The game was initially horrible, almost unwatchable. Then it became something else. It became a statement, almost a referendum. Andrew Luck has beaten Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson
and Eli Manning. Now, here was Tom Brady. And after Brady threw two
first-half picks, it looked like Luck was going to kick his ass, too.
Then something happened. Brady and the New England Patriots got mad. Really mad. I've seen that look on Brady's face before. For all the jokes Brady
gets about his hair and his looks and his model boo, he has always been a
nasty competitor. That look. You could see Brady, as he walked off the
field at halftime down 14-10, looking like he wanted to punch himself in
the face. Other Patriots looked disgusted as well.
Mad Tom means bad Tom—as in badass Tom. No, Brady didn't win the game
single-handedly, but his anger was one of the triggers for an entire
Patriots team that was infuriated with itself in the first half. In that
opening half, Brady was 10-of-19 for 84 yards and two interceptions. In
the second, he was 9-of-11 for 173 yards, two touchdowns and no
interceptions.
The anger and disgust with that first half ran thick throughout the
Patriots' bloodstream and translated into a blowout 42-20 Patriots win
over the Indianapolis Colts in Indy.
There was anger in the trenches as the Patriots would shut down the Colts' run game (19 yards
off 17 carries), especially in the second half. There was also anger in
the New England running game itself. Running back Jonas Gray had four
touchdowns and he actually punched a Colts defender in the 'nads as he crossed the goal line on one of them.
Then there was Rob Gronkowski.
Angry over the yammering done by Colts safety Sergio Brown all
game—cameras actually caught Gronkowski complaining about it—the Gronk
man blocked Brown from the field, to the sideline, beyond the sideline
and into a stand holding a camera. It was brutal. It was beautiful. It was emblematic of the Patriots' second-half mood.
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