For various reasons (which are not important to this discussion) I found myself awake at 4.00am this morning. Normally that's not an issue for me. I turn over, check that it is, in fact, 4.00 and not 20 past 12, and go back to sleep
But today was different. Today was a Sunday night Colts game.
For those not in the know let me give you a few facts
1) I'm one of the small (but growing number) of Brits who follow the NFL here
2) I'm a huge Indianapolis Colts fan having spent a lot of time in indy during my career
3) The Colts are currently on a 17 game unbeaten regular season streak, and are currently 7-0 this season
4) They were playing the New England Patriots (The enemy!)
Currently Sky TV here in England broadcasts two NFL games on a Sunday night - usually the main games supplied by CBS and FOX - ad they start around 6 in the evening and go through until midnight. I like to sit and watch these (well the 6pm game at least) until I get tired. Then I'll head to bed.
The Sunday evening game isn't covered by Sky. It was last season, this season Channel 5 has it. It usually starts at 12.30 on a Monday morning here in the UK and goes on until 4.30 ish. This is way too late for me to stay up so i usually miss the game and check the report when I wake the following morning.
But this morning - as I have already said - I happened to be awake at about 4am. I thought to myself "This is the Colts playing the Patriots. it really could go eaither way. I could read the news in the morning and find that the Colts were shut out, that the Patriots were beaten, that the Colts lost a close one or that the Pats lost a close one". The history of these two teams goes back years and focuses mainly on the two team generals - Payton Manning (Indy) and Tom Brady (NE). it's a classic rivalry. Since 2003 one of these two teams has won the AFC title or superbowl in almost every year. The road to the Superbowl will usually go through either Gillette Stadium or Lucas Oil Stadium (and before that the RCA dome).
So I switched on. And immediately wished I hadn't. The Colts were losing. Quite resoundedly losing. They were down by two scores with about 14 minutes left in the game. The stats were not good. The Pats had never lost a game when leading by over 13 points in the fourth quarter. The Pats were playing superbly. Brady had thrown 4 passes of 25 yards or moe in the game, Maning's longest pass in the game was only 25 yards. Manning had a measly passer rating around 88 at that point. Brady had over 110. The Patriots advanced the ball but turned it over on downs. Then Manning came in... and threw an interception which the Pats converted to three points
It didn't look good.
So I sat there with my cat on my lap, in the cold, watching what I thought would be the first loss of the season for the Colts.
Then something amazing happened.
Indy got the ball back at their 21 yard marker and drove the full length of the field to give Joseph Addai the touchdown run. There were 2 minutes 23 seconds left. New England had the ball. All they needed to do was go 11 yards to force a new set of down and chances are they would win the ball game.
They went: No gain: 8 Yards: incomplete: 1 yard. They turned it over on downs at their own 28 yard marker. Manning came in, ran a pass play and two run plays to set up the Reggie Wayne 1 yard touchdown pass to seal the game win. I'm not going to go into whether it was the right call to go for it on fourth down, or whether the 1 yard catch was actually a two yard catch that would have given the Pats a new set of downs. That isn't important to what I'm saying here. What is important is that the game was a bitter, intense rivalry. Decisions were made. Tempers flared. Plays were made. And before I knew it I couldn't remember that it was approaching 4.45 in the morning and I was sitting in a cold room watching the tv.
The game was electric. It was tense, it was surprising. It was exciting. It was everything a rivalry should be. Like the Cowboys and the Redskins, The Steelers and the Eagles, The Packers and the Vikings, it was a game worthy of the term 'rivalry'.
There is something about wanting to beat 'That team' that brings out the best in a rivalry. For many years the road to Indy's superbowl aspirations went through Gillette Field in Foxboro, and for many years the curse of Foxboro beat the Colts and left them dejected and, usually, covered in snow. But this only increased the rivalry. As well it should. The first official NFL game I ever saw was a Patriots/Colts game in the old RCA dome back in 1999 or 2000. Drew Bledsoe was still the Pats QB at that time and the Pats were not seen as a rival then. But since then - and especially with the coming of Tom Brady and the ascendency of Payton Manning - this has grown to be one of the preeminent NFL rivalries.
Long may it continue.
No doubt New England will be back at Lucas Oil Stadium during the play-offs wanting revenge.
I can't wait.
