The rivalry

The unstoppable force vs. the immovable object.

There have been some great rivalries in the Super Bowl era of the NFL. The Packers and the Niners in the '90s. The Broncos and the Browns in the '80s. The Steelers and the Raiders in the '70s. This decade it's been the Colts and the Patriots. A rivalry that may have surpassed them all.

The two teams have staged some epic battles since Tom Brady joined Peyton Manning on the field in the fall of 2001. Brady's first win as a starter came against the Colts as Manning threw three picks and the Pats won 44-13. That was just the first in eleven games the two teams have played against each other since, with meeting No. 12 coming this weekend. Once again it's the game of the year. There are big regular season games (the Steelers-Denver game last Monday for example), but the Pats-Colts has grown into sports theater.

Act I: The Pats, led by Brady and Belichick, take the next five meetings following the 44-13 romp. The victories are some of the most memorable games in team -- and league -- history. Instant classics. They include the 38-35 win in the Dome in '03 with Willie McGinnest cutting in from the right edge and taking down Edgerrin James to finish off one of the game's greatest goal-line stands. That gave the Pats home-field advantage in the playoffs and brought the Colts to cold, snowy Foxborough for the AFC title game. Pats 24-14. Ty Law catching everything Manning threw. Manning doing the "Manning face" time and time again. The Colts complain about the Pats secondary hitting their receivers too early and too often. The next season the league changes the rules to give the receivers (read: Marvin Harrison) more room to roam. The teams squared off in the opener with the Pats carrying a grudge and Willie playing a key role again, sacking Manning and pushing Vanderjerk back far enough to miss a sure game-winner as time expired. Another Pats win that came with home-field advantage. Another playoff battle in the cold and snow. This one a clock-killin' Corey Dillon tour de force in a game where the Gillette crowd stood from start to finish, willing their team to a 20-3 victory. So much for rule changes.

Act II: The Colts came into Gillette in November of '05 and stopped the Pats' dominance dead in its tracks with a 40-21 beating. A game I was at. You could see the momentum in the rivalry visibly shift. I also witnessed the Colts 27-20 win the next season that gave Indy home-field advantage in their second AFC Championship clash in three years. Arguably the greatest AFC title game ever played. A game I had wanted for years. The Colts and the experts gave the New England weather a big part of the credit for the Pats victories against the Colts during their Super Bowl run. I was certain the Pats, always a good turf team, would beat Indy even worse on a fast track. And for one half of football I was right. As the Pats rolled up a 21-3 lead it looked like a romp. But the Colts staged a comeback that I thought was impossible, winning 38-34 in a wild back-and-forth second half. The Colts went on the win their first Super Bowl since sneaking off to Indy and they earned it.

Act III: The script is still being written in what is likely the final act between these two teams with Manning and Brady at the helm. The Pats won in Indy in '07 on their way to an unbeaten regular season, and the Colts responded by squeaking one out against the Brady-less Pats last year. The winner of this week's game will have a big advantage in the battle for playoff seeding. It usually does. The Colts have won 17 consecutive regular season games. Just a few games shy of the league record held by, of course, the Patriots. A record the Pats can protect. The Pats are 7-4 against the Colts since '01 but have been on the short end of the score often in the past few years. If they are going to have a legitimate shot to win their fourth Lombardi, this is the game where they show it.

Pats vs. Colts. It's the game of the year. Again.