Coach Hoodie doesn't get to downplay this one. In a wire-to-wire battle of unbeatens, without doubt the most-hyped regular-season joust in NFL history, the Patriots scored 14 fourth-quarter points to walk out of the RCA Dome (most likely for the final time) with a 24-20 victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Colts.
And so now the record is 9-0 and there is a bye week ahead and most Patriots fans are spiraling ahead to Jan. 20, when there's a good chance the 17-0 Patriots will play host to these Colts in the AFC Championship game in cold, snow-crusted Foxborough, Mass.
It makes no sense for the Patriots or their coach to talk about the NFL's first unbeaten season since the 1972 Dolphins, but after what we saw yesterday it's impossible not to look ahead. Look at the rest of the schedule and try to find a game the Patriots can lose. If not the Colts, whom? If not yesterday, when?
Certainly injuries, flukes, and other acts of God are potential landmines in the road to perfection, but yesterday's demonstration against the Colts figures to deflate the rest of the NFL and ignite three months of speculation that we might be watching the best football team of all time.
It's odd to say those words because the Patriots could be back home today with an 8-1 record, trying to explain how they lost four games to the Colts in 24 months and fretting about the prospects of playing in Indy again for the AFC championship.
But that didn't happen. It didn't happen because these Patriots never take the apple, they have the best coach, the best quarterback (it was not an easy day, but Tom Brady won the War of 18-12 against Peyton Manning and should get his own overture), and the best wide receivers in football.
This is where we start to talk about one Randy Moss. He caught nine passes against the Colts, including his 12th TD of the season (tying a franchise record). He was the difference-maker. His catches totaled 145 yards and made it easier for the likes of Wes Welker, Donte' Stallworth, and Kevin Faulk. His TD was one of those jump-ball specials, and he showed us his patented one-handed grab - looking like Julius Erving doing one of his cradle dunks - on a crucial catch over the middle in the third quarter.
