 |  |  |  |
INDIANAPOLIS -- The best team in football will be at the RCA Dome on Sunday, and it won't be the Indianapolis Colts.
That sentence might not sit well with Indianapolis fans, but it won't be an insult to the Colts -- at least not to the Colts who spoke to the media Wednesday. To a man, they all said basically the same thing about New England, which will bring an 8-0 record and the most complete team in recent NFL history to the RCA Dome.
Said Colts safety Bob Sanders: "They're playing great football. Right now I would say they're the best team in football."
|
|
| Former Patriot Adam Vinatieri takes part in the New England drool-fest. (US Presswire) |
Said Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri: "They're on pace to break just about every stat that there is. We know we're going to have to play our best game and play error-free to compete with them."
This is what teams generally do before big games, of course. They talk up the other team. But if the Colts were only pretending to be in awe of the Patriots, they'd be more convincing on a stage than on a football field. And on a football field, the Colts are awfully convincing in their own right. Indianapolis is 7-0 and features an MVP candidate on offense (Manning) and defense (Sanders). Indianapolis is beating teams by more than 17 points per game. Indianapolis is awesome.
But New England is better. On paper, anyway. And the Colts seem to know it.
Colts coach Tony Dungy literally bit his lower lip to stop from laughing when told the Patriots' Bill Belichick had said the Colts were the best team in football. Dungy gnawed on his lip for about four seconds before responding, "I hope he's a prophet."
At Patriots headquarters earlier Wednesday, Belichick also had said the Patriots "aren't in (the Colts') league." He was right, though he didn't mean it this way: The Colts are in the NFL; the Patriots belong on a higher plane.
Three days before the first game in NFL history between two teams at 7-0 or better, the Colts seemed impressed with the Patriots, yet not uptight. An enormous Nerf hoop was in the middle of the locker room. Players were joking about the thick copies of the 2006-2012 collective bargaining agreement that were handed out before practice.
"I'll never read it," fullback Luke Lawton said. "In this whole locker room, I bet (player rep) Jeff Saturday is the only one who does."
The only sign of tension was Dungy's decision to close practice to the media, something he hadn't done since last season's playoffs. Veteran members of the local media said they couldn't remember the last time Dungy closed practice in the regular season. An uptight, paranoid coach closes practice to the media. But so would a game-playing coach who wants the other team to wonder what the hell is happening behind closed doors.
Asked why he had done it, Dungy said: "We're going to the wishbone. ... We're changing everything around and coming out with new stuff and don't want anybody to know."
Dungy was more forthcoming with the injury status of two key players, receiver Marvin Harrison (knee) and linebacker Freddy Keiaho (post-concussion syndrome). Dungy said he expects Harrison to play Sunday and is hopeful Keiaho would play as well. Then again, Dungy could have been giving the Patriots bad information. Last week he had indicated Harrison would play against Carolina, but that didn't happen.
If Dungy is trying to get inside Belichick's head, who could blame him? The Colts have been terrific this season, especially at home, but New England has been impervious to road pressure. The Patriots have won all four of their road games by at least three touchdowns, and getting inside the RCA Dome could make the Patriots' fast-break offense even faster. That's a sobering thought considering the Patriots have rung up 34, 48, 49 and 52 points in their past four games.
Manning said it was "truly remarkable" that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has 30 touchdowns and just two interceptions after eight games. Brady is on pace to break Manning's 2004 single-season record of 49 touchdowns ... by 11.
Sanders couldn't lie. Asked which offense was more impressive -- Manning's 2004 juggernaut, or Brady's 2007 Patriots -- Sanders went with the other guy.
"If I had to say right now, I'd say they're the best," Sanders said. "Look at the numbers they're putting up and what they've done, you know? Hey -- it is what it is. I don't know if I can compare them to anyone."
Second-year running back Joseph Addai was the only Colts player who successfully managed to sound anything less than awestruck by New England, reasoning that it was to the Colts' advantage to be the underdog and eventually concluding that, "It really comes back to what we do, not what they do."
But then Addai cracked. Just a little bit. He looked around at the biggest media contingent ever for a regular-season Colts' game, shook his head and dabbed at some sweat.
"It's hot," he said. "Are y'all hot?"
No. Not at all.