Belichick’s Gamble fails as Colts edge the Pats 35-34! Posted by DieHardFans | at 2:30 AM

The Indy Colts have gone from winning games with relative ease, to escaping by the skin of their teeth. As luck would have it, their opponents on Sunday were the New England Patriots, led by Tom Brady. However, there was a twist in the tale at the Lucas Oil Stadium. The Pats would seal their fate not by anything that Brady did, but by a bold and questionable play called by head coach Bill Belichick.

The screw up enabled Indianapolis to rally from 17 down to edge them 35-34. We will talk more on the Belichick gamble later. The Indianapolis Colts drew first blood as Peyton Manning tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Addai, giving them 7-0 lead. The second quarter would find New England racking up points in short order. They would score twice in 4 minutes, the first being a 63-yard TD pass from Brady to Randy Moss and the second being a 9-yard Brady to Julius Edelman, which gave them a comfortable 24-7 lead with 7:19 left in the half.



However, the Colts reduced New England’s lead to ten as Manning riffled a 20-yard TD pass to Reggie Wayne, making it 24-14 which would be the half-time score.

As opposed to the previous periods, the third quarter was a battle of attrition albeit scoreless. The fourth quarter found Patriots striking early as Brady threw a 5-yard TD pass to Moss, increasing their lead to 31-14. Sounds like lights out?

Hold on fans, things got better, just gets better, especially for a Colts fan. With 12:14 remaining in the game, Manning tossed a 29-yard TD pass to Garcon which narrowed the Patriots’ lead to 31-21. They would come storming back; all credit goes to Manning and a little help from Belichick. Addai would score from a yard out, putting the Colts to 34-28 with 2:23 left in the game; then came the erroneous judgement by Belichick.

New England had the ball but Belichick called two timeouts during the series, with the second TO setting up their fourth down play. Typically on a fourth and 2 against Indianapolis, you’d punt the ball and let Manning try and beat you. But Belichick opted to go for it on fourth down. The gamble didn’t pay off and they gave the Colts the ball at the opposition 29-yard line with 1:57 left in the game, an eternity when Manning is in charge. He would run three plays before connecting with Wayne for the winning score, a 1-yard TD pass. Manning played true to form, throwing for 327 yards with 4 TD’s and 2 INT’s while Brady went for 375 yards with 3 TD’s and an INT. Indianapolis (9-0) play again on Sunday, when they face the Baltimore Ravens while New England (6-3) returns home to host the New York Jets on Sunday.