INDIANAPOLIS - Great games come in different forms. Some are shootouts. Some are defensive struggles.
But the entertaining, thrilling game the Patriots and Colts played last night fell into a different category - it was possession-based, filled with long drives, played with a razor-thin margin for error.
The Patriots needed to go that route if they were to win, mainly because their pass defense was a bad matchup against Peyton Manning and Co.
It turns out the Colts, also minus key players in the secondary, needed to go the same route because they feared receivers Randy Moss and Wes Welker.
"It was really a field-position game and both teams were really working the clock a lot, and I think that's mutual respect from both teams," said Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, whose 52-yard field goal turned out to be the difference in the 18-15 victory.
"You try to keep their offense off the field because both teams have a lot of explosive firepower that can put points on the board," said Vinatieri. "It seemed like it was real methodical drives that were taking six, seven, eight minutes. It just made each possession that much more important and you had to capitalize on every one of them."
In the end, both teams had just seven drives, and in games like that, coaches and players from both sides agreed that it's the team that makes the plays in critical situations that comes out on top.
And that's where the separation ultimately came into play, with the Patriots hurt by a dropped would-be touchdown by Jabar Gaffney in the third quarter, and a devastating personal foul penalty on tight end David Thomas that knocked the team out of range for a tying field goal in the fourth.
It also hurt that the Patriots were out of timeouts, the result of a failed challenge in the third quarter in which Bill Belichick felt the Colts had 12 men on the field, another timeout taken later in that drive, and then a final timeout burned early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-1.
With both teams vulnerable on defense, they adopted conservative plans. Colts receiver Reggie Wayne and tight end Dallas Clark said the Patriots were playing cover-2, keeping their two safeties in the deep part of the field to take away the big play. So the Colts adjusted and found success in the real estate in front of those safeties.
The same was true with the Colts' defensive approach, as they were without starting cornerbacks Marlin Jackson (injured reserve) and Kelvin Hayden.
"It was a tough matchup on us," said Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy. "We played some double coverage on [Wes] Welker and then they went to [Randy] Moss. We didn't want to single [Moss] all that often, and give him a chance to make big plays, so we played a lot of zone. Then they threw the ball underneath, and they had some good runs [on] us.
