Faceoff: Showdown's surprise impact zones? Ranking QBs, rivalry?
Pete Prisco and Clark Judge of CBSSports.com analyze hot topics weekly.
| 1. Name a player not in the spotlight who could have a major impact on the game. | |
| Pete Prisco | Clark Judge |
 My pick is Colts free safety Antoine Bethea. Everybody knows Colts strong safety Bob Sanders. He's a strong candidate for Defensive Player of the Year honors. He's a tackling machine. But in this game against the Patriots, Bethea will be just as valuable. He is the rangy player who will be asked to help with Randy Moss and also be involved in the middle-of-the-field patterns run by Wes Welker and Donte' Stallworth. Bethea had a big interception in the end zone last week against Carolina to thwart a Panthers' scoring threat and help turn the game in the Colts favor. Sanders gets plenty of attention, and rightfully so, but keep an eye on Bethea. He might be even more important this week than Sanders because the Patriots like to pass the ball so much. |  New England left tackle Matt Light. I know you've heard of him, but he's not exactly a marquee name -- not when you're talking about a lineup that includes Brady, Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker, Laurence Maroney and Ben Watson. Anyway, he's the guy in charge of defending Dwight Freeney, and good luck. Freeney is a relentless pass rusher. If Light can minimize Freeney's impact -- that is, if he can keep him from penetrating the pocket and getting to Brady -- the Patriots have a chance to complete a lot of passes underneath the Colts' two-deep coverage. Freeney has only 3.5 sacks, but he continues to be a disruptive force on defense. Light will be challenged. |
| 2. Other than the obvious, where can this game be decided? | |
| Pete Prisco | Clark Judge |
| I give you one name: Joseph Addai. Yes, he's part of the high-scoring Colts offense, but I think he will be huge as a receiver rather than a runner against the New England defense. Addai is the featured back, but he's also a heck of a receiver. Manning said recently he doesn't think Addai is close to where he will be as a receiver once he gets more comfortable doing it. The New England linebackers are an older group. Those are the types of linebackers that Addai should be able to have success against catching the football. I look for him to have double-digit catches for 70-100 yards and a touchdown. Addai against the Patriots linebackers is a matchup that Manning has to love. | Where it was almost was a year ago, and that's on special teams. If so, Indianapolis should be concerned with its punt and kick coverage. The Colts rank 31st in punt coverage and 21st in kick coverage, and I don't think I need to remind you what happened in the AFC Championship Game a year ago when Ellis Hobbs got his hands on the ball. Hobbs is a threat to break a return. In fact, he already has, taking a kickoff a league-record 108 yards earlier this season. Plus, he's among the league leaders with a 29.2-yard average on returns. The Colts had better figure out a way to keep him -- or punt returner Wes Welker -- from going off, because they can't afford to spot Brady and Co. field position every time the Pats offense takes the field. |
| 3. How do Peyton Manning and Tom Brady rank right now among the NFL's all-time great quarterbacks? | |
| Pete Prisco | Clark Judge |
| They're both in the top 10 but it's tough to say exactly where. I put Manning ahead of Brady. Dan Marino and John Elway are at the top of my list, but Manning isn't far behind. Marino is the top guy based on what I believe a quarterback should be, which is a passer first. And I'm not just going based on stats. I use my eyes. And Marino was the greatest passer of all time. Manning is right there with him. Elway was amazing. Brady is clutch. Joe Montana gets attention, but I think what Steve Young did after Montana takes away some of Montana's luster. Johnny Unitas is another great and Otto Graham won a lot of titles. I'd say Manning is a top five quarterback while Brady is right behind. They're both amazing players and we should be so lucky to have the honor of watching them in their primes. One day we will tell the young how great it was to see two of the best ever going at it year after year. | They're in the top five or six and might go higher depending on what happens the rest of their careers. I always start my list with three guys -- Unitas, Graham and Montana -- and work from there. At some point one of these two -- maybe both -- could start pressing Montana for the third spot, but I'm not willing to say that right now. The logical choice would be Brady because he has three Super Bowl rings and is on target to obliterate every passing record out there, but let's wait. Anyway, I guess I'm saying what you already know: That if each of these two ended his career tomorrow, he would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. |
| 4. Has Colts-Patriots become the NFL's greatest rivalry? | |
| Pete Prisco | Clark Judge |
| Yes, in a big way. I'm a big believer that rivalries are made by the success of teams. How's that 49ers-Rams rivalry these days? If two teams have success, then a rivalry is made. Big games make rivalries. And these two teams have played a lot of big games in recent years. It helps that they have the two best quarterbacks in the game and they both can score on anybody. Then there's the good vs. evil thinking. The Colts, with nice-guy coach Tony Dungy, are the good. The Patriots, with cheating coach Bill Belichick, are the bad. That adds intrigue to it. It's a shame they don't meet more often, like twice a year. That would be great. But we'll take what we can get from this series. It's a great rivalry, the best in the NFL now. | Absolutely. Because they're the best two teams in football, and they've been two of the best for some time. This is the Yankees-Red Sox of the NFL, with the quarterbacks, coaches and front office constantly compared to each other. All that's missing is for one of these guys to be labeled the "Evil Empire," but give the Patriots time. If Bill Belichick keeps running up the score, it's going to happen. There are two things that make this series so eventful: 1) Both clubs almost always are at or near the top of the league, and 2) they're always playing each other. They met twice last year. They met once the year before. Twice in 2004. Twice in 2003. Who needs to share the same division when you have a history like this? |
