It's easy to paint the Patriots as the NFL's own Evil Empire - an unstoppable juggernaut that runs up the score and (possibly) cheats while laying waste to the league. It's also easy to view the Colts as an honorable bunch who stand as a gleaming example of what a true champion should be.

Yes, it's easy to call the Patriots evil and the Colts good. Too easy, in fact. An argument can be made that New England is a model of excellence for all to admire, while Indy's virtuous veneer covers up a tainted organization that deserves our scorn. The Pats are the good guys and the Colts are the villains in their eagerly anticipated showdown on Sunday. Find out why as we preview the game of the year.

Offense: All eyes will be on the quarterbacks, and with good reason. New England's Tom Brady and Indianapolis' Peyton Manning are both sure-fire Hall of Famers who are in the midst of excellent seasons. Brady is on pace for the greatest season ever for a QB. At his current rate, he will finish with 60 touchdowns, only four interceptions and nearly 5,000 passing yards. Manning's numbers are not as glossy as usual, but he's still on track for his fourth straight year with a passer rating of over 100. Both teams rank in the top 10 in the league in rushing yards. One big factor could be the health of Marvin Harrison. The Colts' All-Pro receiver has been hobbled by a knee injury and is struggling through a subpar season. Edge: Patriots. It's hard to go against a unit that looks like it will go down as the best ever.


Defense: It's no big surprise to see the Pats with one of the top defenses in the league. But who could have predicted that the Colts would be right behind them in the rankings? Indy is fourth in total defense thanks in large part to a passing defense that has allowed only 165.4 yards per game. Still, the Colts have not played a team that can air it out quite like the Patriots. New England is not only stingy when it comes to allowing yards, it also is adept at forcing turnovers, with a total of 18 already. One potential weakness, however, is in run defense. Opponents are averaging 4.2 yards per carry against the Pats. Edge: Patriots. It's a close call, but New England has played slightly better against stronger competition this year.

Coaching: Bill Belichick deserves condemnation for the videotape controversy and for his overall surliness. But he should also be hailed for his amazing coaching job this season. The Patriots came into the year as the favorite of most experts to win the Super Bowl and have proceeded to exceed everyone's expectations with their historic domination. Partly because of the controversial Belichick and his amazing team, Tony Dungy once again is not getting the recognition he deserves. The Colts' quiet leader has been one of the finest coaches in recent history, but he repeatedly gets overlooked, perhaps due in part to his unassuming demeanor. The work that Dungy and his defensive coaches have done to revive that unit recently has been especially impressive. Edge: Patriots. The chip that Belichick has carried on his shoulder has never been bigger. He seems to be on a mission to not just win but crush his foes. Belichick will have his team well prepared for this showdown.




Cheerleaders: Their players and coaches aren't the only things that make the Patriots and Colts great. Both teams also sport two of the top cheerleading units in football. Edge: Who are we to say which team's bevy of beauties is better? Click through the gallery and decide for yourself.

http://sports.aol.com/nfl/story/_a/epic-cl...102154609990002

Yes we're so fucking evil.
And AOL is a saint.

Shut up man. Your team sucks. Mine doesn't. That simple.

Patriots > Colts.

pats will win by at least 14 points.

24-20 PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what a win that was

booo evil won.
im glad that game is finally over so we can HOPEFULLY move on from this overhyped game.

The Pats won this game even though the NFL and Roger Goodell had the game rigged. The refs were paid off by the league b/c the Patriots never have 150 yards of penalties, most of them were far from legit. Fantam pass interference calls against Moss, Hobbs, etc, horrible calls on the field... its just dreadful

Anyway it was a great win by the Pats. We looked very sluggish for the first 3 and half quaters, then Brady and the offense woke up. Manning was his usually choke job self fumbling it away there at the end..

They called every damn thing that they could think of to try and stop the Pats and in the end they couldn't. I am glad the Pats finally decided to try and stop Joseph Addai at the end there b/c he was killing them.

Patriots: 3 1/2 time SB champs :P

At least pats fans know how it feels to be a Yankees fan now.

Yep :P

A four-point victory after trailing most of the game over a team missing five starters. Well done Pats, well done. Wait until Harrison and Keiaho are back, and you'll get owned in the playoffs.

