drothgery said:
... and really, the Colts are short in a lot of areas of their game, too. It's just that their offense is so good that it usually doesn't matter how bad the defense and special teams are.
Certainly, and I'll break it down further:
The Colts are weak against the run up the middle. Their offense is simply awesome. Addai had his carries reduced last week against the Titans because he's a rookie. Dungy is already starting to throttle down a bit in preperation for the playoffs. They are not in a position like they were last year to pull their big starters in the last 3-4 games but their will, as Bill Simmons (
http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/nfl/061020) says, pull a Milton Burle as much as they can until the playoffs start.
The Bolts have an overrated defense and their coach is a historical playoff choke artist. They also have the best player in the league not named Peyton Manning. Rivers looks good and he has a ton of weapons. Again, Marty Ball works for about 16 games a year. It's that 17+ that's the problem...
The Pats have no offensive weapons with the exception of Brady. His targets can be shut down and they almost have to be perfect to put points on the board against a good defense. The running game is a plus but we'll see about Maroney. They are like the anti-Bolts/Colts. They have an excellent coach who can make his defense play better than they are able to. They have just enough playmakers there to be tough. A winning coach/clutch QB combo is a powerful thing which puts the Pats in the mix. I'd worry about their offense and kicking game.
That said, I'd take any 3 of those teams against the Bears, Seahawks, Cowboys, Saints, Giants, etc. It hurts to see the NFC bow so low. The Bears have an awesome defense but they *have* to score in order to win as the offense is pathetic. The Saints need to prove that they are for real and the Seahawks need to prove that they are healthy. The Cowboys are playing excellent and inspired football but they can be beat as the Giants/Redskins proved. And the Giants simply can't get out of their own way and are an implosion in process.
