More photos » by AJ Mast - AP

2 days ago: Indianapolis Colts linebacker Clint Session runs the ball after intercepting a pass from Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. The Colts won 20-17. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

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For all the hoopla the New Orleans Saints are getting (and rightly so) for their 8-0 start, the reality is that, statistically, the Patriots and the Colts are more impressive. And while it is no en vogue for people like Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris to proclaim "Statistics are for losers," the reality is stats tell us an awful lot about how good a team will likely be moving forward.

Small side note: Anyone else find it both pathetically and ironically funny that Morris, who is 1-7 as a head coach, would proclaim that "statistics are for losers." Speaking of losers, Morris will be lucky if he keeps his job at the end of this season.

The Saints sport the league's best offense, averaging nearly 38 points per game, which is, of course, INSANE! However, their defense is surrendering 21 points per game, ranking them 19th in the league. But while the Saints appear free-wheelin' and high-flyin', the Patriots and Colts seem much more balanced as football teams and, therefore, much more dangerous.

New England sports the #2 scoring defense in football, surrendering 14 points a game. Their offense scores 28 points per game (#3 in the league). Indy trots out the #1 scoring defense, giving up just 13 points per game, and an offense that scores 27 points per game (#6 in the league).

If we Colts fans know anything it's that great offense with mediocre-to-bad defense can only take you so far in this league. Eventually, you will run into a team that will stall your offense. When that happens, your defense must have the talent and the coaching to win the game for your team. For the Pats and Colts, they seem to have the kind of defensive talent to stop opposing teams, which is incredible considering the Pats are without Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, and Richard Seymour this year. Meanwhile, the Colts are without Bob Sanders, Marlin Jackson, Ed Johnson, and Tyjuan Hagler. Yet, they still shut people down.

Again, balance on offense and defense can make a football team dangerous, and this Sunday two very dangerous teams will face off in what hopefully will be a great game.

For more, check out Marima's FanShot.

MaPatsFan, the head writer over at Pats Pulpit and a person I consider a friend (even though he has horrid taste in football teams), recently lost his father to congestive heart failure. The senior Pats fan passed away this past weekend, which saw the Patriots defeat their rivals, the Dolphins, 27-17:

I have been away, off and on, for the past several weeks.  My father has been battling congestive heart failure for 3 years and finally decided to rest this past Saturday, November 7th.  I had a desperate need to participate in the last part of his life; without friends like JohnHannahRules and Marima, I could not have stayed focused on that mission.  They are truly wonderful people.

Please head over to Pats Pulpit and give MaPatsFan some support during this difficult time. It would be appreciated.

Also, just to prove that I am really nothing more than a sentimental softy at heart, we will break with tradition and offer up a little salute to MaPatsFan Sr. by writing two words I have never written on this blog: Go Pats!

More photos » by Winslow Townson - AP

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

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This week, we get to gear up for (arguably) the most anticipated regular season game on the entire NFL schedule: The New England Patriots at the Indianapolis Colts. Despite both teams not playing in the same division, and despite both teams not facing in other in the playoffs since the now-legendary 2006 AFC Championship Game, this match-up is indeed still the best rivalry in pro football.

Hell, it might be the best rivalry in all of sports.

More people will likely watch this game than any Red Sox v. Yankees game that was played last baseball season. It will likely gain higher ratings than the World Series, the NBA Finals, or the excellent Hockey playoff match-up last season that pitted their game's best players (Capitals ace Alexander Ovechkin and Penguins phenom Sydney Crosby) against each other. And while football rivalries like Packers v. Vikings, Cowboys v. Giants, and Steelers v. Ravens feature impressive teams loaded with big stars who are followed by large fanbases, no two players get debated more than Tom Brady v. Peyton Manning. And there is a reason for this.

They are the best in the league; maybe ever.

With all due respect to Drew Brees, who is having an amazing year with the still undefeated Saints, he can't touch Tommy Terrific or Perfect Peyton. Brees has all the physical tools, but until we see him rise to the occasion and lead his team to a conference championship game win, one can't put him on Brady or Manning's level. 

Personally, I have long maintained Peyton is better than Tom, and unlike many of the Pro-Brady faction, I actually have tangible evidence to back it up. Peyton has helped his team to more wins. He has more impressive career numbers than Brady. And, to put it bluntly, Peyton has had a bigger overall impact on the league than Tom.

That no-huddle, spread offense the Patriots have used since 2007? Yeah, Peyton brought that back en vogue ten years ago.

But regardless of where you fall in the debate, what many of us agree upon is that these two are, quite possibly, the best to ever play the position. And while the morons in the established media world might claim that this reason or that prevents Manning or Brady from being in the all-time discussion (remember Chris Collingsworth saying earlier this season that Peyton Manning needed to win one more championship to be considered on the same level as Dan Marino... why does this schmuck still have employment?), what we fans know is that time and again these two have DEFINED great quarterback play for an entire generation. And as these two continue to re-write history books, the classic Pats v. Colts rivalry has begun to take a turn.

More so than any other time before, the rivalry has evolved from a nasty, bitter slap fest into one of mutual respect. Sure, we think (and know) the Patriots are cheaters, and Patriots fans think our Colts are nothing but cry-babies who change the rules to help them win. However, despite the outward silliness (and name-calling fun) of the rivalry, both sides also know that both teams demand (and have earned) respect.

In addition, both fanbases also respect one another. For me, pro football suffers when the Pats v. Colts rivalry suffers. I know about a billion Patriots fans who likely agree with that sentiment.

Keep an eye out here and at Pats Pulpit for more lead-up to this excellent rivalry game.

