Let the Patriots-Colts hype begin; five best storylines at midseason

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NEW YORK -- Much of the past week I've spent researching and writing a Peyton Manning story for Sports Illustrated's NFL midseason report, which you'll see this week. I'll get to the games of the day and issues of the week in a few paragraphs -- particularly the Cowboys growing up before our eyes last night in Philly, the mayhem around the Browns and the five biggest stories of 2009's First Half -- but I want to open with this year's installment of November madness, the New England-Indianapolis series. The Pats and Colts play Sunday night in Indianapolis, and even though the two teams will spend today tightly battening down the hatches so their all-important "focus'' isn't disturbed, let me do the honors.

I officially declare Patriots-Colts Hype Week kicked off.

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November Sweeps Factoid of the Week: This is the fifth straight year the Colts and Pats have met in the first half of November.

More than all other games, New England-Indy is the game TV loves. This will be the seventh straight year the Colts and Patriots have faced off, and each has been a Super Bowl contender every time they've met. Since the start of the 2003 season, the Colts and Patriots sit atop the NFL with identical 83-21 regular-season records. In the six previous seasons, they've made the playoffs a total of 11 times, and the only time one didn't is last year, when the Patriots lost Tom Brady eight minutes into the season and still finished 11-5, losing the AFC East on a playoff tiebreaker with Miami.

The Peyton vs. Tom angle is always good, and that'll be played up all week. Both survived 2008 knee injuries and are playing superbly again. But in preparing the Manning story, I got this from Qadry Ismail, the former receiver (he played one year for the Colts, 2002, before retiring with a neck injury) who was one of a few people I reached to try to dissect why Manning was playing so well with a new cast of characters this year. Ismail's delightfully opinionated, and the matchup he loves in this game is Manning-Belichick, not Manning-Brady.

"Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick are twins from another lifetime,'' Ismail said. "They both have the same mom and dad. [Writer's Note: That would surprise Archie and Olivia Manning, and Jeannette Belichick.] When I read about Belichick's life, it's Peyton to a T. No matter who you put around Peyton with the Colts, the beat goes on. No matter who you put on Belichick's team, the beat goes on. They don't allow anything to interfere with winning.''

It's an interesting comparison. Belichick grew up idolizing the football team -- particularly Roger Staubach -- at the Naval Academy, where his dad, Steve, coached. Manning grew up idolizing his dad, the quarterback of the Saints. Both hung around the game from age 6 on, Belichick riding to the Baltimore airport with his dad to pick up game films when they arrived from next week's opponent, then watching them with the team when his dad allowed. Manning watched film at home in New Orleans when his dad brought his work home. Not much has changed. In training camp this year, former Patriots DB Ellis Hobbs told me it wasn't rare for Belichick to call him into his office and put on tape of the receiver he'd be facing that week, then sit there watching the player's tendencies for 45 minutes. In Indianapolis last week, I learned rookie receiver Austin Collie and Manning sit together every Thursday, alone, to watch video, apart from the endless meetings where the team and positions groups watch game and practice tape.

"I can never repay him for what he taught me about football,'' Hobbs said of Belichick.