Peyton Manning and the Colts finally got their win after suffering 7 straight losses to the Patriots, the Colts roll to a 40-21 win at Gillette Stadium. The Colts put up 453 yards, the second-most allowed by the Patriots this year, with Peyton Manning throwing for 321, Edgerrin James rushing for 104, and Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne each getting nine catches for more than 100 receiving yards. "We got it handed to us. Any which way you can name it, we got beat. We just got our heads kicked in. I don't know what other way to describe it.", said Wide receiver Troy Brown. Jerome Solomon of the Boston Globe, Tom Curran of the Providence Journal and Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant all offer a recap of the game.
Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe writes that overall quarterback Tom Brady had a solid outing completing 22 or 33 passes for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns. Brady, who finished the game with a 121.4 quarterback rating, tried to lead yet another late-game rally, but he simply had too much ground to cover after the Patriots fell behind by 20 points. During his postgame press conference Brady commented on the loss. "There's not much to say. We got our butts kicked. We need to play better. We've got to fight harder. Give a lot of credit to the Colts. They played very well. We made too many mistakes."
Mike Reiss of the *Boston Globe * reports that cornerback Duane Starks was benched early in the second half. The Patriots entered with their seventh different starting lineup in the secondary in eight games, with Starks and Asante Samuel at cornerback and Randall Gay and Eugene Wilson at safety. With Starks benched in the second half, the Patriots moved Gay to cornerback and inserted career special teams player Michael Stone at safety. The 31-year-old Starks was stung by the turn of events. "Did it hurt? Of course, I'm a competitive person," he said. "I like to go out and compete, I like to be put in the right situation where I can go out and do some things. It just hasn't happened. The second half I was on the sidelines. I could have had a camera in my hand, watching what was going on, the same as you [media] guys."
John Tomase of the Boston Herald writes that the Colts controlled the ball for almost 37 minutes. They didn't punt until their final possession. They converted 71 percent of their third downs and 100 percent of their fourth downs. They gained more yards than the Pats, 453-288, and averaged 6 yards per play. "They completely outplayed us," Pats coach Bill Belichick said. "I don't know what else to say."
Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald writes that from his first pass of the night, a 48-yard bomb to Marvin Harrison on the Colts second play from scrimmage, Manning had his way picking apart the Pats secondary. Duane Starks, Randall Gay, Asante Samuel & Company were easy prey. In fact, it was almost too easy. Overall, Manning finished the evening 28-for-37 for 321 yards, three touchdown passes and one interception.
Tom Curran of the *Providence Journal *offers in-depth analysis of last night's 40-21 Patriots loss to the Indianapolis Colts game at Gillette Stadium.
Michael Felger of the Boston Herald writes that after two straight titles and back-to-back 17-2 seasons, the Pats have fallen all the way to the middle of the NFL pack. They're 4-4 and leading an awful division by a single game, with a trip to their annual house of horrors - Dolphins Stadium -on tap next week.
Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe offers his daily sports blog with Patriots notes. Reiss also offers his latest mailbag where he answers your questions.
Tom Curran of the Providence Journal offers his daily sports blog with Patriots notes and commentary.