And don't give me the "rigged" and "blind referees" crap either, unless you want to revisit the infamous "tuck rule" that caused your overrated team to do anything in the first place.

No one in New England gave half a crap about the Pats until their 3 Super Bowls, and now suddenly everyone claims to have been a fan since birth. That charade is getting old.

right right we didn't care thats why they have been selling out games for since 1994

And before that? When the team threatened to repeatedly pack up and move and no one cared? No one cared until Drew Bledsoe was brought in.

Shit, say what you want about the Browns losing repeatedly, at least Cleveland's fans have supported that team through everything, win or lose.

Nice comeback. I was almost ready to throw the towel in that game. But you can't count out Brady.

How do you know we didnt give a shit till Brady. Sure a lot of fans joined the team. But there is plenty of people who have been following this team forever. Sounds like to me your just talking about that because you are jealous of the Pats. I am sick of hearing about people thinking we are bandwagon fans, Red Sox too.

I personally remember where I was during that Super Bowl vs Green Bay. Watching it with my whole family at my Uncles.

But you have to honest here. When the Patriots made the trades for Randy Moss and Wes Welker, you knew they were rips. Given the Patriots history be being able to tell people to shut up and play football, there was not way Moss could screw up possibly his last chance.

I lived in Boston. I knew plenty of Pats' fans. And 90% of the ones I knew could tell you nothing about the days before Drew Bledsoe except the 1985 and 1976 seasons. I'm wondering how many of the ones hooting and hollering about the game down at Buffalo Wild Wings here this weekend were wearing Yankees hats five years ago.

It's like a co-worker of mine once said about seeing teenagers wearing shirts with bands like the Beatles, Zeppelin, or Hendrix on the front: "There needs to be a law saying that if you see someone under the age of 25 wearing one of those saying that you have the right to walk up and ask them 5 questions about that band. If they get three wrong, it needs to be your duty to rip that shirt off of them." I feel the same way about sports fans. If you're wearing a Red Sox jersey in Florida and know nothing about Yastrzemski or Rice, off it comes. If you're in a Pats jersey in Texas and don't know a thing about John Hannah, Steve Grogan, Irving Fryar, Andre Tippett, or the mighty coaches Rod Rust and Dick MacPherson, into the fire goes your jersey.

Red Sox fans actually cared, though 90% of the fans you see today outside of Boston, as well as the pink-hat crowd both in Boston and everywhere else, didn't care until about October 21, 2004.

Compare this to a Browns fan. Ask me anything about any season from 1989 to the present, and I can tell you. Who started at what position in what season, team stat leaders, all that sort of stuff. Most Pats fans I know pretty much forgot there was even a team there every year until 1993. Hell, there were quite a few of them where I even knew more than they did about their own team.

And I have nothing to be jealous of. It's been a while, but Cleveland still has more major pro football league championships (NFL, AFL, and AAFC) than any city other than Green Bay.

Caulfield, you live to tear down anything Boston related, don't you?

The only call that really bothered me was the PI call on Hobbs against Wayne when if anything it seemed it should've been against Wayne because he tackled Hobbs.

Yeah. And it used to not be that way. Like I said, I lived in Boston. I have a Red Sox jersey with my name and customized number on it. I actually liked the Red Sox until the comments after the ALCS from Varitek (and some fans) about how they got screwed on all the calls and how all the breaks went against them, plus the chatter about JD Drew being upset about having to play in the World Series because it cuts into his vacation time. Get over it 'Tek, you won. And cry me a river, JD.

And same with the Pats: I liked them until I realized no one I knew up there cared about them until they started winning and they all took on this attitude of superiority, that they somehow deserve to win. Bill Belichick is the ring leader of all that. He gets caught cheating and feels he has to go and blow every team out of the water (Redskins game) because his ego hath been wounded.

Besides, the whining about losing gets old. All I heard the whole time I was up there was about how cursed they were with the Red Sox. You had the Pats, Celtics, and Bruins winning in the 00's, 80's, 70's and 60's. Get over it. Try growing up (and being a fan) in the nation's poorest major city, where no team has won since 1964, you had an incompetent mayor who drove the city into default on loans, and had a river catch fire three times. Then complain.