THE COLTS' COMEBACK IN FIVE EASY PIECES

The big plays notwithstanding, here's five little plays which helped turn the tide for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in their 38-34 win over the New England Patriots (see earlier live blog) that's probably destined to be an instant classic, or at least a game that lived up to the hype:

• Troy Brown was called for offensive pass interference midway through the second quarter, wiping out a 19-yard gain that would have put New England inside the 10-yard line. New England ended up punting instead scoring to go up 24-3 or 28-3.
  
  The Colts went on to sandwich 15- and 14-play scoring drives around the halftime break. and ran 42 of the next 51 plays. New England's defence never had a chance to suck up enough oxygen.
• Leading by eight points, New England faced third-and-2 on its first series of the third quarter. Tom Brady threw a checkdown to fullback Heath Evans who was hit just short of a first down, tried to spin off and was knocked out of bounds two yards short by Indy's Jason David and Antoine Bethea. New England punted, sent the gassed defence back out and the Colts needed just six plays to score and tie the game 21-21.
• Patriots fans may cry in their Sam Adams over the pass interference call in the end zone on Ellis Hobbs that moved the ball to the 1-yard line on that drive. The real killer penalty was two plays earlier when veteran defensive end Richard Seymour jumped offsides on third-and-5.
  
  In the din of the RCA Dome, the Pats had the same penalty again when Indy was on the 5-yard line early in the fourth quarter. That meant when Indy's Dominic Rhodes fumbled on the next play, Colts centre Jeff Saturday recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown instead of at the 2- or 3-yard line.
  
• Wide-open Patriots wideout Reche Caldwell, with no one was lined up across from him, dropped a first-down pass in the red zone with eight minutes left. The Patriots ended up kicking a field goal when they needed a touchdown.
• The Patriots were called having too many players in the huddle on the first play after a change of possession with 3 1/2 minutes left. How does a team with a genius coach do that? They gained 11 yards on the next two plays, which under other circumstances would have been enough to get a time-consuming first down. Then again, Manning and Indy got the ball back with 2:17 left, and needed only 1:17 to punch in the winning points.

One more: It wasn't really a hidden play since it went for 52 yards, but the big catch Colts tight end Dallas Clark made on a game-tying drive in the fourth quarter was a head-scratcher. It was on the first play of the drive, with the Colts starting from the 23-yard line. In the third quarter, Indy had started at the same spot on the field (the 24) and Manning found Clark for a big gain, 25 yards. That was where Rodney Harrison's absence hurt most.

You would think New England might have been ready for a deep pass to the tight end the second time around, especially since Bill Belichick is such a genius. The more you go over the play-by-play, the more it's obvious that as great as Indy's comeback was, New England completely melted down. Either that or the injuries and free agency losses caught up to the Patriots.

Where does Clark's six-catch, 137-yard day rank among the greatest playoff performances by tight ends? No one will top Kellen Winslow playing through a pinched nerve and severe cramps to catch 13 passes, block a game-winning field-goal try in that San Diego-Miami playoff game in the early '80s, but Clark is definitely in the top five.

Oh, and Dan Klecko's Wikipedia page being updated mere seconds after he caught a touchdown pass on a tackle-eligible play? Perfect.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.