And the Peyton Manning Face returns...

After a one-year absence, the Peyton Manning Face (courtesy of bostonsportsguy.com) has made a triumphant return, during the Colts' embarrasing 28-24 loss at the hands of the San Diego Chargers - the visiting team - Sunday night at the RCA Dome.

But that's the least of the Colts' troubles. Everyone kept saying, for years and years, that "this is their year". Well, it finally was last year, but they've ravaged their salary cap by trying to keep this team together. OK, they're a great team - Addai, Harrison, Wayne, and now Gonzalez and Clark. A few of those guys alone will keep Manning in the running for one of the best statistical quarterbacks ever. But the Colts were really hoping to go into New England next week and dethrone the 17-0 Patriots. Not gonna happen now. It probably infuriates Bill Polian to no end - and we like that here in New England. Personally, I was hoping for a Colts/Pats rematch, but Belichick got his sweet revenge in early November of 2007 at the RCA Dome, beating the Colts' in their own house, same as they did in 2003. The bottom line is, the Chargers outplayed Indy at their own house, which was the last game to ever be played at the RCA Dome, and now a banged-up Chargers team is going to come into Foxboro trying to beat the best offense in the history of the game.

Yes, there are parallels between this year's Chargers team and last year's Patriots team. The Pats were banged up, traveling across the country to play a heavily-favored San Diego team, a great offense with a pretty damn good defense as well. Now the roles are reversed: the Chargers' QB has a banged-up knee, the best running back in this generation is a bit banged up as well, and the Chargers' formidable tight end, Antonio Gates, has a dislocated toe which may hobble him next week. But this year's Patriots' team is undefeated for a reason, and I'll take a 17-0 Patriots team with Brady and Belichick any day over a 12-5 San Diego team with Norv Turner and Billy Volek/Philip Rivers.

With Dallas losing to the Giants last night, the only team that could conceivably cause any problem for the Patriots in the Super Bowl at this point would be an amped-up Green Bay team which has plenty of flaws. If Favre plays the game of his life, they could put up some points on the Pats' defense, but I have no faith in Green Bay's ability to stop New England.

Oh, and uh...Owens cried. Click here. Funny stuff.