow to be hanging over the Colts after Sunday.

Clear skies are about to break through in Indianapolis.

Colts 34, Patriots 21.

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