The Colts D reverted to form in the first quarter and a half, but the Pats stopped being able to run the ball after that.
But the Pats were still moving the ball effectively. In the end their defensive performance was pretty close to what they had against the Pats in the regular season, which actually was one of the defense's better games.
The Pats only ran the ball SIX times in the last 37:30 of the game. Bellichick decided to get in a shoot-out with Manning, rather than deny him the ball. (The Colts had 5 drives in the 4th Qtr in that game... they had 6 in the entire game against the Texans in week 16.) Lovie Smith will NOT put Rex in a shoot-out in this game, if he can help it.