From the New York Times’ Judy Battista.
It might have been the play that effectively ended the Colts’ season. Instead, it’s the one that ignited Joey Porter’s furor. Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu’s interception-that-wasn’t of Peyton Manning in the fourth quarter gave the Colts a breath of life in a drive that ended with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion that pulled them to 3 points behind with 4 minutes 24 seconds remaining in the game.
“I know they wanted Indy to win this game,” Porter said. “The whole world loves Peyton Manning, but come on man, don’t take the game away from us.
“I felt they were cheating us. When the interception happened, everybody in the world knew that was an interception. Don’t cheat us that bad. When they did that, they really want Peyton Manning and these guys to win the Super Bowl. They are just going to straight take it for them. I felt that they were like ‘We don’t even care if you know we’re cheating. We’re cheating for them.’ “
Porter might have a point. For next Sunday’s Conference championship game between Pittsburgh and Denver, my bookie has established Indy as 9 point favorites.