New England offense vs. Indianapolis defense

	PATRIOTS OFFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	Run	24
	Pass	6
	Tot. Yds.	11
	Scoring	15
	Int's allowed	17
	Sacks allowed	37
	COLTS DEFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	vs. Run	14
	vs. Pass	17
	Total yds. allowed	15
	# of Ints.	9
	# of Sacks	32
	Turnover differential	-2

The film sessions must be grueling for offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese and his entire unit. The problems are widespread, but all the heat has been placed on QB Drew Bledsoe. Watch the film and it is evident that teams across the league have come up with the answer to a Patriot offense that has the potential to put 30-plus points on the board every time out.

The Colts have been doing some different things up front, as well as in their secondary, to generate pressure and force teams to run the ball to win, but throw everything out on Sunday. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio knows his unit has been vulnerable whenever teams decide to abandon the run and take their chances with multiple receiver sets, so Fangio will study the film of New England's last five opponents and take a similar approach.

After five games, Terry Glenn had an NFL high 37 catches for 636 yards. In the next six games, teams have concentrated their coverage on taking the veteran out of the game, doubling him and applying press coverage at the line. It's worked as Glenn has been held to 16 catches for 309 yards over the past six weeks -- a stretch in which the Patriots went 2-4.

Teams have also been playing physical, press coverage on New England's other three-receivers (Shawn Jefferson, Tony Simmons and Troy Brown), which has taken the undersized, speedy corps out of their games. The key to this defense is pressure. Zampese's passing game is based on timing, but it also requires the quarterback time in the pocket to throw.

Teams are pressing the receivers to take them out of their routes, which basically eliminates the timing of the passing game because the receivers are not able to make their proper cuts and get to the spot on the field that Bledsoe expects them to be. New England has tried a lot of different options to counter this pressure up front and press on the receiving corps, but nothing has worked.

The running game is not the answer, despite the fact that they ran the ball for 108 yards on 36 carries Sunday night against the Cowboys, because they simply do not have the personnel to run the ball consistently without using it as more of a complementary weapon to the passing game.

Kevin Faulk is coming into his own as a back and Terry Allen is back into playing shape and is running well, but this team is predicated on throwing the ball to win, and against a Colt defense that is only allowing 102.8 yards per game rushing, the Patriots are going to have to get their passing attack on track.

New England had little luck against the Colts in their first meeting at Foxboro, allowing 223 yards passing and 121 yards on the ground. The two biggest thorns in the Patriots side were James, who rushed for 118 yards, and WR Marvin Harrison, catching seven passes for 105 yards and three touchdowns.

The return of MLB Ted Johnson gave the Patriot defense a much bigger presence inside against the run and allowed the outside linebacker to be more versatile last week against the Cowboys, instead of concerning itself with stacking the middle of the field to help out the undersized rookie MLB Andy Katzenmoyer. This will help the Patriots on Sunday, because it will allow OLB's Ted Bruschi and Chris Slade to do a better job of containing James as a runner as well as a receiver out of the backfield, but the Patriots are still going to find the chore of shutting down James to be near impossible.

New England, as strong as they are at the cornerback position, is going to need a heavy pass rush on Manning if they are to have a chance in pass defense. Indianapolis has allowed just 12 sacks in 12 games, which does not bode well for a New England pass rush that has been sporadic throughout the season.

The biggest matchups are going to be off the edges, where New England will look to combine the upfield pursuit of their defensive end with an outside linebacker blitz package to split the guard/tackle alignment.

OT Tarik Glenn has been magnificent in protection this season, but after showing signs of fatigue last week when he gave up a sack to DE Rich Owens, Willie McGinnest is going to have to make his presence felt as a speed rusher. This is a critical matchup, and one the Colts can win. McGinnest has been the Patriots biggest presence in the pass rush this season, and if Glenn can take McGinnest out of the game like he has done to so many other great defensive ends this season, it will give Manning that much more time to utilize his offensive weapons.

Mike Vanderjagt has been a huge surprise for the Colts this season. Vanderjagt is now 26-of-30 on the season after nailing two critical kicks of over 46-yards last week against the Dolphins. Terrence Wilkins has cooled down after an enormous start to the season as the teams' return man. He is now averaging 24.0-yards per kickoff return and 9.5-yards per punt return.