Oh Peyton, Where Art Thou?

If you suspect that the recent time gap in posts here at SRAM was related to Manning's latest demise in Foxboro, well, there's probably more than a grain of truth to that. Things have been a bit busy around the old day job of late, but I must admit to being in a bit of mourning over those 3 measly points.

Three measly points is a little hard to argue with, but we like to dig a little deeper here at SRAM, and the results of our search along with the game's circumstances show clearly that this was not another example of a Manning big-game nosedive, contrary to what it will undoubtedly go down in history as. First, let's compare Manning's stats to Brady's:

Manning: 27-42 230 YDS 0 TD 0 INT
Brady: 18-27 115 YDS 1 TD 0 INT

(I'm not counting Manning's interception, for obvious reasons.) If you really put a big emphasis on Brady's 5-yard touchdown pass, you may be tempted to call this a wash. But if you didn't know the outcome of this game, you would clearly say that Manning had the better game. I mean, twice as many yards? Plus the man wasn't exactly helped out by his receivers this game.

The most telling stat of the game, though, is the rushing yards:

James: 14/39 YDS
Dillon: 23/144 YDS

As a team:
IND: 15/46 YDS
NE: 39/210 YDS

And, related to that, time of possession:

IND: 22:17
NE: 37:43

Obviously, the weather reduced this to a battle of running games. New England's defense is 6th in the NFL in rushing defense; Indianapolis' is 24th. The Pats shut down Edgerrin James early, forcing the Colts to go to the air, whereupon their receivers demonstrated an inability to hold on to the ball.

In other words, this game was largely determined by the respective teams' rushing defenses. We've been saying all along that the Colts' D does not compare to the Pats' D, and that was borne out last Sunday. Sure, Manning did not exactly come through with a stellar performance. But given the circumstances, it was a respectable performance.