The two giants of the AFC, the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, go head-to-head today in a game that showcases arguably the two best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Peyton Manning has guided the Colts (6-3) to the AFC South title in six of the last seven seasons while Tom Brady has done just the same for the Patriots (7-2) in the AFC East.
Brady has won three Super Bowls while Manning, who lost out last season against New Orleans, has just one ring.
The debates over which of the pair is the greater player will continue for many years, but both have clearly benefited from being part of outstanding teams — they are the two most successful, in terms of wins, in the league since 1999.
“It’s a great rivalry, there’s no question about it. It really has been like a division game. We’ve played them every year since 2003 — a couple of times twice a year. There’s no question it’s a big game,” Manning said last week.
There is no question about that, but there are plenty of questions about the two teams this year with many observers feeling that the supporting casts for the two quarterbacks are weaker than in previous encounters.
In particular, there are defensive weaknesses on both teams that have been exposed in their defeats — the Colts have struggled against the run while the Patriots have been poor against the pass — they are ranked 30th in the league in total pass defense.
New England’s ability against the pass will be severely tested today against the master passer Manning, who the Patriots says is virtually impossible to read.
“A lot of times you don’t want to key on what he’s doing because you don’t know if it’s real or fake,” linebacker Tully Banta-Cain said.
“He’s a tough quarterback to try and confuse. He’ll confuse you more than you confuse him. He’s a guy that you try to do your best to disguise stuff and things like that, but he’s really good at what he does in picking out coverages,” he said.
Last year’s encounter was a classic with the Colts overcoming two 17-point deficits, including one in the fourth quarter, to run out 35-34 victors on a day when Manning threw four touchdowns.
The New York Giants, smarting from last week’s surprise loss to the Dallas Cowboys, travel to the Philadelphia Eagles, who are on a high after crushing the Washington Redskins 59-28 on Monday.
Eagles quarterback Michael Vick is on fire at the moment — he passed for 33 yards and four touchdowns against Washington and also ran for 80 yards and two more touchdowns.
The Seattle Seahawks (5-4) travel to defending Super Bowl champions, the New Orleans Saints (6-3) with Reggie Bush hoping to be back in action for the Saints after missing the last seven games.
Vikings quarterback Brett Favre faces his old team, the Green Bay Packers, while the Monday game features Denver at San Diego.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when