Season 5, Wildcard Round - Shocker! Patriots barely eek past Colts, 21-17

Season 5, Wildcard Round - Facing the only team (9-7) that just blew them (10-6) out in the regular season (to the tune of 7-24), New England knew they had a tough task ahead in coming anywhere close to defeating their wildcard opponent, the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots' defense managed to keep the game scoreless until late in the 2nd quarter, when Indy found the endzone with some excellent passing by Peyton Manning's successor, Colts' 3rd year veteran QB Chase Anderson. If it wasn't for not one, but two, KR TDs by key offseason free agent acquisition/X-factor return specialist Leonard Massey, comprising 14 points of New England's 21 total points, NE would have likely lost this one. For his outstanding, and more importantly, user-unprecedented (!) performance (in a playoff game, no less!), Massey was awarded the "Leon Washington award" after the game:

Prospectively: will New England's Special Teams unit keep having to score to help the sputtering offense that clearly misses offensive powerhouse TE Rob Gronkowski? Offseason free agent acquisition TE Heath Miller has been all you could ask for as a capable back-up coming up with several clutch catches, but without Gronk, New England lacks a true go-to guy. Will New England's defense step up better than it has thus far? Will it help that NE will face a Chiefs team that, although lead by future Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning, lost to the Patriots during their regular season match-up at Arrowhead Stadium?