Hardball Heaven

Wow, couldn't have asked for anything better than what we've seen so far. The Pats are up 21-6 at the half, and it's been a completely balanced effort. Dillon has run far better than I thought he would, Brady has been his usual magical self with some clutch darts, and the defense - particularly the secondary (think they had a chip on their collective shoulder going into this one?) has been positively outstanding.

Peyton and the Colts have been taken out of their rhythm, though they did string together a nice no-huddle drive in their two-minute offense at the end of the half. The hayseed got hot but the drive only resulted in a field goal.

Three huge, gargantuan plays so far:

1) The fumble that wasn't a fumble on the Pats' first drive. Maroney looked like he was handling a stick of butter on a handoff down by the goal line, the ball popped loose and it looked for sure that the Colts recovered. Alas, the ball kept scooting and one of the big Pats O-liners jumped on it in the end zone. The rabbit's foot made the flight to Indy.

2) Brady's 3rd down pass to (who else?) Troy Brown on the second drive that put the Pats up 14-3.

3) Asante Samuel's imitation of Ty Law, picking off a Manning-to-Harrison pass and waltzing into the end zone for a 21-3 lead.

The Pats D-line deserves huge kudos for their pressure on Peyton during the first half. They have to put the nail in early - can't let these guys get back into this.