Everybody's talking about the Patriots, but no one is talking about the Colts.
Actually, everyone is talking about the fact that everyone is talking about the Patriots and not the Colts. So, logically, that means that everyone is really talking about the Colts, and nobody is talking about the Patriots.
But this is the Colts' bye week, while the Patriots are facing the Cowboys in a must-see game. So everyone should really be talking about the Patriots, and nobody should be talking about the Colts. So why is everybody talking about the fact everybody is talking about the Patriots and nobody is talking about the Colts? Which, while it should be true, is not?
Sigh. It doesn't matter. On Sunday, the Patriots will really give people something to talk about.
Games to watch
Patriots at Cowboys: Calling this game a Super Bowl Preview is a little premature, but it isn't silly or inaccurate. This is going to be a great game, a high-scoring, big-play filled battle between the best team in each conference. And the Patriots are going to win. The Cowboys are a tough opponent, but they are just a garden-variety great team, the kind that wins eleven or twelve games in a season. The Patriots are a once-a-decade type team.
That's not hype. At Football Outsiders, we've calculated DVOA (our custom stat that accounts for every play in a season and adjusts for schedule strength) for the past 10 years. The 1999 Rams — the Warner-Faulk-Bruce-Holt-Hakim Greatest Show on Turf Rams — have the best DVOA in history after five games. This year's Patriots are second. DVOA accounts for everything, from offense and defense to special teams, turnovers, third down efficiency and red zone efficiency. If DVOA says you're great, you're great, and all of the teams on the top 10 list either reached the Super Bowl (like the 1999 and 2001 Rams, the 1996 Packers, and the 2000 Ravens) or finished the season 14-2 but did something idiotic in the playoffs (hello, last year's Chargers).
Now, the Cowboys nearly made the Top 10 cut. They were on a pace to rank fifth in DVOA after four games. But Monday Night's six-turnover near-catastrophe knocked the Cowboys off the all-time list. The 'Boys are still fourth in the league in DVOA this season, but they aren't up in the stratosphere like the Patriots.
(By the way, this year's Colts are currently fifth on that all-time DVOA list. How come nobody's talking about them? Oh yeah, we covered that.) The Cowboys' meltdown did more than remove the Cowboys from our greatest hits list. It also exposed a big chink in their considerable armor. Tony Romo apparently has taken the Brett Favre comparisons to heart and believes it is his sacred duty to mix big plays with some of the dizziest decision-making this side of The Hills. Romo is precisely the kind of quarterback that Bill Belichick has made a career out of humiliating. Romo will get the full Belichick experience on Sunday: strange fronts, unusual zones and blitzes, linebackers buzzing routes in search of easy interceptions. Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will work all week to limit Romo's mental errors. He may succeed in cutting them in half, but two interceptions will be enough to give the Patriots the game.
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Love the intro!
