FOXBORO, Mass. -- After losing to New England 20-3, the Colts will watch the next round of the playoffs from home. Despite the disappointment of defeat, Indianapolis players and coaches agreed next weekend's matchup -- between New England and Pittsburgh -- should be a great game.\n"I'm running out of compliments to pay them," said quarterback Peyton Manning of the Patriots. "I give them a lot of credit, they're an excellent team. They play well when they need to play well. It's going to be two good teams playing next week in the championship game."
Evaluating Brady\nPatriots quarterback Tom Brady is not the flashiest quarterback in the league. While is unlikely to lead the league in touchdowns or passing yards, Brady has perfected one thing -- winning.\nThe fifth-year pro has led his team to two Super Bowl titles and, after beating the Colts, is a win away from returning to the title game. \nThornton said Brady is tough to defend against, even though he doesn't do anything above and beyond what's necessary to win. \n"(It's) nothing special really, he just plays sound, fundamental football," Thornton said. "He makes good decisions. He's not going to throw a lot of turnovers or anything like that, he makes the calls when necessary. He's not a phenomenal quarterback but at the same time he's a great decision-maker, he's poised, he does well under pressure."
Know the rules\nWith time ticking down in the first half Sunday, the Colts called a play to try and take the Patriots by surprise. With running back Edgerrin James in the backfield, Manning walked to his left and raised his hands as if calling an audible. As Manning did this, Colts center Jeff Saturday snapped the ball directly to James, who ran up the middle for a short gain. \nOfficials, though, flagged the play and ruled it was illegal, taking the Colts by surprise.\n"I pride myself on knowing the rules and that's a rule that I didn't know," Dungy said. "The quarterback, what they say, is once you go under the center, if you move away from the center, you have to be set for a second. I guess a fairly obscure rule, but it's in there somewhere I guess."\nManning said he was disappointed to have put in so much work for a play that apparently never could have succeeded.\n"That's something we worked on all week and I guess we didn't know the rule, essentially," he said. "We did a lot of work to set up, but he said I had to come to a complete stop, and we were not aware of that. So it was kind of disappointing."
The road ahead\nAs soon as the fourth quarter ended Sunday, Colts players and coaches already began thinking about next season. Dungy said massive personnel changes are not necessary.\n"I think we just have to get to the point where in certain situations we play a little sharper," he said. "I don't think we need to overanalyze it and say we've got to do this and tear the team down and restructure it this way. I think we can win with the guys we have and play better in the crucial situations."\nTight end Marcus Pollard said perhaps the team needs to look at improving defensively. \n"If you look around the league, teams that play better on defense are the teams that win championships," Pollard said. "I don't know. I wouldn't have a definitive answer."\nManning said there will likely be some changes, but the team will persevere and continue to get \nbetter.\n"Not everybody is going to be back next year -- whether it's one or two guys or a number of guys," he said. "So it's always disappointing when you don't take advantage of an opportunity. But we will keep fighting."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Gavin \nLesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.
