Kravitz made me cry

I felt sick when I read this one

One minute it looked like the most epic of all Manning-led comebacks, right there with Tampa Bay in 2003, right there with the AFC Championship Game in January 2007 and even better than last year’s ridiculous comeback against the Patriots in Indianapolis.

And then, one mistake, one hurried throw on a day when he had to be perfect . . . and it was over.

Manning always has been quick to take accountability, but after this game, he was nearly inconsolable — and he didn’t need to be. For all his postgame self-flagellation, the fact is he played a monster of a game, leading his team up and down the field despite lousy field position, no running game and the early loss of receiver Austin Collie.

Here is his report card

Pass Defense: C-

Tom Brady didn’t put up gaudy numbers, but that’s because they weren’t required. He was able to fall back on his running game, and he killed the Colts defense with all those short and intermediate passes. Seriously, I thought Deion Branch was playing in the UFL by now. The Patriots were 7-for-11 (64 percent) on third-down conversions — way too high. Again, there were far too many missed tackles by the secondary. And somebody has to explain to me why, with most teams using max protection, the Colts’ defensive backs always seem to be 10 yards off their receivers. Maybe it wasn’t just Tim Jennings, after all.