Patriots Preparing for ‘Rivalry of the Decade’ Battle With Undefeated Colts

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Sunday night’s game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium is being billed as the final regular-season meeting of “the rivalry of the decade.”

Take it one step further, though, and this deserves consideration as the greatest decade-long rivalry in NFL history. The Patriots (6-2) and Colts (8-0) each have 109 regular-season victories this decade, and including postseason games, each team has a chance to break the San Francisco 49ers’ 125 wins in the 1990s, which is the most victories in any decade in league history.

The Patriots, who have 123 wins in the 2000s, will certainly break the mark. The Colts have 116 victories this decade, so they’ll need to win at least seven of their final regular-season games along with the Super Bowl to surpass the 49ers.

“We always enjoy playing them,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said of the Colts. “They’re a great team. They seem to always be one of the best teams in the league, and they’re good in all three [phases], very well-coached. It will be a great challenge for us. We’re 1-2 on the road this year, so we’ve got to go try to play our best game.”

The Patriots are 8-5 against the Colts this decade, including a 2-1 playoff record, but Indy has won four of the last five meetings between the teams. Additionally, the winner of their three playoff contests has gone on to win the Super Bowl. The Pats and Colts each won five consecutive division titles between 2003-07, becoming two of the nine teams since 1970 to accomplish that feat.

And then, obviously, there is the quarterback matchup between Brady and Peyton Manning, who might go down as the two greatest quarterbacks in football history. There are the wins, statistical records, heaping amounts of popularity and commercial appeal.

Minutes after beating the Dolphins, everyone in the New England locker room was already talking about the Colts. It’s a polarizing game, one that will captivate a national television audience — as well as both sidelines — for three of the best hours of the NFL season.

“The one thing about that game is you’ve got to play a great game to win,” Brady said. “You can’t go out there and play your ‘B’ game because you won’t beat those guys. They’re good.”

���It just gets a little more exciting when you get to play against one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game,” Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather said. “[Manning] is great. They’ve got a lot of great players. They’ve got a lot of great role players. They’ve got a good team. They’re another undefeated team that we play, too, so we’re excited to go into the challenge.”

Who's hot?
1. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick went out of the way to praise defensive tackle Vince Wilfork for his ability to switch to defensive end against the Dolphins. Wilfork played the position a little bit in 2004, and once word came down that defensive end Jarvis Green would miss the game after knee surgery, Belichick told Wilfork he’d see some action at a different spot. The coach even noted one particular play when the Dolphins ran a counter out of a Wildcat formation, and the Miami offensive line tried to trap Wilfork out of the play. But, even without practicing against that all week, Wilfork worked through it and helped stop the run.

2. Backup offensive lineman Dan Connelly stepped in to play center after Dan Koppen injured his right knee midway through the second quarter, and Connolly did an admirable job. Koppen might be the most indispensable member of the offensive line because of his consistency and ability to remain on the same page as Tom Brady during the pre-snap reads and calls. Belichick said after the game that Connolly, who can play every position along the line, has played so well in practice this season that he’s on the borderline of earning himself playing time — at the expense of someone else, perhaps? — and Connolly backed up that notion Sunday. Belichick has continually maintained that Koppen is a quick healer, so expect him back soon, maybe even against the Colts.

3. Running back Laurence Maroney continued his stretch of good play Sunday with 20 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. He also had 10 carries for 39 yards in the fourth quarter when the Patriots were clearly trying to bleed the clock, and the Dolphins still couldn’t stop him. In the last three games, Maroney has 49 carries for 248 yards (5.1 yards per carry; 82.7 yards per game) and three touchdowns.

4. The best way to contain Dolphins kick returner Ted Ginn is to make sure he doesn’t touch the ball. Two of Gostkowski’s five kickoffs resulted in touchbacks, and he drew a loud ovation from the crowd after booting consecutive kickoffs through the end zone in the second quarter. While keeping Ginn at bay, touchbacks also save the coverage unit from risking harm during returns, and that is very much appreciated by Gostkowski’s teammates.

5. Linebacker Jerod Mayo had a team-best 12 tackles (seven solo) Sunday, and he led a linebacking corps that was instrumental in holding Miami’s 10 Wildcat plays to seven total yards.

6. Safety Brandon McGowan had a team-high eight solo tackles (11 total) and forced his third fumble of the season. McGowan, possibly the toughest player in the locker room, was asked about his big hit after the game. “You think I hit him hard?” McGowan responded. “I think I took it easy a little bit.”

Who's not?
1. It seems like there was a lot of blame to be spread around for the Patriots’ failed attempt to convert on a fourth-and-one from the Miami 18-yard line with 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday. The Patriots let the play clock run down before calling a timeout, and when they stepped up to the line only needing about an inch to seal the victory, right guard Stephen Neal was flagged for a false start. After the penalty, Gostkowski came in to kick a field goal that put New England ahead 27-17.

It clearly didn’t hurt the Patriots, but Belichick was peeved after the game, saying, “It was just dumb on my part. It was stupid. That was bad coaching.” During Monday’s news conference, Belichick was asked to address the situation again, and he responded, “We should have just been able to execute a fourth-down play and pick up an inch, two inches, whatever it was. And we didn’t, and we had a penalty. It’s not what we were looking for. … There were just too many things that didn’t go right. That shouldn’t have happened the way it did.”

While calling timeout before the play helped wipe away some clock, it eliminated the option of calling timeout again because teams can’t call two consecutive timeouts without first running a play. With a timeout in their pocket, the Dolphins might have assumed the Patriots were trying to draw them offside, and the Pats could have surprised Miami by running the play and picking up the yard. Rather, Miami was fully ready for the Patriots to snap the ball, but the Patriots botched it by getting flagged.

Neal shouldn’t be absolved of guilt, but like Belichick said, too many things went wrong through the course of that play to pin any blame on just one guy.

2. Linebacker Junior Seau was the only active player who didn’t earn any playing time Sunday, outside of backup quarterback Brian Hoyer.