Thoughts on the “win”

DZ is crazy busy today, so I’m going to try to sum up our thoughts on the win last night against Bill Belichick’s Patriots.
1.) Bill probably lost his team the game by not going for it on fourth down. That was weird. The only other time I’ve seen poor coaching out of him was in Arizona last February when he punted inside Giants territory.
2.) The defensive line is struggling right now. The lack of pressure turned a potentially easy win into a tossup game. I know Cassel threw underneath, but he still held it long enough to get sacked at least once.
3.) We should be proud of the patchwork defensive backfield. They didn’t get beat deep by Moss and helped hold Welker to 37 yards on 7 catches. Not sure why the Patriots didn’t try to go up top, though. I guess they were happy running the ball and shortening the game and not getting into a shootout. It almost worked.
4.) Peyton played a great game. They rarely looked deep, but the receivers had plenty of room underneath. I think it is telling that even though Manning was excellent the team still struggled. Indy’s problems are much deeper than rust or a nagging injury.
5.) The poor running game made #18’s play all the more impressive. It was strange because they usually run well against New England at home. And they ran the ball well at times versus the Titans last week. Is Ugoh healthy? Is Addai missing holes? This seems like a solvable issue, but I’m not seeing a lot of answers.
6.) Marvin is the most controversial part of the team right now. Why is he returning punts? Is he done? The answer is who knows. At this point we just need to try and enjoy him. This is possibly his last season.
7.) This team is average on offense, average on defense, and average on special teams. It is no surprise that they are 4-4. It’s really tough to find 6 wins left on the schedule, even assuming they sweep the rest of their home games. They aren’t that good, but there is a lot of pride left on this team. They won’t go out quietly. There could be some real joy in watching Peyton rally an undermanned team into the playoffs.
8.) Adam Vinatieri shamed me last night. I’ve been down on his ability to hit long field goals. I was wrong.
9.) Feel good about this: Anthony Gonzalez is heating up. His second touchdown came on third down against tight coverage. Clutch.
10.) It is better if we try not to think about the Steelers game on Sunday. My heart says they can pull an upset if they score a lot. My head says the Colts should lose by two or three scores.
11.) If your politician wins on Tuesday, congratulations. Our readership is purple, so if you want to gloat please post about it somewhere else.
LINKS:
Don Banks learns stuff from the game. Obvious stuff.
Ross Tucker hates on Mad Jack. Hee hee.
PK still likes the Colts waaaay too much. Pats too. Figure it out Pete. This team has a great QB and NOTHING else right now.
Scouts Inc sees stuff. Sort of

CHFF loves on AV
They also have Indy in first in their meaningless standings
FO talks about last night’s game
Gregg Doyle wants to be in AV’s shoes
Clark Judge liked seeing Peyton back. I thought he was back three weeks ago. There was nothing wrong with him recently but two tough defenses on windy days.