(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Obviously I am kidding, but that is pretty much the feeling I have burning throughout me this morning. Let me just give you a recap of the weekend. Friday, Celtics lose, Saturday, Celtics lose, Sunday, beautiful weather but I don’t play golf, Sunday night, Patriots dominate for three quarters then shut it down for in the fourth and lose on a bone head call. At that point it is midnight and I have to wake up for work in six hours, fucking awesome.

Listen, I don’t know what goes on between the coaches when a decision like this is being made, but there needs to be someone on the sidelines that has the balls to communicate that going for it on fourth and two on your own 28 yard line while winning by six with two minutes left is a bad idea. I don’t know if it was simply confidence in his offense that failed to move the ball at all in the fourth quarter or that he had no faith in the defense that blew a 17 point lead, but regardless, this shouldn’t even have been something to think about. You punt, period, end of discussion. You make them drive 70 yards with only two minutes left in the game.

It’s not like Manning was having the game of his life either. For the majority of the first half he was either contained or shut down completely. It wasn’t until the Patriots started playing soft on defense that things unraveled. Belichick decided to give them the underneath passes and overload down field. This was the reason the Colts were even in the game to begin with. For three quarters the defensive backs were playing tight on the wide outs and abusing them on the line of scrimmage. Then we went into the prevent defense allowing them to get free breaks and run around freely underneath 15 yards. Pathetic.

With that, lets break down the rest of the game, which for the most part was extremely positive.

For three quarters, the offense was amazing – The Patriots offense looked unstoppable last night. They ran more plays, had more passing and rushing yards, were better on third down, and held the ball for 10 more minutes than the Colts. Despite all that, they came up one point shy. Despite their struggles down the stretch, you can not lay any of the blame on the offense in this game. Even against the Colts, 34 points should be enough to win. Brady went for 375 and 3 scores, Moss has 179 and two of those touchdowns, Welker had 94 yards on 10 catches, and even Kevin Faulk had 79 rushing yards. The offense played well and you have to feel good about them finishing off the season.

Sebastian Vollmer continues to shine – Vollmer has been going up against some of the best pass rushers in the NFL since filling in for the injured Matt Light and he has really played well. While still raw in his technique, Vollmer has not looked over matched while handling the opposition with little and mostly no help. Like Joey Porter the week before, Dwight Freeny was a non factor last night. He has totaled 9.5 sacks on the season but last night he didn’t record a sack or tackle.

We picked off one of the greatest QBs of all time twice in his house – So what, he may have had four touchdowns and won the game, but we also picked Manning off twice in his own house. If that isn’t something that gives you confidence the next time we play, then you might as well just quit watching. It’s not often that it happens, so you need to relish in the few moments where Manning screws up. For three quarters the Pats did a real good job containing Manning and really punished the receivers. If we do have to play the Colts again this season, I feel good about the game plan we used last night.

Brandon McGowan continues to progress – Dallas Clark only had four receptions totaling 65 yards, why? Because Brandon McGowan is establishing himself as one of the best cover safeties in the league. Clark is an unbelievable weapon, and to be able to contain him like the Patriots did is just one more thing to be proud of. McGowan has now played against Dustin Keller, Tony Gonzalez, Todd Heap, and Kellen Winslow and have kept them all in check. An obvious weakness in past seasons has now become a strength largely due to the emergence of McGowan.

Pressure was weak again – Some that has been a problem for the entire season is the pressure on the quarterback. Manning is one of the hardest guys to get to because he is so good at reading the defense and calling coverage at the line. Regardless, we should be able to get more than one sack and three quarter back hits on the guy. Even if we don’t get him to the ground, at least make him scramble some. He looked way too comfortable in the pocket, and when that happens, he is going to make you pay. Ty Warren was a late scratch and Tully Banta-Cain so it isn’t looking any better in the weeks to come.

Kevin Faulk is extremely underpaid – If there is a more versatile player in the league, I have yet to see him. Faulk is the prototypical company man and despite all the credit he gets, he deserves more. I have always been hard on him because of fumble problems early in his career, but even I don’t have anything bad to say about him these days. The guy comes in when called on and gets the job done. It doesn’t matter if it is rushing the ball, catching it, picking up a blitzer, or returning kicks, he does everything well. Although, I would have liked to see him run that last route about a half a yard deeper.

Nick Kazur struggled – While Sebastian Vollmer is over on the left side trying to make people stop second guessing Belichick’s draft strategy, Kazur has been sucking the big one of late. Robert Mathis is a great pass rusher, probably top five in the league, but Kazur needs to do a better job containing him. Mathis had eight tackles, two sacks, three QB hits, one crucial pass deflected, and one more tackle for a loss. Kazur did ok for the first part of the game, but then all of the sudden Mathis wreaked havoc.

Maroney’s fumble was the turning point – Had Maroney been able to punch it in here, we would have been on top by 24, and even Manning at his best wouldn’t have been able to overcome that. Instead, for the first time all season, one of our running backs dropped the ball. Just when he seems to be creeping out of the dog house, Maroney finds a way to get thrown back in there. While it obviously isn’t the reason we lost the game, and didn’t even seem like THAT big of a deal at the time, this play was HUGE in determining the outcome.

Offense still struggling in the Red Zone – Once again, this continues to be a problem. In 2007 when the offense had a record breaking year, a lot of people probably didn’t even know who Stephen Gostkowski was. Now, almost every time they get into the red area, it seems like an automatic field goal. Even when they score a lot of points it seems like they are on big plays, or the result of a big play that puts you on the one yard line. It is said that the last twenty yards are the hardest to get, but with weapons like Wes Welker and Kevin Faulk as huge short field threats it makes zero sense why we can’t convert down there.

Brady’s pocket presence – One thing Brady doesn’t get enough credit for is his mobility in the pocket. No one is every going to confuse him with Michael Vick, but there is no one in the game who has better awareness of where the defenders are than this guy. Prime example, the touchdown to Julian Edelman, Brady steps up avoiding a hit, then moves just enough to get out of Robert Mathis’ grasp, then turns around and fires to Edelman in the end zone. It seemed simple at the time because it was all so smooth, but most quarter backs get sacked by the first get and if not, definitely by Mathis. Best case scenario they manage to throw it out of bounds.

Edelman is back – Staying on the point of Edelman, he couldn’t have come back at a better time. Everyone thought Brandon Tate was going to be the savior of the wide receiving corps, but after one promising game, he is hurt and didn’t even play Sunday night. Edelman was solid for the first five weeks of the season before breaking his fore arm and he looked good catching two passes including his first career touchdown.

While the loss to the Colts was no doubt crushing, we need to move on as the Jets are coming to down this weekend for another big game. The pretty much embarrassed us when we played the second week of the season and I have a feeling everyone on the Pats is going to be extra fired up for this one. The Jets are 4-5 after starting off 3-1. With a win this weekend, the Patriots can all but eliminate the Jets from the division race.

- Chris