Perfect time for Patriots

Clamp lid on Colts, Manning, 20-3, head to AFC title game

January 17, 2005|Globe Staff

FOXBOROUGH -- They drew the curtain on another football winter at Gillette Stadium early last evening. There'll be no more tailgating in the parking lots of car dealerships along Route 1. No more ''Rock & Roll Part 2" booming over the PA when the Patriots put points on the board. No more monster traffic jams when 68,756 fans try to drive home after a Patriot win. No. The north end zone lighthouse will be dark until the Patriots return this summer.

Don't be surprised if the Patriots are reigning Super Bowl champs next time local fans trek to the Razor. In a near-perfect game yesterday, the devoted sons of Bill Belichick grounded the heretofore high-flying Indianapolis Colts, 20-3, advancing to the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh next Sunday night. A win against the Steelers at Heinz Field would put the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX Feb. 6 in Jacksonville, Fla., with a chance to earn dynasty status by winning a third championship in four seasons.

In perfect Patriot conditions -- think Edgar Allan Poe meets Currier & Ives -- Tom Brady outplayed the All-Universe Peyton Manning, and the Patriot defense smothered the quick-strike Colts. On a cold (wind chill 16 degrees), snowy field, the Patriots gobbled precious minutes playing blood and thunder, smashmouth football. Leading, 6-3, at intermission, the Patriots routed the Colts in a second half that approached playoff perfection. The most-anticipated playoff game of the weekend evolved into a surprising rout.

"It was an awesome performance," said Belichick, a man incapable of hyperbole (think Mike Dukakis with a whistle around his neck). "The second half was certainly our best 30 minutes of football this season. To hold a team like that to 3 points, that's a good defensive effort."

Indeed. Had this been a baseball game, it would have been an 8-0 win with only one man reaching base on an infield single. The idea that the Colts could be dominated this thoroughly was unthinkable outside of the Patriot locker room.

When will the national experts and football fans of America ever learn? The Patriots were disrespected by pundits for seven full days after America watched Manning dissect the Broncos (49-24) in the first round of the NFL playoffs. The country was blinded by the light once again. Everyone forgot that when the Colts take their game outdoors, they can be stopped by good defense and bad weather. At Gillette, Indy's supersonic offense spent a long night on the tarmac, waiting to be de-iced.

The Patriots thrashed the Colts in similar fashion in the AFC Championship game one year ago, a contest that inspired the league to change the rules of engagement to favor team offense.