On a lighter note...

"Bill Belichick: the smartest man in the room?
No longer a sure thing."

For at least the time it took to make this senseless gamble, the three-time Super Bowl champion coach didn't even automatically qualify as the smartest living organism in his own office. Surely there's a housefly on the wall or a houseplant over in the corner with the primitive intelligence needed to understand that you punt on fourth-and-2 deep in your own territory unless you're out of time and the other team is ahead.

In this case, Indianapolis, hard up against the two-minute warning, was the team out of time. Indianapolis, down 34-28, was the team in trouble.

Would any of this have carried the familiar aroma of Belichick genius if the Patriots' gamble had paid off with a first down?

No. This is a circumstance where you don't even think about measuring the odds of New England's offense getting 2 yards against the odds that Manning might drive the length of the field and win the game in a classic two-minute drill. This is a circumstance where you don't think at all.

You punt. You just punt. Give Bill's housefly a buzz. He'll back me on this.

~Dave George

Cracks me up, he does.