You don't win games by punting

I hate the Patriots.

It's not just because their coach is as likeable as a rabid dog that mauled several adorable schoolchildren. Or that their quarterback left his pregnant girlfriend for a Victoria's Secret model. Or their coach's love of married, middle-aged women. Or the fact washed-up players seem to find a second life once they put on the New England red, white and blue. Or they cheat. Or make excuses for their cheating. Or their fans continually whine like a bratty 4-year-old in a toy store at Christmas.

I hate them because it boggles the mind one team possesses all those wonderful qualities - at least one that doesn't have pinstriped uniforms. You roll that together and you get a very special type of hate. Plus, if you put them in the same division as your favorite team, that's a hate stronger than anything you could throw at a various "The Hills" star or Kardashian.

With all that said, Patriots coach/tattered-hoodie enthusiast Bill Belichik made the right choice Sunday when he elected to go for a fourth-and-two on his own 28. You don't win games by punting.

Here's the set-up, as required by law: Belichik and the Patriots led the archrival Colts by 13 with 2 minutes remaining in a classic Sunday night battle. Peyton Manning made that six with a late touchdown.

So with just more than 2 minutes left, the Patriots got their ball on their 20 with two timeouts left. Fast forward to the 2:08 mark and it's fourth-and-two with the Patriots clinging to a six-point lead that's evaporating faster than I've come up with tortured metaphors.

Belichik goes for it. He's got one of the best offenses in the league, one that's racked up 477 yards so far, one of the league's best quarterbacks, and an opposing quarterback that's going to lead his team to score regardless of where you give him the ball. Tom Brady tries to find Kevin Faulk in the flat. Faulk apparently caught the ball past the first-down marker, but bobbled the catch. By the time he gained control of the ball, he was 6 inches from the first down.

Manning gets the ball and does what Manning does. Final score, 35-34 Colts. Let the second-guessing begin.

People who have been dead for 10 years have risen from the grave just to complain about that call. Ted Bruschi, the very picture of a Belichick lapdog during the height of the Patriots' dynasty, drained his rollover minutes calling into SportsCenter Monday morning complaining about the call, saying it demoralizes the defense. "Punt the ball" he cries along with pretty much everyone else in the country.

Well, not me. I'm not a big fan of punts anyway, and here I agree with Professor Hoodie. You don't want to give Peyton Manning the ball. All he does is win football games, especially primetime games. Peyton the Choke Artist died a long time ago.

New England converts and they can run the clock all the way down to less than 30 seconds. Then they can punt, make Manning drive 70 yards in the blink of an eye.

As for Bruschi's claim of demoralizing the defense, what says "I trust you" more than putting your "D" out there on a short field against the greatest comeback artist ever (Short list: Manning, Cher, John Travolta). You are putting your defense in a tough spot, but it's sending the message "Look, Peyton is good, but if we give him a 70-yard field or a 28-yard field, it doesn't matter. You can stop him. You did it for three quarters, go do it again."

If you want to jump on the Patriots for something, how about squandering those two time outs? Belichik ran the clock like some unholy combination of Romeo Crennel and Andy Reid. That was inexcusable. If they still have those two time outs, maybe Brady gets a chance to out-Manning Manning.

By not punting, Belichik made a gutsy call. It's the type of gutsy call that has worked out for him time after time during the Patriots' dynasty. And if Faulk had just made a sure-handed catch as he and Brady have hooked up for so many times over the past eight years, everyone is singing the praises of such a brilliant gambit.

But if we've learned anything, it's something we've known for a long time. Fans, the media and Ted Bruschi are a fickle lot.

And I still hate the Patriots.