This Week
The New England Patriots visit the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis IN on Sunday at 8:15 p .m.
The Patriots (5-2), who are tied for 1st in the AFC East, are 2-1 on the road and 3-2 against the AFC. The Colts (3-4), who are in a three way tie for second place in the AFC South, are 1-2 at home and 2-2 in the conference.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and the Colts.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots +6. The over/under is 43.5.
My prediction is Patriots 24, Colts, 20. Take the points (Patriots) and take the over. I am 1-5-1 against the spread and 4 for 7 on calling the over/under in 2008.
Tickets
The Colts have listed the game as a sell out.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Colts ticket reseller, Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game at the Oil Drum make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from The Weather Channel. Weather should not be a factor as the stadium has a retractable roof.
Click for stadium directions, parking information and area map and a Lucas Oil Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
NBC is televising the game to a national audience, look for your local affiliate. Al Michaels will call the play-by-play while John Madden will provide the analysis and Andrea Kramer will have the sideline reports.
There is no Direct TV feed of the game.
For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.
Patriots All-Access airs tonight at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time. Make sure you check out the Patriots Football Network for information on when you can see Patriots All-Access in your market.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 5 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Sirius Channel 126, the Colts Radio Network has Bob Lamey calling the game while former Colts head coach Ted Marchibroda and former NFL QB Mark Herrmann provide the game analysis. Their call is available on Sirius Channel 127.
Since the satellite merger XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games and in most cases has just the radio call of the home team. This game can be heard on XM Channel 106, 107 and 108.
This week’s game will be broadcast to a national audience by Westwood One. Dave Sims has the play-by-play and former NFL head coach Jim Fassel provides the analysis.
Last Week
The Patriots beat the Rams 23-16 at the Razor to improve to 5-2. While the Colts lost to the Titans 31-21 on the road Monday night and dropped to 3-4.
History
- This is the 72nd meeting between the Patriots and the Colts and the 9th since 2003. The rivalry dates back to 1970 when the Colts were moved into the newly formed AFC after the merger.
- The Colts and Patriots are former AFC East foes and used to play each other twice a year until the realignment of the conferences occurred for the 2002 season and the Colts were moved to the AFC South.
- This is the 9th time in the last six seasons the teams have met.
- Since the 1999 season no other two franchises in the NFL have won more regular season games than Indianapolis (105-46) and New England (104-47).
- New England has had more success against the Colts then any other team in the AFC they have played at least 10 times.
- The Patriots are 18-7 against Indy since 1993 and have won 15 of the last 20.
- The Patriots are 14-7 in Indianapolis and have won the last three regular season meetings in the city including last seasons meeting in Week 9, 24-20.
- Patriots lead the all-times series 44-27 (including playoffs).
- This is the first time the teams are playing in the new Lucas Oil Stadium.
Connections
- Patriots head coach Bill Belichick began his NFL coaching career as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts in 1975 under head coach Ted Marchibroda.
- Patriots assistant head coach/offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia was the offensive line coach for the Colts from 1989-90. Outside of those two seasons, Scarnecchia has been on the Patriots sidelines for each year since 1982.
- Patriots special teams coach Brad Seely got his first NFL coaching job as the special teams and tight ends coach of the Colts from 1989-93.
- Patriots tackle Matt Light earned four letters at Purdue University (1996, 1998-2000), earning All-Big Ten conference first-team honors in 2000.
- Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri played for the Patriots for 10 seasons from 1996-2005 and is New England’s all-time leading scorer with 1,158 points and also holds the team record with 263 successful field goals.
- Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney was born in Hartford, CT., and attended Bloomfield High School, where he was a SuperPrep, Prep Football Report, USA Today, New Haven Register, Hartford Courant and Blue Chip Illustrated All-American selection.
- Colts defensive end Josh Thomas was born in Plymouth, MA.
- Colts running back Clifton Dawson graduated from Harvard in 2007 with a degree in economics.
- Colts defensive back Jamie Silva is a rookie out of Boston College.
- Patriots linebacker Shawn Crable and Colts running back Mike Hart are both rookies out of the University of Michigan.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Colts. You can also see what Indianapolis head coach Tony Dungy had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
Here is the injury list for the game.
Belichick is 10-6 in his career against Colts (2-2 with Cleveland; 8-4 with New England) including the postseason.
Matt Cassel is now 4-2 in his six starts since replacing the injured Tom Brady. Cassel is currently the 19th rated QB in the NFL he is 131 of 199 for a 65.8 completion percentage for 1,362 yards. He has thrown 7 TD passes and been intercepted 6 times. He has been sacked 28 times and his rating is 84.6. He has the ninth best completion percentage in the league.
Cassel registered his first comeback win of his career when trailing or tied in the fourth quarter. Tom Brady has done it 28 times since 2001.
The Patriots are +4 in turnover differential for the season. The have 13 take aways (5 fumbles recovered and 8 interceptions) and 9 giveaways (3 fumbles lost and 6 interceptions).
Based on points per game, the Patriots offense is ranked 16th in the league, while the defense is 9th.
Since 2001, New England is 64-14 in games played November 1 or later.
The last time the Patriots played in the first season of a new stadium was in 2003 when they beat the Eagles in the second game ever at Lincoln Financial Field, 31-10.
The Patriots overall franchise record is 371-351-9. They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXIII, XXXIX) in 6 appearances.
The Patriots are 12-4 in their last 16 regular season games against AFC South teams in the Bill Belichick era (since 2000). They are also 5-1 in the playoffs against the division teams in that same span with the lone loss coming in the 2006 AFC Championship game to Indianapolis.
Earlier this week the Patriots released OL Oliver Ross. Ross had started the season on PUP list and started practicing three weeks ago. The team had until this week to activate him, place him on the IR or release him.
New England NT Vince Wilfork dodged a bullet when he was only fined and not suspended by the NFL for his slap to the head of Denver QB Jay Cutler in Week 7.
Pats RB Sammy Morris says his knee injury, while frustrating, is not season ending.
NFL Pro Bowl balloting begins this week and runs from Oct. 13 through Dec. 9. Fans may vote for their favorite NFL players to represent the AFC and NFC in the 2009 Pro Bowl in Honolulu on Sunday, Feb. 8. Fans may vote online at nfl.com/probowl or on Web-enabled mobile phones by going to NFL.com.
Former Patriots DE Kenneth Simms is 49 today. Simms was the 1st overall pick by New England in the 1982 Draft and played his entire 8 year (1982-89) NFL career with the team.
Former Patriots DB Willie Andrews turns 25 on Sunday. Andrews was drafted in the 7th round by the team in the 2006 Draft. He played for the Pats in 2006 and 2007 before he was released after being arrested for marijuana possession after returning from Super Bowl XLII.
2008 Patriots schedule/results
News from this weeks opponent:
Indianapolis head coach Tony Dungy is 130-69 as a NFL head coach. He has led the Colts for 7 seasons and is 76-27. He was also the head coach for 6 years in Tampa Bay where he was 54-42. He is 9-9 in the playoffs and has won one Super Bowl.
Dungy is 5-8 in his career against New England (3-8 in Indianapolis and 2-0 in Tampa) including playoffs.
Colts QB Peyton Manning is 5-11 against the Patriots including the playoffs.
In the Tony Dungy era (since 2002) Indianapolis is 10-11 against the AFC East in the regular season and 1-3 in the playoffs.
Indianapolis is below .500 this late in the season for the first time in the Dungy Era.
Dungy expects Indy to be stronger come Sunday night as they anticipate the return of two Pro Bowl players in S Bob Sanders and RB Joseph Addai.
They also had to place starting cornerback Marlin Jackson on the season ending IR on Thursday after he he suffered in a knee injury in that day’s practice. The loss of Jackson could be bad for the Colts this week as he was main cover guy for Wes Welker.
The Colts are definately not the team they once were as they are now 4 games behind Tennessee in the division and if the playoffs started today they’d be on the outside looking in.
Tony Dungy knows what’s wrong with the Colts, mistakes are killing them.
Indianapolis is EVEN in turnover differential. They have 10 take aways (5 fumble recoveries and 5 interceptions)and 10 give aways (1 fumbles lost and 9 interceptions).
Based on points per game, the Colts offense is ranked 20th, while their defense is 18th.
Indianapolis’ all-time record is 418-388-7 they are 17-17 in the post season with their last post season appearance coming in 2007 when they lost to San Diego in the AFC Division game . They last played for a conference championship in 2006 when they beat New England in the AFC Title game, 38-34. They then went on to beat Chicago in Super Bowl XLI. They have won two Super Bowl titles in three appearances having also beaten the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V as the Baltimore Colts. Their lone Super Bowl loss came at the hands of Joe Namath and the New York Jets in Super Bowl III.
The Colts have played in the NFL since 1953 when they were the Baltimore Colts. They snuck out of Baltimore in the dark of night and set down roots in Indianapolis for the 1984 season. This is their 25th season in Indy.
In the 2008 NFL Draft Indianapolis did not have a first round pick, their top pick was T Mike Pollack taken in the second round (Arizona State – 59th overall). In all the Colts made 9 picks in the 7 rounds.
The Colts have more players on their roster from Syracuse (4) than any other school. They have 25 players on the 53-man roster with two years or less of NFL experience.
UConn DL Dan Davis was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Colts in April and was one of the final cuts by the team in August.
In 2007 the Colts had QB Peyton Manning, C Jeff Saturday, S Bob Sanders, WR Reggie Wayne, DB Antoine Bethea and RB Joseph Addai made the Pro Bowl. Sanders and Saturday were First Team All-Pro’s.
Next Week
The Patriots host their AFC East rival Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA Sunday at 1 p.m.
