You don't need the Cold, Hard Football Facts omniscient Quality Stats to tell you New England and Indy are the two best teams in football. But it is pretty neat to see them sized by side by each.

 

The Patriots rank in the Top 5 in six of our seven Quality Stats, a No. 12 spot on our Bendability Index (a measure of defensive efficiency) the lone source of near mediocrity.

 

The Colts rank in the Top 7 in six of our seven Quality Stats, a No. 24 spot in our Defensive Hog Index the lone statistical outlier.

 

The Patriots boast the lone mismatch: their No. 2 offensive line will square off against Indy's No. 24 defensive front. Indy's defense ranks just 28th in third-down percentage, allowing opponents to convert 46.2 percent of their attempts. That's bad news against an offensive juggernaut that's No. 1 in offensive efficiency, as measured by our Scoreability Index, No. 1 in Passing Yards Per Attempt, No. 1 in our Big Play Index and No. 3 in third-down conversion success (48.8 percent).

 

Both teams have impressed against Quality Teams. The Colts are 3-0 against winning clubs, outscoring them by 16.0 PPG, including two impressive road wins over the last two weeks. But New England is 4-0 against Quality Teams, tops in football, and the eye-popping +26.7 scoring differential against winning clubs (San Diego, Cleveland, Dallas, Washington) is actually greater than their overall scoring margin.

 

Indy's the defending champs and playing at home, where they haven't lost since December 2005. And the 2007 version of the Colts is their best team yet. But the same can be said of the Patriots, who are on a record-setting romp through the NFL record books.

 

In a game of near equals, we'll roll the dice as we always do with the team with the most obvious edge in our Quality Stats. Expect a reversal of the scoring fortunes from the 2006 AFC title game.