More photos » by Tom Strattman - AP

2 days ago: Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats (21) fumbles the football as he is tackled by Indianapolis Colts safety Antoine Bethea (41) during the second quarter of an NFL Football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

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Shutdown Corner, Yahoo! Sports' dedicated NFL blog, has taken some hits from us Colts fans of late because... well, the writing has been pretty bad. I wish I could say different because there are some good people there, but in general it leaves a lot to be desired as a football blog. Chris Chase's silly hit piece on Jim Irsay was one of the worst "professional" blog articles I'd ever read, and Chris took his lumps for it. He was blasted not just on this site, but in the comments section of his own article. Now, we have Doug Farrar, who is pretty much openly saying that the Ryan Moats fumble was incorrectly corrected after a replay review, and that the resulting call affected the "landscape in the AFC South for the rest of the season."

Sorry Doug, but you're being a bit of a drama queen with that statement.

First off, let's be clear on something. Ryan Moats did indeed fumble. The replay clearly shows that. It was incorrectly not called a fumble after the whistle blew. Then, when the Texans let the clock tick to the two minute warning, that gave Colts coach Jim Caldwell enough time to digest the replays and throw a red challenge flag. The challenge was Moats fumbled. The refs reviewed, saw that he had, and then saw that the ball was recovered by Indy in the endzone for a touchback.

What Doug Farrar and Alan Burge of the Houston Texans Examiner, who Farrar quotes in his blog post, are arguing is that the ball may have touched tackler Antoine Bethea's arm while Bethea's leg was dangling out-of-bounds. If Bethea's arm was touching the ball while his leg was touching out-of-bounds, that means the fumble was not established back in-bounds. Thus, Texans ball on the two.

However, when you watch the replays, it most certainly is not conclusive that Bethea's arm is touching the ball while he is established as out-of-bounds. Burge has a still screen apparently showing it, but it looks so grainy I swear I see the second gunman hiding behind a grassy knoll in the background.

What did seem conclusive is Moats' fumble and Jerraud Powers' heads-up play to re-establish his feet in bounds to gain control of the ball. THAT is what the refs were looking at, and that is what they called. Remember, refs are only allotted one minute and thirty seconds to view all this crap.

As many of you know, I am very tough on refs, and I personally have no love for Jeff Triplette, who is better served bagging my groceries than reffing my football team's games. But in this case, he got the call right, or, at the very least, got the call as right as possible given the allotted time. And despite Farrar's dramatics, the call did not have the kind of far reaching consequences that he pathetically seems to suggest. Allowing the Colts to score the eventual game-winning TD in the fourth quarter and then missing a gimme FG to potentially force OT were the reasons the Texans lost, not the Moats fumble call.

More photos » by AJ Mast - AP

2 days ago: Indianapolis Colts running back Joseph Addai (29) lands on the ball after scoring a touchdown against the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. The Colts won 20-17. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

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For three weeks now, we've seen the Colts run the football effectively. The yardage might not be gaudy, and the highlight reel might not seem spectacular, but since the bye week the Colts have worked to improve their running game during key moments of a game; aka, the 4th quarter.

The last three games, Colts running backs have rushed for 284 yards on 62 attempts for 4.5 yards per carry and scoring 3 rushing TDs along the way. Much of this production has been done without rookie dynamo Donald Brown, who was injured in the St. Louis Rams game and has been out since with a shoulder bruise. Brown had 58 yards on two rushes in the Rams game, and if you remove his production from equation the team's yards per carry drop to 3.8. However, also dragging down the yards per carry stat is Chad Simpson, who has rushed 3 times for only 2 yards in the last 2 games.

This means that the bulk of the running back workload these last three weeks has gone to the most unlikely divisive figure I've ever seen in three-plus years of blogging for Stampede Blue: Joseph Addai.

I'm just going to come out and say it: Joseph Addai has played very good football these last three games, and I challenging anyone to try and prove me wrong on that. Look at his performance yesterday and you see the mark of an efficient, tough player who knows when to shine at the right time.

42 of Addai's 63 yards rushing came in the fourth quarter against the Texans. Addai also scored a rushing TD in the fourth to re-take the lead for good. In two games, Addai has throw a game-winning TD and rushed for a game-winning TD. That's clutch!

In two games, Addai has run for 125 yards, caught 7 passes for 53 yards, and scored three TDs in three different ways (passing, catching, and rushing). Again, he's done all this without Donald Brown to ease the pressure, and with virtually no help from reserve back Chad Simspon.

Also, factor in that Addai is usually in on all passing downs, blocking for a no-huddle attack that has thrown the ball 98 times in two games. And in those 98 drop backs, I don't recall a single play where Manning was sacked because of a blown block by Addai.

When the pressure is on, and when injuries necessitate a player to step up and increase his work load, Joseph Addai is one the biggest clutch players this Colts team has. For some reason, people here still hate on the guy. I really feel those people do not appreciate good play when they see it.

I'm not ready to declare "YAY!, We have a running game!" just yet. But for two weeks now, against two seemingly good opponents, the Colts have run the ball well in the fourth quarter; and those runs have been instrumental in the Colts winning two very close games. I will say that, since the bye week, the Colts ground game has gotten better. Consider that in the 5 games prior to the bye week, the Colts had run for only 373 yards on 109 carries, averaging 3.4 a carry.

We're seeing improvement, and when Brown returns we should see even more improvement. A more consistent ground game will help this offense work out its recent redzone frustrations, and will give the Colts yet another dimension to go with their potent offense, elite defense, and strong special teams.

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This is your third open thread for the game. Enjoy.