Fourth Down Folly

Sometimes there are losses you see coming... and then there are losses that sweep you off your feet and leave you feeling shocked, empty, demoralized and exasperated.

While this game will forever live in infamy for Coach Belichick's gutsy 4th down call on his own 29 yard line, the real story line is the Patriots defense surrendering 3 TD's in the final 5:50 of the football game.

Many football "experts" have blasted Belichick for his decision and some of the criticism is well deserved. Lets face it, 31/32 coaches in the NFL may not have made that call, but one thing is clear, Coach Belichick didn't have faith that his defense could stop Peyton Manning when it counted most.

Everyone knows Bill Belichick is going to be a hall of famer for a reason, and it is not often his game management is ever questioned. The bottom line is he did what all good coaches do. He put the ball in his best player's hand when it mattered most. Would it actually surprise anyone if Belichick said he would do the same thing all over again?

Going into this game Tom Brady was 25-2 when passing for more than 300 yards. Since the year 2000 Belichick has gone for it on fourth down 16 times versus the Colts including the playoffs... he has made 12 of those. One of the reasons Belichick has been so revered as a coach is because of his unconventional ways, but for every call like this there's another one he makes correctly that flies under the radar.

The only place to go from here is forward. There were many positives to take away from last night's game. Brady looked fantastic, outplaying Peyton for much of the game. The Pats totaled more running and passing yards than the Colts while going 50% on 3rd down compared to the Colts 41%.

In the end the Pats were 3/6 in the redzone vs. the Colts 3/3. Maroney put the ball on the ground (first lost fumble by any Pats RB this year) in the worst possible spot. Couple all this with the fact they only registered one sack on Manning and it's not surprising they lost.

The season marches forward and will not stop because of what happened last night. The Pats must prepare for a divisional game versus the rival Jets who they have already lost to earlier this season.

Injury Updates:

Lost and possibly forgotten were some of the injuries that hit the Pats last night.

Sam Aiken (hip), Tully Banta-Cain (rib), Rob Ninkovich (knee), and Stephen Neal (head) all left the game and did not return.