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November 10, 2009

Colts-Patriots rivalry is as strong as ever

By Tom James

INDIANAPOLIS — Get ready, Indiana. It’s New England Week once again. Let the hoopla and the craziness begin.

The two perennial AFC powers — Indianapolis (8-0) and the Patriots (6-2) — will face off in a nationally televised game Sunday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. It will be the 10th meeting of the two franchises since the start of the 2003 season (including postseason games).

While the Colts and New England aren’t in the same division any more (they were both in the AFC East from 1970 to 2001), the rivalry is still as strong as ever.

Of course, the fact that Indianapolis and New England have met three times in the playoffs since 2004 and have played each other every year during the regular season since 2003 probably adds a lot of fuel to the fire — as do the yearly comparisons between the Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Colts’ Peyton Manning and the questions as to who is the better quarterback.

Brady has won three Super Bowl titles, Manning one. Brady has been the winning quarterback in two of the three playoff meetings between the two teams. Manning has won three of the past four regular-season games.

Indianapolis beat the Patriots for the 2006 AFC championship. New England, meanwhile, defeated the Colts in the 2004 AFC championship game. Manning (2003, 2004, 2008) has captured three NFL Most Valuable Player Awards while Brady (2007) has one. Brady has been the Super Bowl MVP twice (2002, 2004), Manning once (2007).

First-year Colts coach Jim Caldwell has been around the franchise since 2002 and understands the rivalry, both from a team perspective and the friendly personal one as well.

Caldwell knows that the eyes of the NFL world will be watching with a lot of interest, but he is adamant that the game will be treated as just another regular-season game.

“We’re not going to prepare any differently. We’re not going to do anything any differently than we do any other week,” he said Monday. “Obviously, it’s a big game. a very, very talented opponent. And that’s how we’re going to address it. It’s the next [game], the next one for us is a big one. The next one for us is the most important one.”

While Indianapolis remains as one of the league’s two undefeated teams, along with the New Orleans Saints, Caldwell said that there is still a lot of work to be done.

“We try to divide [the regular season] into four quarters. We were 4-0 in the first quarter. We were 4-0 in the second quarter. We can’t do any better than that, in terms of our record. We certainly think we can play a lot better. At this point in time, we’re just kind of sputtering a little bit [on offense]. Probably not finishing drives like we’d like to on offense,” he said.

“From a defensive standpoint, we’re having some really great stretches along the way and playing pretty well. But we’d still like to play a little bit better. That’s the good thing about this team. We’ve got room to improve. Our kicking game, our coverage units, have been very good. They continue to improve every week. But we’ve like to ramp it up a little bit in terms of our return team. Overall, I think its a team that has a lot of room for improvement and that can get better. And that’s a good thing.”

• Smart Powers — Cornerback Jerraud Powers is just a rookie. But he certainly doesn’t play like one. Not yet, anyway. The Colts’ third-round draft pick from Auburn has drawn raves from the team’s coaching staff for the way that he has played so far this season.

“He’s wise beyond his years,” Caldwell said recently. “He plays like a much older guy. He doesn’t play like a rookie.”

• Injury list — Rookie wide receiver Austin Collie left the Houston game midway through the fourth quarter after making a 16-yard catch. The reception helped to set up the Colts’ eventual game-winning touchdown, a 2-yard run by Joseph Addai.

Collie, who was ready to come back in the game later in the quarter, is hopeful of being able to play this week against New England. Caldwell said Monday, though, that he prefers to wait a day or two before making a decision on whether the former BYU receiver will be allowed to practice this week.

Rookie running back Donald Brown (shoulder) has been chomping at the bit to be able to play the last two weeks. He was hurt against St. Louis and has been held out of the San Francisco and Texans games as a precaution.

Brown was able to practice twice last week. He’ll find out Thursday or Friday if he’ll be given the green light to play against the Patriots.

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