With 2:08 remaining in the Colts' 35-34 victory over the Patriots in Indianapolis on Sunday night, the view from the Patriots' sideline was exactly the same as it was from everywhere else in the stadium, and to tens of millions of television viewers around the country. The Patriots had the ball at their own 28-yard line and it was 4th-and-2 when suddenly Bill Belichick had a vision almost no one else could see, a successful attempt for the first down.
    
There was no confusion on the Patriots' sideline and the punt team never made one of those false starts onto the field before the coach called them back. It appeared Belichick was going for it all the way. Still, as Tom Brady came to the sideline, it certainly seemed he thought he was on his way to the bench to watch the punt the rest of the world thought was coming. But when Belichick called timeout and met Brady about halfway between the sideline and left hash mark, that first split-second look on Brady's face seemed to say, "Really?"

From that instant on, it was game on. The Patriots never blinked and it appeared from the sideline that Kevin Faulk had perfectly run the route just past the first-down marker and the Pats would lock the game up. But the official closest to the play immediately indicated Faulk had juggled the ball, and while he gave Faulk the catch, looked to take a full yard and a half away from him on the spot. The quick replays were inconclusive and irrelevant because that timeout Belichick took before his huge gamble left him with none, and thus unable to challenge the spot.

With all the controversy surrounding Belichick's call, the one thing that has not been discussed nearly enough is the phenomenal play that Melvin Bullitt made to force Faulk back short of the first-down marker. In fact, the Belichick gamble is not the reason the Patriots lost the game. That would be a Colts defense that, after appearing clueless against the Patriots' offensive juggernaut for almost 3½ quarters, suddenly rose up to get a 3rd-and-10 stop of the Patriots at the New England 45 seven plays after Manning hit Pierre Garcon with a 29-yard scoring pass to make it 31-21 with 12:14 left in the game — the Colts' first points since they'd made it 24-14 with 4:17 left in the half.

Then, after Peyton Manning gave the ball right back on the first play following the punt with a terrible throw that was picked off by Jonathan Wilhite, the Colts' "D" held the Pats six plays later on 3rd-and-8 at the Indy 18, forcing a 36-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal that made the score 34-21 and kept the game as a two-score challenge as opposed to allowing the touchdown that would have put the game out of reach.

And then, after Manning marched the Colts 79 yards in just six plays and 1:49 culminating in a four-yard run by Joseph Addai to make the score 34-28, it all came down to the Indy defense's heroic four-and-out that set up the winning one-yard toss from Manning to Reggie Wayne to win the game.

Lost in all of that and the fall-out from Belichick's big gamble, though, is the fact that while the Colts might be undefeated, for more than 52 minutes Sunday night. it was the Patriots who were clearly the dominant team. Indianapolis' defense had no answer for the Pats' offense until its heroic last stand, as Brady marched his club up and down the field. After Wes Welker returned a 40-yard Pat McAfee punt 69 yards to the Colts' seven on the last play of the third quarter, all the air seemed to come out of the Colts' sideline, and it really appeared the game was over when Brady hit Moss from the 5 two plays later to make it a 31-14 game with 14:18 left to play.

Also lost might have been the heroic contributions of Addai and Chad Simpson to an Indianapolis running game that quite simply has to get better if the Colts are to go undefeated in the postseason. Addai injured his right hand after grabbing a Manning pass in the left flat and taking it 15 yards to the endzone to make the score 7-0 with 3:28 left in the first quarter. He came off holding his right hand, and we were told his return was questionable as he sat out the rest of the half. With Donald Brown back in his first game after missing time with a shoulder problem, Jim Caldwell was spelling him with Simpson until Simpson suffered what we were told was a head injury late in the second quarter and his return was questionable. Fortunately for the Colts, their fourth running back, Mike Hart, was active on special teams, but he never got a carry.

I asked Caldwell as he left the field at the end of the first half if he would have to go to Hart to spell Brown, and he said let's see what the situation calls for. It apparently called for both Addai and Simpson to come back and play hurt. Addai, in particular, ran like a man with a vengeance, carrying the ball seven times for 34 yards, including four times for 26 yards and a TD in the fourth quarter and catching a pass for 12 yards. Simpson added a carry for 12 yards and a key first down, moving the ball into New England territory on the Colts' third TD drive that started the comeback. That semblance of a running game is what allowed the Colts to finally solve a Patriots defense that was already short-handed. LB Tully Banta-Cain was lost to bruised ribs late in the second quarter, and New England started the game with starters Ty Warren, Jarvis Green and Shawn Springs inactive.

The only other halftime adjustment the Colts seemed to make was to get their young wideouts to hold on to the ball. Pierre Garcon had several key drops early in the game, and he told me afterward, "All we talked about at halftime was holding on to the ball. I know I left a lot of plays on the field the first half, and fortunately things got better. That fourth-quarter TD meant a ton to me because Peyton stuck with me, like he has all year."

As for the Patriots, other than any real shot at home-field advantage in the playoffs, all is not lost. The players were defiant in the locker room after the game, defending Belichick's gamble and lauding his faith in his offense. What was lost to the public, though, might have been the heroic efforts of rookie OLT Sebastian Vollmer, who stepped in to start for the injured Matt Light. With very little help, Vollmer got the best of All-Pro DE Dwight Freeney all night long. Freeney came in with a sack in each of the Colts' eight games this season and was going for the record for sacks in consecutive games, having a sack in nine consecutive games dating back to last season. But Vollmer actually dominated Freeney at times, frustrated him most of the night and clearly got the win in that matchup.

As stunned as the Pats' sideline was as the final 13 seconds ticked down, and as delirious as Colts fans were at the final gun as pandemonium ensued everywhere in Lucas Oil Stadium, it's fair to wonder what might happen if we get an Act Two in this rivalry of the decade down the road in the playoffs.

The reality is, the Patriots really did win this one everywhere but on the scoreboard, and their injured defensive studs all figure to return, while the Colts' hurt defenders do not. Would Belichick have opted to draw to fill an inside straight flush with a playoff win on the line? Hopefully for all of us, we'll get a chance to find out.