On the other hand, the winner of this game has a slight advantage when it comes to the post-season and that is only speculation at this point. There’s little doubt both these teams will be in the playoffs. so, in one regard win or lose, there’s not much of consequence that will happen except bragging rights and the chance to go undefeated for a whole season (that’s fo us fans as I believe both teams have their eye on the Superbowl and the rest is just icing on the cake).

i think before a game, you like to strategize how your team will attempt to win (though many of us don’t have the football sense to really guess what a pro team will attempt…especially a Bill Bellichek team).

We each can enjoy the pre-game talk for our own reasons and in our own way. Is it Sunday yet?

So far this year they’ve been running a ton of that weird no-hurry no-huddle offense in which they sort of dawdle around in loose formation at the line of scrimmage for a while, taking up the whole play-clock, and moving down the field one 9-yard come-back rout after another.

Thinking back to what worked for the Pats in the 1st half of the AFCCG last year, I wonder if Belichick might consider an unusual tactic against the Colts — instead of the traditional method of taking away the big play and forcing them to sustain long drives, which they seem to have little problem doing, why not take away everything short and in the middle, playing man on the outside receivers, and baiting Manning into trying to beat us deep to Wayne over Samuel.

With the way Asante has been playing this season, I think he could handle something like the role Law played in 2003, and with Marvin Harrison either out or playing a diminished role, Hobbs wouldn’t need nearly as much help, freeing up safeties to help out the linebackers in covering Clark and Addai.

If Manning takes the bait, it will speed up the game and play into the hands of the Pats’ offense, who can take over a game if they get on the field enough.

He’s more willing to throw the ball away rather than force a bad throw and he’s more than willing to let the running game establish the flow of the game.

The biggest danger I see is the long drawn out drives that he has put up the last couple of years. The 6-10 minute drives really wears down a defense. That might be one part of their strategy and would be interesting to see the Time of Possession by halves. While I could see out team potentially making some quick strikes, I think the same concept applies. Keep the other teams offense on the sidelines.

Last point: It would seem that the Patriots offense might have more unknown qualities with the new receivers combined with Brady. We’ve seen Peyton and his receivers for awhile.

I am still ticked off that Bryan (doesn’t deserve an F bomb) Fletcher caught a bomb in that game on the final drive. That one was the biggest nutcrusher, to me. It makes me irrationally angry. If Fletcher is catching 32 yard passes at the end of a game, you’ve got issues that go beyond not being able to stop Dallas Clark.

THAT Dallas Clark.

I don’t think mentioning the pain in the ass that Clark has become is at the expense of acknowledging the threats Wayne and Harrison are. With those two, it’s a given.

It’s comparable to the Moss/Welker discussion. People playing up Welker’s role in this offense’s eruption aren’t dismissing Moss’s contribution.