Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Bart Starr about the strategy and tactics he used in the greatest of all frozen field games, the December 31, 1967, Ice Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. How, I wanted to know, can you maintain a consistent offense on a slippery field?

“You can’t.” Starr replied. “There’s just one good thing to be said abut an icy playing field: The other side can’t play consistent offense either.” Then who wins? “The team with the best linebackers,” Starr replied.

When the Colts visited the Patriots in snowy New England yesterday, the home team had the best linebackers. Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Roman Phifer, and Willie McGinest combined for 16 tackles, forced three fumbles, and either knocked down or otherwise forced incompletions on 10 passes. They were all over the field, usually keying on Colts running back Edgerrin James on first down, then weaving in and out of the passing lanes on second and third when the Colts had six or more yards to go for a first down.

It was a familiar tactic, one that Giants fans would recognize from back when Bill Belichick coached linebackers for Bill Parcells. It isn’t always effective in good weather on a good field, but unfortunately for the Colts, for the second year in a row they weren’t playing in good weather on a good field.

Why are linebackers so important on a slippery field? Here’s Starr again:

“On a slick field, the running backs are usually going to get past the down linemen before they can contribute much” – New England’s down linemen made just four tackles against the Colts – “and because everyone is running a little slower, the quarterback is generally releasing the ball before the receivers get into the defensive secondary. If you’ve got fast linebackers, they’re going to be making most of the initial hits on the wideouts before the defensive backs and safeties can even come up to get in on the play.”

That’s exactly what hurt the Colts in the 20-3 loss – that and the numb hands of their receivers, who dropped five passes in key situations. Peyton Manning wasn’t bad, but he couldn’t hit on any downfield passes. The Colts kept faking handoffs to James, hoping the play-action motion would cause New England’s linebackers to hesitate long enough for the Colts’ receivers to slip by their zones. But the Patriots never took the bait. They played as if they assumed that if James got the ball, they would catch up to him quickly enough; they did, and he amassed just 39 yards in 14 carries.

The Pats’ only real concern on defense was the passing game. In many situations when James was in the Colts’ backfield, Indianapolis sent out four receivers (usually wideouts Brandon Stokley, Marvin Harrison, and Reggie Wayne and tight end Dallas Clark) with the Patriots’ linebackers serving as initial cover men and the secondary as backup. This meant that in nearly every situation, the Colts’ receiver would catch the ball in front of coverage and try to head up field. This usually meant getting hit by a linebacker at least 30 pounds heavier. Manning completed 27 of 42 passes, but none longer than 18 yards (to Harrison).

New England quarterback Tom Brady was mediocre – 18 of 27 for 144 yards, just 5.3 yards per throw – while Corey Dillon averaged 6.3 yards on 23 carries, which made you wonder why New England bothered to throw the ball at all. But on a team with linebackers this good, at least on this kind of a field, he didn’t have to be any better.

Next week in Pittsburgh, the Patriots figure to play on a similar kind of field, but one with fans rooting for the other team. And this time the other team will have the best linebackers.

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Both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings have prima dona wide receivers. The Eagles dealt with the loss of theirs in an intelligent way, while the Vikings dealt with the presence of theirs in a foolish manner, and that made most of the difference in yesterday’s 27-14 Philadelphia victory.

With Terrell Owens gone, Donovan McNabb was forced to become a better quarterback by spreading his passes around. He did this admirably from a variety of two and three receiver sets, completing 10 passes for 175 yards to Freddie Mitchell, Greg Lewis, and Todd Pinkston and completing four more for 52 yards to tight end L.J. Smith. The Eagles even used occasional four-receiver sets, sending Brian Westbrook sweeping under the coverage for five catches and 47 yards.

There probably wasn’t much the Minnesota defense could do to stop McNabb, but that didn’t stop them from choosing the worst possible plan. They kept looking for McNabb to roll to his right or bootleg left and keep the ball. McNabb stayed put in the pocket, running the ball just three times for 3 yards and completing 21 of 33 passes for 286 yards. The Eagles wideouts were enjoying the same single coverage against he Vikings that they would have gotten had Owens been in the lineup (perhaps the Vikings just felt silly slapping double coverage on guys who would never think of carrying a sharpie in their shoe). So McNabb calmly took what the Vikings gave him and picked their secondary clean.

Daunte Culpepper, on the other hand, did not take what was given to him. He threw 12 passes into double coverage to Randy Moss, who caught just three for 51 yards. When Culpepper wasn’t throwing to Moss, he was pretty good – he was 21 of 35 for 275 yards. But both his interceptions came while trying to force the ball to Moss.

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Just before Doug Brien missed his second field goal, the Jets had driven the ball to Pittsburgh’s 22-yard line with 19 seconds left; they then let the clock wind down to six seconds before calling a timeout. My team, I don’t risk another snap and go for the field goal right there. Herman Edwards chose to run another play. Okay, but I would have thought the only point to running another play would be to center the ball better for your kicker. Instead, Chad Pennington dropped back 3 yards to his left and took a knee.

Considering how bad the kick was, it probably didn’t matter, but for what possible reason would a team want to move the ball from the 22 back to the 25-yard line and spot it at a more severe angle? That illogical, pointless play at such a crucial time sums up the Jets’ season and the Jets in general under Herman Edwards. Under Edwards, the Jets never change the error of their ways but only the way of their errors.