We are just two days away from Sunday's show down between two of the best football teams of the modern era. The New England Patriots with their boring, mediocre, 'we don't need good players when we can just bore the other team to death' style vs. the dynamic, exciting, record setting, passionate Indianapolis Colts.
For me, Sunday's game symbolizes the good and the bad in the NFL today.
Coach Belichick, while brilliant, has a coaching style tailor-made for the modern NFL. The New England Patriots are a cold, rutheless, crushing football machine that is designed to win games the same way every time. Every position and every person is replacable. Tom Brady get's billing as one of the greatest quarterbacks in history, when in reality he is just another cog that keeps the Belichick machine running.
The Indianapolis Colts are diametrically opposed to the New England Patriots. If the Patriots are a machine, the Colts are a living breathing entity. They play with passion, heart and honor. Peyton Manning is the quintessential quarterback, a true field general and leader of men in the tradition of men like Unitas and Elway. The coach, Tony Dungy, is a soft spoken defensive genius – the first coach in history to beat all 32 NFL teams. The leadership of these two men brings out the best in players like Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne, Bob Sanders, Dwight Freeney, Joseph Addai and many others – all heros in their own right.
This Sunday we will once again see this clash of old vs. new, Heros vs. Machine, Passion vs. Calculation. At the end of the day I only know one thing. Win or Lose, at the press conference Manning and Dungy will have gracious things to say about their opponent, Bellichick will be rude and Brady will walk out in his $10,000 suit and flash his million dollar smile.
My only hope is that, contrary to Lisa's wishes, the Patriots don't win again.