Pats / Indy Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations on this Sunday's AFC Championship.

- People keep talking about the resurgence of the Indianapolis defense in the first two games of the playoffs without ever giving credit to the real reason the defense has looked so good - poor play calling by the opposition. Both the Chiefs and Ravens seemed to employ the run, run, pass on third and long then punt offense. Both teams were so predictable. Don't look for the Patriots to be predictable on Sunday. Will they try a balanced run attack with Corey Dillon and Lawrence Maroney? Will they try a jail-break pass attack offense like they did week 8 in Minnesota? The Colts will be left guessing in this game not like in the games against the Chiefs and Ravens when they knew what was coming.

- Recently Peyton Manning made a comment along the lines of "the team gets the credit for the wins but I get the blame for the losses - either give me the credit for the wins or accept that the losses are team losses too." This comment made me think of Peyton's commercials where he always appears alone - cashing in as it were on INDIVIDUAL achievement. Contrast that against Tom Brady who if he does appear in a commercial it is with teammates because he is a team first guy. Hey Peyton - if you really want the team to get the credit how about including some teammates in a few of your many commercials? You know somebody has to block for you and someone has to catch those passes you throw.

- Bill Polian made a comment seemingly trying to influence the refs regarding contact on the receivers downfield. How funny would it be if the refs did look closer at the contact but that it resulted in penalties against the Colts instead?