Flip a coin; this week is up for grabs

There were a few surprises in cities across the country last week, as a less than fortunate kicker from New York will tell you, but none was more astonishing to football fans than the complete domination of the Indianapolis Colts by the New England Patriots.

Peyton Manning and his offensive unit looked more like a broken down carnival attraction than a well-oiled machine when they braved the elements in Foxboro, and Bill Belichick’s defense was nothing short of superb in corralling the Colts.

Indianapolis failed to score an offensive touchdown for the first time all year, and the vaunted Colts passing attack was held to a modest 238 yards. Now the question is whether or not Manning will ever be able to beat the Patriots, as he is thus far 0-6 overall against the boys from beantown.

Much like the stigma that used to plague the city of Boston, Manning has never been able to win “the big one” dating back to his college days with the University of Tennessee. The Volunteers boasted a powerful point-producing unit in the 90s, but they were never able to win the national championship under Archie’s son and Eli’s older brother.

At least Manning will have the benefit of returning to Indy next season in hopes of getting over the hump. Place Kicker Doug Brien‘s fourth quarter miscues may have cost him his job with the New York Jets. Brien’s Norwood-esque attempts at late game field goals with the score tied at 17-17 could have been the difference in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the game ended when Jeff Reed sent the sold-out Heinz Field crowd home cheering for the 15th time in a row this season.

Our prognosticators weren’t the least bit fooled by the Falcons, as most of them favored the freewheeling style of Mike Vick over the mediocre tempo of Marc Bulger. It’s hard to believe that the “Dirty Birds” won the game with 70 net yards passing—well, that is until you see that they racked up 327 yards rushing—wow.

So now it’s anybody’s game in the conference championships—for the players as well as the prognosticators.

As it stands, there is a logjam at the top with Rich, Jennifer, Cassie, Chris, Jon, Jessie, and Nina all at 5-3 overall—in part because of their 2-2 starts in the wild card round. Big Tuna is floating at an even keel with a mark of 4-4, but the shocker of the CNMI is that the regular season champ and the chairman of the CFL board are in last at 3-5.