History Lessons: Breaking down Pats-Colts

Here we go again.

Beginning in 2003, the Patriots and Colts have met every single regular season and in three postseasons. There have been close games, there have been blowouts. Winning streaks seem to be typical. And both teams had to beat each other to get to their Super Bowls (New England in 2003 and 2004, Indianapolis in 2006). It's a series ripe with history.

The main event, as always, is the Patriots' Bill Belichick-schemed defense vs. the Colts' Peyton Manning-schemed offense. Generally, the winner has been Belichick as Manning has only three 300-yard games and four outings with at least two passing touchdowns in the nine-game span. Like the Colts' luck against the Patriots, Manning's been good of late as all four of those multi-TD games came in his last five including two in his matchup with New England last season.

So Manning hasn't been quite pedestrian, but he hasn't scorched New England either. That's for a number of reasons, the biggest being that the Patriots typically do a great job of taking away his trusty tight end, Dallas Clark, and big-play receiver, Reggie Wayne. Clark has one 100-yard game and no touchdowns in six career games against the Pats, and the 100-yard game came in the playoffs when starting safety Rodney Harrison was on injured reserve. Wayne's been bottled up too -- just one 100-yard game and one touchdown in the nine-year span. Know who Manning's best target typically was in the series? Marvin Harrison, of course. Remember him? Average size, deceptive speed, incredible hands and route running abilities? He had a pretty good track record against the Patriots in regular-season games before his knees went kaput, and thus it's no surprise that the Patriots had a hard time with Anthony Gonzalez (two touchdowns) in last year's meeting.

But with Harrison in quasi-retirement and Gonzalez the one with a kaput knee now, so someone else will step up. Between Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie, it's Collie who has the hands but Garcon who has the speed. Garcon has seen 16 targets in his last two games to Collie's 14 and the second-year receiver has missed on a couple of big plays lately. If the Patriots dedicate their typical coverage to Clark and Wayne, you can be sure Manning will find whoever is a little bit open and count on them. Garcon seems like a candidate.

But if there's one Colt with a pretty good track record, it's Joseph Addai. With three touchdowns and over 350 total yards against the Patriots in four career meetings, you can be sure that Manning won't forget to hand off. Last year he struggled against the Patriots but he struggled in general last season. Two problems for him in this year's matchup: One, New England's run defense has been good, and two, Donald Brown will vulture some carries from Addai this week as he's expected to return from a shoulder injury.

Let's move on to the Patriots. Tom Brady has experienced plenty of success against the Colts -- he's thrown three three-touchdown games against the Colts in his last four with the other being a four-interception meltdown. Granted, he hasn't taken them on since 2007, but it's clear that the Patriots like to put the ball in the air against Indianapolis -- last year Matt Cassel attempted 34 passes even though he struggled. That's similar to Brady's attempts in his last five against the Colts -- in fact, only once has he failed to throw 32 times against them in his eight meetings.

That's good news when you consider that Indianapolis' secondary is down to rookies and smallish four-year veteran Tim Jennings. Surely, Belichick will look at that secondary as a weak spot and attempt to exploit it while protecting Brady from the Colts' pass rush.

And that's great news for Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Last year, both were held out of the end zone after both scored in 2007. In fact, Moss had scored in his first two games against Indianapolis until last season when Brady was out and Cassel was in. Overall, Moss has 16 catches for 252 yards in three games against the Colts while Welker has 15 grabs for just 98 yards in the same span. And because of the Colts' weak secondary, both should see some good totals.

But if the Patriots are throwing it around 35 times per game, that means they should be running the ball effectively too, right? Not so much. New England hasn't had a 100-yard rusher in any of their last five against the Colts (including a postseason meeting) and has only four touchdowns on the ground -- three of them by Corey Dillon who is no longer with the team. Laurence Maroney has played the Colts twice and has yet to score on them, but at least he'll get the opportunity as New England has not shied away from running the football against Indianapolis. That should be the case on Sunday, especially if they can get a lead in the game.

Benson re-run?

Bengals running back Cedric Benson has been one of the brightest surprises in Fantasy Football this season. He's steamrolled the Ravens twice this season and is coming into Pittsburgh for his second meeting with the Steelers. Earlier this season he picked up 76 yards on 16 carries (4.8 avg.) with a touchdown.

That's way better than the combined 30 carries for 88 yards he had against them in two 2008 matchups. In fact, last year at Pittsburgh he averaged just 2.2 yards per carry. That's not a shocking average as every single running back who has visited the Steelers of late hasn't played as well there as they normally do. This season alone, the Steelers have allowed one rushing touchdown (Adrian Peterson) and have held the leading opposing rusher to under 4.0 yards per carry. That's pretty good -- unless you're Benson.

The bottom line is that Benson has been playing so well this season that it's hard to sit him. Might he struggle? If he's like every other running back, he will. But scoring and totaling 70 yards would be a good outing for him in Week 10, and if that's what happens Fantasy owners should be pleased